Ubraiy Museum
Juneau, Aiagj^
"News of oAmericas Last Frontier”
VOt. 6 NO. 7
KODIAK, ALASKA APRIL 13, 1940
PRICE 10 CENTS
ia‘iitary Board Vl*»»
pernor Ca"
A joint Presidential Board of
Army and Navy officer^ visited
local Naval and Army establish
ments this week as part of a sur
vey to obtain a firsthand picture
of the postwar military needs of
1 this area.
t Consisting of 27 officers from
this and other districts, the
. board is concerned with postwar
planning and is visiting all mili
t tary establishments with a view
to obtaining data to be used in
j determining what provisions are
necessary for maintenance of ad
equate defense installations. The
> board continued to the West
ward from Kodiak.
Rumors that the board’s visit
,] presaged a re-activation of Fort
Gretly on a large scale are with
[j out basis, a local intelligence of
ficer said, stating that the sur
vey is general and will be used as
l| a basis for future plans, but that
- no commitments of any kind
have been made at this time.
District Hdqtrs. Naval Air
Base—T he Honorable Ernest H.
Grueniug, governor of Alaska,
and Lt. Gen Delos C. Emmons,
USA, commanding general, Alas
ka Department, made an infor
mal and unofficial visit Thursday
to this station.
The flight was made in an
Army B17 which took off from
Elmendorf field, Anchorage at
9:32 am and landed at the base
at 11:12 am.
The visitors were greeted by
Rear Admiral F. A. Daubin,
Capt. P. H. Fitzgerald, chief of
staff and Capt. R. R. Lyons,
commander of NAS-NOB. Knd
ak.
Admiral Daubin, as command
«r of the North Pacific Forces,
took the opportunity afforded by
the visit to confer upon Gen.
Emmons the Legion of Merit
medal awarded to Gen. Emmons
by Hear Admiral Ralph Woods
April 3, prior to the latter’s be
ing relieved of his command in
this area.
i The ceremony book place in
1 the Administration‘building in
the presence of Governor Gruen
ing, the Admiral’s staff, visiting
Army officers and other ranking
1 •flficers on the station.
Following the ceremony mem
bers of the staff and other offic
ers were presented to Gen. Em
mons and Governor Gruening.
The visitors were entertained
at luncheon by Admiral Daubin
and CaDt. R. R. Lyons.
A Legion of Merit was also
awarded to Brig. Gen. Robert
M. Bathurst, USA, as chief of
•taff to the Commanding Gen
eral by the Commander of the
North Pacific Forces. This award
was aelivered to Gen. Emmons
Red Cross Drive
Starts Monday
Once again local business pla
ces and homes will be called on
to contribute in the annual Red
Cross Drive, to be undertaken
locally beginning Monday
Mrs. Louise Coon is chairman
for the fund raising campaign
and as in the past a canvass of
volunteer workers will be con
ducted.
L. K. Wodlinger, chairman of
the local Red Cross Chapter, said
the goal for Kodiak this year is
$3500.
Election of officers of the
Chamber of Commerce and two
members of the executive com
mittee will take place May 23
Nomination of officers wiil be
made at the May 9th meeting.
Siren Violators
Issued Warning
Violations by traffic of t.he or
dinance that requires veh'des to
pull to the side of the road when
the fire siren sounds will not be
toleruted and a warning was is
sued to drivers this week by Pol
ice Chief George Magousen.
At one fire this week a coupe
cut between two fire trucks, and
at a second fire a navy vehicle
continued down the main street
directly in the path the fire truck
had to take to the scene of the
fire.
Cars must pull off until the
fire truck goes by, and cars must
not follow the trucks to the det
j riment of their work.
Storage Site
Still Hangs Fire.
Wallace George, of the Juneau
Cold Storage company, is still
extremely anxious to get under
way with their plans for a local
company, according to Lee Bet
tinger, president of the Chamber
of Commerce, who saw him in
Juneau recently.
Reporting to the Chamber
Thursday on his recent trip, Mr.
Bettinger said be also saw George
Parks, of the land office, about
the cold storage site, which is
the bottleneck in the plan’s prog
ress, and that Parks said the
area is still not officially avail
able. Mr Parks suggested that
all pressure oossible be brought
to have the land made available.
to lie conferred at a later date.
The visitors left for Anchorage
the same afternoon
Truce Seen
In Strike
Seattle (yP)—End of the labor
.sttife which has tied up Alaska
shipping botL in the Territory
and Seattle is in sight as Alaska
longshoremen and dock opera
tors agreed to arbitrate their dis
pute. A squabble over crew quar
ters and a dismissal has been
settled, Steve Glumas, north
west representative of the Inter
national Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union said.
Alaska employers have agreed
to pay $132 an hour straight
time and $1.98 an houf over
time as of April 1, pending arbi
tration.
Clifford Stevens, formerly em
ployed at the Town Club, made
a business trip to Anchorage this
week.
Contest Planned
A Chamber of Commerce-spon
sored betterment contest is being
contemplated, Dr A. Holmes
Johnson, chairman, announced
this week, with prizes to be of
fered to the best looking home
property and also for that show
ing the most improvement over
a certain period.
Dr. Johnson said full details
would be announced later.
