22 NOME I
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_.
VOL. LIV No. 43. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1952 Per Copy—154
Taft Polls Three Times As Many Votes
As Rest of GOP Candidates Combined
Tax Commissioner
Calls for Enforcing
Of Gambling Tax
s &
WASHINGTON, (TP) — Revenue
Commissioner John B. Dunlap has
called on Congress to provide
money to enforce the new gamb
ling tax law or repeal the law
immediately.
In fact, Dunlap said, the entire
federal tax system is “balancing
precariously on the brink” of col
lapse through lack of funds to en
force payment.
Failure to enforce the gambling
tax would be “the final straw,”
Dunlap added, and “the result
will be widespread cynical con
tempt for all types of taxes.”
Dunlap laid his views on the
line in a letter to Sen. Kilgore,
chairman of a subcommittee con
i' sidering the Revenue Bureau’s
budget.
Dunlap said there has been “no
appreciable enforcement” of the
five-months-old gambling tax law
so far because Congress failed to
provide money’ * to hire agents.
Without enforcement, he added,
the tax is “sheer mockery.”
The funds asked by Dunlap
would be used mostly to add en
forcement agents to the bureau.
The commissioner said the aver
age revenue agent—paid a salary
of $5,330—now brings in $181,347
in delinquent taxes annually.
Last year, Dunlap said, there
was only one revenue employee j
for every 1,500 tax returns filed,
anly only one out of 20 tax re
turns could be examined.
Alaska Steam
Threatens Sue
Union for Damages
SEATTLE, (/P) — The Alaska
Steamship Co., Monday threat
ened suit for damages from $1,950
to $47,500 per day against the
Marine Firemen, Oilers, Water
tenders and Wipers Union.
The suit, which vice-president
and general manager D.E. Skin
ner said would be filed in federal
district court Tuesday, would be
an outgrowth of the current strike
against the company.
Cost per day will depend on the
number of vessels affected by the
strike.
Skinner called the strike “an
outright breach of contract” and
said “it is imperative it be ter
minated immediately to avoid an
interruption of essential defense
cargo and regular freight and pas
senger service to Alaska.
“If the companies employed the
same shutdown tactics when dis
putes arise in this or any other
industry, the wheels of production
would grind to a halt.”
He said “. . . if we were to give
the firemen anything additional to
what our commitment calls for,
this would in all probability pre
cipitate another whole round of
wage increases involving all sea
going .personnel.”
'*> CHICAGO, (/PV—Sen. Taft rode
the crest of overwhelming victory
in the Illinois Republican presi
dential primary election Wednes
day. It marked his third primary
election triumph in a row and the
biggest of his campaign.
The Ohio Republican polled
nearly three times as many votes
as all other GOP presidential
candidates combined and appar
ently won 48 err possibly 49 of
the state’s 50 delegates to the
GOP national convention in July.
On the basis of about four
fifth of the complete unofficial
returns from Tuesday’s primary,
Harold Stassen was trailing far
behind in second place with Gen.
Eisenhower, whose name did not
appear on the ballot, in third
place.
Senator Taft had some 70 per
cent of the votes.
The primary popularity returns
are not binding on the state’s
convention delegates. Both par
ties elected 50 delegates yester
day. Another 10 will be picked
later in party conventions.
Sen. Kefauver, running without
opposition as the Democratic pres
idential candidate, piled up a
large vote.
There was a fair sized presiden
tial write-in vote for Gov. Adlai
E. Stevenson of Illinois, but he
trailed Kefauver seven to one.
The Republican vote was nearly
twice as heavy as the Democratic
ballotting in the state which has
gone Democratic in every presi
dential election since 1932.
Senate Recesses Its
Consideration Of
Economic Controls
By G. MILTON KELLY
WASHINGTON, (/P)—'The Sen
ate Banking Committee Wednes
day recessed its consideration of
•a bill to extend wage, price and
other economic controls.
