™s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. L. No. 48. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, ApRIL 21, 1948._PER COPY — 15c
NWA Chamber
Discusses Tourists
Ami Seawall
v I
A dinner meeting of the North
western Alaska Chamber of Com
merce was held last evening at
the Pioneer Hall for members
invited guests and visitors.
The meeting followed a grand
All-Alaska dinner and was pre
sided over by president H. F. j
Harper.
The several committees of the,
Chamber board were called upon
to report the activities of their
various committees, to acquaint
the membership with the work of
the board this year. Donald Lyle,
reported of Roads and Harbors
committee, stating that favorable
action is being taken by congres
sional committees which have been
spurred by prominent Nomeites,
G. R. Jackson and Carl Lomen,
both members of the NWA cham
ber, in the interest of the urgently
needed seawall.
Keith Hedreen, chairman of the
Emergency Hospital Committee,'
reported that the $10,000 goal has
just about'been reached and the
hospital is nearly ready for oc
cupancy pending the arrival of
necessary equipment. President
Harper added that the chamber
would hold an open house at the
hospital as soon as Carl Glavin
ovich, construction supervisor,
announced the building was com
plete.
A report was made by Richard
Webb on the chamber pamphlet
being prepared for circulation,
stating that as soon as material
was completed it would be under
way. It was#estimated that the
original order for 5,000 copies, j
would be far under the present
demand by various agencies for at
least 20,000.
T. C. Duffield, U. S. Commis
sioner, requested the assistance of
the chamber in matters of wel
fare funds which his office is
attempting to distribute to needy
persons. He wished the chamber
to assist in making out the ap-‘
plications for those who cannot
read or write, or who are back
ward about requesting aid.
C. D. Anderson, representing the
Arctic Alaska Travel Bureau,'
Mr. W. S. Nay, manager of the
Alaska Airlines’ Nome office, and
James Walsh, manager of thePAA
local office, all spoke of the nec
essity for housing needed to care
(Continued on Page Seven)
Negro Prisoner
Goes Berserk
Kills Guard
COLUMBUS, O.,— i/P) —One
guard was stabbed fatally and,
two others wounded seriously last
night by a negro convict who ran
berserk inside the Ohio peniten
tiary for 20 minutes.
The convict, John Thomas, 34,
serving a l-to-15 year term for,
burglary, surrendered without re-;
sistance when rifle-carrying guard
took him in a dining room. He
had escaped from the prison hos
pital’s "strong ward.” No shots
were fired.
Walter W. Zimmer, of Wester-J
Communists Lose
Italian Election By
Wide Margin
By John M. McKnight
ROME, —(IP)—Italy’s Commun
ists, overwhelmed in the election,
received a hint from their top
labor leaders today of an about
face on the Marshall Plan.
The Comunists opposed Mar
shall Plan aid throughout the
campaign.
Smarting from their worst de
feat in free voting, the Commun
ists also faced the possibility of
a serious rift with some of their
left wing Socialist allies.
With nearly complete returns
apparently assuring the Ameri
can-backed Christian-Democrats
of control of both houses of par
liament, Giuseppe di Vittorio of
the Communist-controlled general
confederation of labor indicated
it wants to take a stand on Am
erican aid independent of Moscow.
Official returns on all but 155
of the 41,647 precincts in the
Chamber of Deputies election
gave the Christian Democrats 48.7
per cent of the vote, a toal of
12,681,527. The Communist led
Popular Front had 7,995,601, or
30.7 per cent. In third place were
the Anti-Communist Socialists,
with 1,848,826, or 7.1 per cent.
Final official returns on the
Senate vote gave the Christian
Democrats 10,740,131, or 47.9 per
cent; the Popular Front, 6.955,229,
or 31 per cent, and the Anti-Com
munist Socialists, 1,580,722, or
seven per cent.
Seattle Opposes
Alaska Shipping
On Canadian Ships
SEATTLE, — <JP) — Seattle’s
Port Commission voiced strong
objection yesterday to proposed
changes in Alaska shipping reg
ulations.
