The Wrangell sentinel., 1947-04-25
THROUGH THE SENTINEL RERISCOPE


 in Washington brought rom Inter for Secretary Krug the comment:
 The paper and pulp industry in Alaska may come sooner than We have anticipated"
 It was an optimistic statement for Alaskans and one probably clos CT to bearing fruit than any made in the last 20 years that studies, surveys and re-suryeys have been made of pulp and paper possibil-I ities ill the Territory. One ot lheI maJor reasons is the acute short age of pulp and paper. A report from Ork says that the p4 F situation all over the country isl simply shortages and more short ages A number of paper mills are shut down on account ot sulphite pulp shortages and in New York pulp commands $3O0 a ton - with no pulp available The result is of course an unpre- ct tdented demand. This, coupled with the work that has been doue by the Alaska Development Board, the Interior Department under krug and the U. $. Forest Service iE the last year and a hald is in- teresting paper interests. can bring to Alaska the industry the Ter:i- tory has been seeking for a quar- ter of a century.
 At present there are three con cerns interested in paper and pulp development One has advanced to the point where, if more flexible logging contracts can be secured than government policy has per mitted in the past, It could become an actuality in d short time. There is good reason to believe this gov ernment barrier will be removed. Interior Department, Development Board and the Forest Service are endeavoring to iron out the kinks right now. Probable locations will be Thomas Bay in the Petersburg district and Wards Cove in the Ketchikan area. Iou can expect 70 see the Thomas Bay developme It first.
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 Everything looks favorable al this time for the fishing season to go on as usual ill l947 Most of the agreements have been reached ar negotiations in Seattle and this week representatives of the sal mon industry headed by w. c. Ar mold and union officials led by John Weise, were meeting in Cor doVa in an attempt to settle the difficulties there. Agreements have been reached for Southeast Alaska. Terms had not yet been made pub lie but it was generally understood it meant wage increases all along the line as well as better prices to fishermen.
 Major fly in the fishing oint- ment at the present time was. pr1e- es on troll caught fish. There was no strike buH trollers had stopped fishing in an endeavor to get floor under fresh fish prices In Southeast Alaska ports. Prices fluctuated from port to port, rang ing anywhere from 31 cents a pound to IS. Buyers said they couldn't anticipate the market. Fishermen insisted there must beI some sort of a level, but they would go along with a falling or. rising market. Marvin Dean, r2. presenting fishermen, was making Southeaest ports this week trying to get the buyers and some of the representative fishermen together in the hopes of reaching some sori of price agreement. Fishermen mad enc strong point On the Washing ton coast prices were as high s AS cents a pound for sOckeyes. Al aska top was 31. It was pret y hard to imagine IS cents pou 10 for handling and transportation costs to Seattle.
 Territorial Board of Public Vel fare was meeting in Juneau this week. 1t had a headache. Legisla- ture had appropriated $200,00O for relief of Restitution for the bic T. nium. Two years ago it had appro- priated $30O,000 and the depar+- ment had run short $75,00O which the Legislature acknowledged m passing deficiency bills to meet t.. For the next two years the Depart ment would have $100,000 less than two years ago and people Of all kinds and descriptions wei 2 flooding into the Territory with the result the relief problem WIS growing. Welfare Board was doing some figuring and hoping for tn best.
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 Report from the Secretary of All aska's office this week revealed the recent Legislature passed a grand trro' -" 59 memorials, the largest number II Territorial history. They were addressed to 223 par-