End of Passenger
Ship Service To
Alaska Leaves Void
(Continued from. Page 1)
competitors in the field. This con
dition held, roughly speaking, un
til the end of World War II.
By that time the war had given
Alaska a first-class airline net
work — with airfields, beacon
routes, navigational aids and
other services paid for by the
government.
A considerable chunk of pas
senger business — people who
needed to get to or from Alaska
in one day instead of in five or
six—jumped from ships to air
planes permanently. At the same
time the ocean shippers suffered
some severe losses due to lengthy
waterfront strikes; also, operating
costs went up and up.
Then came a mild revolution
in freight handling, in which Al
aska Freight Lines, a hustling
newcomer, utilized war-surplus
tugs and deep - sea barges for
hauling both package freight and
loaded truck trailers.
This new system utilized Alas
ka’s war-built highway network:
the barges sailed to highway-con
nected seaports to discharge their
cargo', which went whizzing up
the highways to destinations. This
provided six-day freight service
between Seattle on the one end
and Anchorage and Fairbanks on
the other.
Alaska Freight Lines today
hauls close to half the cargo ton
nage moving northward from
Seattle.
Before Alaska Freight had de
veloped its service, however, a
determined attack on shipping
costs had been pressed by terri
torial-government agencies, aided
by congressional investigations.
In this fast - changing picture
Alaska Steamship Company—lone
survivor as other firms went out
of business — kept “carrying the
ball” with regular passenger sail
ings, while absorbing the forces
of inquiries, new competition, idle
periods during strikes, and soar
ing costs.
In serving 50-odd northern sea
ports 12 months a year the com
pany claims it lost $1,500,000 over
the past several years. The only
way to avoid the same sort of loss
from now on, say company offi
cials, is to go out of the passenger
business.
So today the Alaska Steam pas
senger freighters are up far sale.
If the foregoing difficulties
were not enough, Alaska Steam
ship Company was further
thwarted in post - war years by
operations of the Military Sea
Transport Service, whose vessels
regularly transport armed forces
personnel and their families to
I and from Alaska.
Alaska Steam has tried to dis
suade the government from con
tinuing the MSTS operations to
Alaska indicating that if it could
rely on this bloc of passenger
business, it could stay in the pas
senger business.
Recently, however, the armed
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Joe Amarok. Proprietor
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U.S. to Ask for Report on
Continental Shelf Limits
At New U.N. Assembly
CORONADO, Calif., UP) — The
State Department’s legal adviser
said today the United States will
press at the new United Nations
General Assembly for considera
tion of a report on the continental
shelf and fisheries.
In a speech before the Califor
nia state bar convention, the of
ficial, Herman Phleger, discussed
activities of the U.N. Internation
al Law Commission, composed of
15 international lawyers and
jurists.
Two of the commission’s proj
ects, he said, consist of drafting
international rules defining the
continental shelf and high seas
fisheries under international law.
Phleger noted that, since 1945,
several countries have made
claims to' “the waters of the high
seas above the continental shelf.”
Chile and Peru, he said by way
of example, claim 200 miles as
the limit of their territorial wat
ers. This works against California
fishermen, Phleger said, adding
that the United States has for
mally protested such claims.
“The United States always has
maintained that three miles is
the limit of territorial waters,”
he said. “It is and will continue
to be the policy of the United
States to uphold the traditional
doctrine of freedom of high seas
fisheries.”
forces gave Alaska Steam a final
reply on this matter, in what
surely was the unkindest cut of
all: the veteran steamship firm’s
passenger service was not only
not needed, said spokesmen for
the armed forces, but they didn’t
like the accommodations afford
ed on Alaska Steam vessels any
how.
There are thousands of travel
ers to Alaska, this writer among
them who would sharply dispute
this criticism. Everything consid
ered, Alaska Steam conducted an
admirable passenger service.
Ocean travel to Alaska after
September 24 — the last Alaska
Steam sailing — will be possible
only in Canadian vessels sailing
from Vancouver B.C. But they
only serve a couple of ports in
southeastern or “panhandle” Al
aska.
Alaskans—especially those liv
ing in out-of-way seaport set
tlements — will suffer; and thou
sands of summer-time vacationers
Arctic Sanitary Service
Phone RED 181
Casey Stengel Signs
Two - Year Contract
To Manage Yankees
NEW YORK, te—Casey Stengel
signed a 2-year contract today to
manage the New York Yankees
through 1956.
Stengel, who is 64 years old,
has managed the Yankees for six
years. In his first five years the
Yankees won the American Lea
gue pennant and then took the
World Series. New York finished
second this year to the Cleve
land Indians.
Terms of the contract were not
disclosed. Under the 2-year con
tract which expires Jan. 1, 1955,
Stengel was reportedly receiving
$75,000, plus a pension deal and
a $10,000 gift each year bring
ing the total to around $95,000
per season.
TWO FLIERS KILLED IN
CRASH OF THREE JETS
OTIS AIR FORCE BASE,
Mass., OP)—Two Air Force fliers
were killed and three others es
caped injury in the crash of three
jet airplanes after landing in foul
weather last night.
Air Force officials blamed the
crashes on a flat tire and a tor
rential rainfall which shut off
visibility and made radio com
munication between the planes
and the control tower so eratic
that messages could not be under
stood.
no longer will be sailing from
Seattle 1,000 miles up the Inside
Passage and 500 miles across the
Gulf of Alaska to Seward—a trip
unmatched anywhere for scenic
grandeur.
Remaining, however, are the
most important ingredients from
which the formerly - thriving
ocean passenger service was built.
Someone surely—most observers
believe—will find a way to re
establish this passenger service
and make it pay as well.
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