THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LIII No. 116 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1951_Per Copy—151
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J
Donald McDonald, Father of Alaska
Highway Declares It “An Economic
Waste And Wholly Inadequate”
SEATTLE, (/P)—Saving Aiaska<
from Russia in the event of war
is dependent on constructing a
550-mile stretch of highway, in
the opinion of Donald McDonald.
McDonald, of Fairbanks, is a
retired exploratory engineer. He
is known as the father of the
Alaska Highway. Ironically, he
now despises it as “an economic
waste nnd wholly inadequate,
largely because of rough, steep
stretches, susceptible to washouts,
between Whitehorse, Y.T., and
Edmonton, Alta.
The solution, McDonald believes
is construction of a road from
Atlin to Fort St. James, B.C., that
would connect with the Fairbanks
road 58 miles south of Whitehorse
and with the Cariboo Road from
Fort St. James.
Connecting the two roads would
cut the mileage from Fairbanks
Seattle from the present 3,401
miles to about 1900 miles, McDon
ald said.
“Alaska is an economic island,
dependent on the sea for all means
of war or development,” said Mc
Donald. If it is true that it is
one of the most strategic areas in
the world, and I think it is, it is
mandatory for the \jnited States
to hold on.
“But I don’t see how we can
unless we build this new road.
Russia has submarines and they
easily could cut Alaska from being
supplied by sea.
“That leaves the present high
way. It is too bad that only 1,700
rucks used it last year.”
McDonald was a member of the
American commission which
worked jointly with a Canadian
group in planning the Alaska
Highway.
“When the second World War
came along,” McDonald said. Plan
ning the road was taken out of
our hands. Some ‘brain’ ordered
it built from Whitehorse to Ed
monton and down into Montana.
That was deliberate sabotage.
“The Canadians are about ready
to scrap their section. Any good
engineering outfit would give up
that part of it as extravagant and
wasteful to maintain.”
The western route that McDon
ald favors would have 35 bridges,
costing an estimated $1,500,000,
compared with the present road’s
78 bridges costing $16,575,000, Mc
Donald said. He estimates the new
road could be built for $50,000,000
compared with the $140,000,000
he says the Whitehorse-Edmonton
section cost.
Alaska’s Transportation
Problems Discussed With
Truman By Gov. Gruening
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Governor
Earnest Gruening of Alaska, en
route to the governor’s confer
ence at Gatlinburg, Tenn., dropped
by the White House Friday for a
brief talk v-th President Truman.
He was accompanied by Secre
tary ox Interior Oscar Chapman
and Peter Gruening, his son. The
governor said they talked about
Alaskan transportation problems.
He did not go into detail.
>-1
Would Support
Eisenhower Or
Truman In 1952
PITTSBURG, Tenn., (/P)-^Gov.
Gordon Browning of Tennessee,
first Democrat to speak out pub
licy in the governors’ conference
here, said today President Tru
man or Gen. Dwight D. Eisen
hower can win the presidency for
the Democrats in 1952.
As the conference business ses
sion opened, Browning rejected
overtures for a Re publican-South
ern Democrat coalition, and said
he will support Mr. Truman if the
President seeks another term.
Browning told a news confer- i
ence Eisenhower has been acting
like a Democrat for the last sev
eral months. If he is a Democrat,
the Tennessee governor said, he
would welcome the general as his
party’s nominee.
But he said that if Mr. Truman
wants the nomination again, he
can have it and will get Brown
ing’s support.
Eisenhower also is being men
tioned for the Republican presi
dential nomination by some of the
GOP governors here.
Most of the rest of the Repub
lican governors are firmly for Sen.
Robert Taft of Ohio, with other
names getting on.
GOP National Chairman
Gets Vote of Confidence
In Connection RFC Probe
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Forty-one
of the 104 members of the Repub
lican National Committee gave a
standing vote of confidence today
to chairman Guy George Gabriel
son in connection with his RFC
loan activities.
The action was taken unani
mously by the 41 committee mem
bers attending a one-day regional
conference on 1952 campaign
plans.
Gabrielson himself raised the
RFC question. He has been at
tacked by several members of his
own party for continuing to repre
sent a private corporation before
the big government lending agency
while serving as party chairman.
