— NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
• „ VOL, LVII No, 26 _NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1955Per Copy—15*
Senate Votes Down
Increased Payroll
Tax Proposal
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, i/P» — Five Democrats
hopped the political fence to join
four Republicans yesterday in
slaRping down a payroll tax pro
posal, but some may hop back
today when the measure returns
in slightly diluted form.
Senator Rivers, a former chair
man of the Employment Security
Commission, offered an amend
ment which would have raised
the unemployment insurance tax
level from the first $3,000 of a
worker’s pay to the first $4,800.
There is a bill before the House
too, calling for a raise to $4,800
in the tax level. The House bill
also would have the workers con
tribute one per cent.
Democrats Barr, Jensen, Lyng,
Werner and Noland joined Repub
licans Barnes, Butrovich, Jones
and Stepovich in opposing the
amendment on a 9-7 vote. On the
other side were Democrats Beltz,
Cooper, Egan, Ellis, Foster, Owen
and the measure’s backer, Rivers.
* Later Sen. Barr said he might
be willing to approve a raise to
the $3,600 level and the senators
prepared to start working today
on a middle ground proposal that
might win.
The Rivers proposal would
have cut off about one-third of
those who qualified in 1954, the
sponsor estimated. It was one of
a series of amendments he pro
posed for Senate Bill 56.
The major clash over the ESC
bill was between Rivers and Mar
cus Jensen <D-Dougas>, one of
(Continued on Page Three)
Air Force Starts
Direct Airlift from
McChord to Ladd
FAIRBANKS, UP>—’The Air Force
Tuesday started a direct airlift of
supplies from McChord Air Force
Base, Wash., to Ladd AFB here,
according to Brig. Gen. T. Alan
Bennett, commander of the 11th
Air Division.
Gen. Bennett said the new sys
tem eliminates trans-shipment of
goods from Elmendorf AFB at
Anchorage to Ladd after supplies
arrive at Elmendorf from state
* side.
The new method, according to
the Air Force, cuts down on the
delivery time from McChord to
Ladd by two to three days. All
costly, critical items formerly
transported by surface carrier are
being airlifted.
Another advantage, said Ben
nett, will be elimination of storage
at Elmendorf of a 120-day supply
of 373,000 items valued at about
$133,697,000. With the new meth
od in operation, Bennett estimat
ed,, the inventory at Elmendorf
would be cut to a 45-dav supply
of 153,000 items by next year.
The capital tied up in these
supplies, he said, will be cut to
$90 million.
“I want warehouses in the air,”
Bennett told newsmen.
All air cargo is to be carried by
Military Air Transport planes
making one-stop flights to the ter
ritory. Previously not enough car
go was air lifted to warrant indi
vidual flights to the Fairbanks
area so all Alaska flights were
stockpiled at McChord and flown
to Elmendorf for trans-shipment
to the Fairbanks area.
Strategic Air Command
To Be Equipped With
New B-52 Jet Bombers
By ELTON C. FAY
WASHINGTON, (/Pi — The Air
Force announced today it will be
gin late this spring to equip one
of its Strategic Command wings
with B-52 bombers — capable of
delivering hydrogen bombs to
faraway targets at high speed and
high altitude.
First outfit to be equipped with
the all-jet Boeing “Stratofortress,”
intended ultimately to replace the
present fleet of piston and jet
engined B-36s, will be the 93rd
Bomb Wing, stationed at Castle
Air Force Base, Merced, Calif.
Secretary of the Air Force Har
old E. Talbott’s official announce
ment made no reference to recent
statements on Capitol Hill report
ing that “bugs” had developed in
the big jet bomber. The timing of
the announcement seemed to
serve as a reply to those reports.
The 93rd Wing now is equipped
with B-47 Boeing medium jet
bombers. More than a score of
the eight-jet, swept-wing B-52s
are understood to have been pro
duced so far by the Seattle plant
of Boeing Airplane Co.
, With a minimum of 30 bombers
required for a wing of heavies, it
may be a year or more before
the 93rd is a trained and combat
ready organization for operation
| as a unit of the Strategic Air
Command.
Nome Field Four
Win Honors as
Best Army Quartet
The Four Nuggets, quartet from
j T-23 of Nome Field, have won the
distinguished honor of being
judged the best quartet in the
U.S. Army from installations’ all
over the world.
This group, which organized
here and sang for the first time at
a basketball game last fall
and later at several other organi
zations in town and the Methodist
Church, participated in an all
Alaska contest last fall and came
out on top. They were awarded a
lovely gold trophy.
