MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOLUME XXVIII. NUMBER 67. SEWARD, ALASKA, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 1932. PRICE TEN CENTS
ALASKA FARM EXPERIMENT
STATIONS ESSENTIAL FACTORS
IN GROWTH OF TERRITORY
Gateway subscribers have written asking of what value to Alaska
is the Matanuska Experimental Station? Some criticism has been made
to the effect that the stations have been established for a number of
years without bringing forth results
Such criticism does not take into consideration the stations in every
instance have gone into the wilderness, cleared land, erected buildings,
procured equipment, and personnel, on limited appropriations.
t.iip
> The average appropriation or the
experiment stations for the 35 years
ending 1931, is $44,771.00 per year
from which stations have been es
tablished at Sitka, Copper Center,
Rampart, Kenai, Kodiak Faribanks
and Matanuska. Shifts in popu
lation, industry and transportation
facilities have made it advisable to
abandon all of these stations for
the present except Sitka and Mat
anuska.
Two locations, Kenai and Copper
Center, were found to be unsuit
able for general agriculture b e
cause of frost and precipitation
conditions and were abandoned for
that reason. Matanuska, the sta
tion now under consideration for
abandonment, was established 16
years ago. Two hundred acres of
land have been cleared from a vir
gin stand of timber. One hundred
thousand dollars worth of perma
nent buildings that would be a
credit to any State have been erect
ed. The past two years, only, have
been largely devoted to experi
mental effort, though there are a
; few experiments initiated five and
! six years ago.
The station is now complete. The
last of the buildings of the build
program were completed in Aug
ust 1931. Complete buildings are
erected to fill the needs of the
work for the next 30 years; a full
complement of equipment and ex
pert personnel is on the ground to
pursue the numerous problems.
The real value of the experiment
station lies not in a commercial
effort but in making experimental
determinations which individual
farmers cannot afford to do. For
instance, the work of the experi
ment stations have more than jus
tified their cost to date in the fol
lowing:
1. The production of a hardy
hulless barley which alone is worth
thousands of dollars to settlers,
and in time, will be worth more
to the Territory than the total cost
of the operation of the station to
date.
2. The production of a super
ior strawberry and a hardy rasp
berry is of great value and its worth
should not be minimized.
3. The successful introduction of
a hardy spring wheat of superior
milling qualities has laid the foun
dation for a sizeable industry when
the population and economic con
ditions warrant expansion in that
direction.
4. The breeding of a hardy dairy
animal, an experiment now some
17 years old, has produced individ
uals superior for Alaska in quality
and hardness to any of the com
monly used dairy breeds. There
remains to be done the fixing of
the type, the most important part
of the work, requiring a singleness
oi purpose, a comprehensive know
ledge of genetics and livestock
breeding, and the eye of an ex
pert to bring the work to an early
and successful conclusion, all re
quirement beyond the average
farmer, it is estimated that the
station could, if permitted to do
so, accomplish in the next 20 years
what will occur with the abandon
ment of this project by the gov
ernment in the next 150 years of
community breeding in establish
ing a breed suitable for the region.
In this connection, dairying ranks
very high as a factor of prosperity
in all of the more civilized and
thickly populated regions of the
world, and that all of the regions
have produced a dairy animal pe
culiarly suited to their needs be
fore their greatest prosperity was
realized.
To mention a few of the accept
ed dairy breeds: the Jersey on the
[sle of Jersey in the English Chan
nel, the Ayershire in Scotland, the
Brown Swiss in Switzerland, the
Holstein in The Netherlands, and
breeds in many other sections have
(Please turn to Page Four)
FLOOD DANGER FROM
MINS IN MOIST
REPORTED SUBSIDING
PORTLAND, Ore., March 21, —
Considerable relief was experienced
here over the week-end as a ces
sation of th steady rainfall Satur
day began to remove danger of
floods throughout this state and
Washington, Idaho and Montana.
A number of lives are known to
have been lost due to high waters
and one lad was drowned in Port
land when he fell into a swollen
river. His body was carried eleven
blocks before it could be recov
ered.
In Montana, an engine of a pas
senger train plunged off the end
of a washed out bridge and the
fireman and engineer were both
killed. None of the passengers on
this train were injured.
Although cessation of rainfall re
lieved the situation the melting
snows still cause rivers to stray
from river banks and threatens
lives and property in many sections
throughout the northwest states.
WASHINGTON, D. C-, March 21,!
—President Hoover i n a formal j
statement issued Saturday declar- ■
ed that the railroads of the Unit
ed States are in a much better con- i
dition than is generally believed, j
He also said that he was of the
opinion that banks would carry
railroad notes in a normal way and
that it would not be necessary for
the recently created huge federel
reconstruction finance corporation
to extend aid to the nation’s car
riers. ■*
Hoover held a conference with
a number o f the nation’s chief
railroad executives last week, and
the meeting adjourned last Friday.
