The Story
Behind (losing
Gold Mines
WASHINGTON—Behind Don
ald Nelson’s plans to close the
gold mines of the nation was a
backstage argument with Secre
tary' Ickes who long asserted that
it was foolish to mine more gold
only to bury it in the ground at
Fort Knox.
Ickes and his Bureau of Mines
proposed early last summer to
use gold mining labor and ma
chinery for the production of
much needed tin and copper.
Among other things he propos
ed that the Homestake Mine in
the Black Hills of South Dakota,
one of the largest in the United
States, be closed and its machin
ery moved 20 miles to an import
ant tin deposit.
While the United States does
not have tin deposits of high
grade ore, it does have tin which
can be mined profitably in war
time. And with cargoes of Bol
ivian tin being sunk in the Car
ibbean. it was vital to open tin
production inside the United
States.
However, when this was pro
posed to E. Vogelsang, chief of
WPB's Tin and Lead branch, lie
acted just as leisurely as he did
before Pearl Harbor when he
stalled for months before okay
ing an American tin smelter in
the United States. Vogelsang
tried to stall Ickes by saying that
ho was having tin specialists ex
plore and sample the tin de
posits.
At this Ickes wrote a hot letter
to Donald Nelson, asking him
whether or not he “really want
ed to get tin out fast and in sub
stantial quantities.” Ickes point
ed out that the Bureau of Mines
had been studying U. S. tin de
posits for years knew their ex
tent and quality to the last “t,”
and there was no use wasting
more time, with Vogelsang’s
pussyfooting survey.
Nelson has such myriad war
moves under his far-flung depart
ment that he cannot keep his fin
gers on all of them. And he has
not yet cleaned out the dead
wood which delays things. But
When the gold question finally
got to his desk he decided to
close the gold mines of the na
tion.
Note Wendell Lund, director
or WPB's Labor Production Div
ison. also had been urging that
gold mines be closed to divert
gold miners to copper mining.
But he was opposed by Wilbur
Nelson, head of the WPB’s min
ing section and by Senator Ed
Johnson from the gold-mining
state of Colorado.
W'illkie's 1944 Ideas
Before Wendell Willkio left
for Russia and China, he had an
interesting conversation with
Haro ) Mn 'kovit, of the Affiliat
ed Young Democrats of New
York, which sheds significant
1 ght on Willkie's ideas for 1944.
Moskovit asked Willkic why
be hadn't run for the New York
gubernatorial nomination, as
many of his friends had urged
him to do. to keep Toni Dewey
olT the ticket.
Willkio replied that he had
considered the matter carefully,
but found that he had only about
30 percent of the Republican ma
chine in New York with him,
and friends had advised lum not
to run without machine support.
Then Willkic added:
“My own party is getting more
and more conservative, and I’m
worried over what’s going to hap
pen when it comes to writing the
peace. We cannot make the same
mistake we made after the last
war and let the isolationists get
control. Isolationist Republican
obstruction after the last war
was the greatest contribution
that was ever made to this war,
and we can't go on fighting wars
every twenty years.
‘‘But." continued W,i 11 k i e
“your own party isn’t much bet
ter. The eonservntivc* Democrats
seem to be coming back into pow
er to such an extent that there
isn’t much difference between
the Republicans and the conserv
ative Democrats.”
Willkie went on to say that he
woi Id watch the elections very
car< fully this November to see
what the store was, on the el
ect.ion of liberal senators and rep
resentatives. On the outcome of
the November election, he said,
would depend whether or not it
might be a good idea to talk
about an independent liberal
third party. Meanwhile it has be
come known that Willkie’s old
Republican friends put a lot of
pressure on him just before he
left to make a speech for Dewey.
Persuading Willkie to support
Dewey was not an easy job, be
cause the ambitious young dis
trict attorney is the last man
Willkie wanted to see nominated
on the Republican ticket, either
for governor of New York, or as
presidential candidate in 1944.