A tape recording was made of
their selections and sent to Wash
ington D.C. to be judged with
other contestants from U.S. Army
bases from all parts of the globe
by a specially selected group of
musicians.
The quartet is scattered now,
with two members in the States
and two still in Alaska (one, Rob
ert Greenfield, still at Nome
Field* but it is planned to bring
them together if possible for a
tour of the States and other parts
of the country some time in the
next month or so.
In the group are D. Burleson,
John Shumaker, Robert Green
field, and Richard Jacobs.
Nanooks Basketball Team
Loses First Game To
Kodiak Naval 54-47
ANCHORAGE — The Nome
Nanooks basketball team lost its
first game to the Kodiak Naval
team 54 to 47 Tuesday afternoon.
Twenty-three fouls were called
against the Nome team. Milton
Willoya and Bobby Herman foul
ed out in the third quarter.
The Nanooks play the Cordova
team Wednesday afternoon.
A message from coach Bill
Ullrich did not enlarge on the
unusual number of fouls called on
his team but said they were in
good spirits.
Third A-Blast in i
Test Series Seen
In Five States
LAS VEGAS, Nev., (#>—A red
dish flash so bright it was seen in
five states accompanied the pre
dawn detonation Tuesday of the
third atomic device in the 1955
test series.
Touched off in perfectly clear
weather at 5:30 a.m., the spectacle
was visible as far away as Poca
tello, Idaho, 475 miles way. Ob
servers in San Francisco, Los An
geles, Salt Lake City, Phoenix,
and St. George, Utah, also wit
nessed it.
The Atomic Energy Commis
siin said the explosion was similar
in power to the second shot of
the series, last Feb. 22, which
would make it one of the smaller
explosions here. The Feb. 22 blast
! gave Las Vegas its best jolt in
three years. Yesterday’s, however,
barely rattled windows here.
At the control station on Yucca
Flat, 75 miles northwest, observ
ers said they felt the shock as a
“strong thump.” The device was
detonated from a 300-foot tower.
A mushroom cloud rose quickly
to above 27,000 feet and formed
an ice cap, then moved off toward
the east under the impetus of a
30-knot wind.
The only word on yesterday’s
shot was an AEC statement that
it had a yield of “several kilo
tons.” A kiloton is equal to 1,000
tons of TNT. The Hiroshima at
omic bomb had a 20-kiloton yield.
New Bills |
Introduced In
The Legislature
JUNEAU, —A bill to provide
a new $100,000 appropriation for
the Alaska Statehood Committee
was introduced in the legislature
today.
It came from the House com
mittee on statehood and federal
relations and calls for $100,000
“or so much thereof as may be
necessary” to be added to the
balance of the $80,000 appropri
ated when the committee was
created in 1949.
A bill calling for blood tests
of persons suspected of drunken
driving was put in by Hep. E. G.
Bailey (D-Anchorage).
The bill is a revision of the
I drunken driving law, and pro
vides if a chemical analysis shows
a specific alcoholic content in the
blood it would be a presumption
of intoxication.
It also provides that upon a
second or subsequent conviction
the driver would be subject to a
fine up to $1,000 and from 10
days to one year imprisonment,
or both, plus a license suspension
for not less than 180 days.
Another bill put in by Bailey
would allow abatement of a
bawdy house if conclusive evi
dence of a single instance of vice
was presented against it.
A five-year age for kinder
garten enrolment would be set
in a bill introduced by Rep. P.
Kalamarides (D-Anchorage) by
request. It would require the
child to be five before Nov. 1
to be enrolled.
The present law does not speci
fy an age for kindergarten but
provides for age six for the first
grade.
Sen. James Nolan (D-Wrangell)
sponsored a bill to prohibit any
one involved in a killing to re
ceive any part of the estate of
i his or her victim.
<§ •
Proposed Power and Resources
Commission Would W ield Broad
Powers Over Alaska Develpmcnt
Western World
Leads Russia lu
Atom Development;
WASHINGTON, IP— President j
Eisenhower said today the west
ern world has enjoyed all along
a great lead over Russia in devel
opment of hydrogen bombs and
atomic weapons.
He said he thinks it would be
pointless to speculate on how long
the lead may prevail. He just
doesn’t know.