The subject of the conference was
not made public.
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
PROGRESS SMOOTHLY
SHANGHAI, March 21, —Satis
factory progress was made in the
peace negotiations here and an
early settlement of the differences
between the Japanese and Chinese.
According to th peace plans the
hostilities are to be completely
stopped in the Shanghai area and
the Chinese troops are not to ad
vance upon the city. The Japanese
are to retire, with their forces, to
the International settlement.
Foreign representatives are t o
supervise the withdrawal of armed
forces and see that the terms of
the peace treaty are carried out
to the satisfaction of both factions.
DARROW LEAVES
SAN FRANCISCO, March 21, —
Clarence Darrow, noted criminal
lawyer of the United States, ac
companied by Mrs. Darrow, sailed
from here for Honolulu Saturday.
Darrow will defend Mrs. Grace
Fortescue and her three co-defen
dants against a murder charge in
the infamous Honolulu “honor
slaying case.” Darrow was plied
with questions regarding defense
plans but the only revelation made
was he planned a surprise defense.
VESSELS ORDERED HOME
WASHINGTON, D. C , Mar. 21.—
The Navy Department ordered 13
vessels home from Shanghai.
* * * *
WRITER COLAPSES
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 21.—Fran
ces Marian, scenario writer, col
lapsed here yesterday from over
work and is seriously ill.
* # * *
ZEP ON LONG FLIGHT
BARCELONA, Spain, Mar. 21. (/P)
—The dirigible Graf Zeppelin left
Friedrichshafen on a non-stop
flight to Pernambuco, Brazil, and
passed over here at 6 a. m.
* * * *
FASCISM IN JAPAN
TOKYO, Mar. 21.—Japan is on
the verge of Fascism but has no
strong man to take the leadership
for fear of the many complexes.
* * * «
ALMOST BIG ENOUGH
WASHINGTON, D. C„ Mar. 21
(/P) — President Hoover signed the
bill adding 246,693 acres to McKin
ley National Park.
* * * *
REACHED 88 SUNDAY
SANTE DALLES, Calif., Mar. 21
—Capt. Robert Doller, 88 years oi
age Sunday, was the recipient oi
congratulations from friends all
over the world.
* * * *
SPRING HAS ‘CAME’
' LOS ANGELES, Mar. 21.—Sun
day’s rain and wind storm brought
spring to this city but death to one,
who was drowned. Many small
: boats were lost.
* * * *
NEW TENNIS CHAMP
NEW YORK, Mar. 21. (A3)—Greg
ory Mangin of Newark, ranked No
11 nationally, defeated Frank
Shields of New York, No. 3, for the
National Indoor Tennis champion
ship, 10-8, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
* * * *
BIG NEW PROJECT
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 21.—Work
has begun on the $3,500,000 new
Los Angeles gas electric generating
station. From 200 to 300 men will
be employed on the project which
will take 18 months to complete.
* * * *
MILLION FOR MILLION
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 21.—Henry
I Steven, 34-year-old head of the
American Legion, arrived here on
his task of finding a million jobs
for a million unemployed men and
women.
* * * *
ANOTHER FOUND DEAD
ARCADIA, Calif., Mar. 21.—C. D.
Longleg, Indian lore author, was
found dead Sunday. A 45-calibre
pistol was found beside him and it
is thought he took his own life.
* * * *
NOT A CLUE LEFT
HOPEWELL, N. J., Mar. 21.—All
new clues in the Lindbergh baby
kidnapping case folded up Sunday
and joined the others. The man
arrested while crawling through a
window in a nearby farm house
was just a plain burglar and has
nothing to do with the case.
* * * *
THE PLOT THICKENS
ABERDEEN, Wash., Mar. 21.—T.
Brown has got a real problem to
fathom. He is wondering how a
100-pound box of coal happened
to be buried on a beach where he
was digging clams- Also, how come
a live clam to be imbedded in the
center of one of the largest chunks.
* * * *
MAYOR-ELECT BUSY
SEATTLE, Mar. 21.—Mayor-elect
John Dore will appear in court
twice today. The first in an at
tempt to prevent the street car su
perintendent putting new trolley
cars into general service. The sec
ond, in an effort to oust Mayor
Harlan from office before his term
is up.
* * * *
ROBBERS WRECK TRAIN
MEXICO CITY, Mar. 21.—Word
reaching here from the Mexican
National Railway train, which was
enroute to Mexico City from the
north, said that the train had been
wrecked by robbers at a place near
Laredo and that two trainmen had
been killed. The bandits attempt
ed to loot the train but were driven
off by the armed guards which ac
company the Mexican railway
trains. One of the robbers was
killed.
REPRESENTATIVE SAYS U. S. IS
RIGHT UP AGAINST
COMMUNISM
WASHINGTON, D. C., Mar. 21.—
The House ran riot with the billion
dollar tax bill again Saturday in
one of the most unruly sessions in
the history of American Congress.
Passionate words and gestures in
the movement to tax wealth created
| such excitement on the floor that
| the leaders halted the session in
j mid-afternoon and adjourned over
the week-end to let members cool
off.
The turbulent end of a three
hour session found the rank and
file still in possession of the bill
despite resounding admonitions of
: Democratic Floor Leader Rainey
I that “there is only one more step
you can take, and that is the step
| they took in Russia.”
To eliminate all wealth, Rainey
and other leaders were aroused by
a third decisive blow delivered to
| their bill. They fought vigorously
but futilely to prevent the adoption
of an amendment which will pre
vent Henry Ford and other large
bankers, and industrialists with
branches abroad, from deducting
their foreign taxes from the tax
they owe here.
On the first vote, the amendment
was adopted with an overwhelming
shout of approval. Leaders called
for a division and it showed 181
to 117 against them in favor of the
amendment. A teller vote showed
139 to 103 favoring the amendment.
The vote came after a spirited
debate in which an exchange of
blows seemed at times to be the
next logical step.
“You are bringing about a time
where government must take over
banks, railroads and land,” Rainey
shouted in despair. “We are right
up against Communism. You have
taken longer steps in the direction
of Communism than any nation
| but Russia.”
Representative Fulbright, Demo
j crat from Missouri, accused his
i leaders of following Secretary of
the Treasury Mills. “When Demo
crats put money first and human
ity second,” he shouted, “then I
will no longer be a Democrat.”
Representative McCormick, Dem
' ocrat from Massachusetts, ran back
i and forth in 40-foot semi-circles,
1 exhorting the House after the man
! ner of an evangelist. He said mem
bers were proceeding towards Com
munism. He cautioned them against
their “savage attacks on wealth.”
Developments during the day in-,
eluded an announcement by oppo
sition leader LaGuardia, Republi
can from New York, that he would
propose a tax of one quarter of
one per cent on all transactions on
stock exchanges in the United
States. This measure would have
raised-* $125,000,000 in revenue on
the basis of last year’s transactions.
In a last minute effort to save
the sales tax, a special sub-com
mittee voted numerous exemptions
from the import, chiefly on food
products, including malt syrups
used in bread making, grape juices,
ice cream, malted milk and lard
and sausage. Taxes on radio, leas
ed wires, and liquid spray for fruit
tress were lifted.
MOTHER’S INSTINCT
CARNATION, Wash., Mar. 21.—
A mother, happening to glance up
the mountainside just beyond her
home, thought she saw the moun
tain move. Dashing out of the
home she frantically called to her
two boys, aged 8 and 11 years, who
were playing in the nearby river, to
run to her quickly. They did and
not a moment too soon for thous
ands of tons of the mountainside
roared down over the identical spot
they had left.
ELIMINATE PARALLEL BARS
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 21.—There
will be no more parallel bars in the
public or school grounds of Los
Angeles. It has been found child
ren are more apt to be hurt falling
from parallel bars than any other
apparatus for the children.
NOME DOG DERBY
NOME, Mar. 21. (/P)—The Borden
marathon dog race results were:
Ernest Buckmaster won, his time
being two hours and seven minutes;
Harold Iutok, a native, was second,
12 minutes behind; Ed Rohn was
third. The race was run under
favorable conditions but failed to
threaten Fred Ayer’s record.
CROOKS STRIP JEWELRY
STORE OF VALUABLES
AND VANISjMN CROWD
LOS ANGELES, March 21,—
i Robbers entered a Los Angeles jew
elry store Saturday night, stripped
the store of most of its valuables,
and escaped with loot estimated to
be worth $60,000.
The robbers, two of them, walked
into the store during broad after
noon, while scores of pedestrians
walked by the shop windows and
calmly held up the manager and
his clerk, tying them up with or
dinary twine. Rubber balls were
stuck in their mouths as gags.
With the manager and clerk out
of the way the robbers proceeded
to strip the store—taking every
thing of value—and then walked
out and were lost in the crowd of
people which thronged the avenue.
STRAINING ON LEASH
HARBIN, Manchuria, March 21,
—Reports from principle centers in
this Far East land indicates that
the relations between Japan and
Russia are strained and that war
fare is a real possibility. Observers
say tat any aggression on the part
of either side may flare into war.
BEAUTIFUL FUNERAL
SERVICE RELD SUNDAV
FOR MRS. SULLIVAN
Deep sympathy and pangs of sor
row were manifest by each of the
many local residents attending the
funeral service Sunday for Mrs. R.
