THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday, by The Nome
Publishing Company, Nome. Alaska.
Telephone Main 114 P. Q. Box 518
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National Advertising Representative
Frank J. Dunning, 1011 American Bank Bldg., Seattle, Washington
Entered in the Post Office in Nome as 2nd Class Matter
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
Preventing Sabot
age Called Possible
And Necessary
by W. BARTON LEACH
On Sept. 12. 1940, the smoke
less powder plant of the Her
cules Powder Company at Ken
vill, N. J., blew up. Smokeloss
powder was a serious defense
bottleneck. The total American
production was adequate to sup
ply an army of only 100,000 men
in batle, and Hercules was the
major production unit. This bot
tleneck. seriously aggravated by
the Hercules explosion, was not
corrected until May, 1941, when
the new factory at Charlestown.
Jnd., went into production. At
Kenvil fifty-two men were kill
ed and fifty seriously injured.
There was no proof of sabot
age. said the police. There was no
proof of anything except that
this important plant was gone
and that half a hundred trained
explosive operatives had been
liquidated. One convenient thing
about an explosion is that it or
dinari y destroys the cureumstan
tial traces of how it happened
and silences the tongues that
could _tell the story. After the
Gl3ck Tom and Kingsland explo
sions of 1916 and 1917 it took ten
years of investigation to get the
key evidence showing that these
■were German sabotage jobs, and
it took twelve more years to
prove it to the satisfaction of the
German-American Mixed Claims
Commission. Only in 1939 were
damages awarded to the claim
ants.
Axis Ships Damaged
In the night of March 29-30,
1941, United States authorities
lock possession of thirty ships of
he European Axis powers lying
in American ports. Twenty
seven of these had been put out
of commission by the use of
sledge hammers, acetylene torch
es ad hacksaws on their engines,
boilers and propeller shafts. They
are now clogging American ship
yards which have better work
to do. There was no doubt about
sabotage in this job. It had been
jordertd by the Italian naval at
tache, sitting yl his desk in Wash
jngton under the proection of dip
■ 1'jmatc immunty. His recall was
demanded by the President.
In the night of May 31-Junc 1,
1941, a fire on the Jersey City
waterfront wiped out $25,090,000
worth of docks, warehouses,
freight cars grain elevators, live
ytook and food supplies, includ
ing much material destined for
Great Britain. Some workmen
stated that the fires ‘'seemed to
break out in several places at
once.” But the Chief of Police of
Jersey City said: “Put any sabo
tage ideas our of your mind.”
On June 1. the Boeing aircraft
plant at Vancouver, B. C., just
the other side of the unfortified
frontier, the administration build
ing and the center portion of the
assembly plant were destroyed
by fire, together with a hospital
■and construction equipment. De
finite proof exists that Canadian
sabotage was organized on Ameri
can soil in 1915 and 1916.
On June 2 a four-motored Con
solidated bomber being prepared
for delivery to England crashed
into San Diego Bay. The con
trols jammed. A spokesman for
Consolidated stated that the con
trols could not jam unless they
had been tampered with. The
loss: $250,000, 70.000 highly skill
ed man-hours, four test employ
ees killed, one seriously injured.
iNor is this the first time a care
fully built, minutely inspected,
skillfuly operated unit of the Am
erican warplane production has
crashed into the sea or into a
mountain side.
Mr re Harm Anticipated
No one can doubt that we are
in fcr more of this unless some- .
ihing is done and done quickly. ..
Of course, we are in for it.1
Try to think German for a min
uate, as Daniel Boone used to 1
think Indian. Put yourself behind
those broad windows at Berch
tcsgaden, where the conquest of
Europe has been planned. You
have had considerable experien-,
ce with the working of the mind
of the conqueror of Europe. You
have seen him in action for eight
years, two of them war years. If'
you were that man, would you
sit idly by while the United
States becomes the arsenal for
the democracies, while it manu
factures planes and tanks and
shells and guns for no reason in
the world except to be used ag
ainst you? You certainly would
not.
If you could and the record
of this war and the last shows
that you can—you would incite;
'strikes, blow up the armament;
plants, set ablaze the products
; of the factories, destroy the bomb
ers and their personnel, obstruct
transportation to the seacoast
and plant bombs aboard the ships
that carry supplies across the At
lantic.
