m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LII. No. 25 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1950 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
HONG KONG, «/P»—'The British
Far East fleet left Hong Kong yes
terday for North Borneo and the
Philippines to join units of the U.
S. Far East fleet in maneuvers.
Five destroyers, two cruisers,
the air craft Triumph, four fri
gates, a hospital ship, a tanker and
a supply ship made up the force.
FAIRBANKS (/P)—Several fire
men froze fingers and toes in 22
below zero weather while fight
ing a seven hour fire which de
stroyed the $16,000 home of Mr.
and Mrs. Nels Stensland early
Sunday. Two pet cocker spaniels
died in the blaze, which fire de
partment officials said was caused
by a cigarette igniting a mattress
in a lower basement room. Stens
land owns and operates a bakery
here.
NEW YORK (/P)—A nationwide
strike of ground crewmen against
the American Airlines started
here early today.
Picket lines formed in front of
the airline's hangars at La Guar
dia Field as the 7:30 a.m. deadline
arrived.
The CIO Transport workers
union said the stoppage would af
fect 4,600 supply and maintenance
workers in 34 cities across the
country.
The company has said it will
try to maintain flight schedules,
despite the stoppage.
SPOKANE, (yP)—A British Co
lumbia mine and smelting com
pany already has produced “a tre
mendous backlog” of the heavy
hydrogen necessary for produc
tion of the h-bomb, the head of
the Gonzaga University chemistry
department said yesterday.
The Rev. Arthur L. McNeil, S J.
said the material is being pro
duced as a by-product by the
Trail, B C., plant of the Consoli
dated Mining and Smelting Com
pany.
WASHINGTON. (/P) — House
Armed Services Committee today
branded the removal of Admiral
Louis Denfeld as chief of naval
operations last fall as a "reprisal"
for his "frank and honest" criti
cism of unification and national
defense planning.
The committee released its for
mal report on investigations into
the interservice row today, the
same day that Denfeld after near
ly 38 years active duty, retired
rather than accept another job.
OSLO, Norway, (/P)—President
Truman and Winston Churchill
were among the 28 persons nom
inated for the 1950 Nobel peace
prize Monday night. Six institu
tions also were named as candi
dates.
The names—submitted by vari
ous governments, uni v e r s i t y
heads, international organizations
and recipients of previous Nobel
prizes—will be studied by a com
mittee which normally announces
the winners in the fall.
Among the institutions named
were the United Nations Interna
tional Children’s Emergency Fund
(UNICEF and the World Move
ment for World Federal Govern
ment.
Coal Strike Idles
Over Half Million
PITTSBURGH, (/P) — The con
tinuing strike of the soft coal min
ers hammered mercilessly at the
nation’s economy yesterday as
steel plants idled additional thou
sands.
The idle total resulting from the
ihree-week general walkout is
now well past the half million
mark.
That includes 372,000 striking
j United Mine Workers members
( and about 184,000 railroad, steel
and automobile workers.
The miners showed no sign of
weakening in their determination
that, there shall be no work with
out a contract.
A high government official in
Washington yesterday expressed a
personal opinion that unless the
I strike was settled by last night
federal seizure of the mines ap
pears inevitable. He asked thal
! he not be named.
But there was no sign at the
White House that President Tru
man wras preparing to ask for any
j such measure.
Contract negotiations betweer
Lewis and the operators recessed
after a one-hour session Monday
The UMW iS busy fighting con
tempt charges in Washington’s
federal district court. The unior
pleaded innocent to the charges
growing out of the miners’ refusal
1 to obey a court order to go back
to work.
Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corpora
tion said supplies are so low it is
reducing steel making in the
Pittsburgh district from 96 to 52
per cent of capacity. Unestimated
thousands will be laid off.
The American Iron and Steel
institute said seel operations in
the nation are scheduled at 73.7
per cent of capacity this week—
the lowest figure since the week
of November 14 last.
PITTSBURGH, UP) — Soaring
unemployment stemming from
the soft coal strike neared the
600,000 mark today—with no end
of the walkout in sight.
Some 200,000 furloughed work
ers in coal using-industries have
(Continued on Page Seven>
New British
Parliament Opens
LONDON, (/P)—Britain’s newly
elected Parliament opened today,
and Conservatives, in a cocky
mood, shouted to their Labor
party opponents to “cheer up.”
The Labor party has a shaky
majority of only seven votes in
the new House of Commons.
Prime Minister Attlee, however,
told reporters before Parliament
opened with traditional pomp,
that his Labor party is determined
to carry on.
Attlee walked side by side with
Conservative leader Winston
Churchill, who gave him such a
fierce battle in the election, to the
House of Lords to hear the King’s
commission to the new Parlia
ment. Then they went to the
House of Commons, where they
were cheered by their supporters.
Nome’s Fur
Rendezvous
—
The place was actually Anchor
• age, but Nome’s official and un-.
official delegates were so active,
| at the furry event that almost any i
copy of the daily newspapers car-1
ried generous copy on the doings!
o fthe “gold dusters” as they call- j
1 ed them from the beach of the j
Bering Sea, according to a local
observer who just returned.