D. Sullivan, dearly beloved wife,
i mother and gracious friend, whose
sudden passing last week is deeply
mourned.
A great profusion of lovely flow
ers surrounded the beautiful casket
in which lay peacefully—eternally
silent—all that remained of what
was, a few short days ago, a happy
and tender mother.
Through Rev. E. E. Reisner, the
eyes of the assemblage were closed
to the things of the earth, and op
ened to the glories of heaven; the
reward which the departed has
won.
The solemn harmony of three
voices, that of Miss Edith Neece,
A. R. Roberts and P. C. McMullen,
accompanied by Miss Edith Kaem
mer at the piano, was rendered
impressively with deep feeling.
Pallbearers were W. R. Shell
horn, E. L. Sweek, L. Hopkins, G.
Manthey, E. Swetmann and T.
Neville.
Following the bereaved family
from the Community Church to the
Seward cemetery, autos filled with
mourners joined the cortege.
There, with Nature on the verge
of exquisite springtime hymns, in
a valley beneath cathedral-like
mountain peaks, last rites were held
and the departed laid to final rest.
JAPANESE ARMY MEN
PLAN PSGIFIC FLIGHT
TOKYO, Mar. 21. (JF)—Japanese
army officers, Captain V. Nagoya
and Sergeant K. Ashai, announced
Sunday they would attempt to fly
the Pacific Ocean within the next
30 days, hoping to win the $25,000
prize offered by the Tokyo news
paper Hochi Shimbun.
Nagoya will pilot with Ashai as
navigator. They are testing a two
seater here and will take off in two
or three weeks.
Their destination on the Pacific
Coast was not announced.
It is estimated there are 165 un
employed in Juneau.
TRI-MOTQREO PLANE
STRUCK HIGH TENSION
WIRES AND CRASHED
LOS ANGELES, March 21, —A
tri-motered airplane enroute from
Dallas, Texas to Los Angeles, Sat
urday struck high tension wires
near Redlands, Calif., and the ship
crashed to earth. The airplane was
immediately enveloped in flames.
When rescuers arrived at the
scene of the crash and the burning
plane they found four bodies in
or close to the burning ship. A fifth
man was found within a few yards
of the plane with a fractured skull.
This latter man was rushed to the
hospital at once but no hope is
held for his recovery.
The plane was an American Air
ways ship and this company’s re
cords at Dallas show that there
were five passengers and two pil
ots who were in the ship when it
took off for Los Angeles. Two of
the plane’s occupants are therefor,
unaccoun'r ’ for.
The bodies of the four persons
found in the plane were burned so
badly that recognition was impos
sibe.
BEER IS URGED FOR
1 TEMPERANCE AND FARM
RELIEF: ALSO REVENUE
i
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 21,
—Four per cent beer was urged
upon Congress by members of the
Wet bloc, as a means of temper -
I ance, revenue and farm relief. The
measure, which has both support
ers and opponents, provides for
about one billion dollars of reve
nue for the treasury, it was said
by its supporters.
Supporters of the measure also
declared that the American youth
| of today, because of national pro
hibition and especially prohibition
, of beer, was forming dangerous
! habits in the drinking of hard liq
! uors.
In a majority report favoring
I legislation of beer, Senators Met
I calf, Republican of Rhode Island,
i and Bulkley, Democrat of Ohio, of
fered beer to the country as a way
of raising the maximum of $1,100,
000,000 of revenue that would in
no way work a hardship on Ameri
can people. The report estimated
that a tax of two cents per pint
would result in a revenue of $347,
000,000 to $700,000,000 annually and
also enrich the farmers.
CONGRESS INSURGENTS
WARNED PERILOUSLY
CLOSE COMMUNISM
WASHINGTON, D. C., Mar. 21.
(/P)—Democratic leaders are trying
to win back the members who Sat
urday launched a hurried and near
panicky adjournment to fight over
the revenue bill because of the de
termined opposition to the sales
tax of the insurgent Republican
and Democratic groups.
The Ways and Means Committee
planned amendments to take vir
tually all the foodstuffs and few
other commodities off the last of
manufacturers tax.
The weekend truce continues to
day. The bill will be taken up
again tomorrow, bringing up the
sales tax immediately.
The insurgents who carried the
amendments calling for unsurpass
ed taxes on the biggest incomes
and fortunes, were warned by
Democratic Leader Rainey they
were coming perilously close to
Communism.
NO WORD OF BABY
HOPEWELL, N. J., Mar. 21. (/P)—
No word has been heard of the
Lindbergh baby though telephone
lines continue to buzz, reporting
babies looking like the stolen child.
Mrs. Lindbergh frequently .takes
the calls, questioning the callers
closely but all such leads have
proved false.