55.900 Draftees To Be
Called In Nov. and Dec.
WASHINGTON, (/P)— The De
fense Department announced Sat
urday a total of 55,900 draftees
will be called in November and
December. It also disclosed that
expansion of the Marine Corps
beyond its present two-division
level already is under way.
Of the total requested from
Selective Service, 29,000 will be
assigned to the Army and 10,000
to the Marine Corps, an increase
of 5,300 for the Marines.
The announcement said that
16.900 will be inducted during
December with 9,900 assigned to
the Marines and 7,000 to the Army.
With the upward adjustment
for November, the two months
draft will bring to 434,000 the
number of men taken in since
Selective Service resumed calls.
Military Discounts
Reports Alien Subs
In Alaska Waters
ANCHORAGE, (JP) — Military
authorities discount reports by
two civilians who may believe
they had seen submarines not be
longing to the United States, near
Alaska.
The reports were made by Don
ald Cross and Tom Costello, Fish
and Wildlife Service employes,
who said they saw the alien craft
on Aug. 28 and Sept. 12 respec
tively.
Maj. James K. Bryan, public in
formation officer for the Alaskan
Command, said Saturday night the
reports have proved groundless.
“Our intelligence officers say
there is no evidence to show that
submarines actually had been
seen in the area,“ Maj. Bryan said.
Cross told military intelligence
officers at Elmendorf Air Force
Base that he sighted a schnorkel
type submarine as it headed away
from the area. He said he also
heard its motors.
Cross said the incident occurred
about 2 p.m. August 28 while he
was in a boat off the Kenai Pen- ■
insula.
Costello related seeing what
looked like a sub 20 miles from
Kalgin Island, Sept. 12 about 6:30
p.m., while flying over the area.
British Labor Party’s
Main Election Issue Is
Threat of 3rd World War
SCARBOROUGH, England, (/P)
—Prime Minister Attlee declared
today that Britain, under his
Labor Government, has been a
main bulwark of world peace.
The Prime Minister struck out
on what appears to be the Labor
Party’s main election issue: the
threat of a third world war.
“It is right that in our mani
festo we should give first place
to peace,” he said.
On the home front, the prime
minister declared, the Socialists
would push forward to restrict
dividends and put industry under
public ownership whenever the
party believed it necessary.
Attlee was presenting his party’s
manifesto—Labor’s answer to the
Conservative manifesto issued last
week by Winston Churchill. The
Conservatives asked an end to
Socialist rule of England.
Baseball Averages
(By the Associated Press)
National League
Batting (based on 400 times at
bat)—Musial, St. Louis, .355; Ash
burn, Philadelphia, .344.
Runs batted in — Irvin, New
York, 120; Kiner, Pittsburgh, and
Gordon, Boston, 109.
Home runs—'Kiner, Pittsburgh,
42; Hodges, Brooklyn, 39.
Pitching (based on 10 decisions)
—'Roe, Brooklyn, 22-3 .880; Mag
lie, New York, 23-6 .793.
American League
Batting — Fain, Philadelphia,
.344; Minoso, Chicago, .326.
Runs batted in—Zemial, Phila
delphia, 129; Williams, Boston, 126
Home runs—Zemial, Philadel
phia, 33; Andiams, Boston, 30.
Pitching—Kinder, Boston, 11-2,
.846; Morgan, New York, 9-3, .750
RED LEADERS SILENT
ON ALLIED PROPOSAL
CHANGE TRUCE SITE
TOKYO, (JP)—Red leaders per
sisted today in the long silence
on an Allied proposal to change
the Korean truce meeting place
from Kaesong to no-man’s-land.
Gen. Omar Bradley said Sun
day the future of the armistice
negotiations “will depend on the
nature” of the communist reply.
He had told a new conference
in Tokyo Sunday “no one can
foresee if the truce talks will be
successful or unsuccessful. I don’t
think anyone expected quick re
sults.”
He expressed hope that an arm
istice can be reached, but made it
clear that was up to’ the Reds.
