THE
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_ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LIV No. 11NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1952Per Copy—15<g
Justice Official
Cites Need Alaska
Constabulary
ANCHORAGE, (/P)—A Depart
ment of Justice official says the
new $400,000 Federal jail here,
slated for construction this spring,
will take care of only about cme
third of the need.
It was the opinion expressed
by Roy Webb, inspector for the
training division of the U. S.
Marshall’s office.
He described the present jail
as “the biggest disgrace in the
country.”
He said Congress is being asked
to authorize 50 additional deputy
marshalls for Alaska, mostly for
the Anchorage and Fairbanks
areas. He described the present
number as wholly inadequate.
Webb cited more than 30 An
chorage policemen to handle city
problems, while the U.S. Mar
shall’s office has only four depu
ties to handle the needs of 30,000
people outside the city limits.
Recommending a territorial
constabulary, he said: “Alaska
has grown to such an extent that
Alaskans should govern them
selves in law enforcement. You
should not be governed by Wash
ington.”
Allies Suggest Airfield
Question Be Set Aside
By ROBERT B. TUCKMAN
MUNSAN, Korea, (^ — Allied
truce negotiators suggested Fri
day that the thorny question of
airfield construction be set aside
temporarily and stuff officers
start work immediately on other
details of policing a Korean ar
mistice.
Chinese Maj. Gen. Hsieh Fang
promised to study the proposal
and reply later. He did not say
when.
“Basically, this is another effort
of the U. N. Command to achieve
a realistic armistice as rapidly as
possible,” said Brig. Gen. Wil
liam P. Nuchols, Allied spokes
man.
The issue erf whether the com
munists have the right to build
and repair military airfields in
North Korea during an armistice
has deadlocked truce supervision
negotiations since Jan. 9.
Rear Adm. R.E. Libby emerged
from a stormy two hours and 40
minute session of the prisoner ex
change subcomittee to tell news
men: “We caught hell.”
There was no progress, but the
Allied spokesman said “at least
the communists began today to
talk about specifics rather than
broad generalities.”
VODKA - CARRYING PILOT
NABBED FOR DRUNK FLYING
OKLAHOMA CITY, (£>)-Jack
Travis Sanders had trouble land
ing his plane at the Will Rogers
Field, so authorities investigated
and charged him with drunken
flying.
Sanders, a 31-year-old Meade,
Kan., pilot, made two unsuccess
ful passes at the runway. When
he finally got it down he ran off
the landing strip and nearly went
into a ground loop.
Officers seized two pints of
vodka from the monoplane.
U.S. Sabre Jets Shoot
Down 10 Red MIG-15s
SEOUL, Korea, (/P) — Daring
American Sabre jet pilots shot
down at least 10 Red jets in four
flaming air battles over north
west Korea Friday.
Two communist MIG-15s ex
ploded almost in the faces of Am
erican pilots. The blast blew out
the jet power in two Sabres, and
the Americans had to go into
long dives before their jets flamed
into action again.
It was one of the biggest jet
victories of the war.
The biggest toll in an all-jet
battle was Dec. 13 when 13 Red
jets were reported destroyed, two
probably and three damaged.
American loss, if any, in Fri
day’s four battles were not an
nounced.
The air war grew in fury as
the day wore on while the ground
war lay relatively quiet under a
blanket of fresh snow.
Alger Hiss Asks
Retrail Based On
New Evidence
NEW YORK, (/P)—Alger Hiss
has asked for a retrial based on
what he says is new evidence that
he can prove he told the truth
when he says he did not give
American secrets to a pre - war
Russian spy ring.
The one-time top State Depart
ment aide appealed Thursday for
a third trial. The jury in his first
trial was dismissed when it could
n’t agree. The second trial re
sulted in a five-year sentence.
Hiss said he had new facts to
back up his defense that he was
convicted partly by typewriter
forgery.
At both trials the government
contended Hiss used a battered
old Woodstock typewriter to copy
State Department documents and
give copies to Whittaker Cham
bers, self-styled courier for the
spy ring. It was generally ac
cepted there at the trials that each
typewriter had unmistakable
traits of its own.
