™s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LI. No. 16 - . NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
NEW ORLEANS. (/P) — Two
bodies and bits of wreckage are
all that have been sighted after a
blazing B-25 bomber with eight
men aboard crashed into Lake
Ponchartrain.
Capt. M. R. Roth, public rela
tions officer at Keesler Air Force
Base, Biloxi, Miss., said after a
search at the crash scene late Fri
day:
"All eight men are presumed to
be dead."
He said the plane was from
Keesler with base personnel and
air students aboard. Names were
withheld until casualties are de
termined definitely.
FAIRBANKS, </P)—'The Junior
Chamber of Commerce passed a
resolution Friday offeringfacilities
here as a meeting place for Presi
dent Truman and Marshall Stalin.
In a wire to the President the
group stated that “Fairbanks is a
suitable location for their meet
ing,” and added:
“During the war many Russians
were in the Fairbanks community
and vve learned to know them and
respect them.
“Alaska is a new land with a
great future as the 49th State and
as our closest neighbor is the U. S.
S. R., we feel sure Fairbanks
would be agreeable to both Mar
shall Stalin and the President for
* their sessions.”
WASHINGTON, (iP)—A Senate
judiciary’ sub-committee has ap
proved legislation to reimburse
owners and operators of gold
mines who incurred losses be
cause the government forced them
to shut down during the war.
They would be permitted to file
claims for the amount of the loss
including the costs of placing the
mines back in operating condition.
Losses to be computed, how
ever, could not include lost pro
duction or loss of profits during
the shutdown.
W A S H I N G T ON, UP) — The
White House today announced the
resignation of Raymond E. Plum
mer as U. S. District Attorney of
the 3rd Division in Alaska, effec
tive Feb. 26.
% Plummer plans to enter private
law practice in Anchorage. The
President in accepting Plummer’s
resignation expressed apprecia
tion of his “loyal and efficient
service.”
—— 1 " ■ •
NEW YORK, <>P)—Virtual total
darkness settled briefly on Man
^ hattan in mid-morning today. It
was caused by a cold front passing
by.
Cars groped through the streets
with headlights on. Officeworkers
peered from skyscraper windows.!
The weather bureau said it was
simply this: a warm southerly J
wind coming this way met a
northwest air front coining this
way. Result^ darkness. Forecast:
clearing.
-—
PORTLAND (/P>—The AFL web
pressmen’s union, whiclj has au
¥ thorized a strike against the Ore
gonian and the Journal, will meet
with representatives of the pub
^ (Continued on Page Three)
New Budget Will
Force Navy To
Make Drastic Cuts
WASHINGTON, (/P)—'The navy
said it will have to lay up 72
ships, including 15 top-line fight
ing vessels, and cut its strength
i by 30,000 men to meet President
Truman’s 1950 budget.
Secretar yof the navy Sullivan
| said three Essex-class carriers,
nine light cruisers and three anti
j aircraft cruisers have been picked
I for inactivation.
In a letter to the chairman of
; the Senate and House armed serv
ices and appropraition commit
tee, Sullivan said the navy plans
to start reduction at once.
In addition to the cuts in ships
and men, Sullivan said the navy
must reduce its air strength by a
small percentage — some 400
planes out of more than 8,000—
and shut down a dozen small air
stations.
And he said “a general reduc
tion in the scale of activity at na
val shore establishments support
ing the fleet, including employ
C’ontinued on Page Three
U nemploy ment
Rises; Prices Drop;
“Not Alarming”
WASHINGTON, {£>)—'Tumbling
prices and a sharp rise in the
number of jobless brought sooth
ing official reassurances today
that America’s economic situation
is not alarming.
There is even a silver lining in
what, to some people looked like
a dark cloud on the economic hor
izon; the dollar will buy a little
more than it did just a few months
ago.
These were the developments
Friday:
The New York stock market,
the barometer that predicted the
1929 collapse, took its soundest
beating in many months, with 61
stocks selling at the lowest price
in more than a year.
