m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX. No. 128 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1947 PER COPY — 15cT
NEWS IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON (/P)—Chairman
Charles Luckman announced yes
terday formation of a fish and
shellfish industry committee to aid
the food conservation campaign.
The group, headed by J. L. Al
pen, president of the General Sea
food Corp., will meet with Luck
man today.
Other members invited to at
tend include Knut Thompson,
Petersburg, Alaska.
OSSINING. N. Y. (/P)—Officials
al Sing Sing Prison here, report
that there is no housing shortage
here. There are not 135 vacant
cells—the greatest number of va
cancies in recent years.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Passenger traf
fic between Alaska and Seattle has
slackened in recent months as the
winter season approaches, steam
ship listings disclosed today.
Greatly reduced passenger lists
are coming into Seattle today on
both the steamer Baranof and the
steamer Denali of Alaska Steam
ship Company. The Baranof, due
at 4 p.m., has 89 aboard, and the
Denali, due at 9 p.m., has only 72
officials reported.
During the summer season ah
passenger ships usually carried ca
pacity loads both north and south
bound.
WASHINGTON, i.4h—'The Scot
tish Rite of Free Masonry, South
ern Jurisdiction, at its biennial as
sembly here, elected the following
to the rank of Knight Commander
of the Court of Honour: •
%
Alaska—Cecil Vetus Abbott,
Anchorage; Kenneth Gordon Mer
ritt, Juneau; Arthur Leslie Ner
land, Fairbanks.
•
JUNEAU, </P) — Juan Trippe,
president of Pan American Air
ways, and David Ingalls, vice
president, returned yesterday
from a hunting trip to Admiralty '■
Island, where Ingalls shot a brown
bear measuring eight feet, four’
inches. They left yesterday after- ;
noon for Seattle.
JUNEAU, (/P» — Ralph Rivers. ,
Territorial attorney general, and j
George Sundborg of Juneau left
for Seattle yesterday to attend a
hearing there Monday on Alaska
shipping rates. Rivers said they
planned to confer today with offi
cials of three Alaska shipping
firms in efforts to reach a com
promise agreement on the present
rate structure.
JUNEAU (/P)—Telegraphic pro-,
tests against establishment of a i
100-000 acre reservation for Hyda
burg natives are being sent from
the Juneau chamber of commerce j
to 36 United States government
officials, including President Tru- j
man
The chamber unani mouslyj
voted the protest yesterday as a
threat to possible development of
the pulp and paper industry in
^Southeast Alaska, and requested:
H. L. Faulkner, Juneau attorney,
to confer personally with interior
secretary Krug in opposing »he
award.
Fii •es Spread In
New England;
Millions in Damage
BAR HARBOR. Me. </P>—1This
tabled summer playground of the
rich, and six other communities,
were virtually wiped out today as
strong winds fanned woodland
fires ravaging New England into
fresh fury with the death toll al
ready at nine and property dam
age mounting above $26,000,000.
A spectacular all-night evacua
tion by land and sea—a peacetime
Dunkerque — left Bar Harbor a
deserted town as 3,500 townsfolk
fled in fright before • flames that
leveled from 200 to 300 homes, in
cluding summer showplaces of the
international society set.
Damage to the ruined mansions
in this town alone was officially
set at $8,000,000—not counting the
loss of valuable art treasures and
furnishings they contained.
As north winds blew up to a
force of 25 miles an hour through
out the region this morning—gain
ing momentum all the time—the
outlook was grim with still no ap
preciable amount of rain in sight.
•Continued on Page Eight)
Turkey Files
(Complaint Against
Red Propaganda
LAKE SUCCESS, (/P)—1Turkey
formally complained to the United
Nations today against what the
Turk delegation called an “ag
gressive propaganda” campaign
by Russia to incite “the Turkish
people a’gainst their own govern
ment” and other friendly govern
ments.
The complaint was made by
Turkish delegate Selin Sarpar in
reply to Andrei Y. Vishinsky’s
charges that the United States,
Greece and Turkey were permit
ting “warmongering” against the
Soviet Union.
