BE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 2 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1955 Per Copy—15^
Government Puts
Restraining Hand
On Surging Market
WASHINGTON, (#> — The gov
ernment put out a moderately re
straining hand toward the surg
ing stock market today, calling for
purchasers of stocks to put up at
least 6p per cent cash instead of
the previous 50 per cent.
The action, announced by the
Federal Reserve Board late yes
terday, was promptly protested by
the New York Stock Exchange
president, Keith Funston, as re
straining “the proper function of
the market and the free interplay
of the basic law of supply and
demand.”
The stock market has been ad
vancing steadily for more than 15
months, and since the November
elections it has been surging
ahead with almost unprecedented
speed.
The Associated Press average of
60 stocks stood yesterday at
$115.80, after reaching $156.40 on
Monday, a level topped only by
the peak of $157.70 on Sep£. 3,
1929, shortly before the big Wall
Street crash. There were no fed
eral cash minimums in 1929.
The Reserve’s Board’s action
had more a preventive than a fire
fighting look. The theory behind
the action is that a hike in the
cash requirement will cut down
on speculative buying.
New York brokers generally
agree that speculation on margin
is not a major factor in the pres
ent boom. The ratio of money bor
rowed by brokers to lend for mar
gin trading is only about 1 per
cent of the value of all securities
listed on the New York Stock Ex
change. In 1929 it was nearly 10
per cent.
Russian Newspaper Says
U.S. Army and Navy In
East Full of Drug Addicts
MOSCOW, UP) — Red Star de
clared today the U.S. Army and
Navy are filled with drug addicts
—especially units stationed in the
Far East. This “is characteristic
of an army of ravishers and mur
derers,” it added.
In a quarter-page article, the
Soviet armed forces newspaper
quoted figures it claims to have
taken from the U.S. newspapers
Army Times and Navy Times con
cerning an alleged rise in nar
cotics addiction among members!
of the U.S. armed forces.
“All the facts are interesting,”
Red Star said. “They testify to
the extremely low moral level of
American military men at home
as well as abroad. A policy of
aggression and a military phsy
chosis is producing its results.
“Narcoticism is a natural and
characteristic feature for the Am
erican army—an army of ravish
ers and murderers—and it is use
less fo American commanders to
pretend they could change the
situation.”
SHE'S TIRED WAITING
LONDON, Iff!—Fanny Ennis, 69,
filed suit for breach of promise
yesterday against John Purser, 73.
She said she had been waiting
since 1908 for him to keep his
promise then to wed her.
Propose Training
Alaska Teachers In
Terri. Institutions
FAIRBANKS, (£)—Rep. Hubert
A. Gilbert is proposing a pl^an for
training of Alaska’s new teachers
of the future in the territory’s
educational institutions.
The Fairbanks freshman Demo
cratic legislator has prepared a
bill to provide for two-year teach
ef training courses at the Uni
versity of Alaska and in the new
community colleges. He said he
plans to introduce it in the 1955
legislature.
The bill’s preliminary draft
calls for a program under which
the persons completing the
courses 'would be issued “pro
visional certificates” after passing
examinations which the Univer
sity of Alaska Regents could re
quire.
The bill would require prefer
ential hiring of Alaska residents
and Alaska-trained applicants for
grade school classroom openings
but would allow cities and inde
pendent school districts to require
higher educational standards than
those required for the provisional
certificates.
Spellman Promises
Vietnamese Refugees
U.S. and Catholic Aid
SAIGON, Viet Nam, l—Fran
cis Cardinal Spellman, referred to
Vietnamese refugees today as a
pitiful sight and promised that
the Roman Catholic Church and
the United States will continue to
extend them a helping hand.
The Cardinal, Catholic arch
bishop of New York, wat cheer
ed at the airport on his arrival
from Hong Kong by 5,000 refu
gees from the Communist-domin
ated north.
The Cardinal spent three days
visiting Hong Kong on his way
home after making ihis fourth an
nual Christmas visit to U.S. troops
in Korea.
Dr. Oppenheimer Decries Barring of
Foreign Scientists on Security Grounds
NEW YORK, UR—Dr. J. Roberta
Oppenheimer says if the McCar
ren Immigration Act had been in
effect at the time, perhaps Dr.
Albert Einstein would not have
been allowed to enter the United
States.
Discussing the barring of a
number of foreign scientists on
security grounds, Oppenheimer,
one of the chief architects of the
atom bomb, adds:
“This is just terrible, and seems
a wholly fantastic and grotesque
1 way to . . . meet the threat of
.
espionage—just an enormous ap
paratus, surely not well designed
for that, and terrible . . . for
those of us who live with it.
“We are rightly ashamed by
the contempt that the Europeans
have for us, and we are rightly
embarrassed that we can’t hold
(scientific* congresses in this
country . . . this is a scandal.”
Einstein, famed theoretical
physicist, was born in Germany
and came to the United States in
1933.
>
Oppenheimer, who has been
barred from government atomic
secrets as a security risk is direc
tor of the Institute for Advanced
Study at Princeton, N.J., and was
interviewed at his Princeton office
by Edward R. Murrow for his
CBS television program “See It
Now.”
Murrow asked Oppenheimer:
“Is there widespread reluctance
on the part of scientists to work
for the government?”
Oppenheimer replied: “No, I
don’t think so. It gets very much
distorted when it’s talked about
in sloganistic terms.”
Without referring directly to his
own security case, Oppenheimer
added:
“I suppose that when the gov
ernment behaves badly in a field
you are working close to, and
when decisions that look coward
ly or vindictive or shortsighted
or mean are made . . . then you
get discouraged . . . but I think
that’s human rather than scierr
tific ...”
Public Hearings,
Urged On Water
Rail Service
WASHINGTON, UP) —Delegate
Bartlett today urged Secretary of
the Inteigor McKay to hold public
hearings in Alaska before going
ahead with plans for combination
water and rail service to the ter
ritory.
He suggested the hearings be
held in Anchorage at the request
of that city’s Chamber of Com
merce.
McKay announced last week he
had invited the Alaska Steamship
Co. and Coastwise - Luckenbach
Co. to negotiate with the govern
ment-operated Alaska Railroad on
the ferry service.
Bartlett said he talked with
Wm. C. Strand, director of the
Office of Territories, and later
wrote McKay with the hearing
request.
“Personally,” Bartlett said, “I
•have not taken a position regard
ing the proposed service because
all I know about it at present is
that I read McKay’s announce
ment. Nonetheless, I believe the
desire of the Anchorage Chamber
for a hearing is appropriate and
should be honored.”
Under the proposal, loaded
motor trucks and railroad cars
would be moved from Seattle and
other Puget Sound ports to Alaska
where they would move off onto
highways or rail lines.
No Reason for New Trial
For Sheppard, Judge Rules
CLEVELAND, UP)—Dr. Samuel
H. Sheppard, under a life prison
sentence in the killing of this wife,
Marilyn, has lost the first round
of his fight for a new trial.
Late Monday Judge Edward
Blythin ruled there was “no mer
it” in any of 41 complaints of
error in the 10-week trial which
ended Dec. 21 with a jury convict
ing the 31-year-old osteopath of
second degree murder.
Congress Convenes with Democrats
Set to Probe Administration Activities
Hoover Commission Asks
Congress To Extend
Reorganization Act
WASHINGTON, UP) — Former
President . Herbert Hoover today
asked Congress to extend for two
years President Eisenhower’s
power to merge, abolish and re
organize federal agencies.
In a progress report, Hoover
said his second commission on
government reorganization will
begin filing “within the next few
weeks” reports and recommenda
tions for cutting costs and im
proving efficiency in the execu
tive branch.
Hoover said the 12 - member
commission unanimously recom
mends extension o fthe Reorgan
ization Act. Under this authority,
White House plans for streamlin
ing the government become law
automatically unless disapproved
by the Senate or House within 60
days after the plans are filed with
Congress. The authority expires
April 1.
Six of the commission’s task
forces already have prepared re
ports, Hoover said, and all 14 will
have completed this spadework in
April.
The commission therefore has
reached “the final stage of its
work,” Hoover said—that of con
sidering the task force reports
and making its own recommenda
tions. The latter will be sent to
Congress in perhaps as many as
17 or 18 installments before the
end of May.
Dag Hammarskjold
At Peiping On Mission
To Free 11 U.S. Airmen
TOKYO, UP) — U.N. Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjold ar
rived at Peiping yesterday on his
mission to free 11 U.S, airmen
and later met Premier Chou En
Lai in what the Red radio de
scribed as “a friendly atmos
phere.”
Chou did not turn out to meet
Hammarskjold at the airport,
however, as is the case when
Communist China gives a dis
tinguished visitor a rousing re
ception. Nor did Peiping radio
mention the reason for the U.N.
official’s visit.
Hammarskjold and his party
landed in Peiping at 1:55 p.m.
and Chou did not welcome him
until 5:30 p.m., when he threw a
cocktail party.
Chou then was host at a more
intimate dinner at 8 p.m.
WASHINGTON, tP) — Director
Edward Woozley of the Bureau of
Land Management said today that
plans to shift part of the Bureau’s
Alaskan staff from Juneau to An
chorage have been held up tem
porarily.
Woozley said he expects to con
fer here next week with Gov.
Frank Heintzleman of Alaska and
Lowell Puckett, BLM area ad
ministrator for Alaska. He said
he had been asked by Secretary
McKay to delay further action
until after those conferences.
> WASHINGTON, (tf> — Congress,
back under Democratic control
after two years of Republican
rule, convened today with the
new majority party talking of co
operation with the Eisenhower
administration but set to push
probing fingers into many of its
activities.
Amid the geniality attending
the opening of the session, both
parties were mindful that the
record of the next two years will
weigh heavily with the voters in
the 1956 presidential election.
The Democrats were already
shaping up inquiries into the con
troversial Dixon-Yates contract,
which many of them view as a
public vs. private power fight,
and into the administration’s
handling of security risks among
government employees.
President Eisenhower will come
before the legislators tomorrow to
present his legislative program in
the customary state of the union
message.
Preliminary to the formal open
ing of Congress at noon, many of
the members attended a special
church service with the President.
In the National Presbyterian
Church, they heard prayers for
their guidance, for the nation, for
the President, for peace. There
was also a special petition for ef
forts to obtain the release of
American prisoners held in Red
China.
Eisenhower on his part has
pledged cooperation with the
Democratic-run Congress. And
such party leaders at Sen. Lyn
don Johnson and Speaker Ray
burn have promised the Demo
crats will not oppose simply for
the sake of opposition.
Alaska Legislators Invited
Attend Executive Session
Of Employment Comm.
JUNEAU, UFi — Alaska legisla
tors have been invited to attend
an executive session of the Em
ployment Security Commission in
Ketchikan Jan. 12.
Commission director A. B. Phil
lips announced the invitation yes
terday. He said the Commission
meeting at Ketchikan will start
Jan. 10, but the first two days
will be confined to routine busi
ness.
Phillips said he hoped many
legislators could attend the Jan.
12 executive session to discuss
proposed legislation affecting the
Employment Security program in
the territory.
Heavy Clam Dropped By
Gull Injures Office Worker
MYSTIC, Conn., Uft — A heavy
clam, apparently dropped by a
sea gull, shattered a second story
window of an insurance office
here yesterday and struck Mrs.
Dorothy Bailey on the head as
she worked at her desk.
She was treated by a doctor
for cuts of the head and released.
Natives say it is not unusual
for gulls from the nearby Mystic
River to bombard the downtown
buildings with clams and scallops,
but people are rarely hit.