Chairman Maybank (D-SC) said
it would be “a dreadful mistake”
to consider it against the back
ground of the steel dispute.
The controls law, on which the
govenment’s anti-inflation efforts
are based seemed headed toward
a major test for survival.
Angry demands for scrapping
the program were prompted by
the steel wage negotiations, cap
ped by President Truman’s order
for seizue of the industry to avert
a walkout.
Argument On Hiss Retrial
Postponed Until June 2
NEW YORK, (/P)—Argument on
Alger Hiss’s motion for a new
trial has been postponed until
June 2.
The new date was fixed in fed
eral court Monday by mutual
consent of corunsel.
Hiss, former State Department
official, is serving a five year per
jury sentence for denying before
a federal grand jury that he had
given secret government docu
ments to former Communist cour
ier Whittaker Chambers.
A new trial is being sought by
Hiss on the basis of new evidence
he claims to have turned up.
Enthusiastic Response
To Meeting To Discuss
Nome Tourist Activities
t
A large and enthusiastic group
responded to the call for meeting
on tourist activities last evening
at the City Hall.
Chairman Harwood opened the
meeting by announcing the need
for immediate action on the pre
paration of a new tourist booklet.
A. Polet reviewed the demand
created by the publication of 5,000
booklets last year, stating that
such places as Fairbanks and An
chorage as well as State-side key
points would be supplied at all
times.
Announcement was also made
of numerous tours being made in
this area this year by Wien Air
lines, Alaska Airlines, Pan Amer
ican Airways, Pacific Northern
Airlines and also the Alaska
Steamship Co.
With time an important element,
the committees were urged to
complete plans, as the opening
date of the tourist season is May
1st.
A mineral display is being
planned for exhibition throughout
the tourist season. It was sugges
ted that in addition to the main
booklet, additional detailed in
formation be compiled and fur
nished to the visitors.
“Send them • away happy and
with the desire to return to
Nome,” was the sentiment ex
pressed by the group.
Louis Huber, writer for the
Christian Science Monitor and
other publications, presented sev
eral suggestions to the committee,
as did Superintendent Oliver Boe,
Mrs. Joe Wallace, Luther Dunbar,
Paul Spurlock and others.
I
Hoover Indulges In
Whimsey At Testimonial
Dinner (or Noted Inventor
NEW YORK, (tf>) — Former
President Hoover says the world
has received “infinite blessings”
because of Dr. Lee De Forest, in
ventor of a vacuum tube neces
sary for radio and television.
But the former president adds
that De Forest “has some grave
matters to answer for. He has
made it possible to transmit the
worst music on earth—and pol
itical speeches.”
“Perhaps,” Hoover adds, “the
worst of his results is the singing
commercial that plugs in when
we try to get the news. And then
there is the fellow who cannot
sponsor a program without per
iodic interruption of huckster
chatter into the midst of an in
spiring musical presentation of a
great drama.”
The 77-year-old former Presi
dent turned to this bit of whimsey
Tuesday night as he spokes at a
testimonial dinner for De Forest.
Hoover said De Forest could
“redeem” himself “if he would
produce another great invention.
. . . The pushbutton by which
we could transmit our emotions
instantly back to the broadcast
ers.”
“It would explode our feelings
over the air, instead of having
their inner gnawing of our mor
als,” Hoover added.
President Seizes Steel Industry In
Unprecedented Government Action
-<J
Better Planes, Not
Bigger Ones, Asked
By ’port Managers
WASHINGTON, (JP) — Better
airplanes—n o t bigger ones—plus
government help in providing
safety measures is the way to
make airports safer, say the men
who run them.
An airport managers advisory
group said plane manufacturers
should stop talking about run
ways “three miles long” and start
designing better planes able to
use the shorter runways now
available.
I “It is impractical to relocate
civil airports or to make any
major changes in existing airport
facilities,” they declared.
