OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
.VOL, XLIX, No. 44. "~NOME.~ ALAsTa' FRIDAY,' APRIL~1 l7l947 PER COPY—15c
NEWS l> RIEF
SEATTLE, t/P)— A spectacular
three-alarm fire, heavily damaged
the roof and interior of the old
* armory building adjacent to the
Pike Place market early today.
The castle-like structure, built
in 1909, was used, in part as a
storeroom for records of the state
unemployment compensation de
partment. Fire Chief William Fitz
gerald said he was considering the
possibility that the fire was set to
destroy the records which now are
being audited in an attempt to dis
cover fraudulent compensation
claims. The records, however, were
not reached by the blaze.
Fitzgerald estimated the fire’s
damage at $15,000.
PORT TOWNSEND, bP)—Four
employees of the Puget Sound
Bridge and Dredging Co., Seattle,
were missing alter a dredge cap
sized in a storm last night. The
steam dredge, an od barge, lumber
scow and other equipment left
here yesterday afternoon in the
tow of the tug "Jim,” headed up
Puget Sound. The accident hap
pened about 10 p.m., the Coast
Guard was notified.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. i/H)-One
crew member was fatally injured
and 20 other crew members and
passengers seriously injured in the
crash of a C-47 army transport car
rying 21 military personnel last
night. Aboard the plane were
members of a Negro soldier base
ball team enroute to Davis Moun
tain field at Tucson, Ariz.
CHICAGO, (/P) — Boston has
been chosen over Seattle and other
cities bidding for the 1948 General
« conference of the Methodist
church. The conferences’ enter
tainment commission announced
the decision yesterday. The
church’s supreme governing body
meets every four years and ap
proximately (3,000 delegates and
visitors are expected from all over
the world. It will convene April 1
next year.
SYDNEY, Australia. (/Pi — The
Sydney Sun reported today that
the Australian government at the
behest of Britain and the United
States, had "tightened security
measures to wartime pitch" to
prevent espionage leaks during
projected rocket tests in this coun
try.
ROME, (/P)—Paul McNutt, retir
ing U. S. Ambassador to the Phil
ippines, arrived in Rome last night.
He said he would leave Saturday
for Copenhagen en route to Wash
ington to present his resignation.
McNutt is traveling Ambassador to
Denmark.
* MOSCOW, (/P)—Harold E. Stas
sen, candidate for the 1948 Repub
lican nomination for President of
the United States, talked with
Prime Minister Stalin last night.
Later Stassen told reporters: ‘‘We
had a frank discussion of the two
economic systems.” Stassen left to- j
day for Kiev, capital of the Uk
raine. He expects to return to Mos
.cow in a few days and then go on
to Leingrad and Stockholm.
| C K AFTER FIRE — Streams of water pcnn-d by fire fighters on a blaze at Fitchburg,
Mass., in fivc-acove-zerc v.cathc left this wintry scene
Senator Cochran
Speaks To Nome
Rotary Club
At the regular Thursday noon
luncheon of the Nome Rotary club,
O. I). Cochran, Senator from Nome
an i the Second Division, spoke be
fore the group, commending the
club on its high ideals and activi
ties wi.h respect to assistance in
the case of needy and crippled
children. He cited the Shrine Club,
an organization of Masons, which
has done much in orthopedic work
in the past several years.
Senator Cochran rem a r k e d
about the good the Territory is do
ing for the tubercular cases in tDo
new sanatorium near Sitka, whe
many persons from the Second i>i-:
vision are being cared for. The
senator stated he had also visited j
the new school on Japonski Island,
operated by the Department of In-,
dian Affairs, and saw the group ol j
more than 300 well-behaved, and
well-cared-lor children from all;
parts of the Territory.
The Pioneer Home at Sitka was j
another of the points visited by the ;
Senator and about which he sta'es
he found in very good condition,
and that the charges of incompe- i
fence and mismanagement, by the j
investigating committee were un
founded and unnecessary, and that
the old-timers who hail from all
parts of the Territory, spoke high
ly of the management, the board,
and Dr. Wm. Charferis, who was
formerly in Nome.
Senator Cochran championed
the Eighteenth Legislature, and
legislatures of the past 12 years of
which he has been a member, in
that the members do their best to
benefit and protect Alaskan inter
(Continued on Page Five)
Senate Confirms
David Lilienthal
(Uy Elion C. Fay)
WASHINGTON, f/T)—The atom
ic-enegy commission came out of
storm cellar today and plunged
immediately into long range plan
ning for peaceful and military de
velopment of nuclear power.
The tornado which roared about
the commission during i 1 week>
oi argument on Capit< i Hill sub
cided last night when the Senate
voted 50 to 31 to confirm David E.
