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22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPEE IN ALASKA—MFMBEE ASSOCIATED PEES!
VOL. LXI No. 40 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1959 Per Cody—15#
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Bids Called For
Paving Front St.
An invitation for bids for the
grading, drainage and paving of
Front Street and Airport Road,
has been announced.
The project calls for 7,485 tons
of crushed aggregate base; 3,310
hot bituminous concrete pave
ment; 178 tons asphalt; 1,000 feet
of 18” asbestos, bonded corrugated
metal pipe.
All work is to be completed
within 150 calendar days after the
date of receipt of notice to pro
ceed.
Bids are being accepted by the
Bureau of Public Roads in Ju
neau, until 11 a.m., April 21.
ESC Substitute Bill
Calls For Total
Wages Tax
JUNEAU, (JH — A new bill to
amend Alaska’s employment se
curity law was proposed in the
Senate by the Commerce and La
bor Committee.
The measure was offered as a
substitute for an earlier bill,
sponsored by a majority of the
Employment Security Commis
sion’s five-man board. The new
proposal called for a jobless in
surance tax on total wages, in
stead of the present ceiling on con
tributions only on the first $4,200
earned each year toy a worker.
The measure does not call for
an increase on the present tax
paid by employers but does pri
pose an increase of .2 per cent in
the taxes paid by workers. The
employe tax is now Vi of 1 per
cent.
The bill sponsored by the com
mission called for a tax on total
wages, but proposed no fixed in
crease in the employer and em
ploye tax rate. It did, however,
provide for an experience rating
factor in figuring the employer
tax, with a minimum levy of two
per cent and a top of three per
cent.
The substitute bill eliminated
any reference to an experience
rating system in the complicated
formula that governs jobless in
surance payments.
The new measure also would
leave unchanged the 1V4 formula
to determine eligibility to collect
unemployment compensation.
The commission’s bill proposed
a 1V£ quarterly earning eligibility,
which would in effect extend the
period of employment before a
worker would be eligible to draw
benefits.
Another change in the new bill
would extend the employment se
curity act to municipal employes
if they approve coverage at a spe
cial election.
The bill also provides that an
unemployed worker would not
have to accept employment if the
job in question would endanger
his membership in any bona fide
fraternal, religious or labor or
ganization. As an example, a
union member would not be de
clared ineligible for benefits if
he refused to accept a job in a
non-union shop.
Both the substitute bill and the
original commission measure were
sent to the Judiciary Committee.
After the committee reports on
the two bills, the Senate will vote
to accept either the original or the
substitute and will then begin
floor action on the chosen
measure.
Senate Kills Plan To
Seek New Capitol Site
JUNEAU, UP — Any thought of
moving the 49th state’s capital
from this Southeastern Alaska city
was soundly squelched in the Leg
islature yesterday.
The Senate, by a 19-1 vote,
killed a House-approved proposed
study to determine a “best” loca
tion for the state capitol.
The only vote against killing the
resolution was cast by Sen. Irene
Ryan of Anchorage.
Sen. Thomas B. Stewart, of Ju
neau, chairman of the State Af
fairs Committee, said the major
complaint against continuing the
capitol here was the transporta
tion problem.
He said Juneau will have all
weather flight facilities within a
few years that will be as good as
any in the state.
New State Legal Aides To
Handle Fisheries Litigation
JUNEAU, — Intervention in
a court test of the Interior De
partment's ban against Alaska
fish trap operations apparently
will be one of the first jobs of a
new legal staff under the Gov
ernor’s ofice.
The staff, to be named by acting
Governor Wade, would serve as
special legal counsel to handle
Alaska fisheries litigation.
Judge John L. Sirica of the
U. S. District Court in Washing
ton, D. C., is scheduled to hear ar
guments next Wednesday in the
fishing industry’s move to over
throw the fish trap ban. Alaska,
if it entered the case, would sup
port the Interior Department’s
ruling.
The state also might move to set
aside provisions of the statehood
act under which federal control
over Alaska’s fish and game re
cources was continued for at least
the remainder of 1959.
Dalai Lama Safe
In India After
2-Week Flight
Br WATSON SIMS
NEW DELHI, India, — Ti
betan exiles today hailed the es
cape of the Dalai Lama into In
dia after a perilous flight from
the Chinese Reds. They declared
he still is their God-King.
Prime Minister Nehru con
firmed to a cheering Parliament
that the 23-year-old living Bud
dha of Tibet had reached a haven
in India three nights ago, an
escape first announced by the
Peiping Radio thursday.
