The Wrangell sentinel., 1947-05-23
THROUGH THE SENTINEL RERISCOPE

pOsNlDllly that the Alaska NdllNe Service headquarters, which occu- pies two floors in the Goldsteiu building, might be moved to Sitka as an alleged economy measure a5 a result of Congressional cuts in requested appropriations. ANS has been setting up quite all installa- ton at Sitka since it acquired the old Japonski Island naval base and reports were rife that it might set up general housekeeping there. Whether it would or not appeared to depend on it's ultimate appro7, priation from Congress, but some retrenchment already had been or dered The Juneau hospital ANS officials said, would be closed as of June II and no further patients are being taken. Hospital service curtailment had been ordered in other places in the Territory and it was anticipated the school pro gram would be sharply cut, leaving approximately 1,O0O native child ren without school facilities, or al the mercy of the Territory which didn't have money 10 keep open the schools the ANS proposed to close. Some of this, of course, was partly furry, evident every year about the time Congress starts working on appropriations. Accord ing to reports from Washington, actual cut in ANS funds being considered by Congressional com- mittees was somewhere betWe Il S500,000 and $900,00O Last year ANS was allotted $3,429, ,000 far which it had between 400 and 500 employees administering to the leeds of an estimated 35,O00 na- tive People in the Territory, a large portion of which take ca e Of themselves.
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 Itinerary of the Outdoor Writ CTS Association. scheduled for Al aska in August includes a trip from ketchIkan to Juneau by small boats with stops at Wran- gell, Petersburg and some good fishing streams in those Yicinitie5. The party, made up of tophano writers, will fly into Ketchikan from Seattle August 21 and will spread out from there by small boat flotilla for Southeast points. Week or so ahead of the party will come Frank Dufresne of the Fish and Wildlife Service to complete arrangements. Called the Alaskan Trek" the writers Alaskan Trek Committee are contacting arrange E,ents committees in each of the towns to be visited. In Wranaeg it will be Mayor Doris Barnes, Lew Williams Jr., editor of The Sentinel and Lee Ellis, Alaskan guide in Petersburg, Mayor Carl Veyelstad, Earl Dinner, Chairman O. the Alaska Game Commission, James Leekley of the fur farm; Hosea Sarber, Wildlife Agent and Claire Wilder, editor of the Peters burg Press.
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 With the exception of a couple Of boats out of Ketchikan, South
 
 fishing this week as this was written, while effort continued to try and get buyers to agree on floor under prices. Unless agree ment is reached shortly the M ' king run on the Stikine will be lost as the season closes at the end of the month, now approaching, until June 25.
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 Hearing on the steamship rate increase has been set by the Mari time Commission for September 8 in Seattle It appears to be mainly a gesture to the Territory which had insisted on a hearing prior 10 the rates going into effect this week. Now the increase rates are in effect. Alaskans will be paving, and they probably will continue to pay until the present government contract expires. Whatever the re- suit of the hearing in Seattle, il will be months before a decision is made. It habit of the Mari. time Commission, which actually isn't a rate fixing body, such as the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion, but rather a government ag- ency whose prime purpose is to keep the American flag flying on the seven seas. Rates are a second ary matter with the agency. AS long as the ships run it isn't 10 concerned with the tariffs
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 Reaction was setting in, par ticularly in the Westward and Are tic, over the bare necessity pro- gram recently ordered by the Board of Public Welfare due to curtailment of funds by the recent Legislature. Pensioners who had been getting between $50 and $G0