The Daily Alaska empire., 1940-08-28
TIME, NEWSWEEk B0TH REPORT ON
 ALASKA DEFENSE
Articles on Territory Alp. pear This Week in
 News Magazines

Both of Americas leading news magazines, Time" and 'NewsWeek, y this week carry articles about Al aska.
 That in Time" titled Flying Field for Arcadia" and accompanied by photograph of Metlakatlans singing in a church choir, is as follows:
 Little but sturdy is the village of Metlakatla on rugged Annette Island in Alaska's Panhandle, $50 miles nor t h of Seattle. Religion started Metlakatla, and religion has kept it going. In 1887 a Church ci England missionary named William Duncan and a band of Tsimshian Indians, harried by differences with the Canadian Government and the Established Church, left their CO., operative village in British Columbia and settled on Annette Island in U. s. territory Four years later an act of Congress gave them the land for their own. Today, in their fish cries and canneries, Metlakatla's 466 inhabitants make an average com munity profit of around $80000 a year. Every male Metlakatlan owns store clothes. gets barbershop hair cuts. Most of them own their own motorboats (value $2,000 to $20,000) The villagers get power from the community hydroelectric plant, re- creation in the community's $60,000 public hall, where Metlakatlas CO., piece band sometimes plays of an eve ming. On Sundays Metlatkatlans go to their shining white churches (one Duncanite, one Presbyterian, sing and priase the Lord for heir happy lot.
 Few weeks ago grateful Metla- katlans saw a chance to repay the U. s. for fayors received (which do not include relief) The U s. Army Air Corps had set it's eye on Annette Island for flying base, as part of it's plan for the fortification of Al aska Crime, Aug 5. Promptly the followers of good Father Duncan voted to invite the Army on to their reservation, where until 20 years ago no white man was allowed to land
 Last week Annette Islanders pre- pared to be host to more than 400 of them for a long time to come Most of the guests will be youngsters of CCC, scheduled to sail this week from Seattle on the Army transport Leonard Wood, with 2 detachment of Army engineers and technicians of the U. s. Forest Service. Their as- signment: to clear and drain an Air Corps flying field on the swampy, flat west arm of Annette Islands reservation
 Under the heading "Russia's AL aska Threat" the piece in News week" is as follows:
 Forget those scare stories about 'menaeing Soviet military and naval activity in the Bering Strait area and Big Domede Island. The fact is that the Russian planes, pilots and crews on Big Diomede were sent by Moscow's weather and naviga- ton bureaus and have no connection with the war commissariat. They are there for the purpose of finding an ice-free rout te to Vladivostok from Archangel and Linengrad, and are busy making year-round obser- vations of wind currents, tempera- lures, and the mean-average inter vals of ice-free conditions. Tn any case, U S. military experts say Alaska, denuded as it is of fortifica- tions, would be easy to defend against any attack from Big Dio- mede, which is hundreds of miles from it's supply sources. Also, first hand information indicates there's nothing to reports of Soviet naval preparations in the region around the Komandorskie Islands"