THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX, No. 27 _NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY~MARCH 3, 1947 PER COPY-I
NEWS IN BRIEF
ANCHORAGE (JP) — Police and
federal bureau of investigation of
ficers were probing today into the
cau>e of the death of a woman
identified as Clarabelle Welch,
about 35, whose body was found
yesterday in a hotel room here.
She was believed to have lived in
' Portland, Ore.
- - _
NEW YORK, (/P) — Not even
James A. Callahan, acting chid
inspector of the division of com
bustibles, cares to speculate as to
what might have happened if 200
gallons of gasoline, accidentally
pumped into an apartment oil fur
nace tank, had reached the fur
nace. Eleven families evacuated
when the fuel delivery man dis
covered his mistake waited today
for Callahan to complete final
tests and let them return to their
apartments in the four-story build
ing.
BALTIMORE, (/I*)—Bruce Jenn
ings, 9-year-old schoolboy found
hanging in the cloakroom of an
Essex, Md., school, died today in'
an oxygen tent at City hospital.
Physicians said he had never re
gained consciousness since he was
brought to the hospital Wednes
day.
CATANIA, Sicily, (>P) —Mount
Etna still belched steam and mol
ten lava today from a constantly
increasing number of craters near!
the top of its rotted north slope,
creating a lurid display which
drew a crowd of sightseers to
threatened Passo Pisciaro.
Activity of the 10,000-foot vol
cano had been uninterrupted since
flashes of flame first were seen
shooting from it a week ago today.
For the second time since the
oresent eruption started me rolling
lava seemed today to be slowing'
to a halt on all fronts.
;
_
' —“ . i
WASHINGTON, (/P)—'The Sen-1
ate approved today and sent back
to the House a resolution pledging
a $4,500,000,000 cut in President
Truman’s budget and promising to
use $2,600,000,000 of any savings
to reduce the national debt.
ROME. (iP)—Pope Pius XII trip
ped on a stone and dislocated an
ankle in walking through the Vat-i
ican gardens three days ago, the,
Italian news agency ANSA repart
ed tonight. He celebrated his 71st
birthday Sunday.
The ankje appeared swollen to
day, ANSA said, and the Pontiff
temporarily suspended public au
diences, which require him to be
on his feet for considerable peri
ods.
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Walter S.
Mack, president of the Pepsi Cola
company, today urged Congress to
knock out sugar rationing but keep
a price ceiling and inventory con
trols another year if necessary.
Mack opposed a top of 15 cents
a pound, declaring the housewife
now actually pays about 25 cents
a pound for sweetening because
• she is forced to buy many > -oducts )
• containing sugar that she would;
normally make herself.
^ INTER W ONDERLAN D—Cloaked in a mantle of newly-fallen snow, trees in the
Boston common stand in wintry beauty for nurses of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
W ashington Kettle
Simmers On
Domestie Issues
WASHINGTON, (&) —Coopera
tion between F’resident Truman
and the Republlcan-contro lied!
Congress appears to be wearing
thin on domestic issues today as
the legislators near the end of
their second month’s work,
Mr. Truman and GOI3 leaders
have maintained outward harmony
on foreign policies, but there are
signs that a blowup may not be
far off on home affaris.
Although he called Republicans
as well as Democrats to the White I
House yesterday for a highly se
cret discussion by Secretary of j
Stale George C. Marshall on Euro
pean affairs, not since February 3
has Mr. Truman held any meeting
with Congressional leaders to talk
over the legislative program.
. At that session, only the second
of its kind since the Pres’dent said
he intended to cooperate with Con
<Continued on Page Five)
Buffalo Teachers
Return To Work
BUFFAL, N. Y. (/?)—Vacation
ended for Buffalo’s 71,000 public
school pupils today as their in
structors returned to classrooms
after staging the largest teacher
strike in U. S. history.
The week-long walkout of 2,400
teaches was ended by the Buffalo
teadhers federation shortly before
midnight last night when its coun
cil of delegates voted to accept a
promise of Mayor Bernard J.
Dowd that a pay increase would
be forthcoming next fall if the
state authorized additional taxes
for the purpose.
Gov. Thomas E. Dewey is sched
uled to submit a special message to
the legislature this week request
ing that localities be granted au
thority to impose special taxes,
including a special levy for educa
tion.
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
JUNEAU, Feb~28, (/P)—A bill
for a new tax on fish products, ef
fective only through the coming
biennium, introduced in the Sen
ate, would set one cent per pound
or forty-eight cents per case on
canned King or red salmon, and
one-half cent per pound or twenty
four cents per case on all other
species of salmon canned and on
all mild, cured salted, frozen or
otherwise processed fish, includ
ing red salmon, codfish and hali
but.
The half cent a pound on canned
salmon privisions replace special
1946 case tax of ten cents and fou *
cents per case respectively for red
and other canned salmon.
