Si NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX. No. 21 NOME,~ALASKA~~M0NDAY7FEBRUARY 17, 1947 PER COPY—15c~
NEWS IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON (/P)—Chairman
Welch (R.-Calif.) of the House
public lands committee announced
today hearings on the Alaska
Statehood bill will be held here
April 8.
The committee plans to hold
hearings later in the Territory.
WASHINGTON, (TP)—Rep. Ran
kin (D.-Miss.) demanded today
that United States diplomats stop
“licking the boots of Joe Stalin.
His address was one of several in
the House and Senate calling for
a firmer attitude in dealings with
Russia.
WASHINGTON (TP)—The House
passed and sent to the Senate to
day legislation extending unt
July 1 the authority of the Mari
time commission to operate it?
merchant fleet. The original au
thority granted during the war
will expire on March 1.
President Truman requested the
extension, which the House ap
proved by unanimous voice vote.
Mr. Truman had said the exten
sion was necessary to enable this
country to meet its commitments
for overseas shipment of fuel and
grain.
1 NEW YORK, (/P)—Ray Robin
son of New York, world welter
weight boxing champion, was sus
pended 30 days and fined $500 to
day by the New York state athletic
commission for failure to report
an offer of $25,000 not to make the
weight for his title match with the
then champion Marty Servo last
September.
PITTSBURGH, (/P) — Appoint
ment of Walter S. <Mike> Milligan
as head football coach at Pitt was
announced today. Milligan had
been line coach under head coach
Wes Fesler who shifted to Ohio
State.
WASHINGTON, (;p)—The Sen
ate judiciary committee voted 9 to
^ 1 today for a proposed constitu
tional amendment to limit Presi
dential tenure to two full terms of
four years each.
SEATTLE, (£>)—Dr. R. E. El
vins, area medical service direc
tor, told the American Legion re
habilitation conference here today
that the Veterans Administration
has eight hospital beds for every
1,000 war veterans in the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska.
He said the V.A. has 3,474 beds
in its own hospitals in Washington,
Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alas
ka, and another 1,624 beds under
contract.
About 200 legionnaires and aux
iliary members attended today’s
session.
JERUSALEM, (£>) —Hundreds
of Jews went on strike for an hour
today in protest against the de
portation of 800 uncertified immi
grants from Haifa to Cyprus.
A Traffic was halted for the first
ten minutes in most Jewish com
munities. No incident was report
ed.
32 Perish in Chinese Plane Crash
HSI CHANG, WEST CHINA — (Soundphoto) — Chinese coolies, shown carrying charred bodies
of pilot and passengers of a Chinese transport plane down from the hills of savage Lolo-land in Western
China. The CNAC plane crashed on a 16,000 foot peak and it took rescue workers 19 days to locate the
scene of the wreck. American pilot of the plane was Andrew Lungbotham, of Pasadena, Calif. With him
perished 31 passengers, including the son of the mayor of Chungking, son of a peaceful Lolo chieftain,
and women and children.
Kai-Shek To
Reorganize China’s
Government
NANKING, (VP) —Generalissimo
i Chiang Kai-Shek’s government, in
a desperate fight for national sur
vival, completely revamped Chi
na’s tottering business structure
today and promised to reorganize
the government itself.
Shanghai’s tough black market
j operators promptly moved “under
ground” and defied the new regu
lations—but Chiang threatened
“severe penalties” and said that
“rough and ready justice” would
make up in some cases for lack of
enforcement machinery.
The drastic decrees:
1. Ordered home all fortunes
abroad. (A few Chinese are re
ported to have foreign invest
ments worth billions; and may
have moderate nest eggs.)
2. Provided for govern m e n t
withdrawal from industry. (It had
been moving toward virtual mo
nopoly of heavy industry, but now
plans to retain only utilities and
I defense-essential plants.)
3. Restricted wages and prices
down lo January levels, and pro
hibited strikes and lockouts.
4. Fixed the official exchange
rate at 12,000 Chinese dollars to
one U. S. (instead of 3,350 to one)
and banned any use of foreign cur
rency or any trading in gold in
China. This already is being vio
lated in Shanghai.
5. Provided for a curtailed gov
ernment budget and stricter tax
collections, along with expendi
ture of $472,590,000 U. S. for im
porting urgently needed machin
ery and raw materials.
6. Pledged a campaign against
hoarding and speculating and said
“severe penalties” would be im
posed for violation of any decrees.
The government also announced
a tightening control of financial
institutions and said all govern
ment loans must be used to pro
mote production of necessities for
home use and commodities for ex
port.
Surplus funds of governmental
and provincial, municipal and lo
cal banks must be deposited with
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
JUNEAU, Feb. 14, 6:20 P.M.—
After spending practically the en
tire session Friday quizzing George
Sundborg, director of the Alaska
Development Board, the Senate
passed the bill for the immediate
abolishment by a vote of nine to
seven. Previously Sen. N. R. Wal
ker (D.-lst) introduced a bill
which would remove the Governor
as chairman of the Board, also ap
pointing other members.
Those voting against abolishing
the Development Board were: Sen.
Don C. Brownell, (D.-3rd», Sen.
