I HE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
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Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, February 28,1951
COAL AS A DEFENSE FUEL
By Harlan Trott
Defense officials are keenly interested in the coal in
dustry these days-. This may surprise some of vis who re
gard coal as a household item that has come to languish
in the limbo of our folklore along with the kerosene
lamp and the cracker barrel.
Despite the greater convenience of gas and oil, de
.fense production experts realize that coal is an indis
pensible part of the national fuel economy.
To begin with, the country’s steel output is tied to
coal. For every ton of steel industry produces it con
sumes about two tons of coal. And coal still constitutes
over 95 per cent of the nation’s known fuel reserves.
Even the air force is interested in coal—from the
standpoint of developing synthetic oil for jet-powered
aviation. Military authorities estimate that a jet plane
uses from five to seven times as much fuel as a compar
able propellor-driven plane. And the principal known
source of synthetic motor fuel is coal.
The Germans were getting 50 percent of their oil
from coal during the closing years of World War II. And I
if the western military partnership should be cut off
from Middle Eastern oil fields in the event of war, the
western hemisphere would be subjected to a heavy
drain of its petroleum resources.
Still other important new uses are looming up
through the sudden large demand for certain chemical
derivatives of coal. This week defense production offi
cials reported an 88,000,000-gallon shortage of benzene.
This is a by-product of coal tar and is essential in mak
ing synthetic rubber.
. ' •• • * •
t- r ' •
Bringing the matter closer to home, it is interesting
to note that North America’s great coal fiields lie in
Northwestern Alaska, which, according to the recent
news, will not be defended should the enemy across
our border atttack. That, coupled with the badly needed
tin which lies also in this area, should make it valuable
. to Uncle Sam.
Why do our congressional leaders prefer to be blind to
the wealth of material and cast it off as not worth sav
ing? We live in a complex world today but we would
like to have faith in our leaders and feel that they can
see the picture more clearly than we do.
IT WAS BOOBY TRAPPED BEFORE
' • ' • ■;?**
Lifting The Lid
At Juneau
f
K
(Continued from Page One*
! doctor recommends marriage. Sen.
| Frank Barr, Fairbanks Democrat,
declared failure to pass the bill
would in effect be “santioning il
legitimacy”; to make it a crime to
sell mortgaged personal property
such as an automobile without ad
vising the buyer of the existence
of the mortgage; to shift super
vision of weights and measures
from the treasurer to the tax com
missioner; to apropriate $566 to
the widow of late highway engin
eer W. Leonard Smith for termin
al leave due when he died in of
fice in 1947.
Alaska’s legislators are consid
ering a clampdown on two tradi
tional outlets of boyhood enthusi
asm—firecrackers and dogs.
Rep. Waino E. Hendrickson (R
Juneau) has introduced a bill in
the House to outlaw importation
or sale of fireworks. The only ex
emption is for civic groups or for
cap pistols.
Sen. Walter Huntley, Third div
ision Democrat and chairman of
the Senate Judiciary committee,
announced a bill would be ready
soon against roving dogs.
Senators have received a steady
string of letters protesting roving
dogs or bands of them as a men
ace to ohildren. The writers asked
legislative action.
The Senate instructed the com
mittee to bring out a control bill.
Huntley said the measure would
provide a license of $5 for all
male dogs and $25 for females.
He predicted this would reduce
the dog population because “un
less dogs are really valuable the
owners won’t pay the fee.”
Wednesday, February 28, 1951
JUNEAU, {JP)—A special legis
lative committee voted last night
to request a joint session of both
Houses of the Alaska Legislature
Thursday in a move to cfverhaul
Territorial financing operations.
The committee acted after hear
ing a report by H. Clyde Reeves,
a Kentucky revenue commissioner
who was sent here as a consultant
by the Council of State Govern
ments.
Ten Legislators of the session
expressed themselves as in favor
of a proposal which would create
a department of finance, headed
by an executive who in effect
would be a general financial man
ager for the Territorial Govern
ment.
The plan would bring all offices
and departments under closer fi
nancial supervision and create an
independent auditing section as n
watchdog. All budgets would be
closely scrutinized.
Possible revision of the board of
administartion to include legisla
tive leaders instead o f elective
officials whose budgets come un
der the board’s scrutiny also was
suggested.
If the legislature takes the same
favorable view as the special com
mittee did in a three-hour session,
legislators will instruct Reeves to
draft a bill for legislative action
this session.
Reeves will remain here through
next week.
The action by the special com
mittee came at the end of a day
in which the Senate gave its okay
to 3. House bill to make city an
nexations easier and the House re
jected a $150,000 proposal for Ter
.
ritorial aid in community health
centers.
The latter measure lost 13-11
after Rep. Glen Franklin (D.
Boundary) warned the House a
$5,200,000 deficit is facing the leg
islature on the basis of present
budget proposals.
Franklin, chairman of the House
ways and means committee which
has been working since the ses
sion’s opening week on the bud
get framilng job, argued that “We
have to start saying ‘No’ some
where and this is a good place to
start.”
Franklin figured the looming
deficit this way: A $2,000,000
deficit at the end of the current
i biennium; budget requests ex
j ceeding anticipated revenue by
$2,000,000 more; a board of educa
tion request for $1,200,000" above
its original budget estimate.
“When you have to raise that
much,” he said, “You’ve ‘got a
job.”
He pointed out previous appro
priations for a similar purpose
have been frozen year after year
%
and this one would be certain of
the same fate.
Franklin’s $5,200,000 estimate
j did not include $1,100,000 for civil
' ian defense requested in a bill in
| troduced in the Senate yesterday.
Third Division representatives
carried the ball fcfr the health fa
I cilities bill.
Rep. Jack Scavenius, Anchor
age Democrat and author of the
i bill, argued that “health consider
ations are paramount. If we are
not going to get enough money for
health needs and schools we might
as well fold up.”
Rep. Stanley (McCutcheon (D.
Anchorage labeled it a “foolish
approach to economy to say ‘no*
when we can get federal match
ing funds for free.”
Rep. Alden Wilbur (R.-Fair*
banks) retorted “you can easily
match yourself to death in Alas
ka:”
Party lines were broken on the
vote, with Third Divisional Demo
crats voting solidly for the bill.
The Senate approved Scaveni
us’ bill to provide for city annexa
tion elections on a petition by 30
per cent of the residents of adja
cent areas, instead of a majority,
and providing that 55 per cent of
the voters could carry the elec
tion, instead of two thirds.
The Senate passed 13-3 a bill to
remove the Governor from the
, board of public welfare, after
I amending the bill to reduce the
! board from five to four members.
The House also passed a bill to
! put children’s homes under the
! public welfare department and
| approved two memorials. The
vote for 22-2 for a memorial by
Rep. James Simpson MacKinnon
(R.-Juneau) for a tax incentive
program for new industries com
ing to Alaska.
The memorial proposes that in
dustries coming for a new line c#
resources development should get
a moratorium up to 15 years on
federal income taxes because of
the extra risk involved and the
Territory's need for incentives to
get developments.
The House . approved unani
mously a second MacKinnon me
morial calling upo n the federal
government to'open the way for
full development of Alaska by set
tling aboriginal land claims.
GAASLAND CO. OFFICES ^
NOW ON FRONT STREET
Gaasland Construction Co. have
opened their offices today at the
corner of Front Street and Lane’s
Way in the building formerly oc
cupied by Jack Lencer.
During the winter months they
have been operating from the for
mer Ccrast Guard Station at the
west end of 1st Ave. W.
Korean Situation *
At A Glance —
Tuesday, February 27, 1951
By the Associated Press
United Nations troops smashed
back five vicious Red counter
• < *. < .
attacks on the central front near
Hoengsong today as the whole Al
lied line, spearheaded by the U.S.
First Marine Division, moved
cautiously forward through mud
and howling winds.
It was first report that the First
Marines—the battle-hardened he
roes of the fighting withdrawal
from Changjin reservoir last De
cember—were in the fighting line
agin.
In today’s action the Leather- <
necks seized commanding hills
south and southeast of Hoengsong.
This has become a no-man’s-land,
with the Chinese communists and
north Koreans ringing it to the
north on the approach to their
key strongpoint of Hongchon.
On the west-central and west
ern sectors things were relatively
quiet, although the U.S. First Cav
alry and British elements ran into
stiff Red resistance 15 mi. north
west of Hoengsong, near Yongdu.
Reponse from the front said the
Red pre-dawn counterattack were
among the sharpest actions met
, in the week-old renewal of the
Allied offensive. The U.S. Second
Division drove the enemy back.
A U.S. Army spokesman said
the new forward push had thwart
ed or delayed a Chinese counter
offensive by four ter six armies.
He said 100,000 Chinese Reds had
been shifted into defense positions
and it would take them several
weeks to regroup for any drive
southward again.
Communist authorities in Czech
oslavakia announced they have
arrested former foreign minister
Vlado dementis and four other
top Red officials on charges of
plotting to assassinate President
Klement Gottwald and to turn
their country to the west “like
Yugoslavia.”
The news of the arrest on such
“Titoist” charges was the fiirst
that had been heard of the Com
munist dementis since he disap
peared Jan. 27. At the present
time he vanished there had been
rumors that he had fled to the
west or to Yugoslavia.
As was Marshal Tito of Yugo
slavia, dementis was charged
among other things with taking
an anti-Soviet stand and of plot
ting with Nationalist groups to
overthrow the government.
Wednesday, February 28, 1951
Korean Fighting Front, (jP) —
Two U.S. divisions seize eight
mile section of main communist
supply road in central sectorr.
$ •
South Korean Marines make more
landings on islands off east coast
go ashore near 33th Parallel on
west coast and come back with
captured documents and equip
ment.
The Pioneer Card Party Com
mittee has announced that last
Saturday’s party, which was post
poned due to weather, will be
omitted for the time being as there
are too* many conflicting dates
this week. A special party will be
announced later. The next sched
uled party is on March 15.
Notable historical and literary
figures who played the flute
were George Washington, Lord
Byron, Dr. Johnson’s Boswell,
Robert Louis Stevenson, Rous
seau, Schopenhauer, Casanova,
Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci.