22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. L. No. 91. NOME. ALASKA. FRIDAY, JULY 30. 1948 PER COPY 15^
NEWS IN BRIEF
JUNEAU, (JP) — Howard Hop
kins, assistant chief of the forest
service, said today he will recom
mend use of the timbers of South
eastern Alaska, as far as possible.
Hopkins said the forest service
is aware that it is folly to let
timber stand without utilization.
He added, however, that the cut
ting program will not detract
frorfi the scenery.
Hopkins is here to make an in
spection of timber in the area as
a basis for its utilization.
HONOLULU, </P) — Approxi
mately 250 military air transport
service (MATS* planes are avail
able to augment the Berlin airlife
if necessary, says Maj. Gen. L. S.
Kuter, Mats commander.
Kuter, stopping here on the
last leg of a flying inspection of
Mats operations in Alaska and thcf
Pacific, will proceed to San Fran
cisco tomorrow.
NEW YORK. (/P)—Lions Inter
national has called for a strong
stand against "further encroach
ment of the communistic way of
life."
The service club issued the call
in a resolution adopted yesterday
at its final session of the four-day
31st annual convention in Madi
son Square Garden.
Other resolutions urged by the
Lions included, statehood for
Alaska; Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
•
SPOKANE, (jP) —Appointment
of the Rev. Edward McNamara,
Ketchikan, as chaplain at Sacred
Heart hospital was announced to
day.
Father McNamara will succeed
the Rev. Charles Coughlin, S. J.,
who was assigned to a parish at
Missoula, Mont.
ANCHORAGE, </P)—Robert E.
Sharp, now serving as regional
director of the war assets admin
istration with headquarters here,
has been named to the newly cre
ated post of city comptroller.
City manager Don Wilson said
Sharp will join the city staff in
15 days. His salary will be $8,400
a year.
'OTTAWA, (/P) — Royal Cana
dian air force headquarters said
last night a Canso amphibian air
craft carrying a crew of 10 crash
ed and sank in Arctic waters
Wednesday, killing one and in
juring nine.
Details were sparse but officials
here believe the plane hit a cross
wind w^en it nosed down for a
landing at Kittigazuit, an RCAF
station in the Northwest Terri
tories. The plane was being used
to haul supplies to airmen sta
tioned in the Arctic.
MONTONE, Alta., </P)—Three
United States army air force wea
ther observers escaped injury in
the crash of an*R.A.A.F. Catalina
supply plane Wednesday at Kit
tigazuit, N.W.T.
First Lieut. C. T. Altemeier,
Cpl. R. L. Kline and Pvt L. A. De
lvecchio, all of Fort Richardson,
were passengers on the routine
flight from Norman Wells, N. W.
T.
Mystery Shrouds
Farben Plant
Explosion
(By James J. Devlin)
LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany,
(/P)—German investigators of the
greatest European disaster since
the war brushed aside yesterday
' communist charges that the ex
ploded chemical plant here was
making war material.
Police in this French zone
Rhine city said 84 bodies were
recovered and that about 250 per
sons were missing and presumed
dead. To the apparent death toll
of 334, they added 2,000 injured.
Manheim police across the river
estimated the dead between 500
and 800. U. S. army officials there
said 6,200 were injured, many in
Mannheim and other nearby
American zone places by the ter
rific concussion.
The plant employed 22.000
workers. The explosion and
swiftly spreading fires demolish
ed or damaged 18 buildings. It
was the largest plant in the
French occupation zone.
Communist newspapers in Ber
• Continued on Page Eight)
:
B-29’s To Continue
World Flight
TUCSON, Ariz. (/P), Two B-29’s
will continue their flight around
the world while the search goes
; on for more victims of the crash
j of a sister superfortress off the
south coast of Arabia, Davis
Monthan air force base announc
■ ed yesterday.
The base has announced the
J names of five crewmen killed,
six missing and one survivor. The
B-29 which fell into the sea about
a mile off Aden Tuesday night is
i believed to have had a crew of
17 or 18 men.
The two remaining B-29’s v:ll
follow the original route, making
their first landing on United
States territory at Anchorage,
Alaska.
Molotov Can’t
Talk; On Vacation
(By Eddy Gilmore)
MOSCOW, </P)—‘The U. S. em
bassy was informed today that
foreign minister V. M. Molotov
is out of town.
The embassy had called the
foreign office for an appointment
with Molotov for Ambassador
Walter Bedell Smith, who return
ed to the Soviet capital yesterday
from consultations in Berlin and
London on the situation in Ger
many.
The foreign office told the em
bassy that a deputy foreign min
ister, Valerian A. Zorin, was on
duty.
(The western powers seek to
talk with Molotov on the German
crisis. The British-licensed Ger
man press service said Molotov is
absent from Moscow “on a vaca- i
tionM of undetermined duration).
Alaska Will Get
Parcel Post Zones
.. -
JUNEAU, (/P) — Alaska is ex
pected to be zoned for air parcel
post by Sept. 1 when a new mea
sure authorizing such zoning is
scheduled to go into effect.
Announcing this today, Robert
Burgess, deputy second assistant
postmaster general, said the zon
ing would provide the same pack
age rate between places in Alas
ka as btween comparable places
in the States.
Burgess was accompanied here
by A. D. Lawrence, superintend
ent of the raliway mail service
at Seattle, and A. O. Willoughby,
regional superintendent of air
mail service for the western
states.
I
U. S. Strengthens
Air Forces
In Europe
WASHIN GTON, </P) — The
steady build-up of American air
power in Europe, reflecting the
strain in western power relations
with Russia, reached a new phase
today.
