OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LII. No. 84 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JULY 17, 1950 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
CALGARY, Alta, (/P)—Viscount
Alexander, governor-general of
Canada declared Saturday the U.
N. must have many more divisions
in the field before they can hope
for victory in Korea.
Alexander, who commanded
Allied troops in Italy during
^ World War II, predicted the Ko
rean conflict will last several
months and could be prolonged if
communist international brigades
are used to help the northern in
vaders.
GOSPORT, Eng. (JP)—Eight am
munition barges and part of a mu
nitions train blew up Friday night
i na series of blasts which rocked
Portsmouth naval base and start
ed a harbor blaze.
Thirty persons were reported
injured in the blasts which show
ered live shells over a quarter
mile area and shattered windows
two miles away.
WASHINGTON, (£>)_-President
Truman prayed for Divine Guid
ance in his office Friday with
Evangelist Billy Graham of North
Carolina.
Graham told newsmen he and
three associates had visited the
President to urge a nation-wide
day of prayer and humiliation.
The evangelist said he suggested
a prayer while in Mr. Truman’s
office, and the President agreed.
The four evangelists also prayed
in a White House office before
and after the visit.
TERREHAUTE, Ind., (JP) — A
gasoline storage tank blew up Sat
urday razing a large area of this
city and causing damage estim
ated at hundreds of thousands of
dollars. A truck driver was hurt
slightly.
Police blamed prowlers for set
ting off the blast which was fol
lowed by a fire that destroyed a
bulk storage plant of the Mid
Continent Petroleum Company.
TOKYO, (^P)—Premier Shigeru
Yoshida told the Diet Saturday he
believed Japan could have a sep
arate peace with the Western
powers in the “not distant” future.
He accused Russia of blocking a
peace treaty.
NEW YORK, (/P) — American
'Woolen Co., today announced a
price increase ranging from 12V6
to 17Vfe cents a yard on all its wor
sted goods for men and women’s
clothing.
The increase is on goods or
dered for delivery in November
and later. It was the second ad
vance posted by American in the
past two months. The last boost
on worsteds also was from 12V&
to \lVz cents a yard.
The company is the world’s
largest manufacturer of woolen
and worsted fabrics.
TACOMA, (JP)—Funeral serv
ices for Edwin E. Wilkinson, 81,
an Alaska gold rush pioneer, were
held here Sunday. He died Friday.
• He was foreman of the Fair
banks district of the Alaska Road
Commission for 25 years.
Wilkinson moved from Alaska
(Continued on Page Five)
Army Chief Collins
Confident Of
Defeating Reds
WASHINGTON, </P) — Gen. J.
Lawton Collins predicted Satur
day that American forces will be
able to hold an “extensive bridge
head” in Korea and ultimately
throw back the communist forces.
To help do the job, Callins said,
weapons designed to stop the
tanks are being delivered to Ko
rea. Some already are in the
hands of U. S. forces. And even
more powerful anti-tank weapons
soon will be on the way, he hint
ed.
Collins and Gen. Hoyt Vanden
berg, air force chief of staff, talk
ed with reporters immediately af
ter reporting to President Truman
on their aerial inspection trip to
the Korean front.
Each said he was completely
satisfied with the performance
and the morale of American
ground and air force.
Collins said that the first U. S.
troops thrown into action were
new and green, since they came
from an occupation mission in Ja
pan.
But he said they have done a
“relatively fine job.”
Then Collins added they had
done an exceptionally fine job.
“It isn’t going to be an easy
task,” the Army chief said. “But
I haven’t the slightest doubt in
the world we will hold an exten
(Continued on Page Seven)
_
Army And Air
Chiefs Say Troops
Doing Good Job
WASHINGTON (yP)—The chiefs
of staff of the army and air force
flew back from Korea Saturday
with the word that “our troops
are doing dam well there, and ev
erything will come out all right.”
Their return from the war thea
ter was expected to speed up
President Truman’s decision on
what to do about mobilizing
American resources.
