m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX. No. 1. NOME, ALASKA~WEDNESDAY~TANUARY~i~1947. ~ PER COPY — 15c"
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• NEWS IN BRIEF
LONDON, (/P) — A “very sub
stantial” bill for damages to Brit
• ish property in Spain and to ship-1
ping in nearby waters during the i
Spanish civil war will be present-1
ed within a month or two to the1
Franco government, or its succes
sor, a foreign office spokesman
t said today. The foreign office re
cently ordered the British Ambas
sador to leave Madrid, in accord
ance with the United Nations’
recommendation on Franco Spain.
NEW YORK, (A3)—The official
domestic price of platinum de
clined $9 a fine troy ounce today
to $56 retail and $53 wholesale.
Dealers here stated that an in
creasing amount of Russian plat
inum has been offered in the New
York market where consumer
buying interest has lagged.
LIMERICK, Eire, (;P)—1Three of
the 11 persons injured in the crash
of a New York-bound TWA air
liner near Shannon airport last
Saturday remained in critical con
dition today, but the remainder
were reported improving.
Those still on the critical list
included Mrs. Edith Augustine
^ Delaby Waterbury, French war
bride who was enroute with her
baby to join her husband in New
ark, N. J.
HAMBURG, Germany, (/P)—A
British naval officer said today
the great German island fortress
*of Helgoland would be blown up
about March 31 in a blast which
he said would be “the nearest
rival to the atomic bomb.” The 15
miles of tunnels in the fortress
will be crammed with naval depth
charges and blown to oblivion in
one “bing bang,” the officer said.
LOS ANGELES, (/P)—Gales as
high as 64 miles an hour, raking
^ most of southern California in a
surprise year-end freak of weather,
left ten men dead today, at least
five others injured, and tangled
wreckage of trees and Christmas
ornaments in many cities. Two
inmates of a hospital near San
Bernardino were crushed to death
beneath a falling tree.
LOS ANGELES, (/P) — Charles
Wakefield Cadman, who composed
» such pieces as “Land of the Sky
Blue Waters,” “At Dawning” and
j scores of others is dead. The 65
f ^ear-old musical director suc
cumbed yesterday at California
hospital, four days after he was
I stricken with a heart attack.
New Year’s Eve
Revelers Gay
In States
(By the Associated Press)
The nation’s legion of New
Year’s Eve revelers, backed by
substantial supplies of noisemak
ers and bottled cheer, greeted the
infant 1947 with the biggest, loud
est and by all indications the most
expensive celebration in the his
tory of year-end blowouts.
Owners of night clubs, bars, ho
tels and restaurants in key cen
ters of the nation rubbed their
palms and told the same story; all
reservations were taken, record
crowds atended and cash register
totals skyrocketed.
In New York City night clubs
charged—without liquor—from $5
to $40 per person and had all the
takers they could handle. But
many spokesmen for the enter
tainment industry in New York
and elsewhere predicted this New
Year’s eve celebration would be
the last big, easy money fling.
For the stay at homes and pri
vate partygoers there was some
cheer from the fact that Scotch
whisky was down from $1 to $3 a
bottle in many New York stores.
Bonded bourbon and rye had been
slashed as much as $2.
The New York police depart
ment assigned 1,684 patrolmen and
detectives to handle the tens of
thousands of revelers which greet
ed the New Year in Times Square.
Noisy celebrants rubbed elbows
with the most serious minded en
route to watch night services in
many churches.
In the nation’s capital the night
clubs and hotels had their biggest
night of the year with top prices
about $12 for dinner and dancing.
Chicago was braced for what
shaped up as the biggest binge in
its history. One gold coast spot
charged $100 a person, but reserv
ations generally averaged $15 for
cover charges. Supper and favors
ranged up to $18.30 a person with
drinks extra.
PEIPING, (lP) — Chinese Com
munists gradually tightened their
encirclement of Paotino, capital of
Hopeh province today and threat
ened to capture Liucheng in their
Shantung province offensive. Gov
ernment sources conceded the
Communists had captured most,
national strongpoints within five
miles of Paoting, where a small
force held out several weeks last
fall against a strong assault. Pao
ting is 90 miles south of Peiping.
Sixty thousand Communists were
reported in the attacking forces.
President Issues
Proclamation
Ending Hostilities |
(By Douglas B. Cornell)
WASHINGTON, (^—President
Truman yesterday ended the peri
od of hostilities of the second
world war.
He left intact however, the
status of emergency declared by
the late President Roosevelt be
fore the United States went to war
and he said that the action did not
end “the state of war itself.”
Recommendations will go to
Congress, Mr. Truman told a news
conference, with respect to cancel
ling the national emergency and
ending the state of war.
