OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIII No. 70 ' NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1951 Per Copy—15*
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New Attack On
Validity Of
Tax Law
FAIRBANKS, (/P> — A new at
tack on validity of the territorial
V property tax law was launched
here this week in a district court
complaint filed by Luther C.
Hess.
In a suit brought to test the
law, Hess is seeking return of
$729.80 which he says he paid in
property taxes for the year 1949
under protest.
The property taxed consisted of
mining claims and machinery out
side the boundaries of any incor
porated city, school district or
public utility district.
In his c omplaint Hess listed
reasons he contends the property
tax law is “wholly void” in the
territory.
Hess previously tried to test
validity of the act by use of an
injunction, but the circuit court
H of appeals in San Francisco ruled
' this action improper and declined
to pass on validity of the law it
self.
Margaret Truman
Touring Europe
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, (JP)
—Europe’s mad pace is beginning
to tell—a little—on Margaret Tru
man. So today the President’s
touring daughter took it some
what easier.
Margaret’s schedule had only
two major events—morning coffee
with the Burgomaster erf The
Hague and lunch with Queen
Juliana and Consort Prince Bern
hard at Soestdijk palace.
American embassy officials said
the whirlwind speed of Miss Tru
man’s tour so far was beginning
to tell a bit on her. Hence the
slowdown.
Arriving here from England
early yesterday morning, Mar
garet ended her first day on the
continent dancing a foxtrot with
Prince Bernhard. The occasion
was a glittering formal party at
the home of U. S. Ambassador
and Mrs. Selden Chapin.
t
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Price Director
Ready Roll Back
1 Clothing Prices
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Rotund
Price Director Michael V. DiSalle
was “very happy” to day—stock
yard cattle pens that had begun
to have the empty look of hunger
were better occupied.
And in Denver last night, Di
Salle said he was getting ready
to roll back clothing prices—“in
a day or two.” He told a reporter
the clothing order will cover all
forms of wearing apparel.
Good news for DiSalle came
from economic mobilizer Charles
E. Wilson and President Truman,
k as well as from the cattle raising
plains.
Wilson stepped squarely behind
his price director yesterday, an
nouncing that DiSalle’s order roll
ing back the price of beef on the
hoof will stand unaltered.
Slide Kills Worker At
Fairbanks Gravel Pit
FAIRBANKS, (JP) — Francis S.
Mullally, who was believed to
■have a family in Hayward, Wise.,
was accidentally killed here yes
terday when a gravel slide buried
him in a gravel washing plant.
Efforts of firemen to revive
Mullally with a pulmotor failed.
Mullally arrived in Alaska
about a month ago and went to
work for the Arctic Block Com
pany.
Gen. Wedemeyer
Recommends U. S.
Take “Calculated
Risk” Bomb Reds
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Lt. Gen.
Wedemeyer recommended that the
United States take the “calculated
risk” of war with Russia and
bomb the Manchurian railroad,
controlled jointly by the Soviets
and the Red Chinese.
The railroad is a major supply
line for the whole Communist war
effort in Korea.
Wedemeyer, U. S. commanding
general in China in the latter
stages of World War II, testified
for the third day at the Senate
inquiry into the dismissal of Gen.
MacArthur from his Far Eastern
commands for publicly advocating
direct blows at Red China.
In general, Wedemeyer backs
MacArthur in the controversy
over Korean strategy. He has de
clared further that the U. S.
should pull its troops out of Korea
—he called it a “bottomless pit”
for American youth if the Mac
Arthur proposals are not adopted.
Listen to the Mocking Bird
Accompanied by Calliope..
■PASADENA, Calif., (/P)—Today
we introduce to you a mocking
bird which trills to the accom
paniment of a calliope—and in
perfect rhythm.
Every day when the steam piano
starts playing at a children’s
amusement park here, the mock
ing bird appears and installs him
self atop a nearby telephone pole.
He’s been coming for two months
now. He sings a vigorous obligato
to “Old Black Joe” and about
every five bars he leaps gaily into
the air, then floats back to the
top of the pole—without missing a
note.
