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VOL. LI. No. 113 NOME. ALASKA. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. 194?) Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
OTTAWA, <;P> —George Clark,
Canada’s director of Pacific and
inland fisheries, has been appoint
ed to the International Fisheries
Commission, a joint Canada-U. S.
body dealing with preservation of
halibut fishing in the Northern Pa
cific Ocean and Bering Sea. He
replaces deputy fisheries minister
Stewart Bates.
WASHINGTON, (A*)— President
Truman today nominated Selden
Chapin, state department career
officer to be ambassador to _ the
Netherlands. Chapin was named to
suceeed Dr. Herman Baruch who
resigned recently.
LAKELAND, Fla. (/P) — Rex
Beach, who still is recovering
from a recent serious illness, had
an eye operation here yesterday.
The 72-year-old author came
here from his home at Sebring.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Search will be
started in Southeastern Alaska
waters for the 42-foot fishing ves
sel Alert with six persons, three
of them children, aboard, the
coast guard reported today. Coast
Guard planes from Ketchikan will
take part.
The vessel, which has no radio,
has been unreported since it left
Hydaburg Sunday. It was overdue
in Ketchikan.
Aboard are Mr. and Mrs. Her
man Graham, Harold Cogo, and
three unidentified children.
KODIAK, (/P)—A classified ad
from the Weekly Kodiak Mirror:
“MY SON has asked me to offer
a reward of $200 for the arrest
and conviction of anyone killing
deer on Kodiak Island. His atti
tude is that if the few deer that
are here are wantonly killed theer
never will be an open season for
boys and girls his age.—Emil
Knudsen.”
FAIRBANKS, UP) — Fairbanks
residents are going to vote on the
daylight saving time issue at the
Oct. 4 election.
The city council decided to put
the issue up to the public after
conflicting opinions were express
ed at a hearing. Until then, Fair
banks will remain on standard
time and the public school on day
light time.
One woman wrote: “What day
light was Fairbanks trying to save
in the minddle of winter,”
FAIRBANKS, (/P)—'The Univer
sity of Alaska opens its fall term
this week with an enrollment ex
pected to run between 325 and
350.
Yesterday was the second day of
registration and a day of tests for
war veteran students.
A number of students will be
soldiers from the Alaska Commun
ications System and Ladd air force
base, enrolled for special courses.
Dr. Terris Moore has assumed
his duties as president to open the
university’s 28th year.
FAIRBANKS, (£*)—Gov. Ernest
H. Gruening yesterday authorized
U. S. commissioner Clinton Stew
art to spend $500 in search of a
Coal Strike Idles
More Than Half
j Million Workers
PITTSBURGH, (/Pi — The na
tionwide coal strike, marked by
| sporadic violence, yesterday idled
' more than a half million workers
in mine and railroad industries.
Nearly ail of John L. Lewis’
480,000 bituminous and anthracite
diggers stayed home for the sec
i ond day in their “no pension, no
! work” revolt.
! Coal carrying railroads ordered
j 26,000 employees furloug h e d .
Thousands of others face layoffs
in allied industries due to chok
ing off of coal production in 20
; states.
Violence developed in Ken
tucky and West Virginia. Govern
or William Tuck of Virginia took
a verbal swipe at Lewis. So did
two other top coal industry offi
cials.
j Lewis took it all in. He didn’t
, say a word. And there was no in
| dication from his united mine
■ workers headquarters in Washing
ton whether he will show up for
scheduled resumption of contract
talks with southern coal operators
at Bluefield, W. Va.
The southerners are the thorns
; in the UMW president’s side.
I Members of the Southern Coal
Producers Association refused to
j continue paying 20 cents a ton
* royalties into the union’s pension
‘Continued on Page Five)
!
Mass Arrest Of
Priests And Nuns
In Czechoslovakia
I PFAGUE, (JP)—The Czechoslo
1 vak government has jailed dozens
j of Roman Catholic priests and
'
j nuns in a big new wave of arrests
j aimed at breaking spreading re- j
I sistance to state Control schemes, j
, a statement from church sources
1 said yesterday.