Sarpar charged that Russia,
through propaganda, was trying
to turn the Turkish people against
the United States by spreading re
ports that the United States was
taking over Turkish military
bases under the Truman air pro
gram.
Turkey and Greece are receiv
ing aid under the Truman pro
gram for halting the spread of
communism.
Father Lafortune,
78, Passes On
FAIRBANKS, (/P) — 111 four
months, Father Beilarmine La
fortune, 78, famed dogteam priest
of the Arctic Coast and for the
past 30 years head of the Catholic
Mission on King Island in the Ber
ing Sea, died Wednesday night
He came to Alaska in 1903. As
a priest of the Jesuit Miss:onary
Society, he served at Nome, on St.
Lawrence Island and at other Arc
tic coast settlements. He studied
for the priesthood at Montreal,
and later at Paris.
He was brought to a hospital
here three months ago._
A.M.A. Doctors Say
Tuberculosis Is
Problem In Alaska
<(/P> Special Washington Service)
WASHINGTON, (A*)—Five doc
tors assigned by the American
Medical Association to survey
health conditions in Alaska, list
tuberculosis as the Territory’s
greatest health problem.
The physicians, Drs. Harry Bar
nett, Jack Fields, George Milles,
Joseph Silverstein, and Arthur
Bernstein all of Chicago, reported
to secretary Krug of the interior
department:
“Tuberculosis is a preventable
disease. The white plague can be
controlled in Alaska and in a peri
od of five to eight years the death
rate and incidence need not be
greater than in the best areas in
the United States.”
Krug in making the report pub
lic yesterday said the Alaska in
vestigation is the first of several
the medical association is to make
of territories and island posses
sions.
“The American people must
provide sufficient money to eradi
i cate the evils' that are menacing
the development of our great Ter
ritory," Krug said, “or be willing
to accept the blame, for failure to
heed the warning that is contained
. in the penetrating report of health
! and sanitary conditions in Alaska.
' The team of physicians* criti
( cized the lack of federal aid to
improve health conditions in Alas
ka, saying the situation had exist
ed for many years “without even
an effort being made toward a
' solution until 1945.” It said the
, Territory’s funds are insufficient
to meet the needs for tuberculosis
control.
“The war years and its present
| eminence as the ‘left flank’ of the
North American continent have
! brought Alaska into the national
| conscience,” the report said. “The
defense of Alaska would best be !
| I
(Continued on Page Six)
I
Mobilization Plan
Ditched; Many
Lives Wasted
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Bernard
M. Baruch declared today “thou- '
sands of lives, extra billions of
' dollars and months of time” were
j lost in World War II because they
repeated the mobilization errors
of World War I.
The 77-year-old adviser to
Presidents told the Senate war in
vestigating committee the armed
services had a mobilization-day
plan “which would have saved
precious lives and the wasted
wealth, but they were not per
mitted to put it into effect.”
“We were told this was a differ
ent kind of war,” Baruch said,
“and none of that ‘old world war
stuff’ was wanted.”
ADVISORY STORM
WARNING_
Gale force southeast wind to
night with snow and blowing
snow. Continued strong to gale
I force wind Saturday.
Storm Hits S.E.
Alaska; Another
Heads North
# ——
VANCOUVER, B. C„ (£»)—An 1
ocean-born hurricane was batter-;
ing itself out on the bleak, rugged
ranges of the Alaskan panhandle
today after sweeping across the
Queen Charlotte islands off the
west coast of British Columbia.
*
There were no immediate re
ports of damage from the 70-mile
on hour winds that shook tiny
fishing villages on the islands |
some 225 miles north of here be- '
fore veering northward to the
longer finger of Alaska that cuts
off the extreme northern section
of B. C. from the Pacific Ocean.
The main center of the storm
just missed the Queen Charlotte
Islands, but ships at sea reported
having passed through the storm
without difficulty, although sev
eral were forced to reduce speed
from around 18 knots to eignt
knots because of rough seas.
