m NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LI. No. 19. NOME. ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14. 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
SHAWNEE, Okla. (/P)—It was a
long time for long distance, but
the payoff finally came.
A man in a telephone booth
dialed long distance and then said:
“Operator, just 10 years ago to
day over this very same telephone
I placed a long distance call. It
was one dollar—and I put in a
dollar’s worth of slugs.
“Now I am giving you the real
money.”
Four quarters clanged down the
slot. Then the receiver clicked.
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Faced by
a power shortage which “serious
ly imperils national security," the
government may speed up its hy
dro-electric program by 50 per
cent.
Secretary of interior Krug told
newsmen such a program probab
ly would receive a favorable re
ception from Congress. He did not
elaborate on it, however.
NEW YORK, (jR)—Major secur
ity and commodity markets in the
United States were closed Satur
day in honor of Lincoln’s birth
day.
LONDON, (/P)—Twenty-six U.
S. B-29 superfortresses arrived in
England today after flights from
Florida and New Jersey. The
bomber group will be based at
Sculthrope in the English Mid
lands for an indefinite training
period. It replaces the 301st group
of Salina, Kansas, which returned
to the United States.
CARACAS, Venezuela, OR) —
Mrs. Dorothy Hamand, 30, of
Pawhuska, Okla., was electrocuted
last week when she moved a lamp
^ in her home at an oil company
camp. She is survived by her hus
band Wm. W., and a 12-year-old
son.
MANILA, (iR) — Two • funeral
processions approached the same
cemetery at the same time today.
Pallbearers laid aside their bur
dens and pitched into a wild fist
fight over the right of way.
The cemetery watchman broke
up the melee, after two were in
jured, by firing into the air.
The pallbearers scattered. When
mourners rounded them up the
corteges moved on.
MANILA, (/P) — Maria Aurora
Quezon, daughter of the late Pres
ident Manuel Quezon, received
first degree bums last night while
witnessing a fireworks display.
Balloons filled with gas explod
ed from sparks and caused flash'
bums on her arms and neck.
The display was part of an
aquatic show.
SEATTLE, (/P) — Funeral ar
rangements weer made today for
George Hixon Lent, 91, last of the
surviving partners who founded
the Alaska Steamship Co. He died
Saturday.
He founded the company wit:i
Charles E. Peabody, Walter Oakes
and George Roberts in 1894 when
they started service to Southeast
ern Alaska with the small con
# verted passenger steamer Willapa.
They sold the Alaska Steamship
Jnternation’l News
At A Glance ---
Saturday, February 12. 1949
'By The Associated Press'
Pope Piux XII declared today
an evil “.conspiracy has been
formed against the Lord” in cer
tain countries—meaning the com
munist lands behind the iron cur
tain.
The Vatical swiftly pointed up
his meaning by pronouncing ma
jor excommunication against ,“all
those who dared raise their hands
against the person of 'Josef* Car
dinal Mindszeny of Hungary,
brought him to trial or participat
ed in his “infamous sentence.”
The Papal exhortation, calling
for special masses on April 3, fol
lowed a similar accusation by the
British foreign office that the com
:munist-led countries of eastern
Europe have started a war on
churches to stamp out ideological
■ opposition. The United States
! government, including the Presi
dent, also has condemned the com
munist fight against church lead
ers.
The Pope called for the special
masses “to expiate the crime of
j the enemies of God.” His message
to Roman Catholic clergy around
the globe came only four days af
[ ter Cardinal Mindszenty was sen
tenced to life imprisonment.
! Meanwhile, Russia decla red
(Continued on Page Two)
Alaska ‘Statehood’
Letter-W riting
Campaign Starts
KETCHIKAN, (/P) — A letter
writing campaign designed «to
hasten Alaska’s emergence as a
state is to begin this week, on the
eve of statehood hearings in Wash
ington, D. C., March 3.
The hearings will be held before
the sub-committee on Territories
of the House lands committee.
The letter campaign was an
nounced by Maurice Oaksmith,
president of the Ketchikan chap
ter of the Alaska Statehood Asso
ciation.