(To be continued in next issue)
2 A. C. MAJORS GIVEN
RANK OF COLONEL
Major Everett S. Davis and
Major John L. Davidson of the
Air Corps at Elmendorf Field,
were promote to the rank of Lt.
Colonel recently. These promo
tions give the Air Corps three
Colonels in Alaska. Both Lt. Col.
Davis and Lt. Co!. Davidson have
had interesting careers in the1
Army.
Lt. Col. Davis’ career started
! with the Signal Aviation Section
of the enlisted Reserve Corps.
He served as a private first class
I in that organization from April
23. 1918. until November 6. 1918.
He then went to Air Service
Communications School and j
graduated in 1921, commissioned
a second Lieutenant. The Colonel
then attended Air Service Ob
servers School and completed his
study there in 1921. In 1938, he
enrolled in the Air Corps Tactic
al School and completed that
course in the same year. Col.
Davis graduated from Command
and General Staff Schol in 1939
and soon after was transferred
to Alaska. Col. Davis is rated
Command Pilot and Combat Ob
server, and is a Staff Officer of
the A. D. C.
Co!. Davidson who is the com
mending Officer of Air Base Head
quarters, started his Army car
eer when he was appointed to the
United States Military Academy
.n m his native state of New
York. He graduated from the
Academy in 1920 and was com
missioned First Lieutenant. Soon
after his graduation from West
Point, he enrolled in the Infan
ay School where he finished a
basic course in 1921. In that same
year he graduated from Air Scr
vice Pilot School.
The following year, 1922, he
completed a course in the Air
Service Observers School. In
1929, the Colonel decided to gar
ner a little more knowledge and
took the Field Officers course at
Chemical Warfare School, which
lie completed that year. Then in
1931 he attended the Air Corps ■
Enginering School and in 1940 he
graduates from the Air Corps
Tactical School, Col, Davidson is
rated as a Pilot, Combat Observ
er, and Technical Observer, On
the second of this month, Col.!
Pavidson completed his 21st year
of Army service,
Current Comments
From Washington
——
A good many years ago, a
Frenchman named Guizot wrote
a book called The History of Civ
ilization in Europe. Despite a
ponderous title, it is an interest
ing and easily read volume. Mr.
Guizot emphasized the theory
that the state was made for man
and not man for the state. If
Mr. Hitler has the publication, no
doubt he thinks that its leaves
are fit only for shaving paper,,
assuming that he uses an old
fashioned razor. In the long run,
there is not much to fear from
totalitarianism. Putting the cart
before the horse never has been
an entirely satisfactory method,
of procedure. A lot of hard fight-!
ing may be ahead, but when it Is ■
done, the individual will have
come again into his own.
—
In the tenseness of the present;
situation, time is well spent in'
searching for anything that will j
give rise to a smile. The army is j
supposed to be an organization of
blood and iron, yet it stands in
need of fifty thousand mice—to
be used for laboratory purposes
in connection with typhoid ex
periments: from which it appears
that there is room in the military
service for both mice and men.
Foreigners also have something
to oiler in the way of humor, as
is evident from the a.leged Nazi
suggestion that Germany and;
England join forces to put down;
Soviet Russia. Japan too must'
have her little joke. She is said
to have complimented Mussolini
on ills mi.itary prowess
Little interest attaches to the
bale statement that Andrew J.
Houston died in Baltimore a few,
days ago. It is more noteworthy (
that he was 37 years old and had
been appointed recently to the'
United States Senate. To that
may be added the remark that he
was the son of General Sam
Houston, of Texas. The real ex
cuse for this obituary paragraph
is to call attention to the fact
that not so long ago Texas was1
fighting for her liberty as a re
public; and that the United Stat
os is a mere lad in the household
of nations.
NEW ZEALAND GUARDS OIL
WELLINGTON, New Zealand,1
Mostly plans to safeguard New!
Zealand's oil supplies in an un-'
-evealed manner are being push-1
.•d by national oil corporations,1
Supply Minister D. G. Sullivan1
laid.
Mr. Sullivan disclosed that,
iaT of the increase in the price
if gasoline, which was stepped
jp 2 cents a gallon, was intend
d to compensate the corpora
ions for expenditure has been
ecovered.
