OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
VOL. LIV No. 47. NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1952 Per Copy—15tf
■% • *
Truman Implies
Has Right Seize
Papers, Radios
i
By JACK RUTLEDGE
WASHINGTON, (IP) — Editors
of leading American newspapers
hoped Friday for White House
clarification of President Tru
man’s news conference remark
which implied he felt he had the
right to seize newspapers and
radio stations, as he did the steel
industry, if it would best serve
the country.
Some Of the editors,' who were
among the 520 newsman present
at the conference Thursday, pro
tested afterward that if such
power exists the nation is close
to dictatorship.
The explosive issue was touched
off when the President was asked
this question:
“If it is proper to seize the steel
mills, can you, in your opinion,
seize the newspapers and radio
stations?”
f
Truman replied that under sim
itar circumstances, the President
of the United States has to act
for whatever is for the best of
the country. That is the answer,
he added.
In the noise of the crowded
conference room, some reporters
understood Truman to say defin
itely that he has such power but
a recheck indicated his reply was
not that direct.
Reaction of editors, who were
attending the annual meeting of
the American Society of News
paper Editors, many of whom
were at the news conference,
ranged from cries of dictatorship
to belief the answer was merely
unfortunate.
U.S. Chops Off
$45 Million Frills
Army In Germany
BONN, Germany, (;P)—'The U.S.
High Commission has decided to
chop off 45 million dollars an
nually in army frills in Germany,
despite army protests, official
sources disclosed Friday.
Soldiers from non-coms to gen
erals will lose their thousands of
free servants. Special army ex
cursion trains, cheap railroad
fares, free servants for army clubs
and similar occupation privileges
will be abolished.
All were holdovers from the
days when the Allies were vic
torious occupiers instead of de
fenders.
“It’s a question of army maids
or German soldiers to help de
fend the west,” one official said.
The money was provided by
German taxpayers who pay the
occupation costs.
The Germans have asked that
occupation costs be cut to provide
more funds for the arming of
Germans in the projected six
nation European army.
Behind the High Commission
decision was a fight between the
State Department and the Defense
Department. State Department
employes in Germany long ago
lost their free servants.
Air Force Worried
About Possible
Pilot Shortage
WASHINGTON, </P) — The Air
Force is worried about the possi
bility of a serious shortage of
pilots to man the nation’s military
planes.
Its anxieties are heightened by
a wave of stay-down strikes of
Air Force fliers who have refused
to take up their planes.
Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Air
Force chief of staff, lists three
causes for the situation:
1. A rising death rate in mili
tary flights.
2. Insufficient “hazard” pay for
airmen.
3. Reserve officers recalled to
duty claim they are being asked
to do more than their share.
Vandenberg, in testimony be
fore a Senate Armed Services
subcommittee Wednesday, said
that all oficers who refuse to fly
probably will be tried by court
martial and face prison terms and
loss of commissions.
He recommended that Congress
pass legislation that would pro
vide higher hazard pay for fliers
to give them a greater incentive
to man their planes.
Vandenberg noted, too, that
Russia is luring its best youths
into flying duty by offering al
most double pay and other bene
fits.
-s- *
Hands-Off Abduction of
Miami Youngster To Face
Kidnaping Indictment
MIAMI, Fla., (JP) — A wealthy
Miami jeweler paid $15,000 “ran
som” for the safety of his six
year-old son in a strange abduc
tion which State Attorney Glenn
C. Minger Friday classified as a
kidnaping.
The perpetrators of the plot
never placed their hands on the
boy, Richard Richter, while they
duped his father, Daniel Richter,
into paying $15,000 in jewels and
$200 cash, but Minger said they
face the death penalty for their
clever, perfectly timed deal.
Minger said he would take the
case before the grand jury and
request a kidnaping indictment
against unknown persons. It was
not necessary, he reported, for
the kidnapers to actually seize the
child. Their action in causing the
child to disappear from his usual
haunts and convincing the father
that he must buy his safe return
was a kidnaping under the law.
Indian Hospitals May Now
Accept Non-Indian Patients
On a Paying Basis
Bureau of Indian Affairs hos
pitals may take in non-Indian pa
tients on a paying basis through
a bill signed into law by the
President last week.
Provisions of the law require
that the facilities of such hospitals
may be used only where no other
hospital facilities exist and only
when hospital beds are not other
wise fully utilized.
The Bureau, an agency of the
Interior Department, operates 7
hospitals in Alaska and 56 in the
States. -
Ceremonies Tonite
For NCO Grads of
Alaska Nat’l Guard
The noncommissioned officers’
school of the Alaska National
Guard, which has been in pro
gress for the past two weeks will
be completed this evening with
fitting ceremonies at the Nome
Base Gym at eight o’clock.
Col. L. L. Johnson, commanding
officer of the ANG in the terri
tory, arrived from Juneau yes
terday to observe the school,
which is the first of its kind in
Alaska. Col. Johnson stated that
he was more than satisfied with
the results.
About 30 candidates from all
parts of the Second Division will
receive certificates at special ex
ercises tonight. Prominent city
officials as well as military will
participate.
Friends and relatives of those
graduating or those interested in
the activities of the ANG are
cordially invited, Col. Johnson
stated. Arrangements have been
made at the gate for passes for
those wishing to attend.
Dikes Holding The
Missouri At Omaha
And Council Bluffs
OMAHA, Neb., {/P)— The mad
Missouri threw its worst at Oma
ha and Council Bluffs Friday with
an army of workers still winning
the battle to hold the great river
in its strait-jacket of dikes.
The river crest — stretch of
maximum water flow — was so
long and so subject to fluctua
tions that it couldn’t be pinpointed
but river forecasters said the
rampaging river is at cresting
stage and will continue to crest
all day.
At 9:30 aun. the level was 30.24
feet, compared with the flood
stage of 19. Some minor risings
and falling will occur before the
level begins to drop some 24
hours hence, the weather bureau
said.
The predicted high had been
31.5 feet. But at this near-phen
ominal level even the action of
the wind can raise or lower the
gauge readings by a foot or more.
The river level passed the 29Vz
foot mark Thursday. Flood stage
is 19 feet. The previous record
high, in 1881,_wns 24.6. The crest
is expected to measure 31Vfe feet.
Meantime, the pattern of farm
land flooding, evacuations, and
levee-raising work which the riv
er set earlier upstream was being
repeated along reaches southward
almost to Kansas City.
Farmers all along the valley
have moved livestock, machinery
and household goods to higher
ground.
THURSDAY'S BASEBALL
SCORES
National League
Brooklyn 8—Boston 2
Philadelphia 5—New York 3
Pittsburgh 5—St. Louis 3
Cincinnati 3—Chicago 0
N 1 ■■ ■ ■■
American League
Philadelphia 3—New York 1
Cleveland 5—Chicago 3.
Boston 9—Washington 2
St. Louis 3—Detroit 1
Truman Withholds Endorsement
• (
Democratic Hopefuls, Resulting
In Talk That He Could Be Drafted*
_
—•' ■ ———■ ■ ’ X
Truman Says He Will
Make Final Decision-On
Steelworkers’ Pay Raise
(By the Associated Press>
A cloak of secrecy surrounded
the deadlocked wage-price steel
dispute Friday as the government
appeared moving toward a de
cision on granting wage increases
to 650,000 steelworkers.
In the nation’s other major
labor disputes, federal mediators
planned further sessions to settle
strikes involving thousands of
communication workers.
President Truman said he
would make the final decision on
how much of a wage hike the
government will grant the steel
workers.
Secretary of Commerce Sawyer,
nominal head of the government
seized steel industry, had separ
ate meetings Friday with top steel
officials and later with CIO Presi
dent Philip Murray, head of the
steel-workers union. Murray said
the union expects the govern
ment will follow the recommenda
tions of the Wage Stabilization
Board.
Committee Balks At
Extending Price Controls
Without Cooperation
By G. MILTON KELLY
WASHINGTON, (JP) — Senator
Maybank (D-SC) said Friday his
Senate Banking Committee is in
no mood to extend the wage and
price control program while those
handling it work “at cross pur
poses.”
The committee tyrice has delay
ed work on a bill to extend the
Defense Production Act, which
provides authority for price, wage,
rent and credit controls, and for
the rationing of scarce materials.
The existing law expires June
30 unless Congress acts.
A committee source, declining
to be quoted by name, told a re
porter the group has let the White
House know it will insist on guar
antees of better teamwork than
was displayed in handling the
steel wage dispute before agree
ing to an extension.
The committee has called the
“big four” of the defense mobil
ization and stabilization program,
under which wage-price controls
operate, to appear before it in
a body Tuesday and tell who is
boss and how they plan to work
together in the future.
IN THE KOREAN WAR . . .
SEOUL, (/P)—Communist MIG
jets streaked south from their
Manchurian bases Friday and
tangled with U.S. Sabre jets in
six battles high over North Korea.
The U,S. Fifth Air Force said
one Red jet was shot down and
three were damaged.
On the ground, Communist pat
rols continued to feel out United
Nations defenses. They concen
trated on the western and cen
tral fronts.
(By the Associated Press)
A $100-a-plate dinner and a
special news conference by Presi
dent Truman left the Democrats’
presidential picture murkier Fri
day. More than ever before, none
of the party’s White House hope
fuls appeared to have enough sup
port in the right places to claim
priority to the front-running spot.
The dinner — a swank affair
Thursday night in New York at
tended by all except one of the
announced Democratic candidates
failed to produce any hoped-for
clarifying developments.
It was held to honor W. Averell
Harriman, Mutual Security Di
rector, and make him a full
fledged candidate for the Demo
cratic nomination.
“The faithful came to hear a
new post-Truman political mes
siah and seemed not to find him,”
wrote Jack Bell, AP roving polit
ical reporter.
Bell reported that Gov. Adlai
Stevenson of Illinois — who had
said he couldn’t accept the presi
dential nomination — stole the
show with a humor - studded
speecn.
Sen. Kefauver of Tennessee,
with more delegates pledged to
him so far than any other Demo
crat, seemed to Bell “somewhat
unimpressive in a speech he read
haltingly.”
“The upshot was talk—though
mostly in whispers — that the
President could be drafted to run
again, even though he says he
won’t respond to such a move,”
Bell reported.
A letter from Truman was read
to the dinner praising Harriman.
Significantly, perhaps, it gave no
political endorsement to him, Bell
said.
Truman went a bit farther in
his news conference, however,
calling Harriman qualified for the
presidency.
But the President, questioned
about almost every Democratic
candidate, worded his remarks so
that he gave hope to almost each
one without actually endorsing
any of them.
Truman said he would express
his opinion, just as any other cit
izen, when the time comes.
■■ .—■
Dahlgren to Visit Israel
On Point-Four Fishery
Development Project
WASHINGTON, (fP) — Secre
tary of the Interior Chapman an
nounced Tuesday that Edwin H.
Dahlgren, chief of marine fisher
ies for the Fish and Wildlife Ser
vice, will leave this week for
Israel on a Point-Four fishery de
velopment project.
Chapman said Dahlgren will
serve for three months as fishery
adviser to the Israeli government
in the initial planning for a com
prehensive program of fishery de
velopment.
A native of Tacoma, Wash.,
Dahlgren has served in Maska
and the United States with the
Fish and Wildlife Service since
1936 except for three spent in
private industry.