Oaksmith said that probably
only a few Alaskans will go to
Washington for the hearings.
Oaksmith lead the delegation of
witnesses before two Congression
al committees here in 1947. He
said:
“Records of hearings held that
(Continued on Page Seven)
Co., to the Guggenheim interests
in 1909.
HOLLYWOOD, (Jp) — Found—
someone who is not going to CBS.
Bob Hope spoke up Saturday—
with president Niles Trammel of
NBC standing next to him—and
said he is going to stay with dear
old NBC next fall. It is presumed,
trade sources said, that the come
diai^will get more than a few ex
tra lollipops out of the deal.
CBS recently has spirited such
talent as Amos ’n’ Andy, Jack
Benny, Bing Crosby, Edgar Ber
gen, Lum ’n’ Abner from rival
networks.
Whole $2,000,000
Fund For School
Districts Necessary
J
(By James Hutcheson'
JUNEAU, (/P)—Alaska’s educa
tion commissioner told the House
ways and means committee "it
will make some communities pret
ty mad” if the legislature cuts
down the proposed $2,000,000
fund for aiding school districts in
new building.
Commissioner James C. Ryan
made the comment in telling the
legislators “the school building
problem is far and away the No.
1 problem” in the Alaska educa
tion picture.
In company with the five mem
bers of the Territorial board of
education, he testified before the
key House committee during the
board’s current session on the ed
ucation budget and needs.
“If the proposed building funds
are cut,” Ryan said, “the board
will have to make a priority list
of schools to be built,” adding the
prediction that he, the board and
the lawmakers will have a lot of
explaining to do in communities
which expect badly needed school
facilities and fail to get them.
Ryan said even $2,000,000 grant
in-aid won’t nearly solve the
problem. In getting such funds,
the school districts would put up
matching funds on a sliding per
centage scale, based on ability.
Ryan estimate dthe cost of imme
diate building needs at $12,000,000.
That doesn’t take into considera
tion any growing needs from pulp
mill or other developments.
In addition to double school
shifts at Anchrage anod Fairbanks
he said Juneau, Ketchikan and
Sitka face a similar prospect un
less something is done to relieve
the situation.
“Nothing has been done in 10
ten years,” he declared. “Many
(Continued on Page Three)
Jet Plane Sets
New Speed Record
DAYTON, 0., (jP)—A new un
fficial speed record from Dayton
to Washington of 33 minutes and
three seconds was set Friday in a
jet plane, the Air Materiel Com
mand announced Saturday.
Maj. Frank K. Everest, 28, flew
his North American F-86 single
engine jet fighter at an average
speed of about 710 miles per hour I
in the 390-mile flight.
The flight test division, AMC, I
Wright-Patterson air force base,
said Major Everest passed over
the Dayton control tower at 10:46
a.m. and swooshed past the An
drews Field tower near Washing
ton at 11:>19.03.
Officials said they would not
claim an official record because
the flight started out as a rou
tine mission.
Maj. Everest said he flew at the
normal jet cruising altitude of
about 30,000 feet.
The F-86 jet fighter is the same
type plane Richard Johnson, AMC
test pilot, used last year to set an
official world’s speed record of
670.981 miles per hour, the Air
Materiel Command soid.
More People
Marooned By
Stales*’ Storms
'By The Associated Press)
More than 4.000 persons were
marooned by heavy snows in Cal
ifornia and Idaho Saturday. In
other parts of the storm-stricken
west strong northerly winds and
colder weather dealt further dam
aging blows.
A mass of cold Canadian air
pushed southward over the north
western part of the counttry and
moved into northeastern Colorado,
Wyoming, Nebraska and thte Da
kotas. It headed southward and
cast and was expected to spread
over Kansas. Minnesota and parts
of Iowa and Illinois.
Temper atures dropped and
winds up to 40 miles an hour and
gusts of 70 m.p.h. blocked miles
J of the newly snow-covered high
ways and rail lines. Some snow
fell in the new cold belt.
