»hi ___ - ■■ _______
the x, _NUGGET
’ . ' ; OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX. No. 153 ' NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 22 1947 PER COPY — 15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
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SEATTLE, <i«P)—Officials of the j
Alaska Freight Express Corp., re-;
ported Saturday that the new
firm’s first southbound cargo
laden barge was scheduled to ar
rive here Sunday. They said the
barge and its tow boat had en •
countered heavy winds on both
the north and southbound trips
without difficulty. It is bringing
general cargo from the interior of
Alaska.
JUNEAU, (/P) — James W.
Wright, a San Francisco junior
college student who was killed by
an automobile Thursday • night
while walking on the highway
south of Eugene, Ore., was an
overseas veteran and the son of a
Juneau school teacher.
His father, Ralph Wright, has
been the seventh grade teacher
here for four years. Young Wright
attended high school here and left
in 1945 to serve with the army in
Europe. The parents believe he
probably was on his way to spend
the holidays at a friend’s home in
Oregon.
LONDON, (/P) — President Tru
man’s presentation of the Marshall
plan to Congress won general ap
proval Saturday in western Eu
rope from all but the Communist
press.
The Moscow radio failed to
mention the Presidential message,
but unleashed another broadside
against “American imperialism.”
In general the reaction was divid
ed along the hardening lines of
east-west ideological differences.
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Delegate
Bartlett introduced a bill in the
Houfe Friday to provide a mini
mum allotment of $250,000 to each
state for the construction of hos
pitals.
HOOLYWOOD (JP)—Mark Hell
inger, one of Broadway’s most
prolific chroniclers, is dead.
The former newspaper reporter
who turned out hundreds of short
stories about New York life, and
then turned to the movies, died
yesterday of a heart attack. He
was 44 years old.
Only a few days ago, Hellinger
completed his final production,
“The Naked City,” which he told
friends is “my celluloid monument
to New York.”
MANILA, (^P)—Tirso Del Rosar
io has had his jaw x-rayed to find
out whether it was broken by a
stunning blow dealt him by ban
tamweight champion Manuel Ortiz
in the fourth round of their fight
Saturday night. Ortiz won by a
decision.
If the injuries are not serious,
the Manila university student
hopes to battle David Kui Kong
Young of Honolulu within a few
months. His manager, Ted Lewis
of Los Angelas, also plans to train
Del Rosario intensively for another
crack at the title.
SEATTLE, </P) — Donations to
the Pacific Northwest’s Christmas
ship now total 46 carloads, includ
ing 13 from Oregon cities and
towns, committee chairman Ralph
Grossman and Howard W. Parish1
Congress Cuts Aid
Request; Thumbs |
Down On 10 Points
WASHINGTON, M>) — Congress
Saturday handed President Tru-'
man a $522,000,000 aid fund for1
France, Austria, and Italy as the
main fruit of a 33-day special ses
sion.
Along with it went a Republi
can-sponsored bill calling for vol- .
untary measures by business and
agriculture to combat cost of liv
i ing increases at home while re
i lieving want abroad.
The stop-gap relief fund, ap
proved just before adjournment
Friday night, was $75,000,000 less
than the administration wanted to
buy food, fuel and fertilizer for
the three European nations during
the winter months.
It had fared far better during
its trip through Congress, how
ever, than the President’s ten
point anti-inflation program fea
| turing standby wage, price and
rationing controls, which met with
a Congressional thumbs down.
The appropriation bill carried,
in addition to the European aid
money, an $18,000,000 grant to
China. The administration had
! made no such request but the Sen
| ate decided to toss it in as a sign
1 of support for Chiang Kai Shek’s
; battle against the Chinese Com
' munists.
In its final form the bill also
j provided $340,000,000 to meet oc
cupation and relief costs for Amer
ican forces, in Germany, Japan
and Korea, a compromise figure
' worked out by a House-Senate
conference committee.
The state and army departments
had asked $490,000,000 for these
purposes and the Senate allowed
j the full amount. The House, which
j had voted a $260,000,000 cut, fi
nally settled for one of $150,000,
000.