However, Willkie’s friends say
they got a'commitment out of him
to speak for Dewey, if he got
back from China in time. And
they feel that in line with Roose
velt’s support for John Bennett,
whose nomination the President
opposed, Willkie will not go
down the line for the Republic
an ticket.
(The Washington Merry-Go
Round by Drew Pearson).
Alaska Highway
To Open Soon
WHITEHORSE. Y T., Oct. —
The 1,630-mile Alaska Highway
! will be opeij late in November,
when Brigadier General James
; O'Connor, commanding the
Northwest Service Command ex
pects pilot trucks to make test
1 runs all the way from Dawson
Creek to Fairbanks, it was an
nounced at his headquarters.
Col. John Wheeler, formerly
! executive assistant of the Bur
. lington Railroad and now officer
in charge of the road, said pilot
trucks have been running over
1,030 miles of the highway for
two weeks, testing it between
Dawson Creek, at the southern
| end, and Whitehorse, to deter
j mine the condition of the road
i and the most advisable methods
; of operation.
The only section uncompleted
is a rough 40-mile gap between
1 Whitehorse and Fairbanks.
hi.v Defense Bonds and Stamp.:
Nazis In
Norway Are
M u t i n o u s
LONDON, Oct. — Mutinies, de
sections and suicides are general
and the lowering of morale is on
the increase among 200,000 Ger
man troops in the occupation
forces in Norway, the Norweg
ian government in exile in Lon
don has been informed in fresh
reports brought out from the
homeland.
Two large concentratoin camps
in Norway are reported to have
been opened for mutineers along
the Finnish frontier.
At least 1,400 Nazis are said to
have been confined in one of the
camps.
1000 Germans Rebel
One auhoritative account' said
that 1000 German soldiers sta
tioned north of Kirkenes rebel
led against an order from them
to go to Russia. One out of ev
ery ten of the soldiers was or
dered executed. The order had
to be countermanded, the report
said, because Nazi firing squads
refused to shoot the men.
The rebels then were sent to
concentration camps instead.
Suicides are declared to be
mounting at an “alarming” rate.
Deserters are reported to be
leaving in increasing numbers
and making their way across the
Finnish fronters along routes out
lined by leaflets dropped by Rus
sian planes.
Conquered People Restless
The accounts of Hitler’s troub
les in his own army are coupled
with the growing unrest among
the conquered peoples of Europe
w'ho are rebelling against the
Nazi campaign in occupied coun
tries to recruit labor for war in
dustries in Germany.
Fve hundred gestapo agents
are reported to have been assign
ed to rounding up workers in the
French zone ruled by Vichy
alone.
Additional disturbances have
been reported in airseille, Toul
l
ouse, Tarbes and a dozen other
places both in occupied and un
occupied France as bloodshed fol
lowed egorts to force Frenchmen
to go to Germany to work. "•
At Lyon and Amberiaeu,
guards, police and legion storm
troopers are reported to have
fired rifle and machine gun vol
leys and hurled hand grenades
into the ranks of demonstrators.
SOURDOUGH STATIONERY
Write to your friends and rela
tives on the ‘Outside,’ using Sour
lough Stationery. They'll get a
oig kick out of it.
WHAT THE WANT ADS
MEAN TO NOME
To Sell that gun, furniture, *
baby carriage, coat, trunk at a
profit.
To Buy that ice box or rug,
piano or suit, car or accordian at
low cost.
To Rent that room, garage,
apartment or that house to de
sirable tenants.
THE NOME NUGGET
Will///
\w 3m
Hi //// V
Ilit 07 S'
515,000 WILL BUY W ff
ONE PONTOON BRIDGE f $150 WILL BUY"
_ _ __ . r f ONE PARACHUTE
•<
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savings put into War
Bonds and Stamps
help our armed
forces get the fighting
equipment they need.
1
REMEMBER, YOU CAN START
BUYING WAR BONDS BY
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§L AS LITTLE AS 10 CENTS, AND
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Savings Bonds * Stamps
—- 1 ' ' -———- ■•aaraBSKgttn.
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