EE NOME NUGGET
_ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
62nd Year No. 35 NOME. ALASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1961 Per Copy 15*
Hourly Wage Bill
Clears First Hurdle
In the House
JUNEAU UR — A bill which
would raise the state minimum
hourly wage cleared its first
hurdle in a divided House of
Representatives yesterday.
But a floor battle of major pro
portions appeared shaping up for
final debate on the measure,
which was expected late today.
The measure, SB28 as passed
by the Senate called for a mini
mum wage of $1.75 an hour, a
hike of 25 cents over the cur
rent hourly minimum.
The only amendment accepted
by the House yesterday deleted
the $1.75 figure and set the state
minimum wage figure at 50 cents
higher than the prevailing mini
mum wage set by the federal gov
ernment.
The national minimum hourly
wage is now $1, but President
Kennedy has placed himself be
hind a bill which would boost
the federal minimum wage to
$1.25.
Opponents to the state measure
battled yesterday to have the
measure ruled out of order because
a similar measure was killed by
indefinite postponement in the
House earlier in the session.
House Speaker Warren Taylor
held, however, that the bill was
in order as a Senate measure,
and, as such, could be considered
by the House.
After defeating a motion to
table the bill, 23-17, the House
proceeded to approve the lone
successful amendment, which was
submitted by the Commerce and
Labor Committee, by a count of
21-19.
There was no debate on the
merits of the measure itself as
opponents unsuccessfully concen
trated their strategy on amending
the intent of the bill out of it or
killing the measure completely.
The bill differs from the one
killed earlier by the House in that
it exempts from coverage “handi
capped workers, apprentices and
learners.” The wages of workers
in those categories would be sub
ject to regulation by the State
Commissioner of Labor.
The bill also exempts parttime
workers under the age of 18 who
work less than 30 hours a week.
The bill which the House killed
earlier in the session would have
included under the minimum
wage bill all employes now ex
empt under the Fair Labor Stand
ard Act, such as retail clerks, fish
processing workers and the like.
Liz Will Leave for California
LONDON UR — Elizabeth Tay
lor’s studio announced that the
film star will leave the London
clinic Monday and fly to Cali
fornia the same day. She was
stricken with double pneumonia
early this month.
$1,693,000 Will be Spent
For Alaska Indian-Eskimo
Schools Construction
WASHINGTON UP) — Sen. E. L.
Bartlett said yesterday $1,693,000
will be spent on Alaska Indian
and Eskimo schools construction
if Congress approves a Kennedy
Administration request for funds.
Bartlett said he was informed
by the Interior epartment the
amount would be part of the $30
million total asked by the ad
ministration for an accelerated
Indian and Eskimo school pro
gram. The money would be spent
in the year starting July 1.
The amounts proposed for Alas
ka: Gambell $237,000, Mountain
Village $276,000; Nunapitchuk
$116,000; Selawik $262,000; To
giak $123,000; Wales $173,000;
Point Hope $249,000; and Wain
wright $257,000.
MOTORISTS WILL CARRY TWO
LICENSE PLATES ON CARS
JUNEAU UP) — Alaska motorists
will continue to carry two license
plates on their cars, but their
next sets of plates will be good
for from four to five years.
The House voted down yester
day a Senate-approved single
plate plan which its backers said
would save about $10,000 a year.
Public Safety Commissioner
Martin B. Underwood, in a let
ter read to the House, announced
the plan for long-term plates.
Underwood opposed the single
plate plan, saying it would make
identification more difficult.
Kennedy Signs Legislation Providing
Additional Unemployment Payments
WASHINGTON W) — President
Kennedy today signed legislation
providing additional unemploy
ment insurance payments for as
much as 13 weeks for jobless
workers who have exhausted
their benefits. Payments now can
start in 15 days.
The measure had been tagged
the No. 1 bill, for quickest action,
of the Kennedy Administration.
It was the first specific anti-re
cession measure enacted by the
new Congress.
The administration estimates the
benefits may go to some three
million persons and amount in all
to nearly $1 billion during the
two-year authorized life of the
program.
The actual total of payments
under the bill will depend on the
course of the national economy
during the coming months — on
how many long-term unemployed
there are.
It provides additional payments
up to one-half the duration of the
original benefits. This provision
sets the maximum at 13 weeks,
since the longest basic state pro
gram is for 26 vreeks.
Within an hour after Kennedy
Identical Resolutions
Introduced in Both
House and Senate
JUNEAU OP) — Identical reso
lutions were introduced in the
House and Senate yesterday set
ting forth legislative intent on
the expenditure of $1 million ear
marked for roads in Senate Bill
175.
The $1 million would be appro
priated for road construction
from the sale of $23 million in
general obligation bonds for roads
and ferries.
The two resolutions, HR32 and
SR27, state that it is the intent of
the Legislature that $500,000 be
used for right of way and survey
costs of the Fairbanks-Nome
Road and that $500,000 be used
for actual construction, starting
simultaneously from both ends of
the proposed route.
The resolutions also ask that
the Fairbanks-Nome Road be
placed immediately on the fed
eral highway system.
Driver's Licenses Suspension
Bill Goes Before Gov. Egan
JUNEAU OP) — Persons con
victed on negligent driving would
be subject to the possible sus
pension of their operator’s license
for one year under the terms of
a bill which passed the House
yesterday.