All levies are provided in addi
tion to standing taxes. There are
at present no taxes on frozen fish
products.
Sen. Edward D. Coffey, (D.-3rd>
introduced a bill to create a tax
survey commission to study tnc
structure of the Territory and to
appropriate $65,000.
Sen. N. R. Walker <D.-lst> se
cures reconsideration of the bill
which passed Thursday requiring
municipalities to devote entirely
to school purposes all refunds
made from license fees. The bill
was then defeated after extended
argument.
The House passes the amended
bill keeping the Governor on the
board of administration but replac
ing the commissioner of education
with the commissioner of labor.
Johnson introduces a memorial
to Congress to extinguish Indian
title to lands in Alaska and to ap
propriate $50,000 to send repre
sentatives from the various tribes
to Washington to negotiate cash
settlements of claims.
Rep. Walter P. Huntley (3rd) in
troduces three measures: one to
increase the school tax from $5 to
$10; create an Alaska soil con
servation board; other to appropri
ate $1,000,000 for building schools
in Alaska.
(Continued on Page Five)
Truman Says Let
Draft Law Die
WASHINGTON, f/P)—President
Truman today recommended that
Congress let the draft law expire
on March 31.
In a message to the legislators,
Mr. Truman advised that the war
and iiuvy departments will request
; re-enactment of a selective service
i act later il' they are unable to keep
the army at a strength of 1,070,000
men and the navy at its authorized
! strength of 571,000, through vol
untary enlistments.
He requested that tiie services
be authorized to hire—from funds
already appropriated — die neces
sary civilian help to offset any
shortage of enlisted men if strength
falls below the required levels.
The White House dispatched the
message to Capitol Hill while the
President himself was flying to
Mexico City for a three-day good
will visit.
WASHINGTON, (#) — After
President Truman today urged
Congress to let the draft law ex
pire March 31, the army announc
ed it is releasing approximately
100,000 non-volunteers by June 30.
Mr. Truman said in a message
to Congress that the draft men are
(Continued on Page Five)
Nationals Make
Big Offensive
NANKING, UP) — A sweeping
government counteroff e n s i v e
which trapped nearly 200,000 Com
munist troops threatening Chang
chun, Manchuria, was announced
by a government spokesman to
day as well-informed sources re
ported a supreme command deci
sion to crush Communists on all
fronts by the end of the year.
A spokesman for the ministry
of information said government
troops encircled Red forces north
of Changchun, capital of Manchu
ria, with the Reds losing 20,000
casualties almost immediately.
%
Seeing The
Legislature From
The Gallery
(By Mildred Hermann)
The Colley-Green bill which
seeks to abolish the Alaska Devel
>rnent Board was killed in the
House Saturday morning by a tie
vpte. This action followed extend
ed consideration of the measure in
the course of which George Sund
borg, general manager of the
board, spent two hours on the
stand undergoing questioning by
House members.
Questioning by Carl Anderson
relative to the board’s participa
tion in lighterage rate hearings of
Bering Sea lighterage companies,
led to the revelation by Sundborg
to the effect that the high lighter
age rates in Nome were seriously
:mpeding development there.
Sundborg read one letter from a
man who had bought sawmill
equipment for surplus property at
Nome for $2,500, expecting to ship
same to Kotzebue for operating a
saw mill in that area and found
the cost of shipping was $3,500,
largely because of high lighterage
rate.
Sundborg also revealed that the
hearing in Seattle showed that al
most one-third of the revenues
from lighterage were paid out in
salaries, principally to Lomen
brothers who do not live in Nome
and that maritime practice usually
allots only about six per cent for
that purpose.
This is not news to your people,
but you should have seen the au
dience reaction to it here.
Carl Ander on not a very able
inquisitor as he is too inclined to
lose his temper, but he had the
able assistance of Maurice John
son, who classified the lighterage
rate hearing as unwarranted inter
ference with private business;
completely overlooking the public
interest adversely affected by high
rates.
Endorsements received from
various organizations were not
produced though several times re
quested by Steve McCutcheon.
Speaker Gill stated he had given
| them to some one and finally re
membered it was Joy of Fair
| banks, chairman of the ways and
means committee, who said he had
them some place and might be able
to find them in his desk if he
looked but did not consider them
of any value anyway.
Noone in the House made the
mistake of Senator Jones, declar
ing it to be nobody’s business how
he voted, but the general tendency
was to pooh pooh the endorse
ments by saying they did not rep
resent the opinion of the majority
of the members of the organiza
, tions, that the members did not
know anything about the board
anyway, and that they did not be
j lieve in submitting to pressure.
Frank Johnson, Indian member
of the House from Kake, had the
answer to that one when he said
that public opinion was the kind
; of pressure that every member of
the House could rightly be proud
| to submit to.
There was much attempt to de
(Coninued on Page Eight)