John Butrovitch, Jr. (R.-4th), Sen.
Gunnard M. Engebreth, (-3rd),
Sen. Frank Peratrov.tch (D.-lst), |
Sen. Victor C. Rivers (.-3rd), Sen.
N. R. Walker (D.-lst), Sen. An-'
drew Nerland (R.-4th). All four
Senators from the Second Division
voted to abolish the Development
Board.
New bills introduced in the
House, by Rep. Harry E. Newell,
(D.-lst), veterans who are bona
; fide residents be given preference
i in public employment. By Rep.
1 Mrs. Elton Engstrom, (R.-lst), that
in case of vacancy occurring le.^i.
than forty-five days before con
vening of legislature, the defeated
(Continued on Page Five)
Senate Passes
Luxury Tax Bill
j WASHINGTON, (#>)—'The Sen
ate today passed a bill to retain
I excise taxes at their war time
rates.
The House passed similar legis
lation last month. Because of
amendments, the bill will now go
to a conference committee com
posed of Senate and House mem
bers.
The taxes apply to such com
modities as liquor, cosmetics, jew
elry and furs.
The bill was adopted in the Sen
ate on a voice vote, with little
debate.
the central bank to eliminate "idle
capital.” |
Asks Congress Not
To Economize On
Alaska Program
((JP) Special Washington Service)
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Delegate
Bartlett of Alaska told the House
today ‘‘false ideas of economy
should not be allowed to stand in
me way oi me masAa program
while Russia is builain^, up *
teritory across the Bering Sea.
“Now as perhaps never j o
it is essential for us to build in
* -* U Iwi .. COw c n . .
standing any onslaught whic
might be made against it,” Bart
lett said in a speech. “Only in that
manner can we be reasonably sure
-mu the united States can be pro
tected from the horrors of war as
it will be in the future.”
Bartlett said the choice is up to
the United States whether Alaska
can be made a region to pro tec
the country or one irom wmcn a.
enemy can reaCn it.
“We must do more than statio.
troops and warships and build
bases there,” Bartlett continued.
“We must build industries. We
must establish farmers there. We
must do these things not at some
far off future time, but now.
“We must build roads. We must
improve, and at once, the Alaska
Railroad. We must expand civi.
aviation and see to it that there is
a strong merchant marine.”
Bartlett said few Americans
realize the tremendous strides
made in Soviet Russia in t .e u...
of settlement and industrial ex
pansion in an area similar to Alas
ka. This area, he said, has a pop- j
ulation of 20,000,000.
Bartlett read a telegram fromi
the Anchorage chamber of com
merce saying the Alaskans “are ir.
a sorry plight” and a full sale de
fense program is necessary for
protection of Americans and theii
investments.
DETROIT, (/P) — The board of
health today reported that at least
65 persons had been made ill over
the week end from food poisoning
and ordered an examination o
cream pies sold in bakeries and
restaurants throughout the city.
Senate Votes To
Abolish Develop
ment Board
(By Mildred Hermann)
The vote on the bill to abolish
the Development Board was nine
to seven with all Second Division
Senators voting to abolish. Coch
an cud not read until the day after
file vote was taken the telegram
from your Chamber of Commerce
celling him he was one hundred
per cent wrong in his statements
c i.nit the Chamber’s representa
ion at the Anchorage meeting in
December.
Munz on the day of the vote
stated he had had only one request
from one individual in the Second
Division to retain the board.
The most asinine statement m>de
! on the Senate floor, which has
produced many, was Jones hys
ic il shr ekimj that he resented
tlie presure that was being brought
'ii him to continue the Board. He
1 ‘he N -me people sent him
down here to use his own brains
and he was going to do it regard
less of the many requests for the
continuation of the Board. He was
’oudly applauded in the Juneau
Empire for his independence.
Both Jones and Cochran de
clared all the requests they had
heard for the continuation of the
Board were inspired, presumably
by the Board itself.
Engebreth asked Cochran if he
had also heard that the Fairbanks
Chamber was represented at the
.vnchorage meeting and he replied
.hat his statement to the effect
hat Nome and Fairbanks were not
represented was based on a press
report.
Both Cochran and Coffey pinned
an orchid on Stines for the able
way he tried to represent Nome
nu Fairbanks at the rate hearings
in Washington and was deprived
f his right to speak by the Devel
opment Board lawyer meaning
Scoll.
Prior to the vote on the bill
. _ introduced a new bill
changing the entire set up for the
Board. It would have the highway
• Continued on Page Five)
To Investigate Tie
Up Of Square Knot
JUNEAU, (JP) — Tie-up of the
freighter Square Knot has been
taken up with authorities in Wash
ington, D. C., area engineer James
Huston said, after Seattle head
quarters of the International Long
shoremen’s & Warehousemen’s
union advised the Seattle district
engineer that, because there is no
contract between the Juneau local
and the subport here, all work has
been stopped since Wednesday.
The ship’s crew walked off in
observance of the picket line,
formed by local longshoremen af
ter the subport was reported to
have hired unaffiliated union men
to load the vessel with lumber.
The vesel is owned by the War
Shiping Administration but the
union contends she is actually op
erated by the Alaska Steamship
Co.