I
Marine Corporal, Back
From Korea Held On
Suspicion Of Murder
HERMOSA BEACH, Calif., (JP)
— A Marine corporal only two
days out of service was held to
day on suspicion of murder in the
stabbing of a 43-year-old house- j
wife.
He was William Roger Seward,,
29, of Stockham, Neb., who was
discharged only Saturday morning
at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The victim was Mrs. Miriam
Evelyn Lake, mother of nine-year
otd son. Police said her husband,
Jack Lake, is in the Air Force
in Alaska.
A 12-year-old boy, Charles
Pratt, came to the police Satur
day night with a story of how,
while playing near the Lake resi
dence, he heard a woman scream,
saw a man run away from the
house. He peeked in a window and
saw the woman’s body. A knife
was in her back and she was
lying face down in a pool of
blood.
Apparently Seward met Mrs.
Lake and a celebration began of
his discharge and her birthday,
which was also Saturday. Officers
said that after hours of question
ing Seward declared he could not
remember what happened.
Seward served seven years in
the Marine Corps, including a
year in Korea.
Nome Urged To
Cooperate In Fire
Prevention Check
In more than 10,000 communi
ties, preparations are under way
for the national observance of
Fire Prevention Week, which is
October 7 to 13.
Fire’s toll of lives and property
is costing the nation at least
10,000 lives annually, and destroy
ing irreplaceable resources. Ac
cording to the latest fire survey,
there were 838,145 fires in our
nation last year at an estimated
cost of $688,540,000.
The community is asked to co
operate with the city fire depart
m e n t during Fire Prevention
Week, as there will be a city
wide inspection made of fire haz
ards in the homes and business
houses. The inspection is for our
protection and the opinions of
those making the tour of inspec
tion is to help prevent fire.
40
Rent Controls Now
On At Fairbanks
And Anchorage
(AP Special Washington Service)
WASHINGTON, (A5)—Rent con
trols went into effect today in the
Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska,
areas.
Tighe E. Woods, director of
Rent Stabilization, announcing
this, said rents were rolled back
to July 1, 1950 in the three areas.
He said the Alaska area includes
all property within 20 miles of
the post offices at Anchorage and
Fairbanks, and the Eielson, El
mendorf and Ladd Air Force
base and Fort Richardson. The
expansion of the military bases
prompted the action, he said.
British-Iranian Oil
Dispute To Go
Before U. N.
NEW YORK, (£>) — The United
Nations plunges into the bitter
British-Iranian oil dispute today,
with Britain apparently bowing
in advance to Iran’s order expell
ing Britons from the great Aba
dan refinery area.
Iran made it clear she was in
sisting upon the expulsion in spite
of the pending British complaint
before the Security Council.
Deputy Premier Hossein Fatemi
said in Tehran that the Security
Council had no power to recom
mend that Iran lift the expulsion,
order. Previously, Hussein Makki,
of the Iranian National Oil Board,
said if the Britons insisted on stay
ing at the refinery, they would
be “escorted off by police with
the greatest respect and kindness."
Ten British warships are anch
ored off Basra, only 40 miles from
Abadan on the Shat-el-Arab estu
ary, and there was some talk in
London of an “oil blockade” of
Iran to insure that the Iranians do
not sell stored Abadan oil which
Britain considers property of the
Anglo-Iranian company.
Makki has said that if such a
blockade were imposed, it would
be “most dangerous and would be
the beginning of hostilities.”
National Football League
Opens Winter Schedule
NEW YORK, (>P)—If it had hap
pened in mid - November, the
sports world would be a-buzzing
for days, if not weeks about it.
But this greatest o*f all baseball
pennant races has made the de
feat of the Cleveland Browns—pro
football’s greatest team—an al
most obsolete item.
But lose the Browns did, and to
a team which last season won only
three games—the San Francisco
49ers.
The 49ers upset the Browns, 24
to 10, before 52,219 fans in San
Francisco. It was by far the big
gest development of the day as
eight National Football League
teams opened their schedules.
In other openers—and they all
ran true to form—Detroit wal
loped Washington 25 to 17; Phila
delphia edged the Chicago Cardi
nals 17 to 14’, and the Chicago
Bears beat their perennial enemy.
Green Bay 31 to 20.