The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-02-27

basic science bill at the insistence of Senator Frank Gordon.
 Senator McCutcheon had little luck with his legislative moves at yesterdays session. His motion to increase the old age pension in House Bill No. l6 to SIS brought a sharp reaction from Senator o. D. Cochran. The Nome Senator cut loose to the effect that one way to kill a bill is to raise its costs beyond possibilities of paying them.
 Pension Measure
 The House measure, as received by the Senate and finally passed by that body, called for an tipping of the pension maximum from s45 to S60. Senator Gordon supported the McCutcheon move with state ment that: There's no getting around it, you've got to raise taxes. A pension of SIS, or even $l00 could be paid if you Senators really wanted to- Only this morn ring you threw out the window a bill that would have raised the money
 Welfare Director Russell Maynard was called for questioning on the pension bill He testified that to pay $75 a month would require at least $10OO0O more than had been requested in the budget of his department. The sum asked for, he said, was figured to cover the raise to $60. Questions drew from him the statement that those having extra need could at present receive amounts greater than the pension limitation, even up to and beyond $75 a month. The extra money comes from the General Relief Fund, he said.
 Very few, however, receive more than the maximum, he declared. Mostly, extra payments are made 1 to elderly women. Everybody that really needs more than $45 is not now being taken care of, he said, because the method of paying from two funds is costly.
 Pleas For Bill
 Senators Andrew Nerland and Leo w. Rogge entered pleas for pas sage of the bill after it had been moved to third reading under sus- pension of the rules, without having received any amendments
 In their arguments, the two Fourth Division Senators declared that the co0 payment would be satisfactory to most of Alaska's pio- neers. they were sure; that the ih- creased pensions had been almost promised two years ago and that many of the aged really needed i that much to get by.
 Senator Allen Shattuck made the only speech and cast the only vote against, final passage. of the pension increase. All members of the Sem ate should be on the Finance Com mittee and have to watch. the costs of the Territorys Government mount up. he said. As it is, he con- tinued, the inclination is d to vote for what we would like to have In the meantime, the Territory gets in deeper and deeper as new bu- reaus are added and grow from bi- ennium to biennium. a* A Two-Mile Bridge
 The two Senate Memorials were altered by only minor amendments before being showed across to final passage under suspended rules Both carried unanimously. No. 6, by Senators Coffeyf and Grenold | Collins, is. directed to the Presi- dent, the Secretary of the Interior, and the chairmen of the two Con- gressional Committees on Terri tories. It asks the linking of AL aska's highway system by construc- tion of two-mile bridge across Turnagain Arm. near Anchorage.
 Senate Joint Memorial No. 2, by the same two Senators, is pointed at the Highway Engineer and the Territorial Board of Road Con- missioners. It asks the construction of road from the airplane land- ing field at Hot Creek, in the Bristol Bay region, to the town of Naknek. A requirement is that the inhabitants of the area first raise and deposit S25,O00 toward the es- i timated $100,O0O cost.
 Committee reports completed the Senate's business yesterday after noon. The ] Finance Committee turned out, without recommends