The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-03-19
ATG REQUESTING BILL GETS AXE
 FROM SENATOR'S
komeites Get in Line for Pork-Governor Set Up
 as Target Again

l -l
 Alaskas s Senate was occupied with amending the Green Shattuck Workmens Compensation Act today when the lunch bell sounded, but the Senators had previously whet- ted their capacities by richochettins their daily quota of harpoons at Gov. Ernest Gruening off Senate Bill IS, the Coffey measure designed to strip away all unspent appropria- tions of the Alaska Territorial Guard.
 With possibly unconscious irony, Nome Senator O. D. Cochran ex- tensively extolled the good done by the Guard in his Division and it's virtues in arming the town of Nome. He submitted a letter from Maj. Otto William Geist. ATG Quarter master at Nome. The Geist letter labelled misleading and unfair" an editorial originating in The Empire criticizing postwar use of a large amount of ATG funds for the pur- chase of Army buildings and erec- tion of them as supply shelters and drill quarters in remote Eskimo vil lages in and about the Bering Strait. Geist included an itemization of expenses of transporting and re- assembling the structure, including a total labor cost of $l1,0B2.15- which contained, as Senator N. R. Walker pointed out, an item of $3,- 15250 to Geist himself.
 Embarrassing Questions" Senate Bill Is sprinted through second reading without amendment and was moved ahead under sus- pended rules. At first it appeared tt.lt the measure might be voted upon without discussion, but oppon- ent Frank Gordon rose to ask if military authorities had been con- tacted for their approval of the measure. This led President Ed- ward D. Coffey to comment that he did not want to get reused up about this measure of his, because if he did, he would ask some very em- barassing questions"
 Coffey indicated what he had in mind when he questioned Cochran on the legality of a Federal official drawing per diem from Territorial funds. Coffey pointed to break down of ATG expenditures furnish ed by the Auditor, showing items of travel expense and per diem for Gov Gruening. Cochran answered that he thinks such payments legal, if for subsistence.
 Tn his plea for continuance ol the Guard, Cochran cited the good ac- complished by erection of an Army building in Nome which has been made available to the Pioneers of Alaska and as a community center. He also referred to large Army structure Geist had reported was transported to Serpentine Springs at ATG expense and made available for public use.
 Gift from Governor
 Senator Walker followed Cochran to express his views: That there is no longer need for ATG training with 18-year- youths being in- ducted into the Army; that he had seen signed letters on the desk of Anchorage Mayor John Manders showing the principal activities of at least one Guard officer to have been political rather than military; that 95 per cent of the Guard money is spent in the Second Diyi- sion, and that each Eskimo Guards man has been told the rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition furnished him is a gift from the Governor. :"
 The Ketchikan Senator declared he is confident not single Guard shot has been fired at a foreign enemy in the past four years, since Attu.
 Motion for indefinite postpone ment, made by Senator Gordon and seconded by McCutcheon, saw Sec- ond Division solons rise in defense of what Walker had termed their "rure pork" and go down the line in favor of killing the bill. Indefinite postponement was voted, Il to 5, the only may" votes coming from But rovich, Collins, Green, Rogge and Coffey Notice of reconsideration by Walker, delayed eventual dis posal of the measure until tomor- row.
 Green Shattuck Bill
 Previous to sounding off on the ATG abolishment measure, the Sem ate unanimously passed, with emer- gency clause, Senate Bill II, tech- nical legal measure by Cochran. S.. B. Il was introduced, the author said, with the endorsement of the Bar Association mad came out of his