_._OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LII. No. 123 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18,~950_•_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
FARBANKS, (/P)—A two-year
old child was hospitalized with
poliomyelitis yesterday at the
Ladd Air Force Base. The infant
was the 18th person to be stricken
with polio here this year.
PHILADELPHIA (/P)—Employ
ees of the Philadelphia mint are
working overtime to meet a short
age of pennies and other coins.
Edwin H. Dressel, superintend
ent of the U. S. Coin Factory, said
Monday the stepped up opera
tions have been going on for the
last two weeks and will continue
indefinitely.
The demand for coins, especial
ly pennies, “came up so quickly,”
Dressel said, that the mint wishes
it had a much larger work force
than its appropriation permits.
t HOLTWOOD, Pa. (/P)—Farmer
Robert McKinley didn’t need a
thermometer to tell it was hot in
Haltwood Monday.
McKinley reported the sun’s
rays heated a bottle of turpentine
standing in a carton box on his
porch. The turpentine reached the
flaming point and the box caught
fire.
Charles Miller, a rural mail car
rier, spotted the fire and tossed
a bucket of water on the bottle,
the cool water cracked the bottle
and the flaming turpentine set
fire to the porch.
A group of Pennsylvania Water
and Power Co., workers tore
down the porch and prevented
the flames from reaching the rest
of the house.
BALTIMORE, (/P)—H. L. Men
chen was near death yesterday at
Johns Hopkins Hospital.
« A bulletin from his bedside yes
terday morning said his condition
was “unchanged—still critical.”
The famous author, newspaper
man, critic and authority on the
American language, suffered a se
vere heart attack at his home last
Thursday.
The “Sage of Baltimore” has
been living quietly at the old fam
ily home Hollins Street, for
mose erf the past two years.
Mencken was 70 last Sept. 12.
SEATTLE, UP)—Funeral serv
* ices for Mrs. Jennie H. McCray,
80, who went to the Yukon in the
gold rush of 1898, were held yes
terday. She died Friday.
A native of Canada, she moved
to Dawson, Y. T., about 1898. In
1910, she went to Fairbanks,
where she met Hugh McCray, a
miner. They were married in
Ruby, Alaska.
ANCHORAGE, (/P) — Former
army sergeant Bertris L. Cordray,
33, was sentenced Monday to
three years in the McNeil Island,
Wash., federal prison for the slay
ing of Ray Rossie here in May,
1949.
Federal Judge Anthony Dimond
passed sentence after Cordray had
pleaded innocent to a charge of
first degree murder and then en
tered a plea of guilty of man
slaughter.
Cordray was brought here from
(Continued on Page Three)
*
U. S. Will Not Stop
Short Of War
Truman Warns
l
SAN FRANCISCO, (/P)—Presi
dent Truman set the world stage
j today fen* an unprecedented
counter-offensive to Soviet peace
propaganda. He offered a full
“partnership of peace” to all Asia,
backed up by United States mili
tary might. I
The state department’s “Voice
or America” bombarded every
reachable listener with a constant
! repetition of Truman’s warning to
the peoples of the Far East that
j Russia is trying to* turn them into
“colonial slaves of a new imper
ialism.”
j And the President left for the
I Russian polituburo a bold and
blunt reminder that the United
States will not stop short of war
to resist aggression and preserve
“our free way of life.”
Mr. Truman flew back to
| Washington shortly after deliver
ing his major foreign policy
speech last night in the War Me
(Continued on Page Two)
I
Florida Suffers
Millions Damage
In Hurricane
MIAMI, Fla. (/P)—One person
was known dead, hundreds were
homeless and national guardsmen
were called out today to guard
hard-hit areas in the south Flor
ida area where damage was offi
cially estimated at $5,000,000.
The storm, losing force as it
traveled over land, moved on tow
ard the central Florida citrus belt,
leaving destruction in its wake
from 125-mile winds.
Hardest hit were the communi
ties of Davie, West Hollywood and
West Hallandale. In those towns
at least 40 homes were destroyed,
79 trailers wrecked, many homes
damaged and an undetermined
number of persons injured.
Mrs. Owen Adams was killed
at West Hollywood when the
winds upset and smashed her
(Continued on Page Five)
Democratic Party
Suffered Reverses
Says Bartlett
JUNEAU, (>P) — Congressional
Delegate E. L. (Bob) Bartlett de
scribes last week’s Alaska elec
tion, with its patchwork pattern
of results, as “an exceptionally
hard one to analyze.”
He cited the Third Division po
litical puzzle in particular. There,
he said, “We find all the Demo
cratic candidates for the House
elected and both Republican can
didates for the Senate elected. No
one has explained to my satisfac
tion how that hapuened.”
The Democratic incumbent who
was defeated was Sen. Victor
Rivers, Alaska’s Democratic party
chairman.
“The Democratic party suffered
reverses,” Bartlett continued: “It
(Continued on Page Two)
Congressional Committee On Defense,
Hear. Demands For Adequate
Defense Of Northwest Alaska j
Never again must Alaskan soil be allowed to get into enemy's
hands. Never again must it be necessary to drive out troops of a
foreign nation from our doorsteps.
Never must fear he planted in the hearts of any group of
Americans who live on American soil and have faith in American
ideals. / 9
Alaskans, who are loyal Americans, any place west of the
Alaska Range from Barrow to the Kuskokwim, have lost that
feeling of security. Over 12 thousands people in that area, white
and Eskimo Americans feel that Uncle Sam is putting them on
the spot as bait for invaders with thei "de-emphasizing" of Marks
Air Force Base, the only base west of the Alaska Range!