Measles Reported
Two cases of measles brought
in on a boat, and diphtheria
cases at Unea were reported this
week by Public Heal l h Nurse
Marion Curtis.
The measle cases are under
control, she said.
Womens Society
Chooses Heads
New officers for the coming
year were installed Thursday
afternoon at the regular meeting
of the Womens Society of the
Community Baptist church, held
in the church social room.
New office-holders are: presid
ent, Mrs. P. J. Watkinson; vice
president, Mrs. A Holmes John
son; secretary-treasurer, Mrs.
Fred Miller; social chairman.
Mrs. N M. Chamberlain.
Mrs. A Holmes Johnson pre
sented the program on Afr ca.
Refreshments were served at
| the close of the afternoon by
Mrs. Morris Burnham.
Others present included Mrs.
Robert Atwood, visiting from
Anchorage; Mesdames P. J.
Watkin3on, Glen Chandler, Mil
ton Smith, John Winter, Royal
Munson, N. M. Chamberlain, G.
S. Morony, Harold Pratt, Fred
Miller, Carrie Mitchell, S. K. Al
vine, W. J. Wheeldon; aud Mis
ses Pryor and Horton.
Statehood Official Urges
Approval Of Referendum
Fishermen Vote
To Strike
Tabulation of the strike vote
taken this week by the United
Fishermen of Alaska resulted in
a show of 98 per cent of the
membership in favor of a strike
action, it was reported last night
Charles Skinner, Pat Cannon
and Tiny Cichoski returned to
Kodiak Thursday after a trip a
round the island to conduct vot
ing among fishermen in the fish
ermen strike vote resulting from
the offer of the same fish prices
as last year.
New Council
Still To Meet
Absence of a quorum prevent
ed the new council from meeting
Monday evening, but the old
council conducted the final bus
iness of their year’s work
G. VV. Bubendorf, local U. S.
Commissi mer and Welfare
Agent, appeared before the
group to urge action and recom
mendation to the governor for
appropriations to take care of
delinquent chi'aren.
The city Daid its full debt to
the school with a check for
$4382.25, and authorized the reg
ular $1200 payment to the sup
port of the public health nurse.
A petition, circulated by Olaf
Olsen, with 78 signatures, asked
that the city clerk-treasurer’s
position be filled with an exser
vice-man or woman.
In closing, outgoing Mayor O.
A. Torgerson expressed his
thanks for the services and coop
eration of the council, and wel
comed the new officers.
Winners Named
Winners in the American Es
say contest sponsored locally
with cash prizes ofiered by the
American Legion, are Katherine
Frost, $5 first; Bea Malutin, $3
second; and Billy Anderson, $2
third. I. J. NormaD, commander
of the local Post 17, awarded the
prizes
The winning essay will be
judged with others m Alaska.
Judges were G. W. Bubendorf,
William H. Olsen and William
H. Lamme.
Surplus Boats
Persons interested in surplus
boats are referred to psge 11 o
this issue, wheie a Surplus Boal
sale is advertised.
A sale of miscellaneous Surplui
Property at Fort Greely is adver
tised on page 9.
In the coming Alaska state
hood referendum in October a no
vote will postpone indefinitely
any possibility of Alaska’s be
coming a state; on the other
hand, a yes vote will not auto
matically commit Alaska to
statehood, but will merely pave
the way for setting into motion
the machinery necessary for fur
ther consideration both by Alas
kans and Congress.
Thus were the arguments in
favor of statehood emphasized
by Mrs. Evangeline Atwood,
president of the Alaska State
hood Association, of Anchorage,
in a speech Tuesday before the
local Rotary club.
The association of which she
is president, she pointed out, is
solely a fact-finding body, neither
for nor against statehood, and to
attain its objectives has hired
George Sundborg, author of
‘‘Opportunity in Alaska”, to
make a ‘1 months’ suivev of all
the aspects of statehood as ap
plying to the Territory.
Speaking, however, as a priv
ate citizen, she urged a yes vote
this fall to “give us an oppor
tunity for looking further into
the possibility of freeing our
selves from innumerable federal
bureaus and regulations ” ‘It is
hard to conceive,” Mrs. Atwood
said, how any true American,
and least of all our individualis
tic A'askans, would answer no
to the question ‘Do you favor
self government?’ ”
If the referendum should carry
it would still be years before
statehood would be reached
through passage of an enabling
act by Congress, which would
provide for a constitutional con
vention to draw up a constitu
tion to be submitted for approv
al to the vote of the people.
After Congress shows what
Alaskans can expect in the vjay
of natural resources and provi
sions for self-government, ami
after Alaskans s udy the kind of
self-government as Outlined by
i the proposed constitution, then,
the speaker said, would be the
time to consider a no vote if the
enabling act and constitution
were to be unsatisfactory.
In describing the opposition to
statehood, Mrs. Atwood said the
interest, of absentee ownership
and control, including fisheries
and fur traders and miners, are
opposing statehood as they have
done historically in the past She
cited the opposition to civil gov
ernment after the purchase of
the Territory; opposition to tire
first organic act; opposition tn
, providing a delegate to Congress
in l'.lOfi; and opposition to the
(continued on page ft)