The recommendations were
made Monday to an airport safety
commission appointed by Presi
dent Truman and headed by
James Doolittle, World War II
hero and reserve lieutenant gen
eral in the Air Force.
It began an inquiry as the re
sult of a series of crashes at Eliza
beth, NJ., which forced closing
of the Newark airport nearby.
The managers recommended
that the government force manu
facturers to make planes that will
fit present runways.
They also said planes could
make less noise if the government
enforced a maximum noise level
on manufacturers.
U.S. Captures American
Soldier Who Deserted
“To Fight For Peace”
By TOM REEDY
BERLIN, (/P) — An American
soldier who, the Communists said,
deserted to the East “to be a
peace fighter” almost two years
ago has been recaptured in West
Berlin and is facing court mar
tial trial.
U.S. authorities disclosed Wed
nesday they are preparing a case
against Robert Natskakula, 23, of
Natrona, Pa.
Natskakula and British Cpl.
John Keith Waller were presented
by Gerhart Eisler, Soviet Zone
propaganda chief, as “peace fight
ers” at an East Berlin press con
ference August 4, 1950.
Waller returned to his British
army unit in West Berlin after a
year in the Soviet area and was
convicted of desertion.
At the time Natskakula went
over to the East, U.S. authorities
said he had a bad army record.
He left his company after he had
been cited for a dishonorable dis
charge.
U. S. BATTLE CASUALTIES
WASHINGTON, (^—Announ
ced U.S. battle casualties in Ko
rea reached 107,134 Wednesday,
an increase of 178 since last week.
Killed in action 16,779; wound
ed 7,798; missing 12,557.
By services: Army 87,502; Navy
1,266; Air Force 1,111; Marine
Corps 17,255.
> By NORMAN WALKER
WASHINGTON, (^—President
Truman seized the vast steel in
dustry Wednesday in the name of
the United States government,
averting a union shutdown of
vital mills but touching off a
great court battle.
However, the nation’s giant
steel plants stood idle, despite the
seizure order.
Steelworkers reporting for work
were turned away by company
guards, except in isolated instan
ces in smaller plants.
Steel firms blasted the Presi
dent’s drastic move as an attempt
to confiscate private property and
rushed into court to block it.
Secretary of Commerce Sawyer,
whom Truman made boss over
the seized industry, ordered the
American flag flown over all
steel plants and notices posted
that they were now government
property.
The steel firms contended their
rights under the fourth and fifth
amendments to the Constitution
were being violated.
These amendments provide
guarantees against illegal search
and seizure and against depriv
ing of property without due pro
cess of law.
•The presidential directive, send
ing some 650,000 men back to
their jobs just as they headed for
a walkout, apparently was with
out precedent. It could be com
pared only generally with fed
eral seizure of the railroads in.
mid-1950. That action was spec
ifically authorized by law.
Truman disclosed his seizure de
cision to the nation Tuesday night
in a hastily-written speech broad
cast over radio and teelvision.
He said the Wage Stabilization
Board recommendations for set
(Continued on Page Two)
Canada Cuts Taxes
10 to 15 Per Cent
OTTAWA, (/P)—Canadian tax
payers—smokers, housewives and
auto buyers especially—got cuts
of 10 to 15 per cent in taxes on
major items Wednesday.
Finance Minister Abbott’s 1952
53 budget also set up a new in
come tax rate which he said
would cut these payments an av
erage of six per cent, but he
added that a new social security
levy would keep the government’s
bite from most paychecks as high
as ever.
The record balanced budget,
read to the House of Commons
Tuesday night, promised a nine
million dollar surplus.
Only a few corporations and
businesses were given any tax re
lief. But tariffs up to 20 per cent
were imposed to protect Canada’s
growing plastics and chemical in
dustries from American competi
tion.
Abbott warned Canadians not
to look for much in the way of
lower taxes next year “unless
conditions at home exceed even
my generous expectations and un
less the clouds that overhang the
international scene lift more rap
idly.'