Opposing proposals that would
amend the Jones Act to permit
Canadian ships to carry passen
gers and cargo between U.S. ports
and Alaska, the commission de
clared such legislation would be
“damaging blow” to the U.S. Mer
chant Marine and, especially, to
Seattle maritime interests.
Immediately after the commis
sion’s meeting yesterday, Col. W.
D. Lamport, Port of Seattle gen
eral manager, left by train for
a three week business trip to San
Francisco and Washington, D.C.
He will present the commission’s!
views to gpvernment officials in
the nation’s capital.
ville, O.,, a guard since 1942, was
killed and S. P, Chesshir, and
Frank C. Lower, both of Colum
bus, wounded.
They were armed only with
billy clubs because of regulations
against firearms inside the mid
tow n penitentiary’s slate-grey
walls.
Warden R. V. Alvis said Thom
as broke away from a guard short
ly after being freed to empty his
bed pan. He obtained a knife in
the dining room.
John L. Lewis And
UMW Workers Are
Fined for Contempt
WASHINGTON,—(/P)—John L.
Lewis escaped a jail sentence to
day but was fined $20,000 per
sonally and his United Mine
Workers $1,400,000 for contempt
of court.
Judge T. Alan Goldsborough
accepted a government recom
mendation for those fines, but
said it had been his own inclin
ation to send Lewis to oad.
The fines are just double what
the bushy-browed UMW chief and
his miners had to pay after they
similarly were found guilty in
1946 of contempt for ignoring a
court’s stop-strike order.
Then Goldsborough fined Lewis
$10,000 and the union $3,500,000,
but the Supreme Court cut the
union’s fine to $700,000.
The fines Goldsborough impos
ed yesterday were only for crim
inal contempt. The judge granted
a motion to consider a penalty for
civil contempt against Lewis and
the union on Friday.
Lewis and the union each were
held guilty by the judge on Mon
day of both civil and criminal
contempt.
In civil contempt, penalties are
usually based on damages done.
So penalties are often fixed to
increase if damages continue.
This might result in Goldsbou
ough’s imposing a daily penalty
in event the miners do not work
in protest against the criminal
j contempt fines.
Many were out of the mines to
day, following the outcome of the
• Continued on Page Five>
Holy Land Gets
U.N. Consideration
Trusteeship Plan
LAKE SUCCESS,— f/P) —The
United States toflay offered for
United Nations consideration a
47-point trusteeship for Palestine.
There was no committing of Am
erican troops. The document, la
bled by American spokesman as
a group of suggestions, and not a
formal proposal, dodged a stand
on who should maintain peace
in the Holy Land. 4
Embodying most of the prev
ious informal United States sug
gestions, the plan said merely
that a group of nations to be sel
ected later should defend Pales
tine and keep order.
Delegate Warren A. Austin pre
sented the draft plan to the whole
58-r»tion political committee, in
which began consideration of the
whole Palestine problem. The fate
of the assembly’s 1947 decision to
partition the Holy Land will be
decided during the debate.
HOSPITAL NEWS
Donors today to the Emergency
Hospital fund:
Charles D. Jones $ 10.00
Dorothy M. Russell 5.00
Green Winkler Co. 100.00
National Grocery Co. 100.00
TOTAL TO DATE - $9,117.70
UMW Official Savs,
Fine Will Not
Settle The Issue
PITTSBURGH. — </P) —Frank
Hughes, president of the United
Mine Workers District Three, de
clared fining of the union and
John L. Lewis would not settle
the issue.
“We’ll just have to wait and
see,” he said, adding he thought
the final answer would be given
by the United States Supreme
Court.
He made the comment after
learning that a feeral court in
Washington had fined Lewis $20,
000 and the union $1,400,000 on
, criminal contempt of court charg
* es.
First reaction of soft coal min
ers in the field to the fine im
posed upon their union and its
1 leader was that “We got a dirty
deal.”
i This was the comment of Bal
dine Demarco, 35, of Morgan, Pa.,
recording secretary of UMW local
2563.
; Demarco added that he didn’t
know what effect the fine would
have on miners' return to work.
“It looks like Wallace for pres
ident.” said one miner bitterly.
“That’s how I’m going to vote
and I’m going to get lots more
to vote with me-.”
If the case had been thrown
out of court when the pensions
were granted we’d have been back
100 per cent right now,” said De
marco.
“That’s what this walkout was
i about. That’s all we wanted. Lew
is never called a strike. I’m re
cording secretary and the word
strike is not mentioned in any of
the correspondence to our local.”
More than a fourth of the 400,
000 soft coal miners were idle to
day in fresh walkouts stemming
from the Lewis contempt con
viction.
A representative of United Mine
Worker district 5 in Pittsburgh
expressed relief at the fine. “That
! wasn’t so bad,” he said. “Not so
bad.”
He added, “A jail sentence
would have been bad. All the
miners would have gone out and
, that’s for sure.”
I -
23rd. Inf. Troops
OLYMPIA, — (/P)—Troops of
! the 23rd Infantry Regiment at
Fort Lewis will be sent to Al
aska “soon,” Maj. Gen. Paul W.
Kendall, commanding general of
Fort Lewis, disclosed yesterday.
Fort Lewis authorities had an
nounced earlier that 2100 men of
the 2nd Division, of which the
23rd Regiment is a part, were
going to Alaska for “summer
training.”
General Kendall said they will
be sent “soon” at a chamber of
commerce luncheon. The lunch
eon honored General Kendall who
has been ordered to a new as
signment as commander of Unit
ed States troops in Austria. He
will be succeeded at Fort Lewis
by Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins.
Ill inois Governor
To Give Address
GOP Convention
PHILADELPHIA, — f/P) —Gov
Dwight H. Green of Illinois will
deliver the keynote address at the
Republican National Convention
this summer.
A 32-member GOP arranging
committee yesterday selected gov.
Green as temporary chairman of
the convention. In that capacity
he will deliver the keynote ad
dress.
Joseph W. Martin Jr., of Mass.,
speaker of the house of Repres
entatives, was nominated to serve
as permanent chairman of the con
vention that opens in Philadel
1 phia June 21.
“Governor Green enjoys the
highest confidence and esteem of
! the people of both parties,” said
GOP National Chairman Carroll
Reece.
In Chicago Green said he ap
preciated the “signal honor and
grave responsibility.”
Fishing Fleet Sails
For Halibut Hanks
In Alaskan Waters
SEATTLE, —i/P>—Doughty fish
i ing vessels upped anchor in a
dozen West Coast ports yesterday
to head for Alaska waters in an
open scramble for choice locations
on the North Pacific halibut
grounds.
A record armada of 600 ships,
including 180 from Seattle, is ex
pected to be dispersed throughout
the area when the International
: Fisheries Commission officially
i opens the halibut season at 12:01
i a.m. (local time) May 1.
Jockying for locations in the
banks developed through failure
1 of various ports to agree on stag
gered starting times by splitting
the fleet as in past years.
The plan, devised to prevent
congestion of the market, was
disrupted last year by Seattle’*
prolonged dispute over catch
shares.
Fishermen here said an accord
could not be reached this spring
with Alaskan ports for resump
tion of the staggered schedule.
Most stateside vessels , will take
on ice and bait at Ketchikan and
then stand by until next Monday
when fishing licenses become val
id.
This will permit a race for the
halibut grounds’ best spots be
fore the season opens.
C.G. Ice Breaker
^Jorthwiml To Sail
For Bering Sea
i _ -
SEATTLE, —(TP)—Scheduled to
I sail for the Bering Sea early next
month is the Coast Guard ice
breaker Northwind. The vessel,
now being outfitted in Bremer
ton, will make its first voyage to
i the far north since before the
war. Capt. C. W. Thomas, who
skippered the ship through its
Antarctic adventures, again will
I be in command.