22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LI. NoT 35 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
FAIRBANKS </P)—First known
studies of the effect of the frigid
atmosphere over the North Pole
on bacteria and fungi will be
made this week by three scientists
from Montreal’s McGill Univers
ity.
The flight, authorized by the U.
S. air force, is scheduled for the
latter part of the week. The trio
will be carried over the Pole in a
B-29 of the 72nd photo recon
naissance squadron.
The scientists are Dr. Nicholas
Polunin and Dr. Etuart M. Pady of
the McGill botany department and
Dr. Clifford Kelly of the bacteri
ological department.
SEATTLE, </P>—Mrs. Alexandra
Elliott, widow of Henry Wood El
liott, the "father” of the treaty
protecting Alaska fur seals, died
yesterday. She was 92.
Her late husband, by special
acts of Congress, was commis
sioned to investigate depredations
by poachers. He prepared the fur
seal treaty which was ratified by
the United States, Canada, Japan
and Russia in 1911. He was also
an internationally known natural
ist and artist.
Five daughters, among them,
Mrs| Hershel Graves, Olympia,
and three sons survive.
SEATTLE, </P)—Morris E. Yoes,
41, owner of the Northwest Elec
tronics Sales and Service, died
Morvday in his home here.
He maintained a radio station at
Middleton Island, Alaska, for the
civil aeronautics administration
during World War II.
SA& FRANCISCO, (JP) — Rear
Admiral J. S. Stika officially took
command today of the western
area of the coast guard.
He succeeded Rear Admiral W.
K. Scamell who is retiring from
the service.
The new commander was trans
ferred from Seattle where he had
directed activities of the 13th
coast guard district since 1945.
Admiral Stika commands an
area embracing California, Ore
gon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii
and certain areas in the Pacific.
SEATTLE, (/P)—For that long
tall cold one this summer—that
could stay cold all winter—try a
hunk of Mendenhall Glacier ice.
,It took 65 hours and 3 minutes
for a 108-pound hunk of it to melt
in show-window tests run off here
as a publicity gag.
A 108Vi pound chunk of com
mercial ice was a puddle of water
in 56 hours.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. </P) — The
USS Perch, a troop-carrying sub
marine, and the destroyer Orleck
collided during maneuvers last
night, 5 miles southwest of San
Diego.
The navy said there were no
casualties on either ship. The
Perch was carrying marine troops,
but the navy declined to say how
many.
The destroyer, the navy said,
apparently “ran over” or scrapped
the submarine which was sub
merged at the time of the colli
5on.
The Perch immediately dove to
4 Investigations
Soon To Be Made
By Committee
WASHINGTON, (&)—'The Sen- j
ute commerce committee will start
four sweeping investigations just
as soon as the Senate gives the “go
ahead.”
| That word came today from
committee chairman Edwin C.
Johnson (D.-Colo.).
The investigations will cover
<1> Inland water and rail trans
portation; (2) Commercial airline
operations, (3) The maritime in
dustry, and (4) Radio, telegraph
and telephone communications.
The rules committee Monday
authorized an expenditure of
$165,000 to cover the inquiries.
! Johnson predicted the transpor- (
tation investigation will last 18
months; the maritime at least a
year, and the airline inquiry about
three months.
The inquiry into communica
tions facilities has been going on
for the last eight years. Johnson
said it will be continued but not
■
as a full scale study.
CHAMBER TO HOLD
DINNER MEETING
FRIDAY NIGHT
The NWA Chamber of Com
merce will hold a dinner meeting
on Friday night it was learned to
day from Paul Mandeville, vice
president of the organization.
The dinner is scheduled for 7:00
p.m. at the Pioneer Hall, and res
ervations are being made with
Gordon Osborne, chamber secre
, tary.
Mandeville states that there
will be several interesting com
mittee reports and new items to
! to be brought before the group.