Lilienthal in the chairman’s job he
has held since last January 1. Four
fellow commissioners and general,
manager Carroll Wilson also were
confirmed without the formality
of roll calls.
Lilienthal made an oblique ref
erence to the commission’s difficul
ties in a terse victory statement in
which he said “the important j
thing now is to get on with this
job.”
‘‘This job” entails the outright
ownership for the government of
all atomic plants and materials in j
this country as well as sweeping
authority over research and devel- j
opment work in all fields.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Confirmation of ,
David E. Lilienthal as chairman of1
the atomic energy commission was
termed “good for the west” last |
night by <Ken. Warren G. Mrgnu • I
son (D.-Wash.>
“Lilienthal favors a program
which will require more power
than is now available out here,”
Magnuson declared. “His appoint
ment means that we should be
able to present a strong case for in
stallation of additional generators
at Grand Coulee Dam, and it gives
some hope for at least token ap-1
propriations for McNary and Fos
ter Creek dams.”
a
Board Orders
Appropriations
“Freeze’*1
JUNEAU, </P)—A “freeze” order
on all appropriations lor the 1947
49 biennium except those essential
to the operation of the Territorial
government, has been issued by the
Territorial Board of administra
tion, Atty Gen. Ralph Rivers dis
closed Thursday.
The action followed estimates
that revenues for the biennium
would fall an estimated $3,750,000
short of the $10,000,000 appropri
ated by the legislature Itivers said.
Principal effect of the order will
be to halt all new construction of
schools, hospitals, roads, airfields,
lloats and small boat harbors. Road
and airfield construction appropri
ations totaling $400,000 were
frozen by the order, but an estim
ated $600,000 annual receipts from
the two-cents-a-gallon motor fuel
tax, earmarked for the roads, har
bors and airfields fund, was unaf
fected.
Specifically exempt from the
freeze are expenditures for the
maintenance of schools and public
asylums; pensions and grants to
aged, indigent and dependent chil
dren; salaries an operations of
Territorial offices; and bounty
payments.
The board met April 1.
JUNEAU, </P)—The Territorial
board of administration’s “freeze”
(Continued on Page Five>
Magnuson predicted the com
mission would push a program for
use of the Oak Ridge, Tenn., plant
for military aspects and the Han
ford, Wash., engineer works for
commercial phases of atomic en
ergy.
Labor Bill \\ ith
Teoth In House
W ASHINGTON, (,'T) — A stiff
new Will to pul the brakes oiy
'trikes and unions reached the vot
in'; stage in the House labor com
r ,.ce today.
Traces o! apposition to it still
smouldered among some Republi
can members. Several Democrats,
getting their first look at the
terms were ready to - wing on it
with till their power.
The bill, with a couple of chan
ges, got the approval yesterday of
Republican leaders and the policy
shaping GOP steering committee.
One change would provide a pe
riod of mediation and arbitration
for settling strikes, -uch as the
telephone row which the bill de
fines as affecting the national
y. The
other would remove a proposed
pan on the union shop if both man
agement and labor want one.
The bill stdl would forbid the
closed shop, under which an em
ployer may hire only union mem
bers. Under the union shop, non
union men may be hired, but they
, must join the union soon after go
ing on the payroll.
A strike affecting the national
interest would be handled by giv
. g the attorney general the right
1 to ask for a court order to stave
off or stop the tie-up.
The injunction would be good
for 75 to 90 days. During that time,
mediation and arbitration would
be tried. If that failed the union
still could strike, but the govern
ment could also get another in
junction and try again.
A new, independent administra
tor of the labor relations law
would investigate cases, present
them to the board, and take deci
sions into court for enforcement,
if necessary.
Across the Capitol, indications
were that a milder bill before the
Senate labor committee probably
will be toned down even more
i when its members start’voting on
it Friday.
As it stands, the preliminary
Senate draft outlaws the closed
shop, authorizes temporary injunc
tions to block serious strikes, pro
hibits secondary boycotts and jur
isdictional strikes, and makes nu
merous Wagner Act changes de
signed to “restore justice in rela
tions between employers and em
ployees.”
Longshore Asks
For Higher Wages
SAN FRANCISCO 1The CIO
international longshoremen’s and
warehousemen’s union served no
tice today that it intends to seek
higher wages “in all segments” of
its jurisdiction.
Amount of increases to be asked
will be determined by the various
crafts within the union.
Another resolution denounced
proposals to outlaw the Commun
ist party “or any other minority
party.” It was adopted by a 190 to
10 vote with the support of Harry
Bridges, ILWU president. Seattle
delegates led the opposition.