Four thousand dam workers liv
ing in trailer homes in the Feather
River canyon near Quincy. Calif.,
were cut off by heavy snow. They
expressed fear their homes would
be washed away if warmer wea
ther set in or rains flood the river.
A snow slide halted western Pa
cific rail travel between Quincy
and Oroville.
The food shortage became more
critical for the 500 persons in
Stibnitz, Ida., a mining commun
, ity which has been snowbound for
. more than a week. A national
‘ guard transport plane planned to
fly 4,700 pounds of food to the
town Saturday.
LIFTING THE LID
ATJUNEAU
I '
Saturday, February 12, 1949
(By James Hutcheson)
JUNEAU, '(/P)—The highly con
troversial liquor control bill met a
quiet death in the Territorial
House yesterday afternoon.
The House voted to indefinitely
postpone its consideration by a
[ 10-5 vote with the general under
standing some simplified control
measure would be offered in its
place.
Voting against indefinite post
ponement were Democratic Reps.
William L. Beltz, William A. Egan,
Clarence T. Keating and C. A.
Pollard, and 'Republican Rep. i
Frank L. Johnson.
The postponement motion was '
offered by Rep. Glen Franklin,
and seconded by Rep. Frank An
german, both Fairbanks Demo-1
crats.
The end came without debate
after Rep. Warren Taylor, Fair
banks Democrat who had carried
the fight against pigeon-holing it
earlier in the week, told the
House:
“The top-heavy administrative
board setup is too intertwined
with the good features of the bill
to make amending of it practical.
It would be better to start out
with a new and simpler control
measure.”
The bill was originally known
as a legislative orphan whom no
ready sponsor could be found in
(Continued on Page Seven)
Name Eisenhower'
Chairman Of
Chiefs Of Staff
WASHINGTON, i/P>—'The U. S.
called Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
back into service Friday to help
answer some grave qeustions of
future military policy.
The wartime supreme Allied
commander was named by the
White House Friday to serve as
chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff—a group which includes the
top military men of the army,
and air force, as well as the
chief of staff to the President.
Eisenhower is on leave from his
job as president of Columbia Uni
versity. In his new position offi
cials said, he undoubtedly will be
called on to act as peacemaker be
tween the air force and navy,
which have frequently clashed
over the role each would play in
aerial warfare.
Meanwhile, as principal military
advisor to President Tinman and
secretary of defense Forrestal,
he will have an important part in
deciding such vital defense ques
tions as these:
1. Should the United States con
centrate its defense planning in
the Atlantic-European area, leav
ing Pacific defense in a second
ary spot?
2. How much of its arms can
this country spare to bulwark its
allies in Western Europe and else
where?
Announcement of Eisenhower’s
appintment closely followed dis
patches from Tokyo saying that
, the United Slates soon may review
its entire military position in Asia
as a result of a visit to that area
by secretary of the army Royall.
There were suggestions—not de
nied in Washington—that in glo
bal strategy the Pacific zone might
again assume the position it had
in World War II, when the enemy
there was merely held at bay until
victory in Europe was assured.
Gen. Dale Gaffney
Denies Military
Sales to Civilians
FAIRBANKS, (£*) — Brigadier
Gen. Dale V. Gaffney, commander
of Ladd Air Force base, Saturday*
denied charges of three Fairbanks
lawmakers on the floor of the Ter
ritorial House that he “tolerated
abuses” in the military commis
sary sales at Ladd Field to the de
triment of local merchants.
General Gaffney also sent tele
grams to Warren Taylor, Mrs. Es
sie Dale and Glen Franklin, all
Democrats, askilng why those
who know of illegal commissary
traffic had not reported it person
ally to him.
Replying to a statement of Mrs.
Dale that she has three cuts of
meat in her food locker as evi
dence that Fairbanks’ civilians
may buy freely at Ladd commis
sary, General Gaffney said that
(Continued on Page Eight)
The ice-breaker U.S.S. Burton
Island, which was here a week agoi
is reported at King Island in its
first cruise of this area.