Efforts are being made to provide
a guest speaker for the occasion.
i
I
High Finance
Spend $5,300
To Win $65
—
! ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. iff}—
! Here’s a story about seven men
who spent $5,200 to win $65.
I It happened Monday night at
the American bowling congress
tournament.
Five of the seven bowled as a
team in the booster section of the
tournament. They flew down from
Anchorage, Alaska, knowing they
could not win enough money to
meet on expenses. '
Capt. H. W. Brown of Dayton, ^
O., on duty with the army at Fort
Richardson, Alaska, and six civil
engineers comprised the group.
Capt. Brown did not bowl. The
Alaska team bowled 2605 for third
place and the $65. Had the team
finished in first place, the prize
would have been $100.
To raise a fund for their 10,600
mile round trip, the seven decided
to rurt a raffle, Brown said. But,
they ran up against another raf
fle that offered an automobile in
a campaign to raise money for the
(Continued on Page Three)
clear the Orleck and then sur
faced.
Congress Diffident
Over Truman’s
New “Kindly” Role
(By Jack Rutledge)
WASHINGTON, </P)—President
Truman’s new be-kind-to-Con
gress strategy faces a quick test in
both House and Senate.
Will the nice things he said
about the lawmakers encourage
them to go along with the admin
istration on rent control, foreign
aid, the labor program?
Southern Senators, rebel ling
against a civil rights program and
still elated over their filibuster
victory, are wary. Republicans
are openly skeptical. Administra
tion leaders are enthusiastic.
The Democratic-controlled 81st
Congress in recent weeks has
given the administration three set
backs: the filibuster defeat, maul
ing of the rent control bill, refusal
to confirm a major nomination of
the President’s.
But Monday the Pres i d e n t
praised the lawmakers and said
“basically the Congress and the
President are working together.”
GOP sentiment was summed up
by Senator Knowland (R.-Calif.),
who asked: “Is he kidding?”
But Democrats felt differently.
Some said they believed the south
erners would lean over backwards
for a while in trying to cooperate.
Leaders expect to put over such
Truman proposals as rent control
extension, foreign aid, low rent
housing, a revised reciprocal trade
program. The labor program is in
(Continued on Page Three)
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
Tuesday. March 22, 1949
JUNEAU, •(£>) — A bill creating
an Alaska statehood committee
sailed past the last legislative bar
rier last night and headed, for the
Governor’s desk.
The House passed the Senate
approved measure 21-1 after crit
ics of the $80,000 appropriation
were able to muster only six votes
in an attempt to slash the amount
to $30,000.
The bill provides that the gov
ernor appoint 11 members to a
committee to study all phases of
statehood and submit a chart for
statehood to the constitutional
convention committee.
Appointees are subject to con
firmation by the present legisla
ture.
Governor Gruening, Delegate E.
L. Bartlett and his predecessor,
Judge Anthony Dimond, would be
exofficio members.
The only dissenting votes were
by Republican George Miscovich
and Democrat Aimer Rydeen.
Debate on the appropriation
brought figures from ways and
means committeeman Glen D.
Franklin that prospects are for
barely balancing the! budget on
the basis of new taxes.
He said the Senate finance com
mittee and the House ways and
means sub-committee figured rev
enue prospects and revised the es
timate downward to $18,600,000
with the present prospect of $18,
(Continued on Page Two)
International News
At A Glance —
Tuesday, March 22, 1949
'By the Associated Press)
The American people are to
have their say on whether the
United States should join the
North Atlantic Security Alliance.
Chairman Connally (D.-Tex.) of
the Senate foreign relations com
mittee said “wide open” hearings
will start soon after the formal
signing of the precedent-breaking
treaty in Washington on April 4.
He predicted the hearings would
last a week.
Neither committee approval nor
the signing of the document at the
state department April 4 would
finally commit the U. S. to mem
bership. That would have to await
ratification by a two-thirds vote
of the Senate.
i The treaty, made public last
Friday would bind the United
States, Canada and Western Eu
ropen nations to an alliance in
which at attack against one would
be considered an attack against
jail.
