™i NOME NUGGET
4 _OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LI. No. 10 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1949 Per Copy—~15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
SIMLA, India, </P)—Thieves in
i the East Punjab Railway were op
erating on a new technique before
they were found out and 14 of
them arrested. Dressed in military
uniform, they used to offer food to
traveling military officers. After
the victims became unconscious,
the thieves stole their belongings.
SAN FRANCISCO, f/P) — The
Chinese communist radio charged
Saturday that “Chiang Kai-Shek’s
“retirement” and Li Tsung-Jen’s
taking over the bogus presidency
f is all the prompting of the Ameri
can government.”
The broadcast, heard by the As
sociated Press in San Francisco
was the first Chinese Red reaction
to Chiang’s withdrawal from
Nanking last Friday.
NEW YORK, (/P)—A cough is a
dramatic performance and should
jfc be compensated accordingly.
This was the ruling last week of
the AFL American federation of
radio artists in passing on a plan
by WMCA to have its announce
ers cough as part of a public-serv
ice series on tuberculosis.
At the current actors’ rate for
spot announcements coughs are
worth from $6 to $12.
TACOMA, </P)—Mary Cropper,
18-year-old daughter of Mark
Cropper, Tacoma ,and a former
resident of Sitka, has been named
* as queen of the 1949 Puyallup Val
ley Daffodil Festival, to be held
April 4-10, in Tacoma, Puyallup
and Sumner. The dark-haired,
blue-eyed queen is a senior at
Puyallup high school.
FAIRBANKS, </P) — Robert
Claus, clothing store owner, was
named Saturday to receive a dis
f tinguished service award as
“young man of the year in Fair
banks.”
John B. Hall, clerk of the dis
trict court, received the good gov
ernment award of the U. S. Jun
ior chamber of commerce. Both
were honored at the first annual
Fairbanks Junior chamber ban
quet.
Claus was cited for his civic
leadership; Hall for efficiency and
integrity in public office.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Capt. Jahn E. j
Peterson, 65, who served as pilot
on ships in these parts and Alaska,
died yesterday.
Born in the San Juan Islands,
he lived in Seattle for the 40
years, the last 22 of which 'he was
a pilot for Alaska Steamship com
pany. He spent many of his early
years on the Pukon river.
► Survivors include his mother,
Mrs. Edward Ewing, 90, and a sis
ter, Mrs. Edward Keehn, both of
Bellingham.
REGINA, Sask., (TP)—Forty-four
of the city’s 60 buses and trolleys
were reported lost in a fire at a
barn yesterday.
Supplies and equipment were
destroyed and the office and bam
damaged.
At an emergency meeting,'the
city council made arrangements to
rent 16 Saskatchewan government
buses, some army vehicles and
some buses from independent
companies.
Nineteenth Session
Of Alaska
Legislature Opens
(By James Hutcheson)
JUNEAU, (/P) — Alaska’s 19th
legislature opens its regular 60-day
session today on a framework of
organization laid in advance. In
the background is the controversi
al 17-day special session which
ended Saturday.
Under agreements reached dur
ing the special session, Gunnard
Engebreth, Anchorage Republican,
will succeed Frank Peratrovich,
Klawock Democrat, as Senate
president. Stanley McCutcheon,
Anchorage Democrat, takes the
House Speaker’s gavel from James
Nolan, Wrangell Democrat.
Tomorrow, Governor Gruening
is scheduled to deliver a leng hy
“State of the Territory” message
to a joint session.
Agreement on the Senate presi
dency was reached by the evenly
divided Republican and Demo
cratic Senate factions as a solution
to the 19-ballot deadlock for the
I office in the special session.
The $42,000 special meeting of
the Legislature produced only one
measure, which would provide an
j income tax of 10 per cent of the
amount paid by individuals and
firms in federal income taxes.
Revenue from the bill is estim
I ated roughly at $4,000,000 for the
biennium.
; But the regular session poses
I more than revenue problems for
I the legislators. They now face the
job af tackling an estimated $17,
000,000 budget, deciding whether
it should stand or be trimmed
sharply—and if it stands to find
an approximate $6,000,000 addi
tional revenue to meet it.
There was some discussion dur
ing the special session that any'
major legislation enacted then
might be re-enacted during the
regular session to avoid any pos
sible legal challenge later.
But Sen. Victor Rivers of An
(Continued on Page Five)
r
Four Die In
Crash Of B-29
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (/P) —
Four of 12 crewmen were killed
l
Friday night when a B-29 crashed
into a snow blanketed field min
utes after taking off from the
Great Falls air base.
Three were dead in the wreck
age when rescuers arrived nearly
four hours later. The fourth died
in the base hospital. Of the eight
injured one is in critical condition.
The 15th Air Force plane was
on a flight to its home base at
Spokane, Wash., from the Smoky
Hill base at Salina, Kans.
A crewman who was thrown
clear trudged five miles through
heavy snow back to the base to
notify officials of the crash. Four
wheel drive trucks were used to
plow through four foot snowdrifts
to evacuate the injured.
There was no fire after the
crash. Planes were sent aloft to
drop flares to locate the wreck
age. The dazed crewman was un
able to guide the rescuers back to
I the scene.
Employers Must
Deduct Alaska
Withholding Tax j
JUNEAU <>P)—Tax commission
er M. P. Mullaney already has
warned Alaskans to make sure
they are complying with the pro
visions of the Territorial income
taft act, passed by the Legislature’s
special session and signed by Gov
ernor Gruening Saturday.
Mullaney issued the following
notice yesterday:
“The income tax act is now law
and is retroactive to Jan. 1.
“Every employer making pay
ment of wages or salaries sh ill de
duct and withhold a tax in the
amount of 10 per cent of the fed
eral income tax deducted. Employ
ers paying wages earned in Alaska
regardless of where payment is
made are liable for payment of the
tax and must make returns quar
terly to the tax commissioner.
“Persons not subject to'with
holding provisions of law are lia
ble and must file returns and
make payments. Weekly, bi-week
ly and semi-weekly wages and
salaries already paid in January
for which their Territorial tax has
not been withheld are subject to
the withholding requirements and
must be deducted by employer on
next payment of such salaries and
wages.”
Mullaney added the reminder
that operators of all types of pas
senger and freight carriers must
deduct from the employees pay
ten per cent of federal income tax
on that part of their pay earned
within Alaska.
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
(By James Hutcheson)
Saturday, January 22, 1949
JUNEAU, (A*) — With Alaska’s
first general income tax bill await
ing Governor Gruening’s signa
ture today, the Senate prepared
to act on two other measures
which would quadruple fish trap
taxes and levy a one per cent tax
on property.
There was strong likelihood
that the Senate woud continue in
to overtime tonight as the special
session reaches its close.
Neither the fish trap nor pro
perty tax bills had been given
more than a remote chance of en
actment, but last night the chair
man of the Senate taxation com
mittee said the outlook had chang
ed.
- Sen. Victor Rivers, Anchorage
Democrat who heads the commit
tee, said the fish trap measure
would reach the Senate floor and
“has a good chance of passage.”:
He was somewhat dubious, how- j
ever, over the fate at the proposed
property tax.
Sen. R. M. MacKenzie, Ketchi-I
kan Democrat, also predicted that
the upper chamber would put
through the House-approved trap
tax bill.
Much of the legislation which j
was sidetracked during the special
session is expected to be re-intro
duced in the regular 60-day ses- i
Continued on Page Three (
18-Wheeler Brings
Mail To Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, UP) — A giant
18-wheeled truck and trailer, car
rying seven tons of mail, rolled
into Anchorage Saturday to herald
the beginning of overland service
from Seattle.
The trip was made in six days
over the Alaska Highway.
The big 12-ton capacity vehicle
was the third to leave Seattle, but
the first two were waved on to
Faribanks when deep snows at
Tox Junction prevented their
coming here.
The fourth truck is due to bring
mail Saturday. The service, under
the Railway Mail departmen*, will
be a five-day-a-week schedule,
the trip to take five days. Deep
snows delayed the first airrival.