There was one other major last
minute dispute between the two
chambers. It was over the amount
of wheat, flour and wheat prod- ^
ucts which must be retained in the
United States on July 1, when the
(Continued on Page Seven)
said today.
The deadline for food and cloth
ing contributions has been set for
Jan. 10.
Recent cash donations include
$1,020 from residents of Ketchi
kon, Alaska.
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WASHINGTON. (^)—An Amer
ican plane is reported to have
flown faster than sound.
The magazine Aviation Week
says in its issue dated today that
the Bell XS-1, an experimental
rocket craft, has pierced the so
called sonic barrier on several oc
casions during the past month a
Muroc air base, Calif.
—
Washington, (A3)—A treasury re
port said today that lower income
taxes would “tend to dampen de
mands for wage-rate increases.”
But if tax rates were cut or ex
emptions boosted, the revenue loss
might require “heavier reliance
on excise or sales taxes” and pos
sibly “additional indirect tax rev
enues.”
Commodity Grain I
Speculators Names
To Be Published |
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Secretary
of Agriculture Anderson Saturday j
prepared to make public on a “let
the chips fall where thgy may” j
basis a list of some 14,000 specu
lators in such commodities as I
wheat, corn and butter.
Backed by a Congressional res
olution bearing President Tru-1
man’s signature, Anderson told
agriculture department workers to 1
get the names together as quickly
i as possible and said he may be
| able to give them out within the
: next week.
He already had made it plain
i that the list will include the names
of Congressmen, if any, as well as
officials in the government execu
1 tive departments, if any, who have
j fattened their bank accounts by
I large-scale gambling in commodi
I ties during the upsurge in the cost
I of living. *
Washington interest was whet
ted by the fact that Anderson him
self, during a speech Oct. 9 in Chi
cago denouncing speculators, said
he could “name names” and that
“some of them are public figures.”
This was followed by Republi
j can demands that he hand over to
(Continued on Page Eight)
t
Trade Agreement
Hit B. C. Canneries
VICTORIA, B. C., (A*)—British
Columbia’s multi-million dollar
salmon industry today faces dark
prospects for 1948 with the loss of
the big British market to Russia
and provisions of the Geneva
world trade agreements which
make possible the export of raw
British Columbia salmon to the
United tSates for canning.
G. J. Alexander, deputy minis
ter of fisheries for British Colum
bia, reported that Britain, which
during the war years had taken
about 1,000,000 cases annually, had
signed a contract to take 750,0*0
cases of canned salmon from Rus
sia.
It is understood that a major
portion of the contract provisions
may be taken during 1948 and
there is little likelihood of Britain
taking much British Columbia
salmon next year.
The picture, however, provides
a bright outlook for Canadian
housewives who, during the war,
were short of salmon, for the bulk
of production, previously export
ed, will probably be allocated to
the domestic market.
Mr. Alexander said it was un
derstood that the contract signed
by Britain with Russia provides
for deliveries from canneries in
the Kamchatka area which before
the war were fished by the Japan
ese and the only major source of
salmon in the western north Pa
cific.
STORES TO BE CLOSED
THURSDAY, CHRISTMAS DAY
All stores will bo closed Thurs
day, December 25, Christmas Day,
and people are advised to do their
shopping for the holiday before
the stores close Wednesday night.
Western Union |
Strike Averted
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WASHINGTON, (A3) — Three
AFL unions said Saturday a
threatened strike of 50,000 em
ployees against the Western Union
Telegraph company may start at
any moment.
The original strike deadline was
set for 3 a.m. <PST> Tuesday. But, (
Adolph Bi'ungs, president of the
Western Union division of the AFL
commercial telegraphers union,
told a reporter the CTU and two'
other strike-threatening unions
have left the walkout hour up to a
union strike committee.
The CTU, along with the AFL
telegraph employees union and
telegraph workers union, is asking
for a 15-cents an hour wage boost.
Their present average is 96 cents
an hour.