An informed church source es
timated that the latest wave of ar
rests brought the number of Cath
olic priests under arrest to more
than 200.
No official comment was avail
i able on these figures. The govern
ment usually does not announce
arrests of priests until they have
I been sentenced.
Meanwhile reports rea c h e d
Prague that a local communist of
ficial had been killed by angry
peasants in Moravia following the
arrest of a Catholic priest.
The news stirred speculation
whether fresh peasant uprisings
are brewing.
hunter missing in the Alaska wil
derness more than two weeks.
No trace of the man, Howard
M. Sivadon of Fairbanks, has been
found since Sept. 4 when he is be
lieved to have strayed from his
hunting party in the Livengood
district, 50 miles north of here.
KODAIK, {JP)—Lee C. Bettinger
will seek his fourth term as Kodi
ak mayor at the Oct. 4 election.
His name has been put on the bal
lot for another one-year term.
Pound Devaluation
Has Repercussions
Around the World
Devaluation of currencies across
half the world sent traders in ster
ling areas scurrying for gold and
commodity stocks today but
brought little change in United
States markets.
With France and Canada added
overnight to the list of devaluing
countries, making the total 19,
others had still to fall in line.
Western Germany is to reduce the
value of its mark. The Hong Kong
dollar fell into the devaluation
lineup. Holland officially set its
devaluation rate for the homeland
and Indonesia at about 30 percent,
approximately the same as Britain.
The labor government in Britain
closed its ranks for the fight of its
life. Parliament is due to meet
next week, on the demand of Win
ston Churchill and other opposi
tion leaders. Labor unions were
restive at the prospect of increases
in the» cost of living, set off by
rises in the price of bread.
London’s stock market went
wild. Some gold shares sold for
nearly triple last Friday’s prices.
Everywhere, gold was the toast of
the day. One reason: the U. S. gov
ernment buys gold at $35 an
ounce, paying U. S. dollars. That
means exporting countries, in get
ting U. S. dollars, can turn them
into more units of their devalued
(Continued on Page Five)
Truman Asks For
Six-Day Steel
Strike Truce
WASHINGTON. (JP)—President
Truman today asked a new six-day
strike truce in the steel dispute.
The President also asked that
the steel concerns and the CIO
steel workers union resume collec
tive bargaining on their own.
He said federal mediators would
be available to assist them. i
Cyrus Ching, mediation chief
who announced Mr. Truman’s
new truce request, said no reply
had yet been received from either
union or companies.
Th present truce runs out Sat
urday midnight and the union is
poised for a walkout by its 1,000,
000 members at that time.
The President asked that the
truce be maintained until 12:01 a.
m., Saturday, Oct. 1, in the “na
tional interest.”
President Philip Murray of the
steelworkers advised Ching that
the union will decide on its reply
to Mr. Truman’s request at a un
ion wage-policy committee meet
ing at Pittsburgh tomorrow.
Ching said the steel companies
promised to reply soon.
Ching’s talk with the President
delayed for 45 minutes the media
tion chief’s scheduled resumption
of talks with union and industry
representatives.
There were reports that concil
iators working on the case were
eyeing a reported offer o fan em
ployer-paid pension plan in the au
tomobile industry as possibly of
fering an avenue for steel settle
ment.
Gold Still Is King
In Devalued
Currencies
—
NEW YORK. i/P) — Devaluation |
has made gold the king around the
world with the dollar as crown
prince.
That’s because gold still is the
yardstick of value for money, and
the United States has more gold
than anyone else, although you
can’t exchange your paper dollar
for gold.
The United States treasury price
for gold is $35 a fine ounce. When
the British cut their pound to
$ .80 from $4.03, they also raised
the price of gold to 250 shillings a
fine ounce from 172 shillings 3
pence.
That puts the British pound and
British cold on the same devalued
footing against the American dol
lar and American gold.
Other countries devaluing their
currencies either have or will
shortly raise their gold price to
keep in line.