Eisenhower’s news conference j
remarks were in response to a i'e
quest for comment on Prime Min
ister Churchill’s statement yes
terday that the United States has
“many times” the H - bomb;
strength of the Soviet .Union:
Churchill added that Russia
would be in a position, however,
to launch a full scale nuclear at
tack against the United States in
two to four years.
Eisenhower went on to say we
do know that the western world
has enjoyed a great lead in the
H-bomb and the atomic weapons
field in general.
There does come a time, he
said, when if you get a big enough
supply of a particular weapon,
there is doubt as to whether it is
important that you acquire a lot
more such weapons.
The news conference also
touched on these other matters:
Zhukov—The President was re
minded that he told a recent news!
conference he would be glad to
consider inviting Marshal Georgi
Zhukov, Russia’s new defense
minister, to the United States.
Eisenhower commented he has
given the matter some thought j
but has decided against extend- j
ing an invitation at this time.
The President added, however,
he hasn't forgotten about the mat
ter, and indicated that Zhukov—
whom he met in Berlin and be
came well acquainted with at the !
end of World War II—might pos- j
sibly get an invitation later.
Taxes—In response to a ques- !
tion, Eisenhower said he natural
ly was delighted and gratified the
Senate Finance Committee voted
9-6 yesterday against the Demo
cratic proopsal to cut everybody’s
taxes by S20 next Jan. 1.
Labor Merger — In reply to a
question as to whether ho sees
any danger of a labor monopoly
as% a result of the planned merger
of the AFL and CIO, Eisenhower
said he doubts any organization j
can set itself up as the bosses of I
any great number of Americans.!
-I
Gold Is Russia's
Top Secret Weapon
CHICAGO, UPl — Businessmen
were told today that “Russia’s
real top secret weapon is her
gold supply.”
Gene Sitterley of New York
City, publisher of a business
magazine, put it this way:
“Russia’s real top secret wea
pon is her gold supply, which she
will use to disrupt the European
market'if and when she can suc
cessfully sell the idea of relaxing
controls and restrictions on East
West trade.”
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, (<P) — Legislation to
create an Alaska Power and Re
sources Commission, with broad
powers to enter the power devel
opment business and serve as a
negotiating agency with Canada
and the U.S. government, drew
praise and criticism in the Terri
torial House yesterday.
The two engineer authors of
the bill, Reps. Irene Ryan and
Harry Palmer, Anchorage Demo
crats, described it as a far-sighted
act, looking toward the day when
Alaskan rivers will be tamed for
an industrial empire.
Rep. E. G. Bailey (D-Anchor
age*, who described himself as a
long time worker for public
power, expressed fear the bill
was giving “too much power” to
the proposed commission of five.
He attempted to strike the pro
vision for the commission to be
the referee in disputes between
power agencies in the territory.
Bailey described power devel
opment for Alask as second in his
mind only to statehood, but said
he would favor at this time only
a commission to launch a compre
hensive study of hydroelectric
possibilities.
Rep. Edith Bullock <R-Kotze
but) also expressed the opinion
too much power was being pro
posed for the commission in this
first step toward its creation.
Mrs. Ryan responded it has to
have broad power to function at
the high level proposed for it.
Mrs. Ryan, who is Alaska’s only
woman engineer, said she had
been working on the plan for two
years.
Dependent upon approval by
Congress, it would represent Al
aska in trying to deal with Can
ada over water and power ex
change rights.
Subject to approval by Con
gress, it would be empowered to
issue revenue bonds to finance
power dams and other develop
ments and could go into the
power business. However, it could
not take over any existing power
systems.
Mrs. Ryan said one of the im
mediate needs is a study of water
flow in the streams of Alaska so
(Continued on Page Two)
Plans Being Made
For Resuming Work on
Haines-Fairbanks Line
FAIRBANKS, UPV—Plans for re
suming work on the 625-mile
Haines-Fairbanks oil products
pipeline are being made here by
executives and engineers who
have returned from the States
after a winter shutdown of the
30-million-dollar project.
The pipeline is being built un
der supervision of the Army En
gineers as a joint venture of three
companies.
The pipeline is now 85 percent
complete and five pumping sta
tions are 75 percent complete. All
pipe has been laid and welded.
The first tanker is due at Haines
May 26 with oil to be put in
storage. Testing is to start June 1
with oil delivery Aug. 1, and job
completion set for Sept. 1.
Engineers said it will take five
oil tanker loads to fill the full
length of the eight-inch pipe. It
will take three weeks for oil
started at Haines to reach Fair
banks.