Russia has its airports on the coast of Siberia—almost in
naked-eye view of Alaska—so must Alaska have its coastal de
fense, with fighter planes on the spot where the only coastwise
large airport is located and men on the ground who know how to
direct and organize resistance against possible invasion.
Whether this be at "attic," or the "back door" or the "front
door" of defense, let not the first stop in a defensive or offensive
war be a weak spot to dismay the peoples of the entire United
States, and let them lose confidence in their military leaders.
The world must know that security is felt in this focal part
of Alaska, rich in strategic minerals, where the tin alone is the
one of the largest potential tin deposits in the world, and the only
large quantity known in North America. Tungsten, long fiber as
bestos, as well as graphite and many other strategic minerals are
also found here.
The world must know that a coast airport is protected tor
our airlanes, as well as the only small boat harbor in the area,
against water invasion. It is also important that road building
be stepped up so that northwestern Alaska is no longer like an
island, but connected to the main arteries of the nation.
What good are the radar stations alert all around us if the
first line of defense of the nation is several hundred miles away
beyond the mountain range of central Alaska
The strengthening of Marks Air Force Base will serve a mul
tiple purpose: First defense of good American citizens; a training
center in Arctic warfare where those who fight on the ground are
prepared for combat in sub-zero weather on a terrain which is
identical to the Siberian coast
With minor repairs Marks Air Force Base can house several
hundred men and take care of many families in answer to the
military plea for more housing for troops in Alaska. Again we
say this is no time to close down a fully-equipped installation
when military housing is so badly needed.
Thees are but some of the facts presented to the Congression
al Party who arrived this morning and held a hearing at the Jury
Room of the Court House at one o'clock this afternoon after a
luncheon at the Bering Sea Club as guests of the Chamber of
Commerce.
Arriving during one of the worst storms has had this season
the Congressional Party on Defense landed at Marks Air Force
Base. The special committee making the tour is headed by Senator
Lester C. Hunt of Wyoming, who is chairman of the preparedness
sub-committee; Senators Wayne L. Morse of Oregon and Leverett
Saltonstall of Massachusetts.
They weer accompanied by Gen W. Kepner, Col. James W.
Chapman, Air Force Liason Officer, Mr. Ivar Peterson, Adm. As
sistant to Senator Morse, Governor Ernest Gruening, and a group
of other military officials.
Representatives of civic organizations of the Second Division
who acted as spokesmen for the people of Alaska's coastal area are
to be complimented for the information which they compiled for
the hearing and for their presentation in such a limited time.
Senator Hunt opened the meeting and had Governor Greuning
introduce the distinguished guests, after which Mayor Steve An
dersen presented the initial requests of the people of this area
backing it up with the letter seht a year ago to the President of the
United States which was read by President of the Chamber A.
Saario. Dan Jones of the Territorial Department of Mines pre
sented the potentialities of the mineral resources in the area.
J. J. Dillon of the Alaska Steamship Co., the transportation vol
ume. Ted Duffield the governmental investment in the area. John
McNees the National Guard. Lester Bronson the work of the
C.AJP*. Charles D. Jones the history of travel and development of
roads. A. Polet a summary of the economic development for the
past fifty years. Axel Edman made a statement on the vastness of
the coal area.
General W. Kepner re-affirmed his statement to the press
some time ago that we were not being abandoned by the military,
and urgd that Nomeites get behind the National Guard more fully.
Senator Saltonstall from Massachusetts, said "I have attended
many public hearings in my home state but never have I attended
one where more sincerity was shown and where the points of in
terest were brought out more clearly." He expressed his pleasure
at his reception! in Nome.
Senator Morse of Oregon, said it was "thrilling to sit in Nome.
Korean Situation
At A Glance - - -
Tuesday, October 17, 1950
The Korean War roared toward
a climax today with Allied troops
smashing within 12 miles eft
Pyongyang, communist capital,
where the climatic battle may be
fought.
Two tank-led Allied columns,
one American and one South Ko
rean— were speeding toward the
city. Communist troops either
fled or surrendered. The Reds
were reported offering only token
resistance.
The South Korean First Divi
sion, pushing north and west, took
Sangwon. 25 miles from Pyong
c Continued on Page Two)
Alaska Day
October 18th
ALASKA—"GREAT COUNTRY"
(Reprinted from Alaska Weekly)
Alaska’s name comes from an
Aleutian term Aliaska, meaning
great country or continent, and
first appeared on a German map
published in 1776. This country*
for which mose people have a
very tender spot, is a great, wide
expanse of territory, rich, virgin
and interesting, but too much a
“football of bureaucratic fates.”
Alaska does something to peaple
—it lifts them out of themselves
and gives that a proper sense of
perspective, if nothing else. It
makes people human beings, and
friendships made there become
richer through the years and are
(Continued on Page Five)
« _ _
Alaska, and see democracy at
work" and marvelled to see Amer
icans having to petition their gov
ernment for adequate defense.
"Wherever the American flag flies
the people must be defended" he
stated.
Senator Hunt pointed out that
the day in Nome will be especially
memorable as it is the annivers
ary of the purchase of Alaska.
The party were scheduled to
leave immediately for Fairbanks
to continue on their survey of de
fenses.
The people of Nome are grate
ful to these busy Senator of other
States, who took the time under
hazardous weather conditions to
complete their trip and come to
Nome to hear our pleas firsthand.
These statesmen will long be re
membered for not disappointing
the people of Northwestern Alas
ka at a time when they critically
needed support.