m NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LI. No. 102 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
STRATHAVEN, Scotland, </P)—
Sir Harry Lauder, famed Scottish
comedian, who is gravely ill at
his home near here, was reported
•weakening this morning.
Lauder, 79, has been ill since
Monday with uremia and blood
clots on the brain.
NICE, France, (/P)— A spokes
man for Winston Churchill said
today he is recovering “very well
indeed” from a cold.
The 74-year-old wartime prime
minister suffered a chill two days
ago after swimming in the Med
iterranean. His private physician,
Lord Moran, flew here from Lon
don to attend him. The doctor
previously allayed fears Churchill
was seriously ill.
WASHINGTON, </P)—1The Sen
ate whipped through by voice vote
yesterday a supplemental appro
priation bill providing .$188,858,
000 for various government agen
cies.
Included in the measure was
$10,000,000 for an Alaskan hous
ing program.
The measure must now go to a
Senate-House conference, so dif
ferences may be reconciled.
The Senate provided the $10,
000,000 for the housing and home
finance agency to purchase obli
gations of the Alaska housing au
thority.
MIAMI. Fla. </P) — A tropical
hurricane with winds up to 120
miles per hour passed north of
picturesque Nassau. Bahamas, to
day and headed for south Flori
da's Gold Coast.
All south Florida was braced
for the storm which whirled tow
ard this wealthp Atlantic resort
area at a 18 to 20 miles an hour
pace on a west-northwest course.
If the present course is main
tained, the hurricane will strike
the mainland a short distance
north of Miami this afternoon.
MANILA, (/P) — The People’s
Court, esatblished immediately
after the Philippines liberation to
try those who collaborated with
the Japanese, has been abolished.
Amnesty has been granted to most
defendants. About 300 cases in
volving spies and military collab
oration are being transferred to
regular courts.
PENRITH, Eng. f/P) — Digging,
said local woodsmen, was the only
way to dislodge ‘big bertha”—
tough, 200-year-old tree-stump de
laying work on a $30,400 road im
provement here. Nonsense, said
blasting experts, advancing with
dynamite. Traffic was stopped, the
local population evacuated — and
boom! After they repair the sur
rounding houses, workmen are go
ing to start digging again.
CANBERRA, f/P)—The Austra
lian Government plans to round
up 40 escaped German and Italian
prisoners of war and internees. I
They will be deported to their j
own countries. Immigration min- ;
ister Arthur A. Calwell said they 1
will not be allowed to return to!
Australia. I
House Thumbs
Nose At Senate;
Takes Vacation
WASHINGTON (/P> — House
i members headed homeward today i
for a 25-day vacation — without
I the approval of the Senate.
The House members won’t re
turn until Sept. 21, except for a
handful who will remain here to
conduct formal “no business’’ ses
sions twice a week. Those are
necessary because the Senate
would not agree to an outright ad
journment.
The holiday was voted amid
cheers yesterday in a simple reso
I lution after members got tired of
I waiting for the Senate to approve
a joint measure. That would .have
permitted House adjournment
without informal sessions in the
| meantime.
“We are going away anyhow,”
Speaker Sam Rayburn told his
news conference.
He said the Senate’s action was
“the first time in history’’ as far
as he could recall that one cham
ber refused to agree to procedure
approved by the other in respect
to meeting. The action, he added,
“certainly does not” promote com
ity between the two branches of
i Congress.
The Senate is unable to leave
Washington because it has more
work than it can handle.
The twice weekly House ses
sions, every Tuesday and Friday,
i are necessary because the Consti
tution does not allow one chamber
to adjourn without consent of the
other for more than three week
days at any time. That can be
done only by joint resolution.
—
U. S. Developing
New Important
Guided Missiles
WASHIN GTON, (/P) — The
United States is developing guid
ed missiles which would both
bring down enemy planes and en
able American bombers to shoot
down attacking fighters.
Dr. Karl Compton, chairman of
the defense department’s research
and development board, disclosed
the new weapons last night.
De described as “exceedingly
important’’ the air-to-air missile
! which a B-36 could use against
| speedy jet fighters. He said this
weapon “may well become the
I principal artillery of air combat.”
In a radio broadcast with atomic
j energy commissioner Sumner
Pike, Compton listed four types
of guided missiles on which U. S.
scientists are at work.
Besides the plane-carried mis
sile, he note da “surface-to-sur
face” weapon which could be used
as long-range artillery. Develop
ment of this weapon “is already
well advanced for use at a few 1
hundred miles range,” he said.
The anti-aircraft, or “surface
to-surface” missiles, Compton
said, “bid fair to become the ef
fective counter measure” from the
ground against swift attacking
planes.
There also is an “air-to-surface”
Forest Fire Menace
Abating Somewhat
• By The Associated Press'
Fires still menaced brush and
timberland areas in western
United States today, but few seri
ous developments were reported.
A new brush fire broke out in
California just south of the Stan
islaus national forest. More than
7,100 acres already have been
burned over in Stanislaus and two
lives have been lost.
A huge bush fire in San Diego
and Riverside counties in Califor
nia burned opt of control along
a four-mile front.
High temperatures and chang
; ing .wjnds that shifted seven times
in one .hour harrassed the fire
fighters. More than 12,000 acres of
. ranch and grazing- lands have
been burned over.
Two fires in Idaho’s Payette na
tional forest were out of control.
The two—one in Hell’s Canyon
and the other on the south fork of
the Salmon River—have charred
20,000 acres of timber. Two men
j have died this week in the Pay
ette forest.
All fires in Yellowstone Park
were reported checked and near
ing the control stage.
Fire in the Black Hills of South
! Dakota also has subsided.