His proclamation ending hostili
ties, effective at noon yesterday,
did erase from the statute books
at once 20 wartime laws.
Still others will automatically
die six months from today unless
Congress acts to continue them.
One of these is the Smith-Connal
ly anti-strike act under which the
governmeint has seized strike
bound plants and mines.
Another is the law under which
war-time leases of silver held or
owned by the United States.
In a few instances, Mr. Truman
; said, statutes affected by the proc
lamation give the government cer
tain powers he believes should be
continued in peacetime, or at least
for the remainder of the period of
reconversion.
In these instances, the Presi
dent said, he will ask Congress for
additional legislation.
Under questioning as to whe
ther this was a step in his promise
(Continued on Pag° Pour)
Kai-Shek Signs
China Constitution
NANKING, (fP) — Chiang Kai
Shek president of the five Yuan
(Government branches) today
signed the decree promulgating
China’s new constitution.
The Generalissimo proposed a
toast to the successful adoption of
China’s first “republican consti
tution.”
(Charges that the new constitu
tion actually projects a dictator
ship were voiced simultaneously
at Yenan by two leading Chinese
Communists, Gen. Tse-Theh, com
mander in chief of Red military
forces, and Mao Tse-Tung, chair
man of the party. The Commun
ists shunned the national assem
bly which adopted the constitu
tion.)
Eisenhower Ready
To Run For
President
WASHINGTON, (/P) — The
Times-Herald said today in a copy
right story that Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower was reported “ready
to run for President in 1948 if the
people want him.”
Eisenhower, the Times-Herald
said, is said to have told friends
during informal discussions while
on a fishing trip off Miami over
the holidays that “I will run for
President if the people of the
country want me to run.” The
friends were not identified.
The Times-Herald continued:
“The statement was the first
evidence that the general has
given any attention to frequent re
ports that he was being felt out as
a nominee by representatives o'
both major parties.” Attempts to
reach General Eisenhower at Mi
ami, said the paper, brought the
response that he had gone to Ever
glades City today on a fishing trip.
Eisenhower, army chief of staff
went to Miami recently for a phys
ical checkup at the Pratt Army
General hospital. Although the
general has never given any indi
cation as to his party feelings, i‘
was pointed out in Washington
last night that Senator Capper <R.
(Continued on Page Four)
Asks Legislation
Beneficial
To Alaska
WASHINGTON” UP) — Legisla
tion designed to benefit Alaska
will be introduced in the next ses
sion of Congress by Delegate
Bartlett, who will ask the law
makers to approve statehood for
the Territory.
Bartlett said the statehood bill
will not be introduced until he has
had time to make some further re
visions in his former bill, but he
expects it to be ready early in the
session.
The delegate said in a statement
he proposed to ask Congress to
enact legislation that will extend
the federal aid and federal high
ways laws to Alaska, to provide
for election of the Governor of the
Territory now appointed by the
President and to provide that resi
dents of Alaska shall have prior
ity in employment in fisheries and
fishing industries of the Territory.
He said he also would propose a
bill to require that the Governor
of the Territory shall be a resident
of Alaska.
The Delegate said he would ask
that residents of the Territory be
permitted to vote when reaching
the age of 18 instead of the age of
21 as now.
'Continued on Page Five)
Elections, Reconversion Pains Are
Among Leading Stories Of 1946
THE TEN TOP SPOT NEWS STORIES OF 1946
JANUARY 7—Kidnap-murder of Suzanne Degnan, 6-year-old Chicago
child.
MAY 25—Nation-wide rail strike ends dramatically as President Tru
man asks laws to draft strikers.
JUNE 29—President places veto on new OPA legislation. All controls
end temporarily.
JUNE 30—Navy detonates atom bomb at Bikini in first of three sched
uled tests.
JULY 29—Paris peace conference opens, with 21 nations represented.
AUGUST 21—U. S. sends demands to Yugoslavia over death of five
American army airmen.
SEPTEMBER 22—Henry Wallace asked to resign from cabinet fol
lowing foreign policy speech.
OCTOBER 1—Twelve top Nazis sentenced to hang at end of Nuern
berg trials.
NOVEMBER 5—Republicans sweep into power in stale and congres
sional elections.
NOVEMBER 18—John L. Lewis challenges government, pulls UMW
membership out on strike.
A_
CHICAGO—The dramatic sweep
into power of the Republican party
in both state and congressional
elections was the top ‘spot”* news
story of 1946 in the opinion of 63
weekly newspaper publishers par
ticipating in a poll just completed
by The Publishers’ Auxiliary.
They responded to a question
naire in which 100 publishers rep
resenting every state were asked
to select the ten top spot stories.
The election, and other pains of
(Continued on Page Five)