m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. L. No. 45. NOME, ALASKA. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1948. PER COPY — 15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
KETCHIKAN, —(/P)—A 44 and
1/2 pound King Salmon, largest
qualifying fish caught in Ketchi
kan King Salmon Derby, was land
ed here Monday by Commander
Fred J. Scheiber of district Coast
Guard headquarters.
The big fish was 44 and 1/2
inches long and had a girth of
30 inches.
Decby Day will be June 6, with
a top prize of $500. Qualifying
lists opened March 1.
KETCHIKAN, — (/P)—Annette
Island Airport officials reported
yesterday that the Civil Aeronau
tics Administration had been re
quested to include funds in its
1949 budget for paving runways
nt the field.
The airport serves Ketchikan
and the surrounding areas.
KETCHIKAN. — f/P)—A Navy
contingent of 200 men will be
based at Annette Island, near here,
for summertime map and aerial
photography work, 17th Naval
District Headquarters announced
yesterday.
JUNEAU, —(/P)—Acting terri
torial governor, Uew Williams, de
nied executive clemency yesterday
to Eugene LaMoore, who had pet
itioned to have his death penalty
commuted to life imprisonment.
LaMoore, convicted of partici
pating in the murder of Jim Ellen,
Juneau grocer, on Dec., 22, 1946.
will be hanged April 30 in the
federal jail here.
Austin Nelson, who named La
Moore as his partner in the slay
ing, was executed March 1.
SPOKANE, Wn.,Police approved
the civic spirit, if not the tech
nique, shown in two reports re
ceived yesterday.
Nine gallons of paint and two
brushes were stolen from a home,
six gallons of paint and two brush
es were removed from a local
hardware store.
The city is in the midst of a
city-wide clean-up.
OLNEY. 111., —(/P) —Caroline
Stroud’s plan to free her pet dog
from the city pound was a howl
ing success.
The 13 year old girl went to
the pound after she discovered
her dog was missing. She couldn’t
find the dog catcher—so she went
in to the pound to get her pet.
The 34 other dogs locked in the
pound spotted the open gate.
They yipped and barked as they
ran to freedom.
t JUNEAU, —(/P)—Many Juneau
AFL Carpenters, on strike since
April 1, were reported today head
ed for Sitka to work on ja Native
Service hospital being constructed
there.
The strike was called by the
AFL Carpenters’ Association over
a wage dispute with the Juneau
Contractors’ Association.
The union demanded an increase
of 25 cents an hour to bring wage
scales to $2.25. The contractors i
have declined to negotiate with
the union, contending it is not
certified by the National Labor Re
lations Board.
Lewis and UMWs
Plead ‘Not Guilty’
WASHINGTON, — (/P)—John L.
Lewis and the United Mine Work
ers today pleaded innocent of con
tempt of court in the coal strike.
Their formal plea of “Not Guilty”
was made after District Judge T.
Alan Goldsborough overruled a
motion by Welly K. Hopkins, Lew
is’ attorney, to dismiss the con
tempt citation.
Hopkins cited the telegrams
Lewis sent to idle miners Monday
telling them to go back to wark.
He argued they showed Lewis
had complied with a court order
served April 5, to call off the
strike.
Lewis has insisted that he never
called a strike—that it was a “vol
untary cessation” of wark.
Immediately after Lewis pleaded
“Not Guilty,” the government be
gan presenting evidence.
Government lawyers gave out
a list of six witnesses, some of
them obviously designed to show
the seriousness of the coal strike
during the last four weeks.
Two of the four witnesses sub
poenaed were John Ownes, sec
retary - treasurer of the UMW,
and William L. P. Burke, secre
tary to trustees of the Miners’
Welfare Fund.
The walkont was the result o
a dispute over payment of pen
sions from the welfare fund. The
fund comes from a 10 cent a ton
royalty on coal mined.
Lewis’ back-to-wark order of
Monday followed an agreement
granting $100 monthly pensions to
miners over age 62. The miners
were out for a week after the
court order for Lewis to end the
strike was served.
Soft Coal Again
Pours From Tipple
PITTSBURGH, —(/P)—Soft coal
poured from the nation’s tipples
today as thousands of mines end
ed a 29-day strike by accepting
a pension agreement.
Production spurted to 75 per
cent of normal in some areas. But
the work return of 400,000 United
Mine workers was not yet gen
eral.
Some unionists declined to work
until disposal of contempt of court
charges against UMW chief John!
L. Lewis. Others awaited the re
sults of union local meetings sched
uled today.
Richardson Hiway
Opens Tomorrow
SEATTLE, —(/P)—The Richard
son Highway will open for travel
Thursday.
The Highway Gateway from
Valdez to interior Alaska will be
clear of snow and ready for traf
fic, • Robert E. Kelsey, manager
of the Valdez Dock Company, re
ported to the Alaska Steamship
Co. here today.
First perishables for highway
transit from the Alaska Steamship
Company are scheduled to leave
Seattle Saturday on the steamer
Aleutian.
Donors To Date !
For Emergency i
Hospital Fund
Further contributions Sf the
Emergency Hospital Fund:
Alaska Airlines $ 100.00
Alaska Tel and Tel 100.00
Dream Theatre 50.00
Ben F. Gillette 25.00
Gust Hansen 5.00
Archie Jones 10.00
LaWeyne Jones 10.00
Northern Light & Power 100.00
R. W. Roell 10.00
U.S.S.R. & M Co. 1,000.00
The Dream Theatre has now
given a total of $100.00 and Alaska
Airlines $125.00.
The grand total to date is now
$8,785.70.
AP SPECIAL WASHINGTON
SERVICE—
WASHINGTON. — {&) —The
House Public Works Committee
approved a bill Tuesday author
izing the construction of a seawall
at Nome, Alaska.
AP SPECIAL WASHINGTON
SERVICE—
WASHINGTON. —(>P) —Dele
gate Bartlett of Alaska said he
willvintroduce a bill today to sus
pend assessment work on Alaskan
mining claims for another year
from July 1. 1948.
The suspension has been in ef
fect since early in the war and
Bartlett said that shortage of la
; bor and high costs war rented ex
tending it another year.
ASSOCIATED REPORT ON
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
The non-communist Ittalian press
said today Russia tossed aside all
thought of a peaceful communist
victory in Italy’s elections by re
fusing to discuss a Western Power
proposal to return Trieste to the
Italians.
The Moscow radio announced
rejection of the proposed discus
sions last night. The Russians also
apparently ruled out a Yugoslav
suggestion that Italy and Yugo
slavia discuss the future of the
free territory.
The Soviet announcement came
as a blow to pro-Italians in Trieste.
Some said a scheduled demonstra
tion of 50,000 persons tomorrow
night to hail the Western proposal
may turn into an anti-Russian
show. Others said the Soviet move
was an advance acknowledgement
of a communist defeat in the Ital
ian elections Sunday and Monday.
II Messagero, rightist Rome hews
paper which has been impartial in
its news reporting on the election
campaign, said, “there is no doubt
that Christian Democracy will de
feat the Front (the. Communist
dominated front* by several
lengths.
The issue of the United States
versus Russia in the Italian cam
paign was sharpened by commun
ist blasts at U. S. ambassador
James C. Dunn.
Palmiro Togliatti, the communist
leader, filed a complaint with the
foreign ministry about “continu
ous intervention of foreign ambass
adors in the election campaign.”
Juneau Logging
Is At Standstill
JUNEAU, — </P)—The Juneau
Spruce Corporation’s mill here and
the Edna Bay logging camp on:
mained closed today in disputes
with two separate CIO unions.
General manager E. S. Hawkins
said at Ketchikan that the pros
pects of immetiate reopening of
the Edna Bay loging camp on
Prince of Wales Island were slim.
Hawkins said labor commission-!
er Henry Benson had indicated
he would enter the dispute only
if the principals agreed to have
his office mediate.
The logging works closed last
week in a labor dispute with the
International Woodworkers of Am
erica (CIO'. Hawkins said the
company refused to negotiate with
the union because it was not cer
tified by the NRLB, as required
in the Taft-Hartley Labor Act.
John Rahm, secretary-treasurer
i of the IWA local, said 40 to 50 men
j were “fired” because of union-or
I ganizing efforts at the camp. Rahm
! said Hawkins had written to him
' that “we will not tolerate any in
! terference with our operation from
; your local or any other local.”
The Juneau sawmill closed a few
days later in a union jurisdic
'tional dispute. CIO longshoremen
picketed the mill in support of
their union’s demand for juris
diction over half a dozen loading
jobs at the mill. Members of the
CIO-affiliated Sawmill Workers’
Union, which now has jurisdiction
over the loading jobs, refused to
pass the longshoremen’s picket
line.
Rep. Smith Says
Red Jet Planes
Fly Over Alaska
WATERVILLE, Me., —(A3)—U.
S. Rep. Margaret C. Smith <R
Me.) declared last night that Rus
sian jet planes “have violated
Alaskan skies.”
Mrs. Smith, member of the'
House Armed Services Committee,
made the statement in telling the
Waterville Lions Club that the
administration “has not told the
American people specifically what
are the critical threats” of the
current world situation.
“The people have not been
told,” she said, that the Russian
press and radio speak of Alaska
as a part of Russia and that jet
planes have violated Alaskn skies.”
She did not amplify.
In Washington reachable Air
Force headquarters officers, some:
of Whom had just returned from
Alaska, said that if any Russian
planes had been over the territory
they heard nothing about it.
“And we asked specifically
about it,” one of them told a re
porter.
PLANE GOES THROUGH ICE
AT SOLOMON, IS DAMAGED
William Gross, Pilot for Foster,
Flying Service, landing his plane, i
went through the ice in front of
Solomon yesterday, damaging a
wing tip and the landing gear.
He is reported to have had a
traveling salesman with him, but
the name was not reported.
U. S. Bombers Off
For German Base
WESTOVER AIR FORCE BASE,
Mass.,—</P)—One of the mightiest
fleets of U. S. Airforce bomoers
ever sent overseas took off ye*.
erday for Germany—possibly other
stops abroad.
While officials here said tiie
number of B-29s was “classifieo”
information, it was learned that
about 30 superforts make up the
fleet attached to the 15th Aii force.
The flight, longest peacetime
hop of such large numbers of B-29s
in Airforce history—was officially
described as “a routine training
mission.”
Leaving Smoky Hill Air Base
in Kansas during the night, the
fleet’s first bomber piloted by Lt.
James T. Bloyd, Jr. of Portland.,
Ore., set down here at 5:48 a.m.
and took off at 7:38 a.m. for
Goose Bay to refuel.
The other planes zoomed in at
15 minute intervals—making only
brief stopovers.
Three squadrons of the 301st
very heavy bombardment group—
the 32nd, 362nd, and 363rd—are
involved in the flight.
Planes from the 301st wing have
made similar training missions
since the end of the war to Japan,
Alaska, the Caribbean and Eur
ope.
Alaska Lumber
Shipped to States
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C.,—<£>)—
A cargo of approximately 750,000
board feet of Alaskan lumber is
expected to arrive at Prince Ru
pert today for rail shipment to the
United States, the first of a new
lumber traffic that will see an
anticipated 3,000,000 board feet
a month passing through this port
The lumber is to be shipped by
the Ketchikan Spruce Corporation
to the eastern United States by
States Steamships of Juneau. It
will be brought to Prince Rupert
from Juneau by barge and loaded
on rail cars here.
AFL Tradesmen
Halt Work For
Statehood Plea
ANCHORAGE, —f/P)—American
Federation of Labor trade union
ists halted work for an hour yes
terday to attend ceremonies at
which speakers pleaded.for state
hood for Alaska.
Four hundred persons paraded
to the federal building where
speakers argued that Alaska is
ready for statehood and that out
side interests are throttling terri
torial development.
Trade unionists halted work be
tween 11 a.m. and noon.
Ae Juneau, a special flag with
50 stars, including one each for
Alaska and Hawaii, was hoisted
at the governor’s mansion by act
ing governor Lew Williams. AFL
unions also had scheduled that
demonstration but the work stop
page there did not come off as
scheduled.