Seven Die When
Submarine Sinks
After Explosion
t —————
WASHINGTON, (iP)-Seven
persons lost their lives early today
j when the snorkel-equipped sub
j marine Cochino was lost while on
a training cruise in Arctic waters.
Announcement of the loss was
made by the navy here.
An explosion in the battery
room and fire destroyed the sub
marine.
An unidentified number of the
crew were rescued.
Six of those lost were swept
from the deck of the U.S.S. Tusk,
a sister submarine cruising with
the Cochino.
The Tusk had pulled alongside
to Cochino to try to rescue it after
the explosion.
The 13th naval district at Seat
tle reported the mishap occurred
in Northern Atlantic waters.
Mother Earth
Still Restless i
♦ By The Associated Press*
Continued rumblings of Mother
Earth were reported last night.
Petersburg, in Southeastern Alas
ka, reported a slight earth tremor
at 8:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, Capt. Ernest Fosse
of the USAT James O’Hara re
ported last night on the ship’s ar
rival from Japan that it encoun
tered a severe bump and monen
tarily boiling water at 10:48 p.m.
Tuesday night. •
“It felt almost as if we had
struck some reavy object just un
model, some types of which saw
action in World War II.
No Prospect Of
Early Settlement
Of Hawaii Strike
HONOLULU, </P» — Prospects
were slim today that chief nego
tiations to settle Hawaii’s 118-day
old dock strike would be resumed
immediately.
In Washington, U. S. conciliator
Cyrus Ching urged the seven
struck stevedoring companies and
the CTO International Longshore
men’s and warehousemen’s union
to get together.
Employers, union officials and
federal mediator George Hillen
brand were to confer on side is
sues disputed in Hawaiian ports
outside of Honolulu. .
The union is asking a wage in
crease of 32 cents an hour over its
present $1.40 cents an hour scale.
The union earlier had postpon
i ed indefinitely any renewed ne
gotiation in Hawaii. It had said
! all developments awaited the re
j turn here of union president
i Harry Bridges who is in San
: Francisco. Word received yester
day that he would not return soon.
—
Maragon Refuses
To Answer Com
niittee’s Questions
WASH INGTON, (/P\ — John
Maragon today refused to answer
questions at the Senate five per
center inquiry “on the ground that
my answer might tend to incrim
inate me.”
The Greek-American took the
witness chair after an accountant
testified that Maragon made bank
deposits of $119, 08.61 during a
period in which he has said his in
come was only around $30,000.
He w'ould not talk, that is, when
asked about his financial affairs,
(Continued on Page Eight)
1949 Worst Polio
Year In History
NEW YORK, UP) — The polio
epidemic may not have reached
even the half-way point yet, and
19-+9 is certain to be the worst po
lio year in U. S. history, says the
natoinal foundation for infantile
paralysis.
The score on the basis of the
foundation’s latest reports:
17,306 cases so far in 1949.
3,422 new cases reported in the
nation last week — the highest
number ever recorded for one
week.
The total of reported cases
through last week compared with
9,743 for the same period of 1948,
the second worst polio year up to
that time.
In 1916, which had ranked as
the worst epidemic year, there
was a total of about 30,000 report
ed cases.
der the surface,” he said.
Fosse said a radio report from
the USAT Gen. H. B. Freeman
said that vessel was hit by even
heavier swells, with ‘‘green seas”
breaking over the bow. Both ships
were in the same general vicinity.
News of the W orld
At A Glance —
Thursday, August 25. 1949
<By The Associated Press)
I Chiang Kai-Shek said today
Chungking, wartime Chinese capi
tal, will again become “the center
for the fight against aggression.”
The statement was issued as
Chinese communist armies pushed
1 on uneasy Canton, the national
; ists’ temporary capital.
Chiang said the Chinese com
1 nr\unists have “unmasked them
! selves as international agents.” He
called for more stubborn resist
ance. He said communist strength
is waning “as a strong arrow
reaching the end of its flight.”
. Observers said the Chinese
I communists are enveloping Chien
nan, Lungnan and Tingnan as
j springboards to cut the Canton
Hankow railway 140 miles north
east of Canton. If the maneuver
succeeds, large nationalist forces
would be compelled to retreat.
Diplomatic writers in Washing
ton said secretary of State Dean
Acheson and Britain’s foreign sec
j retary Ernest Bevin will discuss
possible development of an anti
communist bloc of nations in
southeast Asia when they meet in
the American Capital next month.
Bevin is going to Washington pri
marily to discuss Britain’s econo
mic plight.
London informants said Britain
may have to give up some of her
social services if next month’s
monetary talks in Washington are
barren of results. These inform
; ants said the labor government
might have to jettison its tax
backed medical services program,
j The European consultative as
sembly wound up yesterday an
economic debate marked by sev
eral declarations that Marshall
Plan aid is producing little perm
anent effect on Europe’s sick econ
omy. Resolutions were passed call
: ing for European economic unity
amid predictions that unless unity
! is achieved Europe is in for eco
nomic chaos, social upheavals and
even war.
Finland’s industrial front con
tinued uneasy and a walkout in
the metal trades threatened.
|
Friday, August 26. 1949
* Chinese communist troops were
reported today 140 miles from
Canton, nationalist provisio n a 1
capital. They pushed to the
Kwantung provincial border after
capturing three cities in south
western Kinagsi province. Canton
is the capital of Kwanutng pro
vince.
After cutting across mountains,
the Red war machine rolled along
highways leading south of Ku
Kong, an important railway point,
125 miles north of Canton.
Observers said the communists
might isolate Kukong. It is an im
portant nationalist defense point.
Nationalists said the communists
dared not move too speedily be
cause strong nationalist forces are
on their western flank.
A British Socialist, Will Nally,
lashed out at American critics of
the British Socialist program in
the Assembly of the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg, France. He
(Continued on Page Four)