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MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOLUME XVI. NUMBER 28.
SEWARD, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1931.
PRICE TEN CENTS
PRESENT BUSINESS DEPRES
SION DECLARED WORST
IN ALL HISTORY
WASHINGTON, Feb., 4. f/P't—
TL. Stepheson. president of the
American Bankers Association,
said cashing of veterans bonus
certificates would make t h e
hopes of a gradual business re
covery ‘ill founded.” before the
House ways and means committee.
He said that the nation was
headed back toward economic re
overy which the bonus payment
would stop. He also termed the
present time as one of the great
est business depressions in his
tory and said that he was not
speaking for banks but for all
the people.
NO END FOH THE
UNIVERSE DECLARES
SIR OLIVER LODGE
LONDON, Feb.. 4. <;?)—Sir Oli
ver Lodge, famous English scien
tist, holds that the universe is
winding itself up.” instead of
radiating away its matter to ul
timate universal death.
He takes issue with Sir James!
Jeans, astronomer, who says
the sun is radiating away its j
weight at the rate of eight bil- j
ton pounds a second, but that
l will be some 15,000 years be
fore the sun is all one.
‘‘I do not think,” Sir Oliver
Lodge says, “there is an end, I \
think the material universe will
oe found to have some manner
>f winding up again. I believe
the material universe is a grow
ng concern which has neither
beginning nor end.”
INVENTOR OUT TO PROVE j
ROCKET FLARE FEASIBLE
BURBANK, Calif., Feb., 4, (JP) I
—Maurice Poirier, inventor, has i
no idea of flying to Mars, but he \
:s undertaking experiments he
js confident will prove rocket
airplanes practicable.
Poirier has built a model plane
with a wing spread of 10 feet
which he declares already has
done all he expected of it in
private tests.
Early this month he will take j
the miniature rocket plane to j
one of the dry lakes on the ■
desert east of here for a public j
lest. He will be aided by his en
gineer, Frank Wallace, an inven
tor and designer. The inventor
indicated that the plane might j
go 500 miles an hour.
PLAN ARCTIC SURVEY
LENINGRAD, Feb., 4, (/P) —
Prof. Rudolph I. Samoilovieh,
Soviet Arctic explorer, has plan
ned for 1931 a survey of Russia’s
entire Arctic coast from Archan
gel to Vladivostok. In 1932 he
hopes to drive a powerful ice
breaker to the North Pole.
FOUR HUNDRED DIED
NEW ZEALAND QUAKE:
DUNGED PREVAILING
WELLINGTON, New Zealand,
Feb. 4. (/I3)—Preliminary estimates
said that 400 are dead in the Na
pier-Hastings earthquake and fire.
One thousand are injured in
Napier and the number injured
in Hasting is unknown
Rescuers continued tearing in
the ruins hopeful of recover
ing dead and injured.
Some of the victims who were
taken alive out of the flames still
crept through Napier hampering
work. Families in the stricken
area slept outdoors last night for
fear that the ruins would crumble
and there be a renewal of land
slides.
EXPLORER DIES
GRANTS PASS, Ore., Feb., 4,
(£*)—C. E. Rusk, author and ex
plorer, died a this home from a
heart attack. He had recently
returned from Alaska where he
spent last summer exploring gla
cier formations.
AGE AVERAGE LOW
NEW YORK, Feb., 4, (iP)—The
average age of employees in the
New York headquarters of CBS
places the figure at 27.5 years.
RULES TIGHTENED CUT
SURPLUS IF TEACHERS
WASHINGTON, Fob., 4, </P>—
An over-supply of teachers has
led to more exacting require
ments for entrance to teacher
preparing institutions, the Nat
ional Education association re
ports.
A number of cities and states
now require a minimum of three
years above high school for cer
tification of teachers.
MANUFACTURER DIES
CHICAGO, Feb., 4, (/P)_Edw.
Heath, 45, pioneer airplane man
ufacturer, was killed Sunday
when a new type of parasol
plane crashed, due to engine
trouble. He was president of the!
Heath Aircraft Corporation, and j
manufactured light monoplanes. I
TERN FLIES 4,200 MILES
NEW YORK, Feb., 4, (/P>—
Arctic terns are the long-dis
tance fliers of the bird tribe. A
five-day-old tern branded in
Newfoundland was found two
months later 4,200 miles aw'ay
in France.
Farms in Alaska are acquired
in two ways; by homesteading
and by purchase.
NEWEST SECRETS
OF SEA ARE TOLD
BY MATHEMATICS
DRIFTS REGULATE CLIMATES
OF NATIONS; FERTILITY
SEA PRODUCTS
LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb., 4, {/Pi
Mathematics is taking over the
depths of the sea as one of its
latest fields of usefulness.
An oceanographer, sitting in
his laboratory, can plot wind
velocities, temperatures and the
amount of salt in ocean water to
map ocean currents with fair ac
curacy.
And he can predict velocities
and directions of these currents
at various depths with consider
I able certainty.
The mathematical method is
| considered especially apropriate
| for dealing with large-scale
ocean currents, especially drifts
which regulate climates of nat
ions and even continents, and
which affect the fertility of the
; sea in food products.
The ocean rivers are so huge
land complicated that complete
observations of them upon and
under the surface have been im
possible. .