WASHINGTON, f/P) — A pre
Christmas strike of Western Union
workers was averted today by
shifting major differences between
the company and three AFL
unions to a fact-finding board for
decision in 50 days.
The action delays the threat of
a nationwide telegraph tieup at
least until after February 9—
j about the time telephone workers
! plan to begin wage talks with the
Bell Telephone company across
the country.
The two groups of communica
tions workers were poised to
strike simultaneously last spring,
but the telegraph workers settled
for a five-cent hourly pay increase
on the eve of the scheduled tie-up.
I The telephone strike lasted five
weeks.
The renewed Western Union
dispute arose over union demands
for a 15 cent an hour wage boost.
The walkout first was set to begin
at 6 a.m., <EST) tomorrow, but the
unions later threatened to call the
telegraphers out on shorter notice.
Second Storm
Endangers Ships ;
In Pacific
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HONOLULU, </P)—A north Pa
cific storm placed at least three j
ships in new peril Saturday.
High seas which had buckled
deck plates, stove in hatches and i
jammed rudders further battered
the 7,176 ton S.S. James F. Har
rell, the 10,174 ton tanker El
Caney and the 130 ton army barge;
BSP-866.
In all six ships have felt the fury
of two storms during the week but
one is safe in an Aleutian harbor
and two others are believed out of
the path of this latest storm which
had gusts up to 75 miles.
The Harrell, latest to run into
trouble, radioed the coast guard
here it had three hatches stove in, j
a foot or more of water in the
hold, and a wet and swelling cargo
of maize. ♦
The number aboard the Harrell
was not given. Its position was
about 420 miles southwest of Adak
in the Aleutians.
The master of the Harrell radi
oed he was forced to run before
the gale because the danger from
(Continued on Page Five)
17 Billion Aid Plan
0
Headed For
Rough Sailing
(By Jack Beil)
WASHINGTON, </P)—Sharp at
tacks from both Republican and
Democratic ranks Saturday fore
cast rough going for the four-year
$17,000,000,000 Marshall plan
when Congress comes back to
work Jan. 6.
Republican leaders — excluding
Senator Vendenberg of Michigan
—apparently were lining up be
hind a proposal by Senator Taft
that any formal pledge of Euro
pean aid be limited to one year.
Taft wants Congress to review
the program annually and decide
whether it should be continued.
This found favor with at least one
Democrat, Senator Edwin C. John
son of Colorado, who told a re
| porter:
“I am opposed to this Congress
1 committing future Congresses. I
doubt very much that we have
enough surplus food supplies to
i permit us safely to export more
; than half of the amount the Presi
dent requested during the next 15
months.”
President Truman asked for a
$6,800,000,000 outlay in the 15
months beginning April 1, when
stop-gap relief for France, Italy,
and Austria will end.
Congress provided $522,000,000
to send food, fuel and fertilizer to
those nations in legislation ap
proved just before the end of the
special session last night.
Apprbval of this measure, gen
erally accepted as the forerunner
of the Marshall plan, indicated
that eventually the lawmakers
will agree to furnish some form of
economic aid to the 16 non-Com
munist nations of western Europe.
But the amount and the methods
remain in doubt.
Alaska Railroad
Workers Seek
Wage Increases
WASHINGTON, (/P)—1The first
Washington conference between
the government and employees of
the government-owned A1 a s k a
Railroad over wage increases will
be held Tuesday, Delegate Bartlett
announced today.
Bartlett said that Oscar Chap
man, undersecretary of the inte
rior, set the date for the first con
ference, after which negotiations
probably will be suspended until
after the first of the year.
Representatives of the railroad’s
organizations arrived in Washing
ton earlier in the week, Bartlett
said, and have conferred with rail
way labor union officers regarding
the wage issue.
Negotiations between railroad
officials and the union in Anchor
age ended Nov. 4 in a deadlock.
The last general wage increase
received by Alaska Railroad
workers, Bartlett sajd, was on July
1, 1945.
Union Representatives who will
participate in the Washington
confertnces are:
For the Brotherhood of Locomo
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