“Yes, he is in good health,”
Nehru said. Indicating the Dalai
Lama will be given quick asylum,
he promised that the refugee will
be treated with great respect.
Nehru said the Dalai Lama
crossed the border in northeast
India north of the village of
Towang, about 500 miles north of
Calcutta. Towang has the largest
Buddhist monastery in India.
Well-informed sources in Kal
impong said the Dalai Lama made
his daring trek of about 300 miles
from the capitol of Lhasa to the
Indian border in two weeks.
Sometimes the fugitives saw Chi
nese Communist search planes
overhead.
With the protection of fierce
Khampa tribesmen, leaders in Ti
bet’s rebellion, the Dalai Lama
crossed great rivers and high
mountain passes to reach the fron
tier, these sources said.
Ploughshare Plan
A Boon To
The Arctic
A very comprehensive explana
tion of the atomic blast planned
for Cape Thompson and the rea
sons for its location were ex
plained by Dr. H. Keller, of the
Radiation Laboratory, from the
University of California, ori
Thursday evening at an open
meeting held at the school.
Will Provide Atom Information
Qr. Keller stated that Cape
Thompson was chosen because of
its economic potential and because
there are no harbors on the north
ern coast, which is the principle
limitation in getting products out
of the area. The original project
was to have cost about $5 million;
however, because of lack of in
terest and discouragement as far
as development of the area, the
project was rescoped and is
now an experiment to help the
laboratory get additional inorma
tion on trenches, blast degrada
tion, suppression of thermal ener
gy, in other words, rescoped on
technical grounds. The harbor
will be about 24 feet deep, with
five basins, and the channel about
275 yards wide. To make a harbor
of this proportion, stated Dr. Kel
ler, by ordinary methods, would
take many seasons of dredging,
and cost 50 to 60 millions of dol
lars. This project will cost around
three million, and take five
months’ preparation.
Specialists Will Gather Data
Next summer there will be
scientists in many fields studying
the project at Cape Thompson,
where a camp will be set up, and
biologists, oceanographers, geolo
gists and other specialists from
western and eastern universities
will gather data.
“No experiment will be done,
if any of these groups find there
will be danger to persons or ani
mals,” emphasized Dr. Keller.
A few fish will be killed, he
stated, when the blast occurs, but
there will not be any permanent
damage to the fish life.
The blast will not be visible
from Nome, as it is not expected
to be visible more than about 20
miles. The device will be buried
about 700 feet underground.
“There is so much misinforma
tion because this is something new.
We have to learn to live with it.
Fission and fusion are here to
stay — Our job is to show that
the good to mankind can out
weigh the evil. We must try and
use it.”
Very Little Fallout
Questions about fallout were
answered with reassurance by Dr.
Keller, who stated that there will
be very little, and it will be pos
sible to go within a few hundred
yards of the site right after the
blast. There will be no construc
tion on the site allowed, however,
Tor several months.
In answers to questions on pos
sible adverse effects on the pat
tern in fish life, Dr. Keller gave
an amphatic negative answer.
The success of this “plowshare
project” will result in the use of
?vese methods for industry of
many kinds, reducing costs and
'"creasing production.
The Nome and Kotzebue Cham
bers of Commerce have heartily
expressed support for the venture,
and pledged their cooperation.
Dr. Keller will speak to the
people of Kotzebue, ancj also be
fore the mining conference in
Anchorage.
Seattle Hearing Unearths Varying
Opinions In Handling Fishery Problem
SEATTLE, — A fisheries
authority said today sale in the
United States of catches of for
eign fleets threatens to eliminate
a “large portion of the nation’s
fishing industry.
Milo Moore, Washington’s state
director of fisheries, appeared be
fore a "Senate committee hearing
on several bills now before Con
gress, including one urging a ban
on Japanese canned salmon im
ports.
Moore proposed three steps to
counter activities of “subsidized”
foreign fleets in the North Pacific.
He was one of a score of an
nounced witnessed. Governors Al
bert D. Rosellini of Washington
and William Egan of Alaska were
invited guests as the Senate Inter
state and Foreign Commerce Com
mittee held a one-day session un
der chairmanship of Sen. Magnu
son.
In his prepared testimony Moore
proposed toiese legislative steps:
Restriction of annual imports
of foreign fish, shellfish and fish
products to 25 per cent of the
U. S. consumption the previous
year.