Gen. Lawton J. Collins army
chief of staff stepped off the plane
with Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg,
air force chief, after a four and a
half days conference with Gen.
MacArthur and Adm Arthur W.
Radford navy commander in the
Pacific.
Collins told newsmen that “You
know more about what has hap
pened in the last 24 hours than
we do. “It was he who expressed
the optimistic summary of the sit
uation in the war area.
Neither general would say any
thing about the nature of the
recommendations they will make
as to stepping up support for the
commander of the South Korean
fighting.
The army and air force chiefs
left Washington last Monday night
with the announced intention of
finding out on the spot how best
the defense department and arm
ed services could support Gen.
MacArthur in the South Korean
campaign. ' *
Vets, Even Blind
And Halt, Willing
To Serve Again
(By Hal Boyle, (£>) Staff Writer)
NEW YORK (JP) — Even the
blind and the halt among Ameri
ca’s veterans want to help their
country in the Korean crisis. Dis
ability hasn’t dimmed their sense
of patriotic duty.
This observation comes from a
woman who works for the Veter
ans Administration in Boston. She
wrote me a letter on how veterans
feel about the present situation
in the Far East, and I think it is
worth passing on, because I feel
it is typical.
“Here in Boston,” she wrpte,
“we have a number of amputees,
several blind veterans and others
with more or less serious disabil
ities, helping other veterans with
their problems. We also have
many men who have seen service
in both World Wars.
“Most of them hate the idea of
more fighting. Most of them feel
that was is not inevitable. Not one
of the men—or women—I’ve talk
ed to wants to go back in service,
if it’s possible to avoid it.
“However, they all think that
Korea is a testing ground, and
that the United States is perfect
ly right in backing up its prom
ises with force. Most of them feel
that if it develops into another
world war—well, better now than
later.
“Most of them are ready to go
back into service, if the govern
ment says they’re needed — and
that includes the amputees and
the blind vets, who feel they can
be of use behind the lines, just a§.
they are of importance now to the
Veterans Administration because
of their training and experience
and because of their understanding
of the difficulties encountered by
other disabled veterans.
“The fact that these men—and
women—are not rushing to re
cruiting offices to sign up for an
other hitch doesn’t mean a thing.
Most of us have responsibilities
that we didn’t have ten years ago.
(Continued on Page Three)
War Causes Alaska
Auto-Buying Rush
SEATTLE, (JP)—Orders for au
tomobiles in Alaska have become
so insistent since the beginning of
the war in Korea that the Alaska
Steamship Company Saturday or
dered a ship diverted from her
scheduled trip in order to take a
deckload of cars to Seward.,
The company said the Coastal
Monarch, which was scheduled to
leaves Seattle at 8 o’clock today
for the only commercial voyage of
the year north of the Arctic Circle
has added Seward to her ports of
call.
The ship was to have from 40
to 48 automobiles in her deck
load.
In stopping at Seward, the
Coastal Monarch is adding about
160 miles to her trip.
Many of the cars will be deliv
ered in other cities besides Sew
ard. ‘
-f
Wallace Backs U.S.,
Splits With
Progressives
(By Ed Creagh, (JP) Staff Writer)
SOUTH SALEM, N. Y., (JP)—
1 Henry A. Wallace Saturday de
clared his support of the United
States and the United Nations in
the Korean conflict.
By so doing, in his first state
ment on Korea, he split with lead
ers of the Progressive Party, un
der whose banner he ran for Pres
ident in 1948.
“I hold no brief for the past ac
tion of either the U. S. or Russia,”
Wallace said, “but when my coun
try is at war, and the United Na
tions sanctions that war, I am on
the side of my country and the U.
N.”
In New York, the national com
mittee of the Progressive Party
countered with a statement saying
“foreign arms and foreign inter
vention” can only make the Kore
an conflict “more difficult and
more bloody.”
In their separate statements,
(Continued on Page Four)
———— — ■ —— ■— mill ■ ——i— ■ —
Air Giant Lands On
Two Engines; Res
cue Craft Stands By
SAN FRANCISCO, (&) — The
82 -ton Caroline Mars—world’s
largest operational flying boat—
won a dramatic 480-mile flight
against disaster over the Pacific
Saturday night, arriving at 6:17
o’clock from Honolulu on only two
engines. Both were on the right
side—and one of them was faulty.
Her nerve-tingling arrival at
Alameda Naval Air Station meant
safety for 15 crew members and
three navy passengers who when
only 80 miles out faced the risk of
going down on the Pacific with a
five-foot crest.
That was at a time when the
third engine, put to a strain to
help make up loss of both 3,000
horsepower engines on the left
(Continued on Page Seven)
Embezzler, 20,
Gives Himself Up
In Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, (JF) — A neat,
nervous blond youth walked into
the Anchorage police station Sat
urday nfght and laid down a la
boriously hand-printed confes
sion that he had embezzled $1,600
from a Buffalo, N. Y., bank.
Police chief T. H. Miller said
the nattily-dressed young man
gave his name as Robert A. Mon
roe, 20, of Buffalo.
The chief quoted him as saying
he had arrived here by plane Sat
urday morning, then “driven by
his conscience” had printed the
confession and paced the streets
for hours before giving himself
up.
Monroe said he had been a tel
ler for the past year at a branch
of the liberty Bank, Buffalo.
<In Buffalo, Mrs. Madge Mon
(Continued on Page Four)
Korean Situation
At A Glance - - -
(By The Associated Press)
Monday, July 17, 1950
Communist troops with thun
derous artillery support poured
into the approaches to tottering
Taejon today, paying a heavy
price in blood as they threw out
numbered American defenders
back to new defense positions.
To the east, Americans and
South Koreans jolted the com
munists moving down on Ameri
can supply lanes, blasting two Red
columns into confusion by air and
unlooked-for artillery fire. Gen.
MacArthur’s communique said
communist forces were reported
in retreat after defeat by South
Koreans near Kiomadang on the
east coast.
On the central sector the Amer
icans abandoned Taejon airfield,
three miles north of Taejon,
whense the South Korean govern
ment has fled. The city was al
most deserted and a deathly quiet
was broken only by the rumble of
battle in the distance. Most of its
normal population of 100,000 had
gone.
Gen. MacArthur’s communique
reported the communists massing
heavy concentrations of men and
armor directly north of the Kuzn
River battle sector.
There were reports of tanks
leading possibly 40,000 commun
ists into the various Taejon ap
proaches against Americans out
numbered 10 to 1.
To the west of Taejon Commun
ost forces stabbed southward in a
flanking movement. The U. S.
communique said this forced or
derly withdrawals from the sec
tor.
Red guerrillas were active.
Guerrilla forces not only were re
porte at the outskirts of Taejon*
but stabbing 1,500 strong between
Yonyang and Yongchon in the
eastern sector in a move which
could imperil the Taegu-Taejon
supply road used by the Ameri
cans.
In Washington Congressional
leaders announced President Tru
man would send to Congress Wed
nesday a report on the war and
what legislative steps he deems
necessary.
A Pentagon briefing officer said
American forces in Korea would
hold somewhere south of the Kum
River “and get built up for our of
fensive.” He did not predict where
the stand would be made.
The U. S. 24th Division on the
main battlefront is facing the
Reds* First, Third and Fourth Di
visions, and possibly the Sixth,
Korean veterans of the China
Civil War.
The drive, for which the Reds
grabbed a toehold with a tiny
bridehead across the Kum River
Saturday, pushed the Americans
back six miles, a Tokyo communi
que acknowledged. The Reds
dipve south in the area of Nonsan,
20 miles southwest of Taejon, in a
flanking move which looked like
another envelopment maneuver.
Fifty-five miles northeast of
Taejon, a Red column got a past
ing Sunday night from the South
(Continued on Page Right)