But Hiss’ motion said an engi
neer had built him a special type
writer that would type just like
the old one.
He said this indicated that
Chambers, his principal accuser,
could somehow have forged the
documents.
%
First Commoner In 85
Years Appointed Gov.
General of Canada
LONDON, (/P) — Vincent Mas
sey, one-time farm implement
manufacturer and elder brother
of actor Raymond Massey, was
approved today by King George
as the first Canadian-born gover
nor general of Canada.
Buckingham Palace said Field
Marshal Viscount Alexander,
whom Massey succeeds, will take
on “other responsibilities/ He is
expected to be named minister
of defense in Churchills cabinet.
Massey will represent the king
in the Dominion’s replica of the
constitutional monarchy by which
Britain is governed. His appoint
ment ends 85 years of royal rep
resentations by Britons only.
Another Test Of
Alaska Property
Tax Is Started
JUNEAU, (/P)—Another test of
Alaska’s property tax started in
Federal court here Thursday.
Attorneys for Luther Hess of
Fairbanks argued his action
against W. P. Mullaney, Territor
ial Tax Commissioner, for recov
ery of taxes paid under a law
passed by the last Legislature.
An earlier suit was dismissed
by the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco on a
technicality. Hess had obtained
an injunction halting collection of
the tax but the higher court ruled
an injunction was not the proper
remedy.
The General Property tax law
was enacted by the 1949 legisla
ture, and Senate Finance Commit
tee estimated that it would raise
about 2Vfe million per biennium.
The challenge of its leality has
b'ocked it as a revenue producer
almost from the start. It was
enacted as part of the “basic tax
program” advocated by Governor
Gruening.
It provides for a one per cent
tax on all property, real and per
sonal, in the territory.
A main point of challenge has
been a provision that collections
in cities would revert to the cities
in lieu of the municipal property
tax. That was included in the
law to prevent residents having
to pay the territorial property tax
on top of a local one.
Attempts were made in the 1951
legislature to repeal the tax law.
Such a bill passed the House but
didn’t come before the Senate
because the session was so near
its end. Opposition was mainly
from mining district legislators—
the Second and Fourth Divisions.
Mercury Soars To
To 124 Degrees
Iu Australia
SYDNEY, Australia, (JP)—More
than a dozen people collapsed in
Sydney Friday as the city’s tem
pertature soared 23.7 degrees in
five hours to a ten-hour record
high of 105.1 early in the after
noon.
The furnace - like heat pre
vented people from seeking ref-j
uge at harbor and ocean beaches1
because the sand was too hot to
stand on.
In the central western village
of Trida the temperature yester
day reached 124 degrees.
In Victoria, which also has
been sweltering in a more than
week-old heat wave, the Mel
bourne temperature reached 110
degrees.
Chinese New Year Saturday
HONG KONG, {IP) — China’s
new year—the year of the water
dragon—begins at midnight Sat
urday.
Under China’s lunar calendar
it will, be year 4649.
The sages aren’t too optimistic
about the year of the water dra
gon, which rolls around every 12
years. They see a little hope for
mid-year, but predict that the 12
m^nth cycle will end in a sorrow
ful note.
Dewey Warns of Looming
Aggression in SE Asia
NEW YORK, (/P)—Gov. Dewey,
in a soberly worded warning, said
Thursday night that the free
world is courting catastrophe if
it fails to take prompt action
against aggression in southeast
Asia.
He repeated again his months
old demand for a mutual defense
treaty of free Pacific nations and
said:
“We should make it clear that
we will not hesitate to use every
weapon at our command and
every weapon we may develop in
the future in the manner that
hurts the aggessor most.”
“If we do not issue such a
warning,” the two-time Republi
can candidate for President
added, “I believe we will have
war.”
Poised for an invasion of south
east Asia, the New York gover
nor said, are a quarter million
seasoned Red Chinese troops.
