THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, January 30, 1946
ALASKA: ITS FUTURE
By MACK TALBOT
It’s time commercial air lines began flying the Great
Circle route to the Far East.
This air route was a main supply line to the Aleutian
front. In peacetime, development of the route would be
an enormous task. Under wartime conditions the line
was pioneered almost overnight.
It ranks among the finest in the world.
Today it is idle.
Commercial air lines which flew military supplies
under contracts with the army and navy withdrew
soon after the Japs were driven from Attu and Kiska.
Postwar demobilization has reduced sharply army
and navy operations.
The Gerat Circle route is the shortest air line to Asia
—shorter by hundreds of miles than any existing route.
The Far East is one of the greatest potential markets
for American goods.
Asiatic countries want to do business with us. Our
huge productive capacity will need just such markets
to keep it at a high level production.
There is another reason favoring immediate opening
of the route: it will speed development of Alaska, our
last frontier.
The Great Circle route passes through the heart of
Alaska. Disregarding its position as the shortest route
to the Far East, it would still be worthwhile were it
only to serve Alaska.
We have pilots and craft to fly the route. Beacons
line its path. There is a continuous flow of weather in
formation.
Giant airports, virtually unused since V-J Day, are
located on key islands and the Alaskan mainland. They
■can accommodate the largest land planes yet built. They
are equipped with the largest radio and radar aids to
guide planes to them.
Runways range up to 10,000 feet in length; the long
est at LaGuardia Field is 6,000 feet.
Opening the Great Circle trade route would not haz
ard military security. The North Pacific road to victory
is no longer on the secret list.
Competition for Far Eastern trade will be intense in
the postwar period. Every nation will be after a greater
share.
Prompt opening of the Great Circle route will help
put United States industry a jump ahead of the compe
tition.
HAS MAGNETIC POLE MOVED 300 MILES?
The north magnetic pole has moved nearly 300 miles
since its position was last fixed as being centered on the
Boothia Peninsula on the Franklin Strait in North Can
ada, according to findings made by a British air mis
sion.
It is now centered in the Svendrup Islands, roughly j
300 miles north-northwest of its former position.
These discoveries were made by the specialist crew
of the “Aires,” a Lancaster plane sent out on a technical
Investigation trip by the Empire Air Navagational
School at Shawbury. The discovery, if authenticated,
would explain why, for a number of years past, navi
gators and mariners have been experiencing strange
unaccountable errors in their calculations and in the
courses they have plotted.
It is believed that all navigational maps and charts
in the world will have to be altered to give the true
compass variations and corrections if they are to be re
garded as in any way accurate.—The Chicago Sun.
THE BARRIER
■■■■■Mr
w
POLIO, THE CRIPPLER, MUST PERISH
Struck by poliomyelitis at the age of 14, Phyllis Ma
this sought for three years to overcome her handicap.
She earned her high school diploma by studying un
der a tutor. When she was 19, her recovery was so com
plete that as Miss San Diego she was runner-up for the
title of Miss America at the 1945 Atlantic City Beauty
Contest.
She is now a painter, a soft-shoe dancer and a profes
sional photographer’s model.
Local chapters of the National Foundation for Infan
tile Paralysis are the shock troops of poliomyelitis epi
demics. They stand ready at all times to give every pos
sible aid to local medical and health authorities and to
provide funds, equipment, and professional and tech
nical aid wherever needed.
The 1946 March of Dimes, January 14-31, is dedicated
to the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, founder
of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
The March of Dimes, nation-wide appeal of the Na
tional Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, gives every
American an opportunity to join in one of the great hu
manitarian crusades of modern times: the fight against
poliomyelitis, the great crippler.
AT 22 A GIRL’S CHANCES TO MARRY TAPER OFF
The statistical chances of the American girl to become
a bride begin to dwindle after she is twenty-two years
old.
The Census Bureau reported that half of the women
who marry for the first time in the United States do so
before they are 21 years and 7 months old. Half of the
American men who marry do so before they are 24;
years and 3 months old, the special analysis of the cen
sus statistics showed.
In the South, half of the brides are less thn 20 years
and 9 months old, and half of the bridegrooms are less
than 23 years and 4 months old. In the North, the com
parable ages are 21 years and 10 months for brides and
24 years and 6 months for bridegrooms.
—New York Herald Tribune.
The millionth map (an inch on it represents a million
inches in nature, or 15.8 miles) is designed to give each
country a familiar national map in a world mosaic. It
took 12 men 20 years at the American Geographical
Society of New York to do just the Hispanic-American
part of it, or the equivalent of one man working
i 240 years.
HOLLYWOOD
STAR-LITES
By CHUCK COCHARD
The Hollywood Scene — Red
Skelton, now a private civilian—
the first Hollywood star to enter
the Army a Private, and to be
discharged a private. . . . His first
movie will be that Broadway com
edy of yesterday, “The Showoff.”
Everytime a Hollywood pro
ducer turns out a good box office
film he immediately views the
prospect of a Sequel—and then
the sequel usually falls short of
the first film . . . This week the
studio which made “Home In In
diana” came up with the sequel
j idea—and both Jeanne Crain and
June Haver will co-star.
Speaking of June Haver and
I Jeanne Crain — these two kids
! have come a long way since they
j made their debut in “Home In In
diana” . . . June is terrific in “The
Dolly Sisters” . . . And Jeanne is
really swell in the musical “State
Fair,” with Dick Haymes and Viv
ian Blaine.
Out of retirement comes Laura
La Plante, one of the silent
screen’s most famous stars . . .
Laura will play a leading role in
“Army Brat,” with Frances Gif
ford, Butch Jenkins and James
Craig. I
The Male Discovery of 1945 was
none other than Don Defore . . .
Gene Kelly’s performance in ‘An
chors Aweigh” will more than
merit a nomination for the Acad
emy Award—there are those who
think he is the greatest dancer the
screen has even seen . . . Perry
Como’s recording of “Till The End
Of Time” has sold over a million
copies—and we hear that Victor
is putting aside other pressings to
make more of this one.
Bad boy of the movies Hum
phrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall—
will be together again *on the
screen of course) in “The Devil
Was a Lady” . . . What’s This—
Bette Davis being seen at the late
spots with her ex-husband Ham
Nelson . . . Still can’t decide the
merits of “Rhapsody in Blue”—
it’s one of those “you either like
it or you don’t like films” . . . One
thing it’s certainly worth the price
of admission to hear Paul White
man and “Rhapsody in Blue.”
MGM studios is breaking the
Technicolor monopoly and this
studio is shooting “A Star From
Heaven ’ in Cinecolor—of course
this doesn’t mean that they won’t
use Technicolor anymore—for we
haven’t seen any color to come up
to Technicolor as of this date—
but we can be wrong.
Can’t get steamed up over Lis
beth Scott in “You Came Along”
—she seems to be another Garbo
imitation . . . What’s this rumor
about Clark Gable and Anita Col
by?—We don’t believe a word of
it . . . You can say I told you—Be
sure and see “Weekend At The
Waldorf” . . . They tell me if you
call Anne Shirley’s phone number
you’ll get Garbo on the other end
—providing of course that the sil
ent one is in the answering stage
—because she’s back in the house
she once rented to Anne . . . Look
for Louis Hayward and Peggy
Field to surprise everyone.
The Seventh Year of the “Blon
die” series started this week—with
the 17th picture in the same . . .
Here is one of the exceptions to
the sequel rule . . . What’s this—
George Brent turning up at the
night spots—and Stag ... Can you
tell us?