THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME. ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
*1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher..Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Friday, September 8, 1950
U.M.T. A NECESSARY EVIL
The sad plight in which the United States finds itself
today, fighting a two - bit nation like North Korea,
should persuade the American people that universal
military service is a necessary evil in the present con
dition of world affairs.
A Washington observer suggests that Congress, being
election-minded, will try to postpone decisive action
unless the voters point the way. The choice involves
other incidents like Korea, in which unprepared and
out-numbered Americans are killed, and the creation
of a trained reserve of fighting men.
Under circumstances that existed prior to World War
II. we would not favor compulsory military training.
Not to begin it now will cost more lives later. A citizen,
trained to fight, will not only be able to battle an enemy
but will also be trained to save American lives.
WHY NOT HAVE LABOR BATTALIONS?
The news story from a small town, which announced i
that 105 out of 110 men called for examination under;
selective service, were rejected is somewhat amazing, i
The same observation applies to the inrfplication that
the high rejection rate was due, not to physical defects,
but to a low intelligence level.
This brings to mind the obvious necessity that, con
fronted by such a record, the Army should be given the
power to organize labor battalions out of those who are
not intelligent enough to serve in the fighting line. Our
understanding is that, as a rule, it takes three men be
hind the line to support each fighter. If this is true,
there is no reason why labor and service units should
not be filled by anybody able to perform physical labor
under competent direction.
It might develop that, confronted with a choice of
serving in a labor unit or in a fighting unit, more of our
young men would possess the intelligence necessary for
a modern combat soldier. At any rate, the labor units
would save the fighting men some of their work behind
the lines.
“RED PERIL IS IN EUROPE”
The creation of a Russian-sponsored German Army
in the Eastern zone, under the guise of a police force,
bears an alarming similarity to the Communist tech
nique in Korea,, warns Mr. Winston Churchill, former
prime minister of Great Britain.
Mr. Churchill, now opposition leader, recently told
____.. ■■■■■■
THE MASKED MARVH.S
i k^caJ //
Korean Situation
At A Glance ...
■■■—- -
(Continued from Page One)
682 died and 2,898 were missing.
A U. S. intelligence officer said
a captured communist officer
told American questioners the Red
master plan entails an all-out
smash on the southwest front,
shortest route to Pusan, accom
panied by heavy and steady pres
sure in the vicinity of Taegu. The
Reds had shifted east of Taegu to
attack Yongchon in their northern
offensive when they learend the
town was lightly defended. Prin- j
cipal thorn in the Red side is the
steady Allied air action against
communist supply lines( reducing!
the Reds to moving ammunition
by human carriers, village to vill
age.
Allied aircraft, flying a record
day of 625 sorties, concentrated
the bulk of their attacks on close
support of front line troops.
Soviet Russia used her 44th
veto in the IT. N. Security Council
to prevent an American-sponsored
ban on aid to North Korea. But
the veto could not affect the U. N.
action already under way in Ko- j
rea, voted at a time when Russia \
was boycotting the Security Coun
cil.
Diplomats in Washington re
garded the Soviet handling of the;
plane incident as evidence that;
the Russians still want to limit
their conflict to clashes with the
United States. The United States
has exhibited a determination not j
to deal directly with Moscow on a j
matter which it contends involves
the United Nations.
Deputy U. S. delegate Ernest
Gross said at Lake Success he
would try to get early U. N. con
sideration of a U. S. proposal that
India and Sweden form a two-na
tion commission to investigate i
communist charges that a U. S.
plane bombed Manchurian terri
tory. The U. S. concedes an Amer
ican plane may have mistakenly]
straffed a Chinese airstrip near]
Korea.
■
Friday, September 8, 1950
American and Red Korean
troops battled furiously today for
a strategic mountain top two
miles west of imperiled Haman.
This is on the southwest front,
where the Reds were reported
building up strength for an as
sault toward Pusan, main Allied
base in Korea.
At the northern top of the rain
drenched front American and
South Korean troops launched
separate attacks in an attempt to
close a five-mile gap in the de
fense line. Some gains were made.
There was little fighting else
where along the entire 120-mile
front and 130,000 Red troops were
believed building up for a new
offensive smash that Gen. Mac
Arthur’s headquarters said might
come either in the southwest,
north or east.
A U. S. Eighth Army spokes
man said the Red drive by 50,000
men on Taegu, the main Allied
base on the central front, had
“petered out,” probably for lack
of supplies and sufficient man
power.. The Reds had stabbed
within seven miles of Taegu be
fore the U. S. First Cavalry Divi
sion and South Koreans broke
the back of their offensive. Taegu
appeared safe for the time being.
The Red buildup seemed great
est on the approaches to Pusan.
Allied authorities ordered the
evacuation of civilians from Ma
san, 27 airline miles west of Pu
san, as a precautionary measure.
The Reds were reported to have
slipped agents into Masan to stir
up trouble among its 75,000 popu
lation.
The U. S. 25th Infantry Division
retook Battle Mountain, a peak
two miles west of Masan, this
morning. The Reds came back
with an 'artillery barrage followed
by an infantry attack. (£>) front
correspondent, Stan Swinton said
a furious battle was being waged
for the strategic height which' has
changed hands nine times in less
than three weeks.
Bad weather and rugged terrain
slowed the attempt of American
and South Korean troops to close
the five-mile gap on the northern
front between Yongchon and An
gong, eight miles west of Red-held
Pohang on the Sea of Japan coast.
Yongchon, an important highway
town 20 miles east of Taegu,
changed hands twice in bitter
fighting and an American field
officer said if it was not in Red
hands it was at least under Red
control.
The poor weather virtually
grounded Allied fighter-bombers, j
B-29’s plastered a magnesium
plant and rail center at Songjin, a
port on the North Korean coast j
125 miles south of the Manchur
ian border.
Against this background of bat
tlefront news there were these
two developments on the diplo
matic and home fronts:
Russia got slapped down in the
United Nations Security Council
In an attempt to get the U. S. Air
Force denounced for “barbaric”
bombing in Korea.
Top overseas advisers were urg
ing the United States to press for
quick action on formation of a
joint army under a single supreme
commander for defense of West
ern Europe. These advisers were
worried over the threat posed by
the buildup of communist armed
strength in East Germany.
On the Korean front British
troops turned back other Red
probing thrusts across the Nak
tong 'River. The Briitsh are an
chored between the American 2nd
Division on the south and the 1st
Cavalry Division to the north near
Waegwan. In this 60-mile span to
the south coast the Reds have
concentrated 60,000 troops.
The drenching rain spoiled a U.
S. First Cavalry Division counter
attack on a key hill seven miles
north of Taegu. These doughboys,
punchy after a six-day battle to
stem the strong Red push from
the north, climbed halfway to
the British people, over the radio, that while attacks
might come soon against Tibet and Iran, “the real peril
is in Europe.” He urged his listeners to use to the best
advantage whatever “breathing space” was left to pre
vent the “horror” of a Communist war of conquest.
It is interesting to notice that under the pressure of
a common peril from the Russians, the French and
Germans seem to be willing to set aside their age-old
hostility. The probability is that the government of
Western Germany will soon be permitted to set up
something of a “ipolice force” of its own and that,- if a
real European army is formed, the German Republic
will be permitted to contribute to its strength.
their objective then pull?d back
under stiff enemy resistance.
On the east coast itself South
Koreans held off Red thrusts in
their new positions three miles
south of Pohang. The Americans *
still held Pohang airfield, six
miles south of the city.
At Lake Success the U. N. Se
curity Council voted 9 to 1 against
the Soviet resolution denouncing
the U. S. air action in Korea as a
veil a lion of the rules of warfare.
Yugoslavia, abstained. On Mon
day the council will take up the
question of whether to invite com- ^ j
munist China to sit in while the
council considers Peiping’s
charges of U. S. bombings in Man
churia and aggression against For
mosa.
This proposal to consider invit
ing Red China was submitted by
Russia’s Jakob A. Malik and was
approved by a vote of 7-3 with *
the U. S. abstaining.
Truman To Broad
- • ■ • J V-,
cast Saturday On
Home Controls
l' f " r > •. jv i r , ,
(Continued from Page One)
expects to sign the measure in a
few days.
Mr. Truman, in reply of ques
tions, said he is not now consider
ing setting up an independent
agency to handle price and wage *
controls when and if needed.
Mention of reports that W. Stu
art Symington, chairman of the
National Security Resources Board,
would be the overall boss of home
front mobilization drew from Mr.
Truman the retort that it was the
first he had heard of that.
Dealing with other questions,
the President said:
1. He considers the Marine
Corps incident closed. This was a
reference to his crack for which
he later apologized, that the Ma
rine Corps is simly a navy police
force with a “propaganda machine
almost equal to Stalin’s.”
2. He couldn’t sign the McCar
ran communist control bill now
before the Senate if it comes to
him. He said it was the old Mundt
Nixon anti-subversive bill modi
fied by Senator McCarran (D.
Nev). to make it worse than it was
before.
3. He expects United Nations
forces in Korea to retake this
week ground lost in the last few *
days. He added there had not been
any material change in the front
line in the last 10 days.
Asked about charges by Sena
l tor Schoeppel (R.-Kans.) that sec
j retary of Interior Oscar Chapman
! had one belonged to communist
| front organizations, the President
said Chapman at the moment was
replying to a Senate Committee.
He added when the cabinet officer
is through the charges will be ex
| ploded into little bits like many *
! others like it made before.
I Asked' for comment on a state
ment by Senator Taft (R.-Ohio)
j that the administration lacked
| brains to carry bn in the present
| emergency, the President tersely
replied that he (Mr.r Truman) is
I not running for office in Ohio. *
\ Taft is now campaigning for re
election.
The President refused to discuss
1 the shooting down of a Russian
plane off Korea. He said the Ui N.
■ i« handling that because he said
, i* was a U. N. plane that did the
shooting down.
He also declined to discuss a
proposal for rearming of Western
| Germany on the grounds that is a |
matter up for consideration by
' the foreign and defense ministers
of the Western powers. *4