The public realizes that the pro
ection of oil storage tanks is
,-ita ly necessary, Mr. Sullivan
laid. When the Cost has been re
:overed the government will take
his into account in studying oil
irices, which have been rigidly
:ontrolled since the war began.
Vew Zealand Curbs Food Prices
WELLINGTON—Acting Prime
Minister Walter Nash has reveal
?d how the government is com
mitted to spending to keep prices
af household necessities stable,
rhis year the government will
spend $2,000,000 in holding down
sugar prices. Mr. Nash said that
$1,200,000 would be devoted to
preventing rises in the price of
bread. He revealed that a sim
ilar system of government bonus
es to help keep coal prices at the
existing level was being studied.
AUSTRALIA CONTROLS
GASOLINE
SYDNEY, Australia — Prime
Minister Menzies announced that
the government was assuming
full control over the production
and distribution of gasoline un
der the new arrangement which
replaced the cartel system. The
government will review the gaso
line rationing system when
stocks have been built up to a
determined level.
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I
Need More
Pilots To
Ferry Planes
WASHINGTON—Officials fore1
casts of greatly increased air
plane production beginning in
October were coupled with indie
ations in authoritative quarters
that .scores of young American
pilots would ultimately engage
in ferrying combat craft to Brit
ain.
For several months airplane
production has moved forward at
relatively slow pace. But by Oc
tober. defense officials say, tribu
tary industries such as alumin
um Will begin to turn out need
ed supplies in quantities which
will permit plane manufacturers
to run new assembly plants at
virtually full speed, with em
phasis on attaining the goal of
500 bombers a month.
At least half of these two and
four-motor ships will be turned
over to the British, it is expect
cd. giving Britain’s Atfera Cor
p ration, which handles ferry del
ivories, a task far exceeding its
present job.
Already one major step to ex
pedite the movement of these
p ones by Americpn fliers has
be n taken by the Army through
creation, of a “ferry command,”
which is handling the entire job
of transferring planes from the
la. rories to coastal bases where
tlie British take them over.
Evidence of the size of even
tual ferrying operations, both in
land and transatlantic, lies in the
fact that the ferry command has
undertake a program of training
100 pilots a month in flying multi
engine planes. This is expected to
provide more than edaquate per
sonnel for getting bombers to|
their coastal take-off points, but,
in itself, leaves unsolved the big
job of getting them across the
Atlantic.
While the eventual solution
might depend on the extent of
American involvement in the
war several possible methods are
beginning to be discussed here.
Ali involve the increased use of
United States fliers over the At
[antic, since British and Canad
ians are required for combat ser
vice in England.
One possibility growing out of
[he recent occupation of Iceland
is that the ferry command will
[urn over planes to the British
n Iceland, going there by way
i>f United States bases in New
foundland and Greenland.. Deliv
ery to that point would reduce
'Ufero’s ferrying job by about
wo-thirds.
Another possibility is that the
\rmy Air Corps may permit
some pilots to resign in order to
oin Atfcro’s staff. It already has
•eleased some pilots and mech
inics to join the Chinese forces.
HaVe The Nome Nugget sent tr
,-oui mining claim.
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“THE MORTAL STORM”
MARGARET SULLA VAN—JAMES STEWART—ROBERT YOUNG
History of the Moment—Picturized, Not Fictionized
and “ANCIENT EGYPT” — A Traveltalk
1 SHOW, 7:30 WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY Adm. 56c & 25*
“ESPIONAGE AGENT”
with JOEL McCREA—BRENDA MARSHALL—JEFFREY LYNN
They Patlrol The No-Man's Land of the World
and “WHEN TRIANGLE HAD POINT” — Stoneage, Cartoon
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“KNIGHTS OF THE RANGE”
with RUSSELL HAYDEN—JEAN PARKER—BRITT WOOD
Thrills Thunder Out of the Old West
also A PLUMBING WE WILL GO” — Three Stooges
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STARLIGHT ASSEMBL Y—The final assembly of Lockheed P-38 pursuit planes at the Bur
bank, Calif., plant goes on outdoors under floodlights, because of lack of room inside the plant. „