The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-07-18
TIMBER BILL SNACGED BY
 SEN. LANCER
Support for Measure Con- verging on Cdpitol-
 Iekes Barking Again

Support for Senate Joint Reso- lution 118 was converging on the National Capitol today from Southeast Alaska points, while the necessity for mastering all forces if the bill is to pass at this ses- sion of Congress was made more actue when Senator William Lang CT (R-North Dakota) objected to placement of the measure on the unanimous consent calendar.
 Langer' opposition is regarded as a surprise development, as he had not previously entered into discussion of that legislation con- sidered essential to development of an Alaskan pulp industry. A place on the Senate's consent call endar would almost have insured passage of the measure as a prac- tically identical resolution already has been approved by the House of Representatives
 Now the fight fer passage is be- ing carried to the Senate Rules Committee, in endeavor to get the measure spotted on the regular calendar during next week, the final week of the session.
 Encouragement for the bills ad- vocates is being drawn from Cap itol reports that Senator Robert Taft R-Ohio), majority strategy leader. and Senator Harry Cain
 fR- R-Washington) are sufficiently interested in the bill to seek it's placement on the regular calendar.
 To personally answer statements of Indian spokesmen who recently appeared against the bill before Congress, three representatives of Southeast Alaska business and in- dustry are due in Washington, D. c. today. Representing the Ket- chikan Chamber of Commerce, that body's President Robert L. Jernberg and Ketchikan bank CT William Bates were to arrive on Capitol Hill this morning with Juneau Chamber of Commerce representative Norman Banfield due later in the day from Port land. They will strive to over come the impression created by the Indian objections to the mea- sure, which permits immediate sale of Tongass National Forest pulp timber stumpage in large tracts, with revenues held in escrow until final determination of Indian title claims.
 In addition to speaking for the Juneau Chamber, Banfield has also been given authority to represent other Southeast Alaska commun- ities and it is expected that the Juneau City Council will endorse his efforts at it's meeting to- night.
 Harold L. Ickes, whose endorse ment of Indian possessory rights while Secretary of the Interior, is the basis for present opposition the measure, is re- ported from Washington to be ac- tive in opposing SUR 1l8.
 Other recent developments are:
 Members of the Ketchikan Chamber are individually urging Senator Langer to change his stand and that body has called upon Chambers in other cities to back them up.
 The wired reply of the Juneau Chamber to the Indians statement has been inserted in the Congress ional Record by Senator Hugh Butler, Chairman of the Public Lands Committee, and
 Locally other support for the bill is being rallied to flood wires into Washington, seeking the ac- tive backing of all Western Con- gressmen for the measure and stressing it's economic importance to all Alaskans including the In- dians as well as pointing up that the resolution would have no ef-l feet upon the validity of Indian