Also in New York, bond prices
(Continued on Page Four)
International News
At A Glance —
(By The Associated Press)
Saturday, February 5, 1949
The prosecution asked the death
penalty today for Josef Cardinal
Mindszenty and the six men being
tried with the Roman Catholic
Primate in a tiny Budapest court
room.
The western world, recalling
other trials in communist lands,
watched with skepticism and
shocked amazement.
Under Hungarian judicial pro
cedure the prosecutor does not
recommend a sentence in so many
words. But prosecutor Gula Elapi
meant death by hanging when he
called on the five-man court to re
turn a verdict “hard and inexor
able”—a verdict that “should
(Continued on Page Five)
LIFTING THE LID
ATJUNEAU
• By James Hutcheson*
Saturday, February 5. 1949
JUNEAU, (Ah — Legislation to
clear the way for a large-scale
housing program by the Alaska
housing authority passed the Ter
ritorial House yesterday, 23-1.
The bill carries a $20,000 appro
priation.
The measure authorizes and di
rec'.s the housing authority to
build, operate, rent and sell facil
ities at moderate cost or rental. It
was passed in anticipation of fed
eral funds of $10,000,000 to $15,
000,000 for financing.
Other major legislative devel
opments yesterday afternoon in
clude:
1. The Senate passed, 15-1, a bill
to establish a public employees
retirement system.
2 The House passed, 22-2, a
House memorial advocating ex
emption of non-certificated Alas
ka air carriers from tightening ol
a civil aeronautics board regula
tion governing irregular flights
The air memorial, offered b>
Rep Stanley McCutcheon, Demo
crat, said Alaska’s non-schedulec
carriers needed special considera
! tion because flying plays an uni
que and indispensable role in the
Territory
It was changed into a straight
House memorial instead of a joinl
memorial to avoid delay in await
ing Senate approval It will be sen!
I to Washington for presentation
Feb 15 at a Rearing on the regula
tions
The memorial petitions the CAE
that if it can’t exempt Alaska car
riers from the regulation that CAB
reject the revision Only two vot
I ing against it were Reps Amelia
: Gunderson, Ketchikan, and Doris
(Continued on Page Two)
U. S. Smelting
Puts Net At
$4.76 A Share
The United States Smelting, Re
fining and Mining Co., has estim
ated for the first 11 months of this
year its consolidated net profit at
$4,202,756, equal to $4.75 a share
on 528,765 shares of common stock
outstanding. This compares with
$2,426,617 or $4.59 a share for the
corresponding period of 1947.
The report pointed out that ex
penses of development such as the
stripping and thawing ahead of
the dredge in Alaska and develop
ment and ore breaking in the lode
mines, are deferred and charged
against the gravels and ores when
and as these are, respectively
dregded and extracted. During
the current year the development
accounts included in deferred
chargs to operations have shown
a heavy net increase, it was
stated.
No charge on account of this in
crease has been made against the
reserve for development set up at
the end of last year, as it is now
felt that that reserve should be
held intact as an offset against
such part of the deferred charges
as may not eventually be charged
off against future production.
House Committee
Votes To Retain
WASHINGTON, iff) — Demo
crats drove through the House
ways and means committee Fri
day on a 17 to 8 vote a bill re
storing until June 12, 1951, the
full powers of the old reciprocal
trade law.
President Truman requested the
legislation;' telling Congress it is
needed to remove hobbles put on
trade negotiations by the GOP
tariff law passed in 1948.
He said full operation of the
trade pact would build commerce
and promote peace.
Two Republicans—Reps. Kean
(N. J.) and Holmes <Wash.)—
I
joined 15 Democrats in support
of the measure.
Opposing were eight Republi
cans.
The legislation will go to the
House this week, with a vote ex
pected Wednesday.
