121 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 154 , ' NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1955, Per Copy—154
Anchorage In State of Emergency
In Worst Winter Storm Since 1936
By the Associated Press
Two Alaska cities were in a
“state of emergency” today as
snow inched upwards in the terri
tory’s worst winter storm in two
decades.
The storm snarled traffic, closed
airports, blocked roads and high
ways and hampered rail travel
from Cordova on Prince William
Sound to Fairbanks in central Al
aska.
And no relief was in sight. The
weather bureau predicted more
snow accompanied by a cold wave
which could send temperatures to
50 below zero in some areas.
With 40 inches on the ground
and more snow falling, Mayor Ken
Hinchey of Anchorage, Alaska’s
largest city, called on its 50,000
residents to shut down their busi
nesses and remain in their homes.
Abandoned cars blocked streets
and alleyways, roads and high
ways were piled high with drifts.
Emergency conditions also ex
isted at Cordova, where rain fal
lowed days of heavy snow.
Central Alaska also was hard
hit. • The heaviest snowfall since
1936 closed the Alaska and Rich
ardson Highways at Fairbanks.
Drifts stalled a passenger train at
Healy and a freight train was tied
up at Curry.
The weather bureau said 23.6
inches of snow had fallen at Fair
banks since Dec. 1, the heaviest
since 1936.
Mayor Hinchey declared the
“state of emergency” at Anchor
age after a meeting with the city
council Thursday night. In sub
sequent radio and television ap
peals, he urged all residents to
stay away from downtown An
chorage, reserving the streets for
emergency use only.
Ty Clark of the Anchorage
Times said that all available road
equipment was working on the
streets but “hardly made a dent”
in the snow Thursday.
Clark said with all road equip
ment assigned to snow removal,
city firemen had built wooden
snowplows and attached them to
the front of the fire trucks.
A minor earthquake added to
Anchorage’s woes. The tremor
rattled dishes and shook windows
at 6:05 a.m. Thursday but caused
no serious damage.
Photo of Rebel Being
Shot by Gendarme Is
Issue in French Campaign
PARIS, W)—Pictures taken in
Algeria last fall, showing a French
gendarme shooting down a rebel,
became a last-minute issue today
in the campaign for Monday’s na
tional elections.
Georges Chassagne, Algerian
correspondent for an American
newsreel company, denied “the
scandalous accusations” that he
bribed the gendarme to kill the
rebel for a newsreel shot.
The charges were first made in
the newspaper L’Erpress, former
Premier Mendes-France’s organ.
Later the government said the
story was true and the Interior
Ministry said it had filed bribery
charges against the cameraman
and the gendarme.
Premier Faure accused L’Ex
press of acting for “electoral ends”
and of “losing sight of the ele
mentary sense of national inter
est.” Faure and Mendes - France
are foes in the election.
%
>
Formula for Success
And happiness: More
Arguments In Family
LOS ANGELES, UP)—Want to be
happier, and more successful?
Then argue more, advises educa
tor Dr. Leonard Riggleman.
“Family arguments are a good
thing,” said Riggleman, president
of Morris Harvey College, at
Charleston, W. Va. “They can
bring a family closer over a period
of time.”
Speaking yesterday at the
Speech and Theater Conference,
Riggleman added:
“Although arguments may tend
to divide a family immediately,
all members of the family will
come to better understandings
over a period of time and each
member will have matured to bet
ter advantage for having argued
his own point of view.”
Arguing also makes a person
more successful in business, he
said, because men’s minds develop
best through intellectual combat.
Riggleman said it’s good to ar
gue even if you don't know what
you’re talking about, because:
“The lack of information or
facts is no deterrent to a good ar
gument.”
’55 Traffic Deaths
Estimated at 38,500,
Highest Since 1944
CHICAGO, (4V-The National
Safety Council today estimated the
1955 traffic death toll at 38,500—
the highest in 14 years.
The estimate came as much of
the nation took emergency action
to hold down the frightening toll
over the next three days, a New
Year holiday which safety offi
cials fear will set another record
for deaths on the highways.
The figure would top last year’s
Safety Council figure of 36,000
deaths and is some 5,000 more
than the 33,417 U.S. soldiers, sail
ors, marines and airmen killed in
the 37 months of the Korean War.