The trucks are especially built,
and are manned by two drivers.
Truman Intends
i To “Keep Pledges*’
WASHINGTON, </P)—The inau
guration festivities behind him.
President Truman shed his party
clothes Saturday with a promise
to work at pushing the Democratic
‘ platform through Congress
Still brisk and-smiling, Mr. Tru
man went home Friday night for
his first full night’s sleep in days,
after telling party followers his
list of campaign pledges “was not
a scrap of paper.”
It was another busy day for the
President, most of it spent in the
company of Vice President Bark
ley. The two were in high humor.
They swapped jokes, joshed each
j other and kept the crowds who
saw them roaring with laughter.
As the day ended, Mr. Truman
commented: “I don’t think this
country ever had a President and
Vice Prseident who were more
congenial.”
The President stayed only 25
minutes at the Kentucky State
Society’s inaugural ball for Bark
ley at the Shoreham hotel.
International News
At A
(By the Associated Press)
(Monday, January 24, 1949>
Thousands of plodding national
ist troops, showing no sign that
any fight was left in them, were
reported withdrawing from the
Nanking, Shanghai and Hangchow
areas of China today. They may be
enroute to Chekiang province,
where Chiang Kai-Shek is in at
least temporary retirement.
The nationalist government con
tinued the southward removal of
its ministries “in order to fight on
if communist peace terms are too
harsh to be acceptable,” a govern
ment spokesman said. The govern
ment’s director of information
said Chiang is still president of
China and vice president Li
Tsung-Jen is serving as acting
president only because Chiang is
absent from his seat of govern
ment and unable to serve.
The communists, with victory
(Continued on Page Five)
Two Survive
Plane Crash
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Two sur
vivors of an Alaska Airlines DC-3
plane crash were hospitalized here
Saturday after being cut free
from the wreckage. One, a passen
ger, had hung upside down against
his safety belt for 20 hours.
Four others died when the
transport smashed into a hillside
on the Kenai penin/ula Thursday
night.
The man who dangled head
downward in the shattered plane
was Peter Poumirau. of San Fran
cisco, the other survivor was Capt.
R. D. Land, pilot of the ill-fated
craft.
Rescue crews reported the body
of stewardess Lucina Nims of Ev
erson, Wash., has not been found.
Feminine clothing was seen in a
‘angle of debris in the middle of
the wreckage and it was assumed
her body was there. Also aboard
were co-pilot Robert Stevens of
Seattle, Roscoe Spears of Dilling
ham, Alaska, and Stanley Hillman
of Anchorage.
Poumirau was in critical condi
tion and Land, whose home is An
chorage, is in serious condition at
a hospital here. Both had frozen
(Continued on Page Eight)
Favor Sitka For
Constitutional
Convention Site
KETCHIKAN, (/P)—Sitka, his
toric site of the first Alaska Capi
tal is favored heavily for the pro
posed Alaska Constitutional con
vention, the Chronicle said in an
article to appear in today’s edition.
The plan to draw up an Alaska
State Constitution was announced
[ Saturday in Juneau by seven leg
islators from the Third Division.
They said it was the first step
in setting up machinery to make
Alaska the 49th State, ahead of
Hawaii. A bill authorizing the
convention is being prepared for
introduction at the opening of the
regular legislative session in Jun
eau tomorrow.
The Chronicle said Sitka is ex
pected to issue a formal invitation
this week to hold the convention.
(Continued on Page Five)
U. Of W. Fires
Three Professors
For Communism
SEATTLE, (JP)—In an action de
scribed by University of Washing
ton president Raymond B. Allen
as “unique in educational history,"
the university’s board of regents
has fired three professors accused
of former or present communist
party membership.
Three others were placed on
two years’ probation.
Dr. Allen, whose recommenda
tions were born out by the re
gents’ decision, said he would lay
the case before the American As
sociation of University professors.
The dismissals are effective
Feb. 1.
The decision was called “a blow
to academic freedom and civil lib
erties” by the three discharged
(Continued on Page Six)