The United States now owns
about $25,500,000,000 worth of
gold, more than 60 per cent of the
world’s known supply. And stands
ready to buy gold from all comers
at $35 an ounce.
Here is why everybody is rush
ing to buy stocks in gold mining
companies. South Africa, the
world’s biggest gold producer, be
fore devaluation sold 1,000,000
ounces of gold for 172,500.000
South African shillings, equal to
$35,000,000. After devaluat i o n
which was the same as the Bri
tish, 1,000,000 ounces brings 250,- ;
000,000 South African shillings— '
still worth $35,000,000.
Conseuentlv, South Afri can’
gold miners are reaping a hand
some profit in their own currency
through increased prices for their
golden product. If you own stock ,
in a South African gold mining1
company, you stand to profit from
increased dividends payable out of i
increased profits.
Soviets Charge U. S.
Suh Was Scouting
Their Defenses
—
(By Eddy Gilmore)
MOSCOW (IP)—The Soviet pub
lication Red Fleet said yesterday
the U. S. submarine Cochino ex
ploded and sank “not far from
Murmansk” last month in an
American attempt to scout out
military information.
(A U. S. navy statement said the
Cochino sank while on a “routine
cruise outside of Norwegian ter
ritorial waters” on Aug. 26. One
member of the Cochino’s crew was
lost and six aboard the Tusk, a
sister submarine, perished during
rescue operations).
Red Fleet said the place where
the Cochino sank is known to Sov
iet authorities.
“By this token,” the article con
tinued, “it has become clear to the
entire world that United States
naval circles feel it is possible to
carry out ‘training’ along Soviet
shores not far from one of the
most important ports of the U.S.S.
Devaluation \\ ill
Not Affeot Mining
In United States
WASHINGTON, —A gov
ernment expert said today the de
valuation of foreign currencies is
going to spur gold mining
throughout the sterling area—
but not here at home.
The biggest boost, said Charles
Merrill, chief of metal economics
for the U. S. Bureau of Mines, will
be in the biggest producing areas
in the sphere of devaluation. He
listed these as South Africa, Aus
tralia, India, New Guinea, the Af
rican Gold Coast, Southern Rhod
esia and Canada.
The devalued area produces
two-thirds of the world’s gold, he
said.
The gold-mining industries of
Russia, which produces almost
one-fourth of the world’s total,
j the United States and Latin-Am
! erican countries will not be affec
ted one way or another. Merrill
told a reporter. Those countries
have not revalued their money.
In the United States, the price
of gold remains unchanged at $35
an ounce. There is no incentive to
step up production.
In countries where the curren
cy has been cheapened, however,
the value of gold goes up. South
African gold for instance, had
been selling for about 172 shill
ings an ounce before devaluation.
It shut up yesterday to 250 shill
ings.
South African gold sold in this
country still would bring only
$35 an ounce. But those same dol
lars will buy more shillings.
Merrill said silver producers
will not be affected, except in
Canada, for silver is not an im
portant product in the British
Empire and the Eastern Hemi
sphere.
“Silver doesn’t begin to benefit
like gold will.” Merrill said.
“Gold is perfectly • situated to
take advantage of devaluation.”
Merrill said the world normally
produces about $1,000,000,000 of
gold a year. The 1945, 1946 and
1947 totals were 26,100.000: 27,
500,000 and 23,600.000 fine ounce3
respectively.
Fairbanks Asks
Housing Loan
FAIRBANKS, (JP)—City coun
cil members approved an ordin
ance Monday requesting a public
housing authority loan for con
struction of 100 low rental units.
Harold Byrd, Alaska housing
authority commissioner for the
Fourth District, said the Alaska
authority would be given an im
mediate loan of $40,000 to conduct
a survey, obtain sites, plan the
project and determine the nature
of families to be considered eligi
ble for residence.
Additional monies will be re
ceived to cover cost of the planned
construction.
R.’s northern waters.”
The article was headlined. “A
new reminder of the aggressive
plans o fthe United States in Eu
rope’s northern Waters.”