It would be the greatest year
long traffic toll since the record
of 39,969 in 1941.
Last weekend—termed “Black
Christmas” by safety experts—
emphasized the mounting high
way tolls and caused many states
to order stringent enforcement ef
forts for the New Year weekend.
A new record for any holiday in
history, 629 Americans, died out
right in Christmas accidents. And
34 others died in the following
two and a half days from injuries
suffered over Christmas.
Senate-House Committee
Warns Tax Cuts Might
Start Inflation Trend
WASHINGTON, —A Senate
House economic subcommittee to
day held up a go-slow sign against
any precipitate tax cutting moves
in the 1956 congressional session.
“A tax rate reduction next year
in "the face of a booming economy
might well be inflationary,” said
a report signed by two Democrats
and two Republicans on the tax
policy subcommittee.
It held out hope, however, that
if things go well in the next 10
years, taxes may be cut “perhaps
by as much as one-third” in that
period.
Army Experiments With
One-Man Flying Machine
For Infantrymen’s Use
WASHINGTON, (#)—The Army
is experimenting with a new one
man flying machine which it says
an infantryman can learn to pilot
in 20 minutes.
Twelve of the contraptions,
called ‘^aerocycles,” have been
bought for tests that are part of
the Army’s continuing effort to
increase the mobility of “foot sol
diers.”
The Army said yesterday the
machines were bought from De
Lackner Helicopter, Inc., Mount
Vernon, N.Y., which developed
them.
The aerocycle bears a resem
blance both to small helicopters
and the Navy’s “flying platform.”
The pilot stands on a platform
over rotor blades and guides the
machine by leaning in the direc
tion he wants to go. Speeds up to
65 miles an hour are attained by
manipulating a hand throttle.
Expedition Finds
Little America
Buried In Snow
By SAUL PETT
LITTLE AMERICA, (M — The
Stars and Stripes were raised
again Thursday at Little America.
The site of the first two camps
built in the Antarctic by Rear
Adm. Richard Byrd was desolate.
The buildings of the first camp
built in 1928 were covered by an
estimated 60 feet of snow and ice.
The second camp is about 40 feet
below us.
All we found on the surface at
3 a.m. Thursday were the tops
of towers and poles. The light was
clear and bright with the sun well
up over the horizon.
The experts aboard the Ice
breaker U.S.S. Glacier haven’t de
cided yet where to build the per
manent main base of the current
United States Antartic Expedition.
The base will be used during the
next three years by IGY (Inter
national Geophysical Year) scien
tists.
3 Dionne Quints
Home to Settle
Family Difference
NORTH BAY, Ont., —1Three
of the Dionne quintuplets arrived
at the family mansion at Callan
der, Ont., today to talk things over
with their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Oliva Dionne, who
this week publicly accused the
surviving quints of leaving the
family fold and living in the big
city, were not at the door to meet
them.
A source close to the family
said, Mrs. Dionne was “very, very
upset during the night.”
In the car were Yvonne, Cecile
and Annette, and their brother, a
19-year-old Canadian airman, who
accompanied the girls.
The fourth surviving quint,
Marie, did not go home with her
sisters because she felt the trip
would be too much of a strain.
She was released from a hospital
recently.
The purpose of the trip home
was to settle differences which in
three days stirred up almost as
many headlines as the near-mir
acle of the quints’ birth 21 years
ago.
o
Convention’s Apportionment Proposal
For Alaska State’s Election Districts
Draws Strong Objection At Hearing
A very comprehensive survey of
the Alaska Constitution was pre
sented to the people of Nome at a
meeting Wednesday evening in
the School Auditorium. Mildred
Hermann, delegate at large, and
John McNees, Second Division
delegate, presided and answered
all questions.
Highlights of the presentation
of the many parts of the constitu
tion, none of which has been vot
ed upon by the entire group until
after the Christmas recess, includ
ed many interesting features, most
of which were unchallenged by
those attending the meeting.
The executive branch of the
new state government provides
for an elected governor and secre
tary of state, with all other offices
being filled by appointment by
the governor.
The legislative branch provides
for 20 senators and 40 representa
tives chosen from 24 election dis
tricts, determined by a social-eco
nomic principal of apportionment.
This was explained by McNees,
who showed how the districts
were set up to conform with geo
graphic outlines or mountain ridg
es for boundaries, sometimes
called the watershed method.
From the discussion it appeared
that four judicial districts would
probably also have a bearing on
the selection of senators at large.
The First Division would have a
total of 5 senators; Second Divi
sion, 4; Third Division, 6; and the
Fourth Division 5.
This drew criticism from the
floor, as it was felt by many pres
ent that an equal division of sena
tors should be from all four divi
sions.
Another strong objection was
that of apportionment of election
districts for the House, with the
feeling that the military are still
urging for a military reservation
on the arctic-coastal slope, which
might change the picture consid
erably. It was felt apportionment
was premature.
The judicial department calls
for five judges, who serve a three
year probationary period before
being accepted for a 12-year term
of office. The constitution also *
provides that any court in the new
state may try a case from a dif
ferent area if necessary.
The question was raised about
native reservations and aboriginal
rights. One citizen, native bom,
expressed the hope that Eskimos
will be treated like any other citi
zen; that they did not want reser
vations or hand-outs, but the right
to make their own way like any
body else. “When America took
Alaska from Russia and made us
Americans, that is enough for us,’*
stated a Unalakleet resident who
would like to see that village tak
en off the reservation status.
Mrs. Hermann and Mr. McNees
ably explained the other phases of
the constitution, stating that this
is the most complete representa
tion of Alaskans ever to be held,
with people from both remote and
scattered areas working hard and
most conscientiously to turn out
the best constitution ever to be
written. By coincidence, she stat
ed. the delegates who drafted the
Constitution of the United States
were also 55 in number.
She urged individuals and or
ganizations not to hesitate to ex
press their views to the members
of the convention and as soon as
possible.
State Department
Releases Further
Yalta Documents
WASHINGTON, UP>—The late
Secretary of State Cordell Hull j
once angrily told fellow members
of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Cab
inet his former No. 1 aide, Sumner
Welles, “seemed to be operating a
second State Department” without
interference from Roosevelt.
The late Joseph Stalin plainly
told Roosevelt soon after the 1945
Yalta conference that he intended
to have in Poland a government
which would establish “friendly
relations” with the Soviet Union.
Moscow advised the United
States in advance of Yalta that it
wanted to break up Germany into
smaller nations, “demilitarize Ger
man industry,” and collect repar
ations in machinery over a 10
year period.
These and other fragments of
history are disclosed in the publi
cation of more than 40 previously
secret documents bearing on the
Yalta conference.
The State Department printed
the documents together with a
vast accumulation of other papers
in a 1,032-page volume put on sale
by the Govt. Printing Office.
Only these 40 or so items are
new, and most of them deal with
minor developments of the 1944
45 period. The great bulk of the
Yalta papers were made public
last March. Now the whole collec
tion has become available in book
form at $5.50 a copy.
Woman Embezzles
Million Dollars
In Five Years
NORFOLK, Va., UP)—A hearing
on embezzlement charges against
Miss Minnie C. Mangum was post
poned today as auditors continued
to search her firm’s records to find
the total of shortages that may top
one million dollars.
The 52-year-old plumpish wom
an, known for her charities and
lavish gifts to friends, was arrest
ed yesterday as she left her law
yer’s office, booked, and released,
in bail«^>f $25,000.
Miss Magnum, a $9,000-a-year
assistant secretary-treasurer of the
Commonwealth Building & Loan
Assn., was charged with embez
zling $100,000 from the firm over
the past 12 months.
The firm’s attorney said he had
been advised of additional irreg
ularities that would run to at least
$800,000, beyond the $100,000
over a five-year period. The com
pany is one of the largest of its
kind in eastern Virginia.
A spokesman said the company
has recovered assets valued at
$200,000 from Miss Mangum, in
cluding eight houses worth $50,
000. One of the homes was the
modest bungalow where she lived
with her sister in Portsmouth.
Miss Mangum regularly attend
ed , the Port Norfolk Baptist
Church and had been a Sunday
school leader for 25 years. Over an
11-year span she gave $8,800 to
the building fund.