(The schedule of rates filed by Major General Gibbs are as follows:)

WASHINGTON-ALASKA MILITARY CABLE AND TELEGRAPH SYSTEM TARIFF SHEET

The rate shown in each column is in cents per word. The first column figures under each station indicate the day word rate; the second column figures the night word rate.

The minimum charge is ten times the word rate shown.

The rates on radiograms between points in Alaska and between Seattle and points in Alaska, when handled over the Signal Corps circuits or when handled over both the naval radio and Signal Corps circuits is 5 cents per word.

When one system receives the coastal charge the other receives the 5-cent charge.

The coastal station charge on radiograms via Army or Navy radio stations is 12 cents per word.

The rate on foreign radiograms and foreign cablegrams is 25 cents per word— no minimum-to which the other line rates outside of Alaska must be added. The deferred rate is one-half the regular rate. (See rule 11, Tariff Book.)

The Signal Corps charge on local traffic between Signal Corps radio stations and other line radio stations in Alaska is $0.50-5 day; $0.40-4 night. This charge will not apply when the Signal Corps or Navy receive tolls on account of through traffic.

The rate on Territorial business sent by officials of the Territory of Alaska, between points in Alaska, when handled exclusively by the Signal Corps, is onehalf the regular commercial rate, minimum 25 cents. Where the half cent appears it will be made a whole cent in favor of the Government.

The indication "TY" will be written in and transmitted as a part of the check.

Press rates

Seattle to

(Group 1). Cordova, Craig, Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Seward, Sitka, Skagway, Valdez, Wrangell..

(Group 2). Chitina, Circle, Copper Center, Fairbanks, Fort Egbert, Fort Gibbon, Fort Yukon, Grundler, Hot Springs, Little Squaw Mine, Livengood, Nulato, Ruby, Wiseman.

(Group 3). Bethel, Fortuna Ledge, Holy Cross, Iditarod, Kotzebue, Nome, St. Michael, Tacotna....

Senator WAGNER. That is really by Government aid; the communication service maintained is really by Government aid in that community?

Major General GIBBS. Yes, sir. If you go up to Alaska you will find that there is not a department of Government that is represented up there that is not doing the same thing. I think you will find that the Department of Justice up there is run at a very considerable expense to the Government.

Senator DILL. Yes; and the railroads also at a terrible expense. Major General GIBBS. Yes; with no return.

Senator BROOKHART. Is the Government service you perform free? Do you charge the Government anything?

Major General GIBBS. We handle the message matter for all branches of the Federal Government for nothing.

Senator BROOKHART. And if they were paid at the rates you charge the others, what would that amount to?

Major General GIBBS. Well, this last year the Alaskan system did the following business: Commercial, $291,419; and Government, $175,342, making a total or gross business of $466,762.

Senator BROOKHART. Should not that be added in, really, to this $101,000 of profit?

Major General GIBBS. That has been taken in.

Senator BROOKHART. That was already taken on?

Major General GIBBS. That was in; yes, sir.

Senator BROOKHART. I see.

Major General GIBBS. In other words, that was added into the gross receipts.

Senator DILL. I want to ask this question: The commission grants short wave licenses for short periods to the Alaska cannery interests that go up in the bays and different parts of the Alaskan waters for the summer. Do they use the Army system or the Signal Corps system to communicate back to the States, or do they communicate directly?

Major General GIBBS. Senator, every yellow dot on that map is a cannery [referring to map exhibited to committee].

Senator DILL. I see.

Major General GIBBS. You will find here in southwestern Alaska about 40.

Senator DILL. Yes.

Major General GIBBS. And you will find in southeastern Alaska about 40 canneries. These in southwestern Alaska are open only about 90 days a year; these in southeastern Alaska are open about 120 days. They take their radio operators, as they do the rest of their employees, and open up the cannery. We have established in the Bristol Bay region a station; and in the Aleutian Islands region another; another at Ketchikan. The Navy maintains a similar station at Kodiak, and thus all that cannery business is picked up, and in our case it is fed into the terminal of the cable at Ketchikan, and handled through that new cable.

Senator DILL. How much cooperation is there between the Army and the Navy in Alaska?

Major General GIBBS. The Navy collects the business in the region of Kodiak, and may deliver it to us at Seward, or may send it over their radio circuit from Cordova. Their facilities are limited

in capacity and they do, at times when they can not handle all the traffic, transmit some of it over to the Army station at Seward, and it is sent down over the cable.

Senator DILL. This red line drawn from southeastern Alaska indicates that this station communicates direct to Seattle, does it not?

Major General GIBBS. Those three lines that you see are experimental radio circuits to determine what wave lengths to use, and so forth, when the day comes that we shall put in radio sets to supplement the cable.

Senator DILL. I see.

Major General GIBBS. And I will say likewise that during the times when the cable has been interrupted which, in recent years since the new cable was laid, has not been frequent, then the only means of reaching the States from Alaska has been over the Navy coastal chain here [indicating], and the Signal Corps business has been transferred at such times to the Navy station to handle to Bremerton. Senator DILL. Let me ask you this question: The law as now written provides that the President has the right to select such frequencies as may be desired for the Army. How has that worked out from the standpoint of the Army and the commission? Has it been satisfactory, or not?

Major General GIBBS. The Radio Commission, I suppose you

mean?

Senator DILL. Yes; the Radio Commission.

Major General GIBBS. Senator, the Radio Commission has had nothing whatsoever to do with the assignment of frequency channels for Federal activities.

Senator DILL. I understand that. But the law gives the President the power to select such frequencies as may be desired.

Major General GIBBS. Yes, sir.

Senator DILL. I suppose that is done somewhat after consultation between the officers of the Radio Commission and the Signal Corps? Major General GIBBS. The Radio Commission was representedSenator DILL (interposing). That is what I mean.

Major General GIBBS (continuing). With one representative only on the interdepartmental radio advisory committee, which is a creature of the Department of Commerce. The President, when he wished to set aside frequency channels for Federal activities, proceeded in this manner: He requested the Secretary of Commerce to advise him what channels should be set aside for the Federal Government.

Senator DILL. Of course, what happens is that this interdepartmental commission determines what they want, and then report to the President; he does not take the initiative.

Major General GIBBS. The interdepartmental advisory committee get up their recommendations and submit them to the Secretary of Commerce.

Senator DILL. And then he submits them to the President?

Major General GIBBS. He submits it in whatever form he chooses, to the President.

Senator BROOKHART. How does this line in Alaska compare for reliability with the wire services?

Major General GIBBS. I think we can safely say that as a communication service it is one of the best you will find anywhere in the world,