Under the present law, the
maximum suspension of drivers’
licenses for the offense is 20 days.
The measure, now goes to Gov.
Egan for his consideration.
signed the bill, Secretary of Labor
Goldberg began signing agree
ments with states to act as pay
masters and administrators of the
funds.
In rapid order 20 states, in
cluding Alaska, signed imple
menting agreements.
The unemployment compensa
tion payments are made by the
states. The federal government
will, however, turn over to the
states the money needed for ex
tended payments.
With the aim of getting the
money back for the U. S. Treas
ury, the bill provides for a special
.4 of one per cent increase in the
payroll tax paid by employers.
This will be effective on wages
paid during the two years starting
Next Jan. 1.
The basic tax will become 3.5
per cent on payroll. Existing ar
rangements under which the
states reduce the tax for some
employers with records of stable
employment are not changed.
The Treasury advances to the
states, as provided in the bill, are
to be repaid out of the yield of
the extra .4 per cent payroll tax
levied nationawide.
Next Move for U. S. on Laos Crisis
Depends on Kremlin's Call-Off Attack
By The Associated Press
Pro-western Laos charged to
I day it has been attacked by Com
munist North Vietnamese troops.
The next U. S. move appeared to
depend on whether the Commu
nists will call off the attack in
the southeast Asian jungle king
dom.
The Laotian government
charged six new Communist bat
talions moved across the border
and into the fight against the al
ready demoralized royal army.
What the United States does
now depends — in the words of
Sen. Alexander Wiley, on “what
the Kremlin will do in the next
48 hours.”
Wiley, senior Republican mem
ber of the Senate Foreign Rela
tions Committee, made the re
mark to Washington newsmen,
| apparently in reference to the
awaited Soviet response to Presi
dent Kennedy’s appeal for a cease
fire and a negotiated settlement
to the Laotian crisis.
Premier Khrushchev returned
to Moscow after a tour of agri
cultural areas but there was no
official response to Kennedy’s re
quest that the Communist-backed
rebels be halted.
A British foreign office spokes
man said the Soviet Union had
promised “serious and urgent”
tonsideration of Britain’s pro
posals for peace in Laos. Britain’s
foreign secretary gave no hint
how long the British would be
willing to wait for a reply, but
said “clearly this is a urgent mat
ter.”
Kennedy appealed to India’s
Prime Minister Nehru to help ar
range a cease-fire lest the civil
war lead to a U. S.-Soviet mili
tary showdown over Southeast
Asia.
Wiley said India is playing “a
tremendous part” in negotiations
and added: “She (India) probably
is sending troops to Laos. I don’t
know; I hope so.”
Kennedy, who adopted a soft
Cost of Living
Allowance to Continue
For Federal Employes
WASHINGTON UP) — Sen. E.
L. Bartlett said yesterday the
Civil Service Commission has de
cided not to recommend any
change in the cost of living al
lowances granted some civil serv
ice employes in off-shore areas.
The allowance is granted to
eligible employes over the rate
they would be paid in Washing
ton, D. C.
Bartlett said he was informed
this present allowances of 25 per
cent in Alaska, 17.5 in Hawaii
and the Virgin Islands and 12.5
per cent in Puerto Rico will con
tinue.
spoken but tough attitude in his
news conference, received back
ing from President Eisenhower.
Eisenhower told newsmen in Palm
Springs, Calif., Kennedy tele
phoned him this morning to dis
cuss the Laotian crisis. Eisen
hower expressed satisfaction with
Kennedy’s stand.
JFK Breaks Bad
Budget News
To Congress
WASHINGTON UP> — President
Kennedy broke the bad budget
news to Congress today — two
years of red ink financing for an
apparent combined deficit of $5
billion, sending the national debt
to new records.
In a special budget message,
Kennedy discarded as “over
optimistic” the January estimates
of former President Eisenhower,
who forecast a slim $80 million
surplus this year and a $1.5 bil
lion surplus in fiscal 1962, start
ing July 1.
There is no surplus in the in
1 herited Eisenhower budget for
1961, Kennedy advised Congress.
It is “over $2 billion” out of
balance, he said. It means the
debt limit must be raised again,
the President said.
The surplus heralded for fiscal
1962 has become a $1.8 billion
deficit on the civilian side alone,
Kennedy announced. He said the
Eisenhower Administration, which
never admitted there was a reces
sion, based its revenue estimate on
“a much rosier economy.”
Officials said Kennedy’s mili
tary program, plus revised esti
mates of the cost of defense pro
grams, will send the total 1962
deficit beyond $3 billion and
swell the public debt by mid
1962 to a record of about $290
billion.
Nowhere in this message was
there the slightest indication of a
posible temporary tax cut to com
bat the business slump.
As Eisenhower had done, Ken
nedy, asked a $843 million postal
rate increase to eliminate the
post office deficit.
The President’s defense program
is due to reach Congress next
week. Today’s 6,000-word message
dealt only with civilian matters.
Many paragraphs were devoted
to documenting Kennedy’s pledge
—made in his State of the Union
Message — that his program
would not unbalance the budget
‘‘of and by themselves.”
“It is my determined purpose
to be a prudent steward of the
public funds — to obtain a dol
lar’s worth of results for every
dollar we spend,” the President
said.
ARCTIC CLUB
Dog Races Saturday, April 1st
ALL TEAMS MUST REGISTER AT MORGAN & SON
HL ——————— - !
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