“It’s getting so the kids don’t
come just to ride the merry-go
round anymore,” A. D. Sharp, the
proprietor, explained. “They come
to listen to the mocking bird.”
Belgian King Announces
Plans To Abdicate July 16 i
BRUSSELS, Belgium, UP)—King
Leopold III notified the Belgian
government Monday he wants to
abdicate on July 16.
He fixed the date in a letter
to Prime Minister Joseph Pholien,
who released the news Monday.
The Prime Minister told a news
conference the coronation o f
Prince Baudouin, the king’s eldest
son and now king in all but name,
would be held the following day—
July 17—before a joint session of
parliament.
Plane Lands At
7,800-ft. Level Of
Mount McKinley
BOSTON, (JP)—'The Boston Mu
seum of Science announced last
night Bradford Washburn, its di
rector, and Dr. Terris Moore,
president of the University of
Alaska, landed an airplane in an
unexplored area of Mt. McKinley,
Alaska, 10 days ago.
The museum said the landing
was made 7,800 feet up the high
est peak in North America as
part of a reconnaissance before
Washburn sets out next month to
explore the western side of the
20,300-foot McKinley.
Washburn reported to the mu
seum that Dr. Moore, as pilot,
set down the ski-equipped Super
Cub plane with a run of “only
300 feet.”
Washburn told the museum the
landing place “may prove very
important next month, as it is the
only alternative approach to the
western side of the mountain if
the first choice of Kahiltna Gla
cier does not prove feasible.”
Wife Visits British Captain
At Korean War Front
TOKYO, (JP)—The young wife
of a British Army captain, with
an enterprise which will make
her the envy of many an army
wife, spent three days with her
husband near the fighting front
in Korea.
Pretty Mrs. Benita Lassetter, 27,
mother of a seven-year-old son,
willingly acknowledged she had
made the unauthorized journey.
But she would not tell how be
cause she did not want to “kick
up a fuss” for others involved.
Her husband is Capt. Matthew
Lassetter, 29, of the Northumber
land Fusilliers, an army regular
for 10 years. Mrs. Lassetter came
here from her home in southern
France, and saw him five or six
days in Tokyo in May.
After he returned to the front,
she .wanted to see him again be
fore she goes home.
She was in Korea four days
but it took one day to get the
word to her husband.
“A friend put us up,” she said,
but she wouldn’t elaborate.
“We went for walks and I saw
many friends.” No one, apparent
ly, told her to leave.
“They all seemed to think it
was jolly fun.”
Marshall Terms 8th Army
“Professional Force”
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Secretary
of Defense Marshall returned
Tuesday from a swift, seven-day
trip to the Korean war (front. He
said he found “a very successful
operation” of the United Nations
forces in the field.
Marshall’s plane landed after a
3,500-mile nonstop flight from El
mendorf Air Base. He was met at
the airport by Deputy Secretary
Robert Lovett, with whom he
talked privately for a few min
utes as he stepped from the plane.
Marshall told reporters that:
“I found the' Eighth Army in
most effective shape, a highly
trained, professional force.”
Would Set Up Panel To
Handle Indian Claims
WASHINGTON, (JP) — Legisla
tion to set up an Alaska panel
under the Indian Claims Commis
sion to handle the settlement of
native land claims in the Terri
tory, was introduced Monday by
Delegate Bartlett of Alaska.
It would authorize the commis
sion to hear claims of Indian com
munities or individuals and to
enter into final agreements with
the claimants if the Secretary of
Interior is unable to negotiate a
settlement.
Automobile Fatalities
May Exceed 35,000 In ’51
WASHINGTON. </P)—President
Truman told safety officials to
day that “a highway accident does
just as much damage to 'the de
fense effort as a deliberate act of
sabotage by hostile agents.”
At a time when the United
States and its allies face a “great
danger,” he said, highway acci
dents “strike directly at our na
tional strength.”