It gives the President power,
without any reference to Con
gress, to cut American duties up
to 50 per cent below January 1,
1941 tariffs, in trade pacts with
nations that agree to reduce their
trade barriers.
Two Sergeants
I Charged With
Anchorage Murder
j ANCHORAGE, (/P) — Two air
force master sergeants were
! charged with first degree murder
Friday in the brutal slaying of
; Bertha Sickles, 29-year-old native
I whose battered, nearly nude body
was discovered in a culvert by
dogs near the outskirts of town
Thursday.
The accused soldiers were
M/Sgt. Lester L. Armagost, 23,
and M/Sgt. Thomas M. Bashline,
27. Anchorage police Lieut. Vir
gil Barkdoll and Lieut John God
dard of the army’s office of spe
l cial investigation, issued a state
ment that Armagost signed a con
! fession admitting beating the wo- j
man but absolving Bashline of
complicity. They said Bashline
had denned having anything to do
i with the death.
! The officers said Armagost ad- ,
mitted arguing with the woman
before beating her, but that ^he
(Continued on Page Three)
Hoover Commiss’n
Asks For Vast
Govt. Reshuffling
(By Sterling F. Green)
WASHINGTON, (/P) — The
Hoover commission called today
for a vast government reshuffling
which would squeeze 65 agencies
into a tight group one-third that
size, all under firm control of the
President.
Reporting to Congress on its 16
month search for wavs to stream
line the government, the group
headed by former President Her
bert Hoover urged giving the
• > (Continued on Page Six)
Storms Continue
Siege Of Blizzard
Battered States
<By The Associated Press)
Slashing storms opened up a
new front today against the arm
ies of rescuers in the western bliz
zard areas while hammering
again at some sections of the high
plains.
High winds in Wyoming piled
deep snow drifts back onto high
ways and rail lines, bringing traf
fic to another halt. A Burlington*
Lines bus with 36 passengers was
stalled 42 miles west of Casper,
Wyo., and a convoy of 14 truck
loads of hay for snowbound
ranches was marooned south of
the city.
The newest storm swept in from
the Pacific Ocean yesterday and
dumped deep snow on sections of
I Washington, Oregon and northern
California. The rest of the nation
generally had fair weather today.
Temperatures were mostly be
i low normal but not severe.
Gov. Val Peterson of Nebraska
yesterday declared four more of
the State’s counties to be withir*
the emergency area of last
month’s blizzard and asked the
■ Fifth Army to include them in
• their program of rescue opera
! tions. The additional counties
brought to 44 the number com
pletely in the State’s emergency
area along with parts of five
others.
Three deaths, one each in Mis
j souri, Idahd and Oregon, were at
tributed to the weather. Kenneth
Bright, 23, of Twin Falls, Ida.,
died of exhaustion and exposure
after he and two companions
hiked miles to a farm house from
their auto, stalled in a snow drift.
His companions’ condition was
critical.
Russell A. Stevens, 25, Mont
pelier, Ida., died of carbon mon
oxide fumes while attaching
chains to his tires at Diamondville,
(Continued on Page Four)
Navy Will Be
Second Fiddle In
Defense Symphony
* (By Jack Bell)
WASHINGTON, 'The navy
got the word last week that it
probably is going to have to play
second fiddle to the air force in
Congress.
Indirect notice of this attitude
came in the form of “so-what?**
reaction among lawmakers to an
announcement by Secretary Sulli
van that the navy will have to lay
up 72 ships and cut its strength
30,000 men to keep within Presi
dent Truman’s new budget.
This was in direct contrast tn
the strong sentiment that has
grown up in Congress to push air
force developments far beyond the
48-group set-up proposed by Mr.
Truman.
Chairman Vinson (D.-Ga.) pre
dicted that the House armed serv
ices committee will approve a bill,
authorizing a 70-group air force.
Sullivan’s statement that three
aircraft carriers and 12 cruisers^
(Continued on Page Seven)