IEE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 16 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1954 Per Copy—15^
Czechs "Release"
U. S. Navy Vet
After Five Years
MUNICH, Germany, (£)—A tri
umphant young American named
John Hvasta headed home by'
plane today, the winner of a grim
cat - and - mouse game with the
Communist regime of Czechoslo
vakia that lasted five fantastic
years.
First a prisoner, then a fugitive,
then a refugee sheltered for four
months in the U.S. Embassy in
Prague, the 26-year-old Czech
born U.S. Navy veteran started
catching up on freedom when a
State Department car whipped
him through the iron curtain at
the Czech-German border yester
day.
The full story of at least one
phase — how he bounced fr m
pillar to post as a hunted man in
Czechoslovakia for 21 months, al
ways one step ahead of his Red
pursuers—may never be publicly
told. It could touch off a reign
of terror against the anti - Red
Czechs who sheltered him.
Like AP correspondent William
N. Oatis, freed from Czech im
prisonment last May 17, Hvasta
was accused by the Red regime of
espionage. He was sentenced to
10 years. He had served 2 Vi years
when he took part in a five-man
break from Leopoldov prison near
Bratislava early in 1952. Then
came his 21 months as a fugitive
and four months in the Prague
embassy, technically American
soil, while diplomats dickered
over his fate.
The Prague radio, skipping the \
details, reported he had been
“released” and ordered expelled.
Hvasta left by plane for New
York today, saying he would
make no statement until he gets
home.
His parents are Mr. and Mrs.
Michael Hvasta of Hillside, N.J.,
like him naturalized citizens of
the United States. The family
came to the United States in 1939.
John Hvasta returned to Czech
oslovakia in 1948 as a student
under the GI Bill of Rights at the
University of Bratislava. He
worked four months at the U.S.
consulate general in Bratislava.
But Czechoslovakia still consid
ered him a Czech citizen. He was
arrested in October that year as
a spy. The conviction came the
following May.
Former Mayor Of Nome
Dies In Massachusetts
HAVERHILL, Mass., (JR—Wil
liam B. Goodrich, 86, retired
Haverhill farmer, who was mayor
of Nome, Alaska, in 1902, died
Tuesday.
Goodrich went to Alaska during
gold rush days of 1897. He en
gaged in transportation and trad
ing in Seattle while on the West
Coast.
P.O. Favors Use of
Throwaway Paper
Sack For Alaska
WASHINGTON, UP) — The Post
Office Department thinks favor
ably of a throwaway paper sack
it is using to carry mail between
Seattle and Alaska.
Maurice B. Feimster, director of
the department’s division of pro
cedures and systems, recently told
a House appropriations subcom
mittee that results in Alaska with
the bag “have been very good.”
Made of paper with a fiber
glass reinforcement, the bag costs
from 26 to 40 cents each as com
pared with about $3 for a canvas
bag.
. In contrast to the 15-year life
of the canvas bag, however, Feim
ster said the paper version is “a
one-shot job.”
Although it hasn't been found
feasible to try to sell the sacks
or return them to the states for
another movement of mail, the
Post Office official said they are
“worth about 10 cents apiece for
the trans-shipment of broken lots
into the interior of Alaska.
“Stuff arrives at Fairbanks, for
instance, in large lots. Every
thing apparently is very scarce
and expensive up there, and when
it is broken down, the large lots
are broken down into small lots,
they go into the interior, and they
need bags for almost everything.”
Feimster conceded the paper
sack idea wasn’t toe good for dom
estic mail but said it served a
purpose in Alaska where the in
coming mail, particularly parcel
post, is heavier than outgoing
shipments.
One advantage of the bags, he
said, would be saving shipping
space in the event of war by
avoiding the need to return the
old-style canvas bag.
Royal Pair Cause
Women To Faint,
Bobbysoxers To Mob
SYDNEