3S NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LVIII No. 23_NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 24, 1956_Per Copy—15^
Dr. Fred Langsam
Named ‘Physician
Of The Year*
Dr. Fred Langsam of the MMM
Hospital, who has been at the
meeting of the Alaska Territorial
Medical Association in Anchor
age, has been named “Physician
of the Year” for his achievement
in bringing about the accrediting
of his hospital by the American
Hospital Association.
The Maynard-MacDougall Mem
orial Hospital is the only one
doctor hospital ever to receive
this distinction.
At the three-day meeting, Dr.
Milo Fritz, president of the Alas
ka Medical Association, made an
appeal for student and graduate
physicians to spend a short resi
dency in Alaska and other medic
ally underprivileged areas of the
world.
He pointed out that, while the
medical schools of the United
States find themselves isolated
from illness and examples of
those diseases their students are
learning to cure, preventable dis
ease runs rampant in Alaska.
The life expectancy of the Es
kimo is 34 years, while in the
United States a white man can
expect to live 68 years. There are
now, in Alaska, over 3,000 known
individuals who need temporal j
bone surgery; if he could per
form one operation a day, it woud
take the only physician in the
territory doing this surgery ten
years to care for the presently
known cases. The tuberculosis rate
here is greater than in any re
corded area in the world today.
Five Killed When Seven
Cars of Passenger Train
Jump From Level Track
ODENTON, Md., UP) — Seven
cars of a Pennylvania Railroad
passenger train, racing at 80 mph
through the flat countryside be
tween Washington and Baltimore,
jumped the track last night and
three overturned down an em
bankment. Five persons were
killed and more than 100 injured.
A Pennsylvania R.R. spokes
man said it was impossible at
this point to tell whether faulty
air brakes caused the accident to
the New York-bound Embassy or
whether the air brakes went on
as a result of the accident. The
engineer said the brakes grabbed
suddenly.
18-Hour General Strike
Paralyzes Calcutta, India
CALCUTTA, India, MV-An 18
hour general strike paralyzed the
business life of this normally
teeming city of 2Vz million per
sons today.
The strike, which left only es
sential services operating, was
staged by factions opposing plans
to merge the big states of West
Bengal and Bihar. The proposal
is unpopular with Bengali-speak
ing Indians and has been protest
ed by left-wing political groups.
The strike began at dawn and
was scheduled to end at midnight.
No violence was reported. Police
rounded up some 500 persons just
before midnight.
Ike’s Doctor Says
It May Be Safer To
Serve Second Term
THOMASVILLE, Georgia, UP> —
President Eisenhower’s personal
physician said today the chief ex
ecutive ‘‘might be safer’’ from a
health standpoint in serving a sec
ond term than he was before his
heart attack.
The physician, Maj. Gen. How
ard M. Snyder, made the state
ment to newsmen on this fifth
month anniversary of the Presi
dent’s attack in Denver last
Sept. 24.
A reporter asked the doctor
whether he feels Eisenhower will
run for re - election.
“I have no impression about,
that," Snyder replied.
The next question was whether
Snyder thought Eisenhower is
physically able to run again. A
newsman said Snyder gave the
impression that he believes the
President is able to serve again.
“All he can do, Snyder said
today, “is trust in God if he goes
ahead.”
He added it “would be the same
for a new man” — meaning that
any new president always would
run the risk of developing ill
health.
“Even many young men die of
heart attack,” Snyder went on.
Then, referring to Eisenhower,
Snyder said ‘it might be safer for
him than it was before."
He did not elaborate on that.
But he apparently meant that a
man who has had a heart attack
is much more inclined to watch
his health.
Eisenhower, who plans to fly
back to Washington tomorrow
and perhaps announce next week
whether he will run again, was
getting in his last full day of
quail hunting.
Cost of Living Index
Plummets .3 of 1 Percent
WASHINGTON, UP) — Lower
prices for food and house furnish
ings in January sent the govern
ment’s living cost index down a
notch today to the 'lowest point
since last August.
The decline means a wage cut
of a penny an hour for more than
a million workers in the auto,
farm equipment and aircraft in
dustries in a quarterly revision of
rates geared to the index.
The new living cost level for
the nation for January was 114.6
per cent of the 1947-49 base per
iod. This is .3 of 1 per cent
higher than a year ago and com
pares with the 115.4 peak level
of the index in October, 1953.
Egyptian Outpost Fires On
Israeli Patrol In Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM, UP — An Israel
army spokesman said an Egyptian
outpost in the Gaza strip opened
fire at an Israel patrol in Israeli
territory today.
He said the fire was returned
by the patrol and there were no
casualties on the Israeli side.
Two hours later, the Israeli
spokesman said the same Israeli
patrol was again fired upon.
Again the fire was returned, but
still there were no casualties.
Power Ministry Of
Malenkov Attaeked
By Soviet Pr ess
MOSCOW, UP) — The Soviet
Soviet press today published a
direct attack on the Ministry of
Electric Power Stations which
former Premier Georgi Malenkov
heads.
The ministry was accused of
“procrastination” in a speech to
the 20th congress of the Soviet
Communist party delivered in the
Kremlin by state planning boss
and first deputy prime minister
Maxim Z. Saburov.
When Malenkov resigned the
premiership last year he publicly
confessed he had been inefficient
and not sufficiently experienced
in administration.
Saburov did not mention Mal
enkov by name, but he left no
doubt that the Soviet government
is dissatisfied with the way Mai
kov’s ministry is being run.
It was the fist high-level criti
cism of this ministry since Malen
kov took it over.
Top Communist Leader,
Fugitive For Five Years,
Offers To Surrender
NEW YORK, UPV—A letter pur
porting to be from Gilbert Green,
a top Communist who has been a
fugitive for five years, said today
he will surrender Monday.
The letter did not reveal his
whereabouts. It was received toy
the Associated Press today and
was postmarked at 10:30 o’clock
last night in New York City. It
was signed “Gil Green.” Other
news services also received copies
of the letter.
Green, Illinois chairman of the
party, was one of the 11 Com
munist leaders convicted in the
memorable nine - month trial in
1949 on charges of conspiracy to
teach and advocate violent over
throw of the government.
He failed to appear for sentenc
ing July 2, 1952.
The letter said Green had de
cided to give himself up because
“the main trend of the nation is
no longer toward a new world
war and McCarthyism. A new
trend is evident.”
Chinese Reds and Nationalists
Of Amoy and Quemoy Duel
TAIPEH, OP)—The Chinese Reds
and Nationalists had another one
of their spasmodic gun bouts ac
ross Formosa Strait today. The of
ficial central news agency said
the Reds on Amoy fired 137 shells
at Quemoy and Little Quemoy
during the noon hour, lapsing into
silence under vigorous Nationalist
counterfire.
One civilian home was de
stroyed and one horse killed on
the Nationalist side .
EARLY^BREAKUP AT
NENANA PREDICTED
This bulletin was received yes
terday from Nenana:
Ice condition as follows at
Nenana: 41 inches of ice, 9 feet
of water. Started to build tripod
today. Oldlimers in town pre
dict early breakup.
Walter Minano
Manager, Nenana Ice Clastic
Canadian Radar Manufacturer
Foresees ‘Electronic Atmosphere”
Guarding All Of North America
U.S. Weather Balloon
Recovered On Border
Of Outer Mongolia
MOSCOW, UP) — The govern
ment newspaper Izvestia said to
day a wolf-hunting Kazakh shep
herd found a U.S. weather balloon
near the border of Outer Mon
golia and received an award for
his vigilance.
• The U.S. Navy announced last
week in Tokyo that an American
weather balloon launched from
Japan Feb. 12 had gone astray
and its last radioed position was
near the border of Outer Mon
golia. The balloon was destined
for the United States, but the
Navy sai^ “wild and unpredict
able” winds over Alaska caused it
to reverse its course.”)
Izvestia said its dispatch was
telephoned from its correspondent
at Ust-Kamenogorsk, in the East
Kazakh area near the Mongolian
border.
A “vigilant peasant” named
Fyodor Dyatchkov was inspecting
his eight wolf traps on a vast
steppe when he noticed five para
chutes and other apparatus.
This was the second time this
week the Soviet press has report
ed the finding of an American
balloon by a peasant. The first
discovery was said to have been
made near the Polish frontier on
Feb. 12.
The Russia has charged that the
United States is using balloons for
military reconnaissance. The U.S.
government says its ballons carry
only weather instruments and a
radio transmitter to radio the
weather information back.
Senate Bi-partisan
Group To Study
Polities in Congress
WASHINGTON, WPi — A bi-par
tisan committee of eight projected
today a many - sided Senate in
vestigation of political pressures,
lobbying and campaign contribu
tions.
In compliance with a resolution
passed Wednesday by a 7-91 vote,
Vice President Nixon last night
officially named the four. Demo
crats and four Republicans who
will undertake what Sen. Lyndon
Johnson (D-Tex) called “one of
the most searching investigations
in our history.”
Johnson, the Democratic leader,
picked as members from his
party’s ranks Sens. Gore of Ten
nessee, McClellan of Arkansas,
Anderson of New Mexico, and
Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Sen. Knowland of California,
the Republican leader, named
GOP Sens. Bridges of New Hamp
shire, Thye of Minnesota, Gold
water of Arizona, and Purtell of
Connecticut.
By agreement, a Democrat will
head the group. Johnson made it
plain he wants Gore, chairman of
the Senate’s Elections subcom
mitee to fill that role.
MONTREAL, l/P)—Canada with
in 10 years is likely to have an
advanced form of push button air
defense, involving installation of
a new $2,000,000,000 “electronic
atmosphere," electronics producer
K.R. Patrick predicted today .
This “atmosphere” will gather
signals from all the radar warn
ing systems now being installed,
plus many more, and will channel
them into a giant computer. Once
an enemy plane crosses a radar
link, the computer, acting on a
signal, will automatically instruct
a guided missile, interceptor air
craft or other weapons along pre
cise lines.
Patrick, president of Canadian
Aviation Electronics Ltd., said
the three big Canadian radar sys
tems—the Pinetree along the Can
adian-U.S. border, the Mid-Can
ada and the Distant Early Warn
ing line in the far north—will
tend to grow and will be com
pletely integrated on both north
south and east-west basis in the
next five to 10 years.
“A system which is becoming
known as Sage — for Semi-Auto
matic Ground Environment—now
is being developed as a means of
creating an electronic atmosphere
for all of North America. It con
sists of all the radar systems we
have discussed plus many more
which feed data into an enormous
computer.”
Patrick, who helped develop
radar for Canada, Britain ana the
United States during World War
II, said the electronics industry
will open a fabulous future for
Canadians in every walk of life.
But he warned there is evi
dence of a massive international
struggle for control among cor
porations all over the world.
There are dangers, he said, in the
growing U.S. practice of funnel
ling management of large elec
tronic defense contracts into the
hands of a single company be
cause it is apt to foster monopoly
operations.
Thaws Cause
Fearsome Slides
In South Europe
LONDON, UP. — A slow thaw
spread fearsome landslides and
flood threats over parts of south
ern Europe today. The rest of the
continent shivered, with little
sign of a break in the worst win
ter anybody could remember.
No deaths were yet reported
from the slides of snow and earth
in Italy and Yugoslavia. But it
was feared they would add to the
toll of 831 known dead in the
record freeze-up, now in its 25th
day.
Crop damage ran into hundreds
of millions of dollars. Food prices
rocketed. Coal and other fuel was
running short.
At Vasto, in central Italy, a
landslide crumpled 150 homes.