Weapons Chief
Savs A-Bomb Is
Greatly Over-rated
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, (IP)—
The chief of the armed forces
special weapons project says the
atomic bomb is vastly over-rated
in the public mind.
“People must become aware
that the A-bomb is not as all
powerful and all-destructive as it
is reputed to be,” Lt. Col. Gerald
M. McDonnell told the 16th an
nual International Medical As
sembly here Wednesday night.
“We’d all be dead right now if
the bomb could do everything
that has been attributed to it,” he
said. “It is a conventional weap
on, subject to the same laws of
physics which control all other
explosives.”
McDonnell said that radiation
danger especially is misunder
stood. “If you’re caught in the
field of radiation, you’ll be killed
anyway by the affect of the heat
and blast,” he said. “So, there’s
no point of worrying about radia
tion.”
He said the best A-bomb shelter
is a hole in the ground.
U.N. Rebuffs American
Objection Red Proposal
PARIS, (/P>—The United Na
tions Political Committee, over
strenuous U.S. objections, Friday
adopted a Russian resolution call
ing on the Security Council to
reconsider membership applica
tions from 14 countries, includ
ing Italy and five Soviet satel
lites.
The United States said it had
no objection to reconsideration of
the candidates but vigorously op
posed the resolution because the
Soviet Union made it clear in de
bate that the proposal was de
signed to have all 14 admitted in
one package deal.
It was the first time in U.N. his
tory that the Political Commit
tee adopted a major Soviet reso
| lution over American opposition.
U.S. Delegate Ernest A. Gross
said he diet not construe the vote
as a defeat for the United States.
He said he was confident the reso
lution would be defeated in the
assembly.
Truman Advised
Envoy to Vatican
Will Defeat Him
WASHINGTON, (/P)—President
Truman has been advised by a
Protestant churchman that his in
sistence on sending an ambassa
dor ta the Vatican will bring
him defeat at the polls if he
seeks re-election.
This advice came Thursday
night from the Rev. Carl Mcln
tire of Collingswood, NJ., presi
dent of the International Council
of Christian Churches.
He told a Bible-carrying rally,
estimated to number 4,000, that
“all the unions there are can't
elect” Truman now.
The President told his news
conference Thursday he would
go ahead with his plan to name
a full-fledged ambassador to the
Holy See.
The day-long Protestant rally,
sponsored by the American Coun
cil of Christian Churches, unani
mously adopted a resolution de
claring that “so long as we live,
we will resist with all our
strength the sending of any diplo
matic respresentative to the Vati
can.”
The Council—claiming a mem
bership of two million persons—
has 14 affiliated denominations,
all relatively small groups or dis
sident factions split off from
major denominations.
Alaska RR Losing Money
Due to High Tariff Freight
Going by Plane or Truck
SEATTLE, {IP) — Col. J. P. •
Johnson, general manager of the
Alaska Railroad, says the line is
losing money because interiot
merchants are using other means
of transportation.
Johnson said in an interview
firms are shipping high tariff
freight by truck or airplane, leav
ing the railroad only low-revenue
items.
“For the past five years, the
railroad has spent considerable
money to provide the railbelt
cities with fast service and mod
ern rolling stock,” Johnson said.
“It has spent $75,000,000 on re
habilitation. Yet the railroad is
losing money because we are not
getting the cooperation needed to
operate in the black.”
With faster rail service to the
interior, he said, “There is ab
solutely no need for a shortage of
perishables anywhere in Alaska,
whether or not the highways and
air lanes are open.”
Alaska Banker Dies
SEATTLE, (/P)—Charles Phelps
Kirtland, 56, former Alaska bank
er and manager of the National
Bank of Commerce’s Ballard
branch here, died of a heart at
tack yesterday while waiting for
a bus.
In 1926 he was manager of the
Bank of Alaska in Skagway with
branches at Anchorage and Wran
gell. He returned here in 1939.
He was a 33d degree Mason and
a Past Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of the State of Washington.
His widow, a daughter and a
son here survive.