Prince Rupert, B. C., just east
of the northern tip* of the Queen
Charlottes, reported winds of
“gale force” and heavy rain, but
no damage.
The storm—described as “one
of the worst in years”—forced the
entire B. C. fishing fleet to race
to port ahead of the gale-lashed
u aves.
Meanwhile weather officials in
Vancouver reported that a second
“big storm” appeared brewing tar
out at sea off the extreme eastern
tip of the Aleutian chain, but es
timated that it would follow a
path “well to the north” of the 1
present storm.
President Truman
Orders Special
Economic Session
WASHINGTON, President
Truman drafted a report to the
nation today on his “compelling
reasons” for ordering a special
session of Congress November 17
to meet a billion-dollar economic
emergency in Europe and to check
“alarming” inflation at home
The chief executive is sched
uled to broadcast the report over
all national radio networks at 4:00
o’clock ‘Nome time* tonight.
Officials predicted that it will
be a sweeping analysis of the crit
ical economic conditions Mr. Tru
man sees this nation confronted
with both here and abroad.
It will set forth in detail what
the President himself called the
“compelling reasons” for sum
moning the lawmakers back to
Washington seven weeks ahead of
their regular January convening
date. And it will furnish the back
ground against which, upon the
actual convening, he will recom
mend a three-point program of
action to the Republican-led Con
gress.
Mr. Truman made that much
clear yesterday when toward the
close of a tensely active day, he
read newsmen an announcement
that he had just signed a special
session proclamation.
Less than an hour before the
President had informed a confer
ence of Republican and Demo
cratic Congressional leaders of
his decision to take that action.
Earlier in the day he had met
Continued on Page Three
Land Of Promise—Or Captive Colony?
Area’s Plight Worst In 20th Century
(By Elvon L. Howe)
(Denver Post Staff Writer)
No less than nine Congressional
committees and executive parties
toured Alaska this summer—a pa
rade of officialdom that posed a
major challenge to the Territory’s
famous hospitality.
The typical Alaskan, notably
unimpressed, accepted this unusu
al display of governmental affec
tion with the remark that “it must
have been a helluva hot summer
in Washington.’’
The Alaskan is long accustomed
to the ways of Congressional in
vestigating committees. Usually
they stop at the entry port of
Ketchikan long enough for a ban
quet at which the chairman deliv
ers himself of a resounding prom
ise to “do something” for the long
neglected orphan territory, after
which the investigators proceed to
tour the vast region investigating
principally its superb scenic and
recreational potentialities.
This has been going on for dec
ades, with the net result that Alas
ka’s basic economy now flounders
in its worst plight of the present
century.
Strategic in Defense
There were two princinpal rea
sons, of course, for this latest out
burst of afficial attention. First,
there was Alaska’s formal bid last
year for admission into the Union
as a State, which Question .is sure
I
! to come up for widespread nation
I al discussion during the next ses
sion of Congress. The House voted
! approval for statehood this year
but it was skilled in the Senate’s
final rush. Second, there is the de
velopment of Alaska as the na
tion’s No. 1 defensive citadel by
the army, navy and air force, the
, extent of which has to be seen to
i be believed.
Maj. Gen. Howard A. Craig, the
I young looking and very popular
“air general” who until recently
commanded the army’s Alaska de
i partment, look no side whatever
; on the statehood issue, yet made a
, very concise statement of the ba
sic problem.
“There is no question in my
mind,” he says, “that Alaska is
now thoroughly recognized in
Washington as the most strategic
area under the U. S. flag, if not in
the world. Yet our needs here are
critical—and they are identically
the same as the main needs civil
ians have.
“We need highways. What few
there are now would be rated as
third-rate country roads—except
for the Alaska highway—in the
States.
“We need railroads. Our lone
railroad is a rickety, unballasted
affair with rolling stock some of
which was obsolete when the Pan
, ama canal was finished. It would
fCr»rttiryn«d nn ir-'***'