she NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPEK IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vol. LI1 No. 11 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1950 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
MOSCOW, Idaho, (/P)—Mrs. Lo
la Gilliland, widowed 60-year-old
janitress at the university of Ida
ho, resigned herself today to “just
wait and see” what happens next.
It appeared today that nothing
would.
Mrs. Gilliland, the mother of
five children, said yesterday she
had received a telephone call,
purportedly from Chicago, Tues
day night. She said the woman
caller asked her to identify a
“mystery sound”, then informed
her she had won a round-the
world trip, a new house, new
clothes and “too many other
things to list now.”
But radio network and adver
tising executives associated with
a program offering prizes for
identification of a “secret sound”
denied any responsibility for the
call. Their program offered no
round-the-world trip nor was
identification of the sound cor
rect, they said.
Mrs. Gilliland, meanwhile, has
decided to “just wait and see.”
She said the woman promised
to call her back “later this week.”
SAN FRANCISCO, (j*P)—A cap
sule of radium chloride—accident
ally broken at a navy radiologi
cal safety course—spread a mild
radioactive contamination among
a score of military officers, the
navy disclosed today.
The accident happened on
Treasure island, in San Francisco
bay, Jan. 17.
Navy spokesmen said radioac
tivity was traced into several
widely scattered homes but added
that these amounts were “no more
lethal than the luminous dial of a
wrist watch.”
All traces of radioactivity have
been removed. Those exposed to
the freak mishap have been de-1
contaminated, an official spokes- i
man said.
—
TOKYO, (/P)—’The United States |
navy announced today the car
rier Boxer will arrive at Yokosuka
naval base Sunday. The carrier,
is accompanied by the destroyers I
John W. Thomason and Buck
HOLLYWOOD, (/P)—Two sneak
preview audiences who have seen
the Ingrid Bergman-Roberto Ross
ellini production of “Stromboli”
have turned their thumbs down.
Managers of the two theaters
where it was shown and a movie
trade journal critic, who asked
that his name not be used agreed
that too much Italian was spoken
in it.
The audience reaction cards ap- j
parently were so critical that RKO j
Studio yesterday first denied that j
(Continued on Page Eight)
Eskimo Housing
Aided By Loans
Anchorage Daily News, Jan. 18
“Forty-two Eskimo families will
be benefited for the cost of one
modern $14,000 home in Anchor
age” Father Paul O’Connor of
Hooper Bay declared today.
Father O’Connor, who recently
made a trip to Washington, D.C.,
to obtain help in the form of gov
ernment loan for his native char
ges, has been in the city for the I
past week conferring with offic- |
ials of the FHA and the PH A.
Most of the native homes in the j
area around the Bering Sea have
been damp and conducive to the
spread of disease, Father O’Con
nor said. With the aid of these
federal funds floors will be built
and corrugated roofs installed,
making them more sanitary and
modern.
Individual loans do not exceed
$500 in any case, and are payable
over a term of five years. The na
tives are trappers and fishermen,
and had a very successful mink
season, and most of them will re
pay the loans in less than the
time limit, Father O’Connor de
clared.
Plans are being made to bene
fit 100 homes in 10 villages of
the Bering sea area this spring,
j he said.
Coal Shortage
Acute
Due To Strike
PITTSBURGH, (fl3)— The soft
coal industry today renewed its
offer to John L. I*ewis to negotiate
a new contract.
The operators said the offer was
made because “employers are be
ing deprived of badly needed
earnings” and “an acute shortage
of coal” exists.
The offer was made in a letter |
sent Lewis by the operators nego- t
tiating committee of the ntational
bituminous coal wage conference
The industry said it sought a
contract based on the same dc-;
mands it listed in previous fruit-1
less contract negotiations. They i
are:
1. That the contract run until
1947.
2. That no wage increases be
sought.
3. That th>* contract co'tuin a
no '.trike pledge.
4. That it eliminate the clause
that in tin past penmttted
mine’s to work onl/ when
“able and willing.”
5. That memorial strikes be |
barred.
Royalty payments would con
tinue to be 20 cents per ton.
India Proclaimed |
Republic; Prasad
Is First President
I
—
India's 330,000,000 people have!
a president and a new constitu
tion today, marking the end of a
centuries-old struggle for free
dom. ‘
At New Delhi the new constitu
tion was proclaimed making Inrii i
a sovereign democratic republic.
The inaugural ceremon>es in
cluded the installation of presi
dent Rajendra Prasad. He was a
veteran follower of Mohandas K.
Gandhi, the spiritual leader
against British domination of In
dia.
Dr. Prasad is India’s first presi
dent. He replaces, as titular head
of state, the governor general who
was theoretically the British
This strong link with the British
Crown was broken today But In
dia remains a member of the Brit
ish Commonwealth of Nations
which is a voluntary association
of nations with vary mg forms of
government.
While a 31-gun ceremonial sal
ute boomed in New Delhi, gun
fire of another sort rang out in
Bombay. Police fired shots to dis
perse a communist demonstration.
Another newly-born republic —
the United States of Indonesia —
was having internal troubles to
day. In the heart of the capital,
. akarta, Indonesian government
tioops fought a daylight gun bat
tle with a band of deserters. Sev
en persons were killed and a num
ber of others injured in the sud
den flareup.
War Memorials
Proposed For
Territories
WASHINGTON, (IP)—An $875,
000 sum for erecting memorials
to war dead in national cemeter
ies in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto
Rico is proposed for the next fis
cal year.
The memorial at the Sitka, Al*
a s k a, cemetery would be the
smallest of the three — $75,000.
The Honolulu memorial cost is
budgeted at $700,000 and the one
in Puerto Rico at $100,000.
The figures were presented to
the house appropriations subcom
mittee handling the budget for
army civil functions. The next
fiscal year starts July 1.
The budget also includes a pro
posal for expansion of six nation
al cemeteries in the states.
There was no indication of what
type of memorial was proposed at
Sitka.
BOMBAY, India, </P)—An Am
erican tanker reported by radio
that an unidentified airplane
plunged in flames into the Ara
bian sea 800 miles northeast of
Aden today.
The message was received at
the Santa Cruz airport from the
American Marine Corp. tanker
Battle Rock.
NOTICE
The Fire Alarm System is not
in operation. All fire alarms must
be phoned or brought directly to
} the Fire Station.
UNDERMINED
GAS ^
More Funds Asked
For Signal Corps
And Nome Harbor
WASHINGTON,f/P)—The army
is pressing congress for $6,100,000
to provide better radio and wire
communications facilities for the
armed forces and civilians in Al
aska.
A house appropriations sub
committee made public today tes
timony in which the army engin
eers described importance of the
program and its tie-up with Alas
ka’s defenses.
Maj. gen. S. B. Akin, chief sig
n a 1 officer, testified the army
needs S3,100,000 in the year start
ing July 1 for installation and
maintenance of new telephone,
telegraph and cable facilities and
expansion of the radio system.
An additional S3.000.00l) for
I buildings to house equipment and
the men who operate it also is
needed urgently, he said.
The Alaska communication sys
tem, general Akin said, is used 65
per cent by the army and air
force, 15 per cent by the navy and
other governmental agencies, and
20 per cent for commercial pur
poses.
“This system is essentially the
arterial communications system of
the territory, which has an area
of 586,400 square miles and a per
manent population of approxim
ately 94,000 persons, an increase
of 20 percent since 1945,” he said.
I It provides needed swift ser
vice between military posts and
between towns, its radio stations
can reach out to ships at sea, and
the entire setup offers services
essential to the civilian popula
(Continued on Page Six)
Truman To Confer
On Metal Mining
WASHINGTON, (£>)—President
Truman is going to hear about tne
plight of the metal mining indus
try.
Rep. Baring iD-Nev.) told a re
porter yesterday he had been in
vited to the White House next
Wednesday and he believes the
call will give him an opportuney
to teR Mr. Truman how badlv the
mines need federal help
A oill to advance money for
exploration and development of
new ore bodies has been tied up
by the house rules committee
since last session of congress
“High costs and comparatively
low prices have caused a serious
economic crisis which is surely
and rapidly strangling to death
the small and marginal mines of
Nevada and elsewhere,” Baring
said.
Benefit Basketball Game
Saturday K1 ti* i_ e. . • j o 1 High School
_ ork n [Nome High vs. btateside Commandos ^
7:30 P. M. ° Gym