No such imports could be sold
in the United States unless they
met the health and sanitation
standards required of U. S. pro
cessors.
At least one large modern traw
ler-type freezing processing ship,
equipped for scientific work,
should be maintained in the North
Pacific to ‘'permanently establish
U. S. participation in this vast
area.”
'Incorrect and Unfair* To
Blamo Japanese Fishermen
Noel Hemmendinger, Washing
ton, D. C., of the United States
Japan Trade Council, said it was
“incorrect and extremely unfair”
to blame Japanese high seas sal
mon fishing for the U. S. decision
to close the Bristol Bay red sal
mon fishery this summer.
“The embargo of Japanese
caught salmon would be a grave
mistake.”
Hemmendinger also asked that
yesterday’s statement by the Jap
anese Embassy at W ashington be
included in the record. The em
bassy said the “bearing of the
Japanese high-seas catch upon
conservation measures” by the
United States in the Bering Sea
“has been greatly overstated.”
There has been a gradual decline
in the Bristol Bay run ever since
1935, the embassy stated.
Hemmendinger also said Japan
ese limited their fishing last year
to aid the situation and that Jap
anese have “in good faith, tried
very hard to accommodate them
selves to the problem.”
He also said “grave political
implications” were involved. The
mainstay of Japanese diet is fish
and the country is a bulwark of
the free world in Asia and the
continued friendliness of its gov
ernment and people is essential,
he added.
Of his propbsal for a permanent
ly-stationed U. S. fisheries static®
on a ship in the North Pacific,
Moore said this country does not
have a single large trawler ship
com parable to those used by Ja
pan, Russia, Germany and Eng
land.
'Conclusive Proof* of Violations
George Johansen, secretary
treasurer of the Alaska Fisher
men’s Union, said in his prepared
brief that scientific findings have
“proved conclusively” that Japan
ese are violating the “spirit and
intent” of the 1951 U. S.-Japan
Canada treaty to prohibit taking
North American stocks of salmon.
“Failure of Congress and the
Administration to act simply will
mean the American fishing in
dustry will have lost all hope of
maintaining itself as an industry,
and that in the future, our house
wives must depend upon Japanese
fishery products,” Johansen said.
Alaska’s Governor Egan said
in a statement that conservation
was recognized as one of the main
purposes of the 1951 treaty, but
it has not worked out that way.
in view of this, he added, it appears
necessary to adopt some form of
restrictive measures such as pro
posed in the bills before Congress.
McCutcheon Turns Down
Invitation To Argue Alaska
Case At Fishery Suit
JUNEAU, UPl — Stanley Mc
Cutcheon, Anchorage attorney and
a former Territorial legislator,
turned down an invitation yes
terday to serve as special legal
Counsel to the Governor’s office,
to handle Alaska fisheries litiga
tion.
McCutcheon, author of a 1955
bill to ban fish trap operations in
Alaska waters, said he was dis
appointed to have to decline the
job. He said previous commit
ments forced him to refuse the
appointment.
Acting Governor Wade said he
had asked McCutcheon and James
M. Fitzgerald, also an Anchorage
attorney, to serve on a special
state legal staff.
Fitzgerald accepted appointment
as assistant in the Governor’s of
fice on legal problems relating to
fisheries. He had resigned this
week as Anchorage city attorney.
The Governor’s office said an
other Alaska lawyer would be of
fered the job McCutcheon refused
but there was no immediate indi
cation of who would be Wade’s
choice.
JAPANESE SEND RESEARCH
TEAM TO PALMER FOR
JOINT OIL DEVELOPMENT
^TOKYO, (A — One of Japan’s
biggest oil outfits, Teikoku OH
Co., announced today it plans to
send a three-man mission to in
vestigate the possibility of joint
venture with an American firm
for developing oil near Palmer,
Alaska.
A spokesman for the firm said
the American firm, Polaris Ex
ploration Inc., proposed the pro
ject. The Japanese team expected
to leave April 18, will conduct a
two-month joint survey.
D. C. Fed. District Court
Will Hear Trap Operators
WASHINGTON, (A — Argu
ments in the fishing industry’s
move to overthrow the Secretary
of Interior’s ban against trap fish
ing in Alaskan waters will be
heard in federal district court here
next Wednesday.
The proceeding will come be
fore Judge John L. Sirica on the
industry’s motion to restrain the
Secretary from putting into ef
fect the ban Included in the 1953
commercial fishing regulations
for Alaska.