™s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
63rd Year No. 31
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1962
Per Copy 15*
New Wages & Hours Laws Pass Senate
SENATORS PEG STATE
WAGE 35 PCT. ABOVE
FEDERAL MINIMUM
JUNEAU iff) — The Senate yes
terday approved a bill, SB259,
which would peg the state mini
mum wage at 35 per cent above
the prevailing federal minimum.
The Senate defeated, on con
stitutional grounds, another meas
ure which would exclude busi
nesses with 10 or less employes
from the provisions of the State
Wages and Hours Act.
The vote was 10-9 for passage
of the bill, SB28-8, before Sen.
Howard Pollock changed his vote
from yea to nay.
Pollock did so because the State
Constitution requires that a ma
jority of the membership of the
Senate, or total of 11 senators,
must vote for approval of a bill
before it can be passed.
Pollock immediately gave no
tice he would ask to reconsider
his vote.
Sen. George B. McNabb who
switched votes on the minimum
wage bill, SB259, also gave notice
of reconsideration on that meas
ure.
When SB288 came up the Senate
turned down an amendment by
Sen. A1 Owen to eliminate a pro-:
vision that employers of business
es hiring 10 or less employes are
to be excluded from the overtime
clause of the Wages and Hours
Act.
Owen said he did not believe
there should be any distinction
between employes on the basis
of how many are actually em
ployed by any one employer.
Sen. McNabb said he was very
much in favor of the amendment.
“It seems inconceivable to me,”
McNabb said, “that this Senate
would say a man needs so much
to live on only if he is the 3rd,
5th, 7th or 11th employe of a
business.”
•Making reference to the fact
that SB268 revises a bill enacted
into law earlier in this session,
Pollock said:
“Some members of this body
have received lots of protests
from a stunned public.”
He said SB259 and SB268 were
attempts to correct some of the
inequities which became apparent
soon after the previous measures
were signed into law by Gov. Wm.
ft Egan.
Pollock said many employers
around the state, the small em
ployers primarily, were forced to
lay off some workers or trim
hours because they could not live
with the provisions of the new
acts.
Atty. Gen. Kennedy Says
Much More Must Be Done
To Counter Soviet Propaganda
WASHINGTON M — Atty. Gen.
Robert Kennedy told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee to
day much more must be done to
counter Soviet propaganda.
He spent about an hour and a
half in a closed session with the
committee, reporting on his re
cent trip around the world.
H Afterward he told newsmen
that he had been geratly en
couraged by what he saw on his
trip, but he said that in all the
countries he visited there are
many questions about policies
“that we must answer.”
Sen. J. William Fulbright, <D
Arfc.), the committee chairman,
said his main impression from
Kennedy’s report was reassuring,
particularly w}th respect to the
SMALL BUSINESSES
EXEMPTED FROM
OVERTIME LAW
JUNEAU <#) — The Senate re
versed itself today and gave its
okay to a bill, SB268, which
would exempt businesses with 10
or less employes from the over
time provisions of the State Wages
and Hours Act.
The vote was 11-9.
Yesterday, the Senate had
voted agaisnt the bill 10-9, with
Sen. John Coghill absent.
The Senate also reaffirmed its
passage of a bill, SB259, which
sets the state minimum wage at
35 per cent above the prevailing
federal minimum wage, 13-7.
The vote today on the overtime
bill showed the following sena
tors for passage: Bradshaw, Bron
son, Coghill, Greimann, McNealy,
Nolan, Brad Phillips, Vance Phil
lips, Pollock, Walsh and Weise.
Voting against were Sens. Eng
strom, Hopson, Logan, McNa'bb,
McNees, Metcalf, Owen, Smith
and Peratrovich.
There was no debate on SB259,
but the Senate went over SB268 I
for almost an hour before getting j
around to a final vote.
“This an election year,” Sen.
George McNabb told the Senate,
“and I have an idea this measure
was introduced in an effort to
embarrass the Democratic mem
bers of the Senate and the admin
istration.”
Sen. Lester Bronson, (D-Nome),
said the bill was not a partisan
measure and he was seconded by
Sen. Howard Pollock, (R-Anch.).
Pollock said McNabb’s state
ment was an “attempt in frustra
tion to make the bill a partisan
issue.”
Invite President to Speak
SACRAMENTO, Calif. UP> —
The assembly unanimously invited
President Kennedy yesterday to
address the legislature when he
visits California late this month.
The President will receive an
honorary degree from the Uni
versity of California March 23,
then visit Vandenberg Air Force
Base and Palm Springs in South
ern California.
NO BONES ABOUT IT . . .
