\
Home-Owned Newspaper
and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
10c a Copy
VOLUME XVI
Wednesday, (November 16, 1955
NUMBER 238
$400,000 libel suit enters
second day of testimony
Former employees
tell of opposition to
, Grueninq regime
KETGH'IKAN (/P) “I was
terrilbly shocked, deeply dis
turbed and felt as if a pile
driver had hit me on the
head,” 'former Gov. Ernest
Gruening said yesterday in
describing hlis feelings after
seeing the Juneau Empire of
Sept. 25, 19*52.
The issue in question car
ried a news story and an edi
torial which discussed the
special Chilikoat ferry ‘fund es
tablished by the territorial
board of road commissioners.
The two items 'are the basis of
a $400,000 libel suit brought
against the Empire by Gruen
ing, Henry Roden, former ter
ritorial treasurer, and Frank
Metcalfe, former territorial
highway engineer.
Gruening testified the story
climaxed a campaign waged
against his administration ov
er a period of years. Articles
and editorials dating back to
blov. 1946, were submitted in
support of this claim.
The former governor said
his name was deleted deliber
ately from news stories in the
Empire and he was referred
to only as “governor of Alas
ka.”
He was cross-examined at
length by H. L. Faulkner, coun
sel for the newspaper, whe
attempted to show that the
Empire’s criticism of Gruening
resulted from disapproval oi
politics rather than personal
animosity.
Under questioning by Fault
net, Gruening said the ferry
Idtid was set u|p in a special
bank accounit to expedite im
mediate (payment of crewmen.
He denied lit was a “private
V eatchcombing
• With >the weather seemiing
ly cold al^over the United
States — our little cold snap
wasn’t so bad after all.
-1-1
• Guess I won’t talk about
the Turkey-Ea.er, after all he
abdicated and the Veatchcomb
er isn’t going to attempt a come
•black this year.
-M
• The only difference now
and before the Bdjg Four for
eign ministers’ conference is
that the Pollyanna’s are now
convinced the only way that
Russia will play is her way —
no agreement on rules buit just
as she wants to change them.
—M
41 it’s interesting to read a
jgout the libel suit being tried
in Ketchikan. Newspapermen
don’t like libel suits — and so
are careful to bring objective
news, unbiased, to their read
ers. In columns like the Veatch
comber and in editorials they
may be biased but the news
columns are for news and not
teh opinion of the reporter or
^publisher. __
bank account, although funds
I were disbursed solely toy R. E.
Coughlin, ferry purser.
Gruening said he did not
know whether Ibond was re
quired of Coughlin, whether a
shortage in the fund was re
vealed in a 1952 audit of terri
; torial funds Iby a Seattle audit
' firm, or whether Coughlin is
sued cheeks to “cash” as stated
| in the Empire.
> The reading of a long depo
! si ion from E. J. Small, a form
■ er Empire newsman, was start
j ed after the former governor
' left the witness stand.
| Wtilth the plaintiffs still pre
senting testimony, the libel
i suit of three former Alaska of
! ficials against the Juneau Em
• pire went into its second day
itoday.
On the stand at noontime ad
journment was Frank Metcalf,
i former Alaska highway engin
; eer, who asked $100,000 dam
jag es for an article in Sepfem
: her, 1952, regarding the ferry
( Chilkoot. fund. He claimed the
; sa ting up of a special bank
j fund for operation of the ferry
had been approved by the board
of highway commissioners and
the attorney general.
Earlier today depositions
were read from two former
Empire editorial employes.
Jack McFarland, managing edi
tor. and John D. Small, report
er. Bor.h said editor Helen Mon
sen was strongly opposed to
the rdgiime of Ernest Gruening
then Alaska governor, who is
one of the plaintiffs.
McFarland and Small both
praised Mrs. Monsen as a per
son but Small questioned the
ethics of the paper and McFar
land Said he continuously tried
to get her to adopt an objective
viewpoint, without success.
A deposition from Neil F,
I Moore, territorial auditor, also
i was read relating to details of
5 the ferry fund. He said that
j he and deputy attorney general
! John Dimond visited -the bank
| where the fund was deposited
; and the visit caused closing of
the fund. But Moore denied
. they had ordered it closed.
The third plaintiff is Henry
Roden, former territorial trea
surer, who was expea ed to tes
i tify this afternoon. Gruening
took most of yesterday’s time,
claiming that the Empire had
used strong (tactics on him all
i through his terms in office and
had criticized him even when
, he opposed Indian reservations
as did the paper itself.
,Mid west gets
[ preview of winter
1 weather today
!by The Associated Press
Winter played a preview ov
l er a large section of the naitior
i today as an area from th<
) northern and central Rockies
; eastward through the Missour
- valley was looked in the gri{
1 of a cold wave.
j j The weather (bureau at Chi
-! caigo issued special cold wav<
t warnings (for most of the mid
r ( west with tonight’s tempera
i (continued on page four?
{Delegates begin
task of writing
[constitution
FAIRBANKS (ff) The Alas
ka conistjjutional convention
finally launched itself today
into the task of writing the
document that will serve as
the foundation for the propos
ed state of Alaska.
At 2 p. m. yesterday the 55
delegates bad completed all
the preliminary details to the
task of actually framing the
constitution.
Commlittees had been nam
ed, permanent employes ap
pointed and the rules to cover
the convention accepted. Then
the convention Officially split
itself up into 14 different com
mittees and each began its
writing task.
The first three committees
to meet were ones on the leg
islative ibrlanch, the judiciary
and on finance. At least five
commii tees planned meetings
today.
The delegates to the historic
convention have been putting
in long days, starting at 9 a.
m., and continuing until 5 and
6 p. m., and even holding
some evening sessions.
At present, only a brief ple
nary session of all the dele
gates is held in the morning,
before they split up, but by
next week, president William
Egan said, sufficient commit
tee work should be completed
to permit the delegates to hold
longer plenary sessions in a
body to discuss the commit -
tees’ work.
The schedule of the planned
committee work has been
worked out carefully but most
Of the delegates are on more
than one committee, and some
on as many as three. Meetings
therefore have to be scheduled
so as not to overlap.
The scheduling of the meet
ings so that ia delegate is not
required to be in two places
at once has been Called by one
oif the researchers on the con
vention ^ iaff 'as a “mathemat
ical miracle.”
Stevenson won't
use health as
campaign issue
CHICAGO CP) Adlai Stev
enson said ioday it would be
foolish to say the people would
not take into account the sur
vival chances of a presidential
candidate but he will not make
health an issue in his campaign
for the 1956 Democratic nom
ination.
Announcing that he will en
ter the March 20 Minnesota
presidential primary, Steven
son answered a wide ranjge of
questions at a mamour.h news
conference.
One of these questions con
cerned the health of President
■ Eisenhower and of Sen. Lynn
B. Johnson of Texas, the senate
: Democratic leader. Both men
; suffered heart attacks in recent
months.
i Stevenson said he hopes and
prays Johnson’s “misfortune in
■ no way limits his future activ
> ities or his usefulness.”
“And the same goes for any
■ one else, especially the presid
j (continued on page four)
| Big Four ministers talks end
with nothing accomplished
No progress made
on a single major
issue at parley
GENEVA (/P) The Big Four
foreign ministers conference
ended r.oday with Russia and
the Western powers more deep
ly divided than ever over the
great vital problems of Ger
man reunification and European
security.
Soviet foreign minister Mo
lotov, chairman of ithe final
session, brought the conference
to a close at about 6:40 p. m. i
In almost 60 hours of debate
over three weeks, the Big Four
had failed to make substantial
progress on a single major is
sue before them. The Western
ministers blamed an unexpect
ed hardening of Soviet policy
for the breakdown. Molotov
blamed the West.
The four had igegun their
talks Oat. 27 in the warm glow
of hope created by the “Spirit
of Geneva” which flourished
during and after the Big Four
summit meeting here in July.
They ended in the bleak, cold
of an Alpine winter night with
| out agreemen. even on plans
! to meet again. The possibility
| of another conference was left
. up to future negotiations thro
jugh diplomatic channels,
i U. S. secretary of state Dul
les planned to be the first of
1 the four to leave Geneva. He
ordered his plane made ready
for an overnight flight to Wash
i lngiun.
i The final meeting was devot
ed to a round of summary spe
eches, aler the ministers had
agreed on a tense communique
which merely confirmed their
lack of algreement and said that
each would rapon. to his chief.
In the final statements: j
Dulles accused Soviet prem
ier Bulganin of having appar
er« ly having sent Molotov here
with orders not to negotiate
seriously on German unify. He
said the Soviets seemed afraid
free elections i n Germany
would threaten s heir hold on'
Eastern Europe. He promised
the United States would con
tinue to work for peace.
British foreilgr secra ary
MacMillan said the Soviets had
approached the whole German
problem from the “wrong and
wicked principle ’ that people
should not have freedom to cho
j ose their own des iny through
free elections.
French foreign minister Pin
ay said Soviet policy was aimed
! at dissolving the North Atlantic
Alliance, and solidifying the di
vision of Germany. An undefi
nii e division of Germany, he
said will lead precisely to what
the Soviets say they most fear
— “a rebirth of German nation
alism and militarism/’
Dulles (blamed Soviet resis
tance to reuniting Germany
through free elections on fear
that such and action would
threaten Molscow’s hold on the
communist satellite countries
| of eastern Europe.
| Dulles sipoke after the Big
jFour agreed without argument
.to break up the present con
ference without any specific
time or (place (for another meet
; -Wig.
They did this by accepting
>a communique which (they a
greed ito issue later today. It
was a very Ibriel document reg
istering by implication the to
tal .failure of the meeting to
provde solutions or make sub
stantial progress on any of the
‘great east-west issues and par
ticularly Germany.
The communique was de
scribed as reporting only that
the foreign ministers had met
as their chiefs directed them
to at the surnmt conference in
July. Ithat they had covered
their (assigned problems in
| their discussions, that they
would now report back to their
chiefs and that they would re
commend Ithat the future:
course of their discussions be
settled through diplomatic
channels.
Dulles, who is to report to
| President Eisenhower tomor
row, said the president has
“closely (followed this confer
ence on a day to day basis.”
Eisenhower, he went on,
'“will evaluate its results a
gainst the background of his
vast knowledge and abhor
ence of war and his dedica
tion Ito the cause of a just
and durable (peace.”
Dulles stid he thought that
the Geneva meeting had not
been “wholly barren.” And he
expressed hope for 'better re
sults in the future, saying that
after long years in internation
al diplomacy he is not “easily
discouraged.
“The (government and people
of the United States,” Dulles
told Molotov, “want to devel
op 'better relations with the
Soviet nation.
“Our hope for the future de
rives 'from our belief that the
Soviet government will sooner
or later come to see that the'
advantage for it in better rela
tions with the western powers
is far better than local and pass
ing advantages which it could
gain at the price of forfeiting
‘he 'good relations which at the
summit conference the Soviet
rulers seem to want.”
Dulles covered the discus
sions here point by point with
summarizing comments begin
ning with the problems of Ger
man unification and European
security.
He sa:d the Russian refusal
“even to contemplate free el
ections in East Germany”
serves to highlight “as no
words could the situation
throughout eastern Europe.”
“If the so-called German
Democratic Republic.” he said,
“cannot stand the Zest of a
peoples’ choice, no more can
the regimes imposed on the
peoples of eastern Europe.”
Marine forecast from Wed
nesday to Thursday.
Outside waters Dixon En
trance to Gape Spencer north
easterly winds 16-25 mph this
afiternoon and early tonight
then ibecoming southeasterly 20
to 30 miph with gusts late to
night.
k Cloudy with occasional snow