— NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN AI^ASITA—MF.MRRR ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 97 ^ NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1957 ' /: Per Copy—15*
City Council
Meeting Notes
At the regular council meeting
last Monday evening the Council
voted to accept e contract from
the Philleo Engineering Co. of
Fairbanks for the water and sew
erage survey. It is estimated the
survey will be over $10,000.
An ordinance is under consid
eration by the council for allow
ing parking zones for businesses
requiring space in front of their
premises for business purposes.
The matter will be discussed
again at the next meeting of the
Council. ’
The Bureau of Public Roads
has submitted an agreement in
principle which was adopted by
the City Council whereby a route
through the community connect
ing highways in the area will be
kept open by BPR and main
-tained. This includes those streets
used by Route 131 and 130 and
includes Front Street, part of B
Street and part of 3rd Ave. to
the airport. The City will be re
sponsible for all telephone and
other lines less than than 14 feet
above the ground, the clearance
need for vehicular traffic.
Alaska Statehood
Predicted Inside
Fifteen Months
WASHINGTON UP*—Rep. O’Bri
en (D-NY), chairman of the House
Territories Subcommittee, today
predicted Alaska will be admitted
as a state within 15 months.
A decision to postpone a House
vote on the statehood bill until
the next session “helps our case
tremendously,” in O’Brien’s opin
ion. “Tftd decision was made on
the canny advice of Speaker Ray
burn, who has informed me that
he has changed his views on Alas
kan statehood, and now favors
it,” O’Brien added.
“In taking the speaker’s advise,
I assume full responsibility for
what will happen. I took that re
sponsibility as a friend of Alaska,
and as an ardent supporter of
statehood for that great territory.”
O’Brien said when Alaska is
admitted as a state “we will have
set the stage, at long last, for a
breath-taking boom on an area
one-fifth the size of the United
States.
I am convinced Alaska, 10 years
after statehood, will have a popu
lation of two million people,” he
said.
Bad Roads in B.C. Seen
As Tourist Deterrent
VANCOUVER, B.C. OP)—A tour- ]
ist official predicted here yester
day that British Columbia’s bad
roads will keep visitors away.
Jim Hughes, executive vice
president of the Vancouver Tour
ist Assn., said U.S. motorists re
turning from trips here this year
will advise friends not to come.
He said this wouM result in few
er visitors than anticipated for
the 1958 centennial celebrations.
Humphrey Named
Board Chairman of
National Steel Corp.
PITTSBURGH, —George M.
Humphrey, former Secretary of
the Treasury, today was named
board chairman of National Steel
Corp.
Humphrey, one of the founders
of the corporation in 1927, was a
board member and chairman of
the firm’s executive committee
when he was appointed a mem
ber of President Eisenhower’s
Cabinet in 1953. He resigned only
recently.
National Steel is the nation’s
fifth largest steel producer.
Navy Will Drop
18,000 Civilians
From Payroll
WASHINGTON, UP)—'The Navy
announced today it will drop
18,000 civilians from its payroll,
the majority of them by Oct. 31.
The Navy said this amounted
to 4.6 percent of the current civ
ilian work force totaling 389,717.
The Navy was not immediately
available to say how much money
will be saved by the cut.
An announcement said the acr^
tion was taken to hold spending
for the current fiscal year within
the $10.4 billion Navy ceiling set
by the Defense Department. Sec
retary Wilson has directed ail
services to trim civilian payrolls
and take other economy steps.
The Navy said normal attrition
will take care of part of the re
duction in its work force.
The Navy recently announced
it will retire 60 ships from the
active fleet before Dec. 30. This
withdrawal followed earlier de
cisions to retire 18 ships of all
categories during the next few
months.
BULLETIN
WASHINGTON, UPh-The House
today passed and sent to Presi
dent Eisenhower by a 226-163
vote a compromise bill authoriz
ing a $3,367,083,000 foreign aid
program for the coming year.
41 U.S. Students
Defy State Dept.,
Leave for China
MOSCOW, Gfl—Forty-one U.S.
youths defied their government
today and left for a forbidden
tour of Red China.
Just before the Moscow-Pei
ping trans-Siberian express train
pulled out of Yaroslavosky sta
tion, two Americans withdrew
from the trip and two others said
they might decide later to catch
up with the group by flying to
Peiping.
Jake Rosen, New York, leader
of the group and organizer for
the trip to the Communist-s'pon
sored Moscow Youth Festival,
said he would go to Peiping by
way of Kiev, where he would
first attend another Communist
sponsored youth meeting.
The U.S. State Department had
I issued a strong warning that the
[trip might violate *the law. This
resulted in an anxious 2Vz-hour
meeting by the Americans early
in the day. Several had been wa
| vering among the 46 who origin
ally planned to take the express.
The State Department told each
Red China tourist Tuesday in a
letter that their passports would
| be taken from them if they made
! the journey.
! The United States has no diplo
i matic relations with Communist
| China and considers itself in a
“quasi state of war” with the Mao
Tse-tung government.
Washington Could Walk
Across Deleware River
WASHINGTON CROSSING,
Pa., OP—George Washington and
his continental soldiers could
cross the Delaware today without
boats. They could walk across.
Drought has dropped the water
level here where Washington and
his men rowed across in 1776 to
fight the battle of Trenton. Nor
man Fisher, superintendent of
Washington Crossing Park, says
the river is at its lowest point in
40 years. Swimmers have been
seen wading across the river in
waist-high water.
Polish Police and Troops Crush
3-Day Transport Strike at Lodz
By COLIN FROST
LODZ, Poland, Iff)—Club-wield
ing police and troops crushed a
crippling three-day transporta
tion strike today. Hundreds of
troops took over streetcar barns
which until early morning had
been held by strikers.
Transport men reported 40
workers arrested in fights with
police and with “workers’ mili
tia,” Communist tough guys who
help keep order.
Authorities insisted no one had
been jailed but said some strikers
were under house arrest.
The government announced a
mixed state and trade union com
mission will open hearings into
the strikers’ grievances Friday.
The strike started Monday in
support -of wage demands.
The authorities decided to act
last night after strike leaders,
unwilling to identify themselves,
refused to negotiate, and stood
by for a written promise of a ftve
zlotys-an-hour minimum wage.
First, “workers’ militia” were
put into car barns. Armed, hel
meted police followed, and final
ly the army moved in.
The first streetcars on the street
early today had two armed po
licemen beside the driver. Later
the police were withdrawn. By
11 o’clock the authorities pulled
out the military and civil trucks
which had kept the 700,000 popu
lation moving.
Some arrests were reported
after a clash early today on Piotr- j
kowska, the city’s main street.
DEW LINE HAS SHOWN 100%
CAPABILITY IN MANY TESTS
By ELTON C. FAY
POINT BARROW, Alaska,
The Distant Early Warning
(DEW) Line, a 3,000-mile-long
chain of radar stations guarding
North America’s northern rim,
has been operating in test for
months and already has shown
“100 percent” capability, says a
ranking U.S. airman.
Brig. Gen. Stanley Wray, chief
of the U.S. Air Force electronic
defense system, made the evalua
tion yesterday at a formal cere
mony marking formal delivery of
DEW Line by the builders, the
Western Electric Co., to the gov
ernment.
Unplanned Tests
In the first public demonstra
tion to newsmen, the DEW Line
station here picked up a USAF
jet bomber far out over the polar
sea as it streaked toward the
warning system at more than 600
Canadian Stores
Make 2-Way Gain
With U.S. Currency
VICTORIA, B.C., UP)—An angry
Victoria man says a government
liquor store and a grocery were
making a two-way gain in dis
counting U.S. currency last night.
Clarence Dobbyn, the shopper,
said he made a purchase at a
liquor store. He noticed after he
left he had been given some U.S.
money in change.
On the way home he ■ tried to
spend the money at par. He was
refused parity at two small gro
cery store. %
At a* third, larger, store, he
bought cigarets with a Canadian
dollar bill. He wis given some
U.S. silver in change.
When he tried to pay for an
other purchase with the Ameri
can silver he had been given in
the liquor store, he said, he was
told it would be discounted at
five percent. •
“Why should a government
liquor store get away with it?”
Dobbyn asked. “They take it from
the tourists and give it to us stu
pid Canadians.”
He estimated stores charging
five percent discount on U.S. coins
and giving them out in change at
par were making a 10 percent
profit over and above their regu
lar profit.
Cordova Again Seeking
New City Manager
CORDOVA, UP)—This communi
ty on Prince William Sound was
searching for a city manager
again today—its third in as many
years.
Edward B. Millett, who had
served in the position since Jan
uary of this year, resigned, advise
ing the city council: “I have been
offered employment elsewhere
and feel that I must accept.” The
resignation is effective Sept. 30.
Cordova, a fishing community
with a population of 2,000, has
been under the city manager plan
of government for three years.
j miles an hour.
j After the demonstration, Wray
i disclosed that in what amounted
to unplanned tests, stations along
DEW Line have spotted unidenti
fied aircraft, which later proved
to be friendly planes far off their
course or otherwise accidental
visitors to the electronic search
path.
Wray also said a variety of
tests have been taking place dur
ing the last month of B-47 jet
bombers seeking to penetrate the
line at high, medium and low
altitude from various approaches
out over the Arctic Ocean.
Interceptors From Ladd
In instances where friendly
craft triggered the radar alarm, a
signal was flashed from Point
Barrow to Ladd Field, 300 miles
to the south, which sent up inter
ceptors to investigate.
Newsmen watched yesterday’s
demonstration in the darkened
console room of a radar station.
They saw a pinpoint of light on a
luminous screen. As they entered
the room, a B-47 was approach
ing at 33,000 feet altitude from
140 miles out. It closed distance
rapidly but meanwhile, a test
message was sent flashing on its
way south for relay to Colorado
Springs, Colo., headquarters of
the Air Defense Command.
The bomber was out of sight
and soundless as it made its first
high pass over DEW Line, then
turned beck for a low pass.
Jamming an Alert in Itself
Approximately 600'civilian em
ployes of the Federal Electric
Corp. man the continent-spanning'
DEW Line stations.
At a news conference, Wray
also gave these answers to ques
tions:
1 No Soviet planes “that we know
of” have been picked up by DEW
Line stations on any kind of ra
dar. “If enough jamming power
was Available” such jamming it
self would be a sign that an en
emy was operating against the
system.
Wray said present equipment
is ‘‘damn good radar; the best we
have.”
Asked if there were plans to
spend more on improvement of
DEW Line beyond the $500 mil
lion estimated up to now, the
general said, “There are no plans
at this time” but added that as
speed and other performance of
bombers improve that might be
come necessary.
Bells Save Manpower
DEW Line stations actually
ring a warning bell. Audible sig
nals sound to alert operators as
a plane penetrates the line. This
is in addition to a visual radar
scanning system and photograph
ing of radar image for sending
detailed info to the Air Defense
Command.
Wray said the use of an audible
alarm means a big saving in man
power. Instead of the 600 men
now manning the line, it would
need 5,000 if no audible system
were used, he said.