The President made the state
ment in a speech prepared for
the annual Highway Safety Con
ference in Constitution Hall. He
said that skyrocketing motor tra
vel has raised the prospect that
automobile fatalities this year may
exceed the 35,000 of 1950.
CITY COUNCIL MEETS
According to the report given
at the meeting of the City Coun
cil last Monday evening, stock
piling of refuse and sludge oil
purchased by the city from the
U. S. Smelting Co., has begun.
The Northern Light and Power
Co. has given the use of one of
its tanks near the power house
for the storage of the oil, which
will be used by the city to keep
down the dust in the streets.
The unsightly garbage which
has been dumped on the Dry
Creek hill will be ’dozed under,
it was reported, and the hill
watched so that no further gar
bage will be disposed of at this
point in the future.
Mayor Charles D. Jones and
Capt.. D. Tousley of the ACS have
conferred on the matter of the
oil hazard at the northeast end of
town and it was announced that
foamite will be applied to the en
tire area.
The Moonlight Water Co. was
given permission to operate in
Nome, serving the city as usual
with running water during the
summer months.
Ruth Gottschalk, of the Break
ers Bar, asked that something be
done about the Solomon estate
property adjacent to her build
ing, which was a fire hazard
to her property.
The city officials reported that
insurance covering their motor
ized equipment has been taken
out. $25,000 to $50,000 was the
amount stated, with $5,000 on pro
perty damage.
Plans were started for the an
nual 4th of July celebration, with
the mayor, and Councilmen Mc
Ivor and Reader assisting.
The 1051-52 school budget was
submitted with the city portion
being $24,802, which will be $8,000
less than last year.
Korean War Called
“Bouncing Battle77
(By the Associated Press)
Thousands of beaten Reds
streamed northward in Korea to
day as Allied task forces roamed
unopposed over their abandoned
“iron triangle.”
The big Red withdrawal was in
the wild, rugged country east of
the triangle. The North Koreans
sweated up the mountain trails in
groups ranging from a few hun
dred to more than a thousand.
The mountain warfare followed
a uniform pattern, bouncing from
ridge to ridge.
U. N. forces attacked, North
Koreans, entrenched on hilltops
and supported by artillery and
mortar fire, halted them. U. N.
air strikes and artillery then
blasted the Reds. Communists
pulled back to the next ridge.
There the same performance
was repeated.
G.I.’s gave this type of warfare
the name: “Bouncing Battle.”
Russians Kill Iranian
*
Border Patrol Soldier
TEHRAN, Iran, ifP) — An au
thoritative government source said
today an Iranian frontier patrol
soldier was shot and killed by
Russians along the border east of
the Caspian Sea.
The informant said an Iranian
military commission was sent to
the frontier to investigate the in
cident, which took place three
days ago. He said the Russians re
ported the soldier was shot be
cause he was found on the Soviet
side of the frontier.
There have been a number of
clashes between Soviet and Iran
ian troops in the past few years
in border areas.
The new incident came, how
ever, at a time of great tension in
Iran, where much agitation against
all foreigners is being carried on.
The British Ambassador, Sir
Francis Shepherd, has just warned
Prime Minister Mossadegh that
continued Iranian propaganda
against the British may touch off
a powder keg of violence against
all foreigners in the southern oil
field areas.
Hedy Lamarr Marries
Night Club Operator
WEST LOS ANGF.T.ES, <A>) —
Hedy Lamarr and night club op
erator Ernest Stauffer were mar
ried Monday night at the home
of Superior Judge Stanley Mosk,
who performed the ceremony.
It was the fourth marriage for
the Austrian-born access and the
second for Stauffer, one-time band
leader. Both were divorced in
1947, she from actor John Loder
and he- from actress Faith Dom
ergue.
Stauffer, a Swiss who now op
erates the La Perla Club in Aca
pulco, Mexico, gave his age as
42. Miss Lamarr gave her age as
35.
The actress told a reporter be
fore leaving for a honeymoon at
Carmel, Calif.:
“I am going to devote my life
to him,” pointing to the tall, blond
Stauffer.
She indicated that she is think
ing about retiring from films.
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