It leaves each nation the right to
(Continued on Page Seven)
i Try Two Greeks
For Yank Murder
I
-■I ■ ■
! ATHENS, (A3)—Dispatches from
| Salonika said yesterday a mother
and son will go on trial there
April 12, charged with complicity
in the murder of George Polk, Co
I lumbia broadcasting system cor
respondent.
The defendants are Gregory
Staktopoulis and his mother, An
na. Staktopoulis, a journalist, is
accused of luring Polk to his
death last May in a Greek com
munist conspiracy.
The public prosecutor in an of
ficial report said Staktopoulis con
fessed that Polk was trussed up,
blindfolded and shot after he
boarded a rowboat in the belief he
| was about to meet the former com
munist leader Markos Vafiades
for an interview.
Remove Ice From
Ponds; Speed Up
Mining Season
■ - —
FAIRBANKS, (JF)—Ice removal
from dredge ponds and steam
thawing of seasonal frost should
permit reopening of the Gold
stream and Little Eldorado gold
camps from six weeks to two
months earlier than otherwise pos
sible, dredging officials said to
day.
Ice on the ponds froze 3V4 feet
thick, a foot thicker than a year
ago.
The ice is cut into blocks with
a steam ice cutter in blocks weigh
ing from 3,500 to 5,000 pounds,
and is then lifted and dumped on
shore.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 tons
of ice was to be cut.
A hundred and twenty men will
be employed. The camps are op
erated by the U. S. Smelting, Re
fining and Mining Company.
Atlantic Pact Is
Good Insurance
Against War
(By Oliver DeWolf)
WASHINGTON, </P> — Senator
Vandenberg 'R.-Mich.) said today
the Atlantic pact is the “best bet
to keep the present cold war from
getting hot.”
He called it the most important
step in American foreign policy
since the Monroe Doctrine, and a
step to be taken only with the
“solemnity of a national convic
tion.”
Vandenberg discussed the pro
posed alliance in a speech prepar
ed for the United States confer
ence of mayors. He is the ranking
I GOP member of the Senate for
eign relations committee and lead
1 ing party spokesman on foreign
'affairs. 1
\ He said the ultimate value of
the pact, negotiated by the United
States, Canada and six western
European nations, will depend
largely upon the extent to which
the nation “wholeheartedly ac
cepts its concept of defense unity.”
(Continued*on Page Seven)
|
Tornadoes Kill 2
In Deep South
j NEW ORLEANS, (/P)—'Two per
sons were killed and about 50
were injured by storms which hit
1 scattered areas of Louisiana and
Mississippi Monday.
Tornadoes and windstorms also
ripped through parts of northeast
Texas and southwest Arkansas,
but no casualties were reported.
Hardest hit in Mississippi was a
! 100-mile stretch between Jackson
and Yazoo City.
In an isolated farm area of
Humphreys County a Negro cabin
collapsed, killing a 10-month-old
infant and injuring the parents
and three other children.
South of Yazoo City a Negro
| church building, used as a school,
! was wrecked. Nine students and
; the teacher were injured. None of
I them -was seriously hurt.
Still “Flying
To Washington”
JUNEAU, (£>) — House speaker
Stanley McCutcheon said Monday
night several Alaska legislators
would fly to Washington to urge
Goernor Ernest Gruening’s con
firmation at a Senate interior
committee hearing March 30. The
committee is considering the gov
ernor’s nomination for another
four-year term.
McCutcheon said an airliner
from Anchorage would pick up
the Juneau group Sunday. He said
he expected nine to board the
plane here, including himself and
Reps. Warren A. Taylor and Ame
lia A. Gundersen, all Democrats.
McCutcheon said the arrange
ments were made by telephone
with attorney Buell Nesbett of An
chorage.
The House speaker said the
plane might bring up to 30 per
sons from the Second, Third and
Fourth Divisions.