Even the earth’s rotation is a
factor. It causes ocean currents
to deflect to the right in the
northern hemeisphere and to the
left in the southern hemisphere.
Today, Alaska Railroad forces
began driving the first of the
piling for the breakwater trestle,
which will extend out into the
bay for a distance of approxi
mately 600 feet.
Grading for the track from the
the \ to the quarry is practi
cally completed and the tunnels
are now in about 125 feet.
Good progress, is being made,
said M. C. Edmunds, superinten
dent, Alaska Road Commission,
who is here from his Anchorage
headquarters to meet his chief
Major Malcolm Elliott, president
o the A. R. C., who arrives from
Juneau on the SS Alameda en
route to the Interior on official
On his return from the Inter
jor Major Elliott will likely b<
a number ot days with Res
ld2 ®ngln“r ^ed Spach, Mr
Edmunds said, prior to contin
umg on south.
At the present time a prelim- j
inary examination is being con
ducted to determine the best
method for dredging operations
behind the breakwater, proper.
There are now about 35 A. R.
C. men employed on the local
project and approximately a doz
en A. Ry. men; these forces will
be augmented.
OFFICIAL HERE
Paul O. Bentley, U. S. Postal j
Inspector who has been making j
an official visit to Fairbanks and
Anchorage, is a guest at the Van
Gilder Hotel, prior to taking the
SS Alameda south.
SEME NOSE-OIIO
INTO WATER EXPLODES,
NINE MEN I.OSE LIS
PLYMOUTH, England, Feb. 4.
(/P)~Nine men of the Royal Air
force are believed to have been
lost when their seaplane went in
to a nose dive, struck the water,
and was wrecked by an explosion
and sank immediately.
Two officers and one member
of the crew were picked up by
a small boat. The survivors were
all seriously injured. Divers have
recovered one body.
Eye witnesses said that the pi
lot struck the water with too
great force evidently thinking the
plane to be higher in the air.
BITTEN 13 TIMES
PHILADELPHIA, Feb., 4, (>P)—
Douglas D. H. March, who has
been bitten 13 times, is afraid he
is getting old and must give up
his specialty as an expert on the
handling of snakes The 13th bite
came when he was demonstrat
ing how to obtain venom for the
manufacture of serum. He is re
covering, but for a time his con
dition was critical.
EXTRA’ WOMEN LESS
LONDON, Feb., 4, (/P)— En
gland's surplus of women are de
creasing. Now there are only
1.500,000 more women than men.
In 1924 there were 1,900,000.
JOBLESS III TO THE
SEA FOB uni IRK'
I
ROCKLAND, Me., Feb., 4, UP)—
So long as there are fish in the
ocean, unemployment will not
mean idleness to those who live
on the Maine coast.
Horatio D, Crie, director of
Maine’s sea and shore fisheries,
estimates there are 6,000 new
fishermen at work between Bid
deford and Eastport.
Fishing through holes in the
ice on tidal rivers, they can catch
from two to 10 pounds daily of
smelt, and sell their catch for
an average price of 25 cents per
pound.
HALF PEOPLE, 10 STATES
WASHINGTON, Feb., 4, (/Pi
Ten of the 48 states contain
more that half the population of
the country. They are New York,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Tex
as, California, Michigan, Massa
chusetts, New Jersey and Mis
souri.
Land or property outside of in
corporated towns in Alaska at
present are not subject to taxa
tion.
HOOVER IS COOL
OF HARRISON'S
REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAM
ED IF EXTRA SESSION
NECESSARY
WASHINGTON, Feb., 4, {/P)~
The compromise on negotiations
for congressional relief, are now
at a deadlock. President Hoover is
cool on the proposals for a set
tlement by Senate Republicans.
Fears of an extra session have
been revived as Watson and Me
Nary returned from a White
house conference. Neither would
discuss the perley.
They went to President Hoover
with Senator Harrison’s compro
mise making $25,000,000 available
only in the event charitable or
ganizations found it impossible
to administer relief.
Harrison said if the compro
mise was not accepted the res
ponsibility of an exVa session
will be on the Republicans.
DEED TRESSURES
OF Klim SHAH ON
THEIR FIRST DISPLAY
LONDON, Feb., 4. {£>)—Dazzling
jeweled armor and plate from
the royal treasures of the Shah
of Persia is being shown here at
the International Exhibition of
Persian art.
The jewels reputedly were part
of the loot of Nadir Shah when
he invaded India in 1724.
One piece is a golden bowl with
an emerald an inch and half
in diameter in the bottom.
Another is a necklace of solid
diamonds with pendants of rub
ies and emeralds.
These have never been seen be
fore outside Persia. They are
not, however, used by the pre
sent Shah, who does not care
for splendors of monarchs who
preceded him.
WASHINGTON SUM
VALUED IT MILLIONS
RICHMOND, Va., Feb., 4, OP)—
A fortune stands in plain view
in the Virginia capitol.
It is the Houdon statue of
Washington.
Gov. John Garland Pollard has
ascertained that collectors would
pay $5,000,000 or more for this
statue beneath the rotunda.
“But it isn’t for sale,” the Gov
ernor said.
Washington, himself, v i ewed
the work and approved it.
Captain and Mrs. Gene Mason,
of Seldovia, have been made happy
by the birth of a daughter, re
ports the Seldovia Herald.
Army vs High School
Tomorrow Nite 8 Sharp