The Nome Baskelball team
showed real strength and aggres
siveness, and got wild applause
j from the bleachers. Former Nomc
' ites showed up and worked on
those hard wooden benches. A
Nome dog team stayed right in
there trying, even though plucky
| Tom Prout had only flown his
dogs in the day before the races
! began. All along the ropes the
(Continued on Page Seven)
Atomic Research
Betrayer Gets 14
Year Prison Term
—
LONDON (/P)—Dr. Klaus Fuchs,
! a Jckyll-Hydc mastermind of Bri
tish atomic research, was senten
ced to 14 years in prison today on
his plea of guilty to betraying the
topmost atom bomb secrets to
; communist Russia.
At the close of a swift trial in
historic Old Bailey court, the
Lord Chief Justice, Baron God
dard, flayed the 38-year-old Ger
man-born scientist as an ingrate
refugee who had bitten the hand
that fed him and had done “irre
parable harm both to this land
and the United States of Amer
ica.”
The trial lasted ony an hour and
a half and only one witness was
called — British security officer
William J. Skardon, who told the
court how Fuchs confessed to giv
ing top atomic secrets to Russian
agents over a period of seven
years.
The witness was called by the
(Continued on Page Three)
Nome Iliiili School
P
W ins Sportsman
ship Trophy
PLACE THREE BOYS ON
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
The Kodiak City High School
team took the Class B basketball
championship at Anchorage last
week by defeating the Nome High
School 41 to 27. It was a double
elimination tournament with Ko-!
diak City have had to defeat
Nome twice to carry home the
honors.
Unlike the first game between
the two teams, when Kodiak City
won in the last 15 seconds of the
game, Kodiak started to pull away
during the third period and was
never headed thereafter. Nome
had the opportunity of controll
ing the ball game during the first
two and one-half minutes of the
second game when they held a 7
to 0 lead but blew it as quickly
as blowing gold dust off a table
by not drawing Kodiak’s zone de
fense out and permitting them
(Continued on Page Two)
Mickey Finn Aids
In Capture Of
Escaped Leopard
OKLAHOMA CITY, (TP) —
Oklahoma City’s escaped leopard
was captured alive at its pit yes
terday—felled by a mickey,
i Knockout drops placed in
chunks of horse meat subdued
the ferocious jungle cat long
enough for him to be captured.
Zoo keeper Julian Frazier slip
ped a noose around the drugged
animal’s neck and held him while
he was caged.
Frazier, pulling the roped leo
pard, moved through one of the
iron doors in the corridor, and
pinned the beast against the door.
Zoo attendants slipped up behind
and pushed a cage around the an
imal, brought here a week ago
from the jungles of India.
The escape of the leopard start-1
(Continued on Page Three)
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Tuesday, February 28, 1950
(By The Associated Press)
Fire broke out under the an
cient British House of Commons
today on the eve of assembly of
newly elected members. It was
put out in 10 minutes. There was
little damage.
While fire brigades rushed to
action, Prime Minister Clemente
Attlee was preparing to announce
his revamped cabinet. He inform
ed King George VI last night that
despite his slim majority won in
last Thursday’s election he would
carry on the government.
Observers generally predicted
the Labor government sooner or
later would be forced to resign
and new elections held. Press
forecasts said the elections might
come in June and not later than
the autumn.
It was believed that to stay in
power as a caretaker government,
Labor might have to shelve its na
tionalization program. This move
would be forced by the powerful
Conservative opposition.
The first real test will come in
the debate on the speech from the
throne which outlines government
policy. The speech will be read by
the King next Monday. If the Att
lee government passes that test it
next meets the budget debate.
Conservatives won many votes in
the last election by promising a
cut in taxes.
i Deputy Prime Minister Herbert
Morrison who managed Labor’s
election campaign told a meeting
last night the new election may
“come sooner rather than later.”
He urged Laborites to keep the
election machinery ready for use
at any moment.
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek
is back in the saddle as President
of Nationalist China. He “retired”
as President and commander-in
chief of Nationalist forces over a
year ago. He announced he is re
turning to both jobs.
11c is replacing acting president
Li Tsung-Jean who is recouperat
ing in a New York hospital.
All that is left of Nationalist
China now is the island of For
mosa and some other islands off
the Chinese coast. An invasion by
Chinese communists is imminent.
The nationalist warned that all
ships trading with the commun
ists are subject to air assault. Two
American ships were bombed and
strafed by unidentified planes
suspected of being Nationalist
yesterday. The bombs missed. One
sailor was injured. The national
ists have declared a blockade of
all communist Chinese ports.
Wednesday. March 1. 1950
Chiang Kai-Shek became Pres
ident again today of what is left
of the Chinese Nationalist Repub
lic. He said he retired a year ago
to enable vice-president LiTsung
Jen to negotiate a peace with the
communists.
That has not been possible.
Chiang, now at Taipei, Formosa,
said he was resuming the Presi
dency because “the gravest catas
trophe has befallen the Chinese
race ... in the 5,000 years of its
(Continued on Page Three)