TASMANIAN MYSTERY
MONSTER IS ALL FLESH
SYDNEY, Australia — Heat
tests of flesh samples of a giant
carcass found 20 months ago on
Tasmania’s west coast discount a
theory the monster came from the
ocean depths, a scientist said to
day.
The 18 by 20 foot creature
weighing several tons, likely will
remain a mystery at least until
scientists make an expedition to
the isolated beach next weekend
to examine the bone structure, if
any.
A. R. Haly, senior research of
ficer of the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization, said that in a heat
test the sample shrank at about
68 degrees — slightly lower than
that for whale flesh.
“This suggests that the monster
did not come from the ocean
depth,” Haly said. “It further sug
gests that the creature did not
exist in a cold water area like
ocean depths."
In Hobart, scientist Bruce Mol
lison who made a preliminary ex
amination of the carcass on the
beach, said he probed deeply into
the top and side ox the monster
and failed to find any bone struc
ture. I
FOR FIRST TIME
There is Limited
Hope for Success
In Nuclear Talks
GENEVA (JPl — For the first
time in almost two years Russia
and the Western Allies started a
new round of disarmament nego
tiations today with some hope of
restricting but much less hope of
stopping the nuclear arms race.
The 17-nation U.N. Disarma
ment Committee met at the Palace
of Nations in late afternoon for
a ceremonial session. The last big
disarmament conference broke
down in <1960.
The delegates, including U.S.
Secretary of State Dean Rusk and
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei
Gromyko, heard the resumption
of negotiations hailed as signaling
in itself an easing of East-West
tensions.
American sources said just be
fore the session opened that the
Western powers and Russia might
be able to negotiate an agree
ment to block the spread of nu
clear weapons and thus begin to
bring the arms race under con
trol.
Western officials say there is
little prospect of agreements in
coming months, however, which
would halt the manufacture of
nuclear weapons.
The outlook is dim, too, for
stopping nuclear weapons testing.
In both cases, officials said, the
apparently insuperable barrier is
Russia’s unwillingness to open up
its territory to international in
spection.
Gromyko in the preliminary
talks was reported to have stuck
to the line that Western proposals
for an international inspection
system to- verify disarmament
measures amounts to a demand
for espionage rights within the
Soviet Union.
The present prospect is that
President Kennedy’s proposal for
a test ban treaty with controls
will fall through and that the
United States will go forward, as
Kennedy has announced, with its
series of nuclear tests in the at-I
I mosphere beginning in late April.
■——-—
A FAIR DEAL ...
WATERBURY, Conn, iff) — An
auto dealer accepted a horse . as
a tradein for an auto Wednesday.
Albert Dange, who runs a stable
here, got $285 for an 8-year-old
horse on the purchase of a 1957
model car for $950.
The auto dealer put the horse
on display in his showroom with
a price tag of $285.
George Assenza, the salesman
who handled the transaction, said
the company considered it a fair
deal.
SCHOOL TO CLOSE
THREE DAYS NEXT WEEK
Supt. Conrad Potter announced
today that Nome Public Schools
will be closed next week on
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,
March 21, 22 and 23.
The closure is effected to allow
members of the school staff to at
tend the Alaska State Teachers
Convention in Fairbanks.
According to state regulation,
the school will close if over 50
per cent of the teaching staff at
tends the convention, and at the
present time more than half of
the Nome teachers have made
their reservations.
Classes will be held on Monday
and Tuesday, the 19th and 20th,
and will resume again on Mon
day, March 26.
FIVE CUBANS ARRESTED
FOR PUSHING NARCOTICS
MIAMI, Fla. UP) — The Fed
eral Narcotics Bureau accused the
Cuban Communist regime today
of pushing opium into the United
States from Red China in an at
tempt to demoralize the North
American continent and acquire
important U.S. dollars.
Arrest of five Cubans who posed
as refugees and attempted to sell
opium and cocaine in the Miami
area is proof that the presence of
Red Chinese in Havana has
brought a vital new narcotics
traffic, Charles Siragusa, Asst.
Commissioner of Narcotics, Wash
ington, said here.
Dissemination of opium in free
countries is an integral part of
the cold war being waged by the
Soviet Union and its Communist
allies, Siragusa said.
Sen. Gruening Seeks $1,310,000
Increase for BLM Land Surveys
WASHINGTON UP — An in
crease of $1,310,000 over the
budgeted amount for Bureau of
Land Management land surveys
was asked yesterday by Sen.
Ernest Gruening.
He told a Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee that surveying is
necessary in order for Alaska to
make its selections of 103 million
acres in land grants.
Gruening asked BLM survey
funds be increased to $5.8 millior
to enable it to set up the Alask.
, program.
. Gruening endorsed a $4,388,00
, request by the Bureau of India
. Affairs for school construction a
17 locations tin Alaska.
He also asked the committee t
approve $400,000 to start a pro
gram for training Eskimos ii
electronics at Los Angeles. Th<
training would make it possibh
for Alaskans to man communica
tions and defense warning systems
in the far north.
First Lady Presents Indian
Children With Playroom
NEW DELHI, India — Mrs.
Jacqueline Kennedy mounted a
dark bay mare and, in perfect
style, took the jumps with the
bodyguard of President Rajendra
Prasad on their riding grounds.
A seasoned horsewoman, the
First Lady welcomed the diver
sion to top off a busy day in which,
among other things, she fed a
baby elephant pnd presented a
portable playroom and art stu
dio to the children of India.
The presidential guard lent Mrs.
Kennedy the mare, named Shah
zadi. That means princess. Ten
men of the guard rode with her.
In presenting the portable play
room and art studio, the art-lov
ing mistress of the White House
said “the art of children is really
tiie same the world over.”
The prefabricated school room,
known as the “Children’s Car
nival of Art,” is one of the latest
developments in American art
education. Teachers can watch
children’s reactions from outside
the room without being observed
by the tots. The idea is to keep
the child’s creative impulse from
being inihibited by the presence
of adults.
A group oi maian arusis, sculp
tors, musicians and theatrical
people invited for the presenta
tion watched Mrs. Kennedy feed
bananas and milk from a bottle
to a flower-decked 600-pound
baby elephant.
Earlier, thousands of Indians
paused on their way to work to
applaud Mrs. Kennedy as she
visited a boys’ rehabilitation home
in New Delhi’s business section.
Senate Kills
Proposed ESC
Benefit Boost
JUNEAU iff) — The Senate, for
the second time in two years, gave
the deep six today to a bill which
would boost the basic weekly em
ployment security benefit amount
from $45 to $50.
The bill, SB205, was a carbon
copy of a measure defeated in
1961 by the Senate. Both meas
ures were sent down to the leg
islature by Gov. Win. Egan.
The senate vote today on SB205
was 10-10. A tie vote means de
feat for a bill.
Voting for passage were Sens.
Bradshaw, Bronson, Engstrom,
Hopson, McNabb, McNealy, Mc
Nees, Metcalf, Owen and Pera
trovich.
Voting against passage were
Sens. Coghill, Greimann, Logan,
Nolan, Brad Phillips, Vance Phil
lips, Pollock, Smith, Walsh and
Weise.
Debate Lasted an Hour
Sen. R. J. iMcNealy started de
bate which lasted for almost an
hour by saying he planned on
voting for the bill because it
meant “increased spending power
which will help businesses in all
sections of the state.”
McNealy said he was informed
by Gov. Egan that U.S. Secretary
of Labor Goldberg will recom
mend that the Reed Fund penalty
i tax charged against Alaska em
i ployers last year remain tm
t changed for five years.
The State owes the Reed (em
► ployment security) Fund $8,765,
000. Alaska employers last year
were charged $4.50 per employe
as a start on repayment of the
debt.
This year, the rate is scheduled
to jump to $9 per employe per
year. Next year it is scheduled to
go up another $4.50 per employe
per year.
Reasoning Strange
Sen. Brad Phillips toId the Sen
ate:
‘When we raised the taxable
table wage base in Alaska for em
ployment security purposes to
$7,200 a year, the argument ad
vanced was that we needed to
make this fund solvent as quickly
as possible.
“Now, we find these same
people arguing that we should in
crease benefits because there is
a surplus. The reasoning does
seem strange.”
(Continued on Page Five)
Hearings on Stockpiling
WASHINGTON UR — A Senate
Armed Services Subcommittee
will begin open hearings March.
21 on the stockpiling of strategic
materials. President Kennedy has
said an excessive amount of such
materials has been accumulated.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Continued clear and cold. Few
snow showers tonight. Fair and
cold tomorrow. Low tonight -'18,
high tomorrow 0. In the last 24
hours: High of 1, low of -17. Max.
wind 23 mph from NE. Sunrise
at 6:24 a.m., sunset at 3:59 pm.
Temps, a year ago today: High
of 10, low of -11. Extremes on
this date since 1907: High of 34
in 1937, low of -35 in 1947.
At Nenana the weather was fair
and had a temp, of -31.
COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT
There will be a meeting of the
City Council tonight as there was
not a quorum on Monday evening
for the regularly-called meeting.