_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LI. No. U. NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1949_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
^ NEW YORK, (ZP)—Big tips are
not unusual at the plush Stork
Club but the one bartender Tho
mas Fioretti got Friday took his
breath away.
It was a shiny, 1948 Cadillac
cabriolet, gift of an out-of-town
autonobile dealer whose name j
Fioretti decline 1 to disclose.
The bartender said he had
known his benefactor for four and
a half years. During htat time he
did him a number of favors, in
* eluding getting hotel reservations
for him whenever he visited New
York.
FAIRBANKS, (/P)—The Alaska
Command and the junior chamber
of commerce formed a liaison
committee Saturday to investigate
asserted immoral conditions here.
R. V. Carver of the command’s
A. inspector general’s office, spoke to
the group Friday, asking coorepa
tion fo civic minded citizens.
OTTAWA, (VP) — There was a
lifting of eyebrows among veteran
sourdoughs Friday when promot
ers of the Ottawa winter carnival
announced that a woman had en
tered the 90-mile international dog
derby here next month.
She is Mrs. Louise Lombard of
Auburndale, Mass., who will drive
a team of Alaskan malemutes in
^ the three-day grind which starts
Feb. 15. One of her opponents will
be her husband, Dr. Roland Lom
bard, holder of he world’s speed
record for dog-sled racing.
—
PHILADELPHIA, <VP) — Richie
Ashburn, brilliant young Philadel- j
phia Phillies outfielder, has re- :
^ turned hi scontract unsigned.
f Ashburn, who arrived from his j
Tilden, Neb., home to attend the1
Philadelphia sports writers’ dinner !
Monday, said the club had offered
him $7,500 for 1949 bue he was
J
going to ask for $12,000.
.The former Anchorage. Alaska. |
player said he got $5,000 last year.
—
FAIRBANKS, (/P>—Lt. Margar- j
et C. Flynn of Philadelphia is the
first woman ever known to fly
t
over the North Pole.
Lieutenant Flynn, an air force
nurse who had been in Alaska ,
only a week, was disclosed to have
made the trip over the top of the
world Wednesday in a B-50 mak
ing a routine winter training
flight.
She is now eligible for the “Or
der of Polaris.” “It’s something to
remember all my life,” she de
► dared on her return.
Her home is in Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON (/P)__Herbert Hp
over urged today that Congress
give the president power to reor
ganize the government to the j
point that fewer than 20 major
agencies report directly to the
White House
There are now 1800 bureaus,
commissions,divisions,departments
administrations and offices in the
federal government, hoover said
^ opinions vary as to whether the
number reporting directly to the
president-is 65, 94, or 101.
The former president'srecomm
endations <none yet in specific
■Hi/’ n mri
internation'l News
At A Glance —
Saturday, January 29, 1949
<By The Associated Press)
Foreign ministers of the five
Brussels Alliance states have
agreed to set up a “council of Eu
rope" with a fledgling cabinet and
an advisory parliament.
Details are to be worked out by
a permanent commission of the
five nations—Britain, France, Bel
gium. the Netherlands and Lux
embourg. Other European coun
tries will be asked to help estab
lish the council, with the first in
vitation expected to go to Italy.
The Council of Eupore will be
divided into two sections: a minis
terial committee, which will be a
kind of cabinet with limited pow
ers. and a consultative assembly,
which would be in the form of a
parliament but with only advisory
authority.
Agreement on establishment of
the Council was announced Friday
in London. Washington officials
hailed the development and point
ed out that promotion of European
unity has been a major objective
(Continued on Page Two)
Prices Of Stapl es
Drop In States
(By The Associated Press)
The cost of seven staple food
items in 13 cities across the nation
has dropped an average of 9.7 per
cent from the level of a year ago,
an Associated Press survey shows.
Women’s cotton house dresses
are down an average of 24.5 per
cent and their nylon stockings are
15.3 per cent under the retail
prices of a year ago.
The men are paying about 7.5
per cent less for shirts, but men’s
and women’s suits cost about the
same as they did in January, 1948. j
Those are overall figures for;
the entire list of items in all 13
cities.
The residents of San Francisco
weren’t quite that lucky. The price
of food items checked there show-1
ed an overall increase of about
one-half of one per cent.
And a quart of milk was the
only one of the staple food items
that was higher priced generally.
detail* were contained in a statem
ent prepared for the house com-,
mittee on executive expenditures J
This committee is conducting he
arings on an administration bill
granting perminant and sweeping
reorganizing powers to the chief
executave.
SHANGHAI, f/P)_At least 24
crewmen were feared lost today
in the second collision of Chinese
ships in five days off the fog bou
nd coast.
The Masbate, a 742-ton coastal j
ship, went down 370 miles south ;
of Shanghai after colliding with
the steamer Hsianghsing.
The Masbate carried a crew of
47 Chinese, plus a Portuguese cap
tain,her owners, Jeb Shun Ship
pingfl Company of Hong Kong re
ported. I
More Govt. Funds
Available For
Blizzard Relief
♦
<Bv The Associated Press'
More federal funds were on the
way to the storm-stricken western
state* Saturday, but new snow and
cold weather delayed relief opera
tions in some areas.
Nebraska, one of the states
which suffered staggering blows
from the early January blizzards,
was in.the path of the new cold
wave that extended over the cen
tral section of the country. The be
low zero temperatures followed
heavy falls of snow which have
seriously disrupted releif opera
tions.
However, there were no fresh
falls of heavy snow over the snow
bound western disaster area where
millions of cattle and sheep are
stranded and facing starvation.
Relief operations continued unin
terrupted in most of the Rocky
Continued on Page Three
To Make Study Of
Alaska Water
Transportation
An independent and informal
study of the Alaska water trans
portation situation is to be made
for the guidance of the Interior
Department by Carlton Skinner,
specia lassistant to Secretary J. A.
Krug, according to word received
in Juneau by the Alaska Develop
ment Board.
Skinner, formerly on the staff;
of the,U. S. maritime commission,
will visit the Territory within the j
next ten days. He hopes to visit!
Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg,
Juneau, Sitka, Haines, Cordova,
Anchorage, Whittier, Shot gun
Cove and Fairbanks. One of his
particular interests is port and
terminal facilities.
The Development Board, in re
sponse to a request by Skinner, as
signed its First Division member,
J. A. Talbot of Ketchikan, to ac
company the Washington official
on his Alaska travels. Talbot owns '
and operates a dock at Ketchikan
and was chairman of the board of
the Alaska Transportation com-'
pany, a position from which he
recently resigned.
Their tentative schedule calls
for Skinner and Talbot to visit in
Ketchikan, Juneau, Anchorage, \
and Fairbanks. Side trips to the
other ports and places will be
made as conditions permit.
Skinner accompanied Secretary
Krug on his trip throughout Alas
ka in 1946. As a naval officer dur
ing the war he commanded a de
stroyer in Alaska waters.
BULUTEN
Senator Lyng introduced a
memorial to the President and Con
gress proposing fifteen dollars an oun
ce bonus on all gold mined in Alaska.
The memonal declared it advisable to
create mining incentive
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
—
Saturday, January 29. 1949
(By James Hutcheson)
JUNEAU, — Legislative ac
tion on a $7,500 emergency appro
priation to carry public relief rolls
through March without a deduc
tion was complete today.
Already approved by the Sen
ate, the measure won unanimous
House approval yesterday after
noon. The swift, emergency action
was taken after Russell Maynard,
public welfare director, told the
House the funds were needed to
prevent a 25 per cent cut in all re
lief payments. A cut, he said,
would result in severe hardships.
Earlier, the House passed a bill
quadrupling fish trap taxes. The
Senate voted unanimously for a
memorial to Congress asking it to
abolish or restrict the civil aero
nautics board authority over Alas
ka’s independent air carriers.
The memorial passed after Sen-1
ator Frank Barr, old time Fair
banks bush pilot, told the Senators
that Alaskan airmen have no
quarrel with the C.A.A. but the
C.A.B. “inhibits free enterprise,”
and requires so much red tape
that rates can’t be reduced as they
could be otherwise
The memorial was introduced
by Senators Barr and Steve Mc
Cutcheon, both Democrats.
Barr also re-introduced late yes
terday a revised bill increasing the
motor fuel tax from two to four
cents. In the expressed hope of
satisfying fishermen who were ve
hemently against the previous bill,
Barr said the revised measure pro-1
vides that tax collections from
boat fuel would be set aside in a
Special funds for docks, anchor
ages and other marine facilities, j
The tax collected from g asofine
for automobile would go to the '
highway fund and from aircraft to
the airport fund. One per cent of
the tax collected in cities would
revert to the cities for streets.
As legislators maintained a fast
bill-introducing pace, Rep. Amelia
Gundersen, Ketchikan Democrat,
introduced a measure in the House
calling for the establishment of an
(Continued on Fa^e Three*
Arnold Says He
CompliedWith Law
SEATTLE, i(/P)—W. C. Arnold
said today he and the Alaska Sal
mon Industry “have complied i
with all the provisions of Alaska
law relative to representation be
fore the legislature.”
Arnold, manager of the industry
association, commented concern
ing action of the Alaska House of
Representatives in passing a me
morial asking an investigation of j
asserted failure of the Salmon In
dustry and Mining Association to
file lobbyist reports.
Arnold said the controversy in
volved a dispute over interpreta
tion of the Alaska law.
When the memorial came up at
Juneau House members said Ar
nold and a miniing association f
representative personally filed re
ports but that their employers had j
not. I
Yukon River Is
Great Potential
Power House
(By Vern Haugland)
<</P) Special Washington Service)
WASHINGTON, iJP)—A power
site described as “potentially the
greatest in North America” has
been discovered on the Yukon
River in the heart of Alaska.
It would require a dam only 250
feet high, says assistant secretary
of the interior William E. Warne.
Hoover dam, across the Colo
rado river, is 726 feet high and
there are at least 17 American
dams more than 300 feet high
And the Alaskan project could *
produce more than 12,000,000,000
kilowat -hours of power each year
it was estimated. The largest pro
ducer in the united States, Grand
Coulee (Wash.) dam. will have a
top capacity of only 8,000,000,000
when all units have been installed
some years hence.
Werne, writing in “The Recla
mation Era,” a publication of the
bureau of reclamation, says an
other site, invloving diversion of
headwaters of the Yukon, if de
veloped would be the second larg
est power project in Alaska.
Since that site is at Miles Can
yon, in Canada’s Yukon Territory
the dam could be built only
through an international agree
ment, Warne says.
Water, backed up through a se
ries of interconnected Canadian
Lakes now covering ’500 square
miles, could be diverted through
a 15-mile tunnel to the Pacific
slope, he adds. The annual power
output, much of it for Alaska con
sumers, would be three billion
kilowatt-hours.
Warne’s article adds:
The site “which may prove to
have the greatest potentiality in
North America” is at a sudden
narrowing of the Yukon known as
the Ramparts, almost in the geo
graphic center of Alaska.
The proposed dam would flood
the so-called Yukon flat with a
reservoir 40 to 100 miles wide and
200 miles long.
“This is in contrast to the Co
lumbia river, which has scarcely
enough storagesites for complete
regulation.”
Truman Asks For
Anti-Injunction
Labor Law
WASHINGTON, (JP) — The ad
ministration Saturday asked Con
gress to enact a new labor law
stripped of the court injunction
provisions which have brought
cuch vigorous protests from or
ganized labor.
The “one-package” labor bill
sent to the Senate labor committee
would repeal the controversial
Taft-Hartley law and restore the
aid Wagner labor relations act
with “improvements” asked by
(■Continued on Page Two>
NOTICE
Due to the illness of Jim Frye
this issue of the Nugget appears in
abbreviated form.