A major general was ordered to
England to take command of the
60 superfortresses which flew
there from this country two
| weeks ago. When the two wings
of B-29’s unobtrusively departed
the United States, the highest
ranking officer was a colonel).
Furthermore, when Maj. Gen.
Leon W. Johnson takes over his
new assignment early next week
he will be commanding what ac
tually amounts to the framework
for an “air division,” a unit des
tination widely used during
World War II.
The air force now defines an
air division as two or more wings.
A wing is the operating forma
tion of one or more groups of air
craft, with its own maintenance
and service organizations. Cus
tomarily, a major general com
mands an air division.
Johnson will be under the
over-all direction of Lt. Gen.
Curtis E. Lemay, commander of
all United States air units in Eu
rope. A wing of B-29’s presently
based in Germany is under Le
may’s command.
Truman Asks |
Power To Cut
Many Prices
WASHINGTON, I/P)—President
Truman asked today that Con
gress vote him power to cut
prices on cost-of-living items, and
set as his goal a roll back to the
November, 1947, level. •
But proposed legislation he sent
the Capitol recognized that price
slashes that deep probably could
not be made on most items. It
said levels of November, 1947,
should be the base but that price
(Continued on Page Five)
Internation’l News
At A Glance —
<By The Associated Press*
The British government is con
sidering halting demobilization
of its armed services because of
war threats between Russia and
the west.
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
made this known today in Par
liament, but offered hope that
current diplomatic moves might
prevent the cold war from becom
ing one of guns. The British have
; been returning 20,000 soldiers,
| sailors and fliers every month to
! civilian status.
U. S. Ambassador Bedell Smith
i reached Moscow after talks in
London and Berlin. He and the
British and French ambassadors
i are expected within a few days to
; sound out foreign minister V. M.
j Molotov on the chances of peace
fully settling the Berlin blockade
1 problem and other German ques
i tions.
An American war crimes court
acquitted 24 directors of the I. G.
Farben industrie chemical trust
yesterday of plotting and waging
aggressive war. Nine directors,
however, were convicted of loot
ing industries in conquered coun
tries.
The court still is to reach its
verdict on counts charging Far
ben used slave labor and abetted
mass murder.
The court said German politi
cians and generals clearly were
to blame for plotting and waging
war. Another court recently dis
missed the aggressive war charge
against the Krupp steel and mu
nitions works masters.
MOSCOW
Walter Bedell Smith, U. S. am
bassador to Russia, flew from
Berlin to Moscow. He and the j
(Continued on Page Three)
Senate Attacks
Anti-Inflation,
Anti-Poll Tax Bills
(By Edwin B. Haakinson)
WASHINGTON, f/P)—Anti-poll
tax legislation was brought up in
the Senate yesterday and South
erners immediately began fili
bustering tactics.
It was evident that this first
measure to get consideration in
the special congress session would
draw a lot of talk, but probably
no action.
Prospects were no brighter,
either for President Truman’s
anti-inflation program. Paul Por
• ter, former OPA administrator,
took a detailed bill embracing
the program before the House
, banking committee. It asks price
control and rationing power and
aims at shoving prices of cost-of
living items back toward Novem
ber, 1947, levels.
| A storm of GOP hostility greet
ed Porter and the bill. Chairman
Wolcott <R.-Mich.» said the ad
ministration had powers it was
not using. He also asserted that
President Truman broke “the
' price line ”by encouraging a wage
increase for steel workers near
the end of th war.
The anti-poll tax legislation
would outlaw payments of state
poll taxes as a requirement for
voting in federal elections. It
has passed the House.
Senator Wherry (R.-Neb.) mov
ed that the Senate consider it,
saying he did so in a “hopeful
spirit.”
Senator Russell <D.-Ga.> promt
ly started delaying tactics. He
asked a quorum call. This is a
call of the roll to determine whe
ther a majority of the Senate is
present.
Truman Lashes Congress; Demands
Price Controls And Wartime Powers
WASHINGTON, </P)—President
Truman today accused the Repub
lican Congress of a “blind disre
gard” of quickening inflation.
“Lasting prosperity is not as
sured,” the chief executive de
clared in calling anew for laws
to “forestall business collapse.”
Such a crash may come, he said,
as a sudden climax to the leap
frog game of wage and price in
creases.
Mr. Truman threw a whole
book of economics at the special
session. It was his midyear eco
nomic report, 115 pages long.
Undaunted by the icy reception
he got Tuesday, when he present
ed his program in person, the
President renewed his demand for
sweeping powers—including con
trol over prices, wages, rationing
and credit, plus an excess profits
tax to discourage price-boosting.
The core of the plan, a 4 per
cent roll back in prices of essen
tial cost-of-living items, was re
vealed yesterday, when former
OPA chief Paul Porter laid an
omnibus White House bill before
the lawmakers. The aim, by cut
ting those prices back to the No
vember, 1947, level, is to hold
general living costs where they
are now, Porter said.
Mr. Truman, in his message to
day, insisted:
“It is not too late for preventa
tive measures, and we are not yet
forced by the tragic consequences
of depression to adopt measures
which would interfere with our
free economy far more than would
any or all of the measures I have
proposed.”
The pages he sent to Capitol
Hill mostly comprised the report
of his council of economic advis
ers. The three-member council
backed up Mr. Truman’s plea for
more power, but did not endorse
any particular form of regulation.
Industrial factors are now en
tering the picture, Mr. Truman
said. He listed these as including
multi-billion dollar spending for
defense and foreign aid, “third
round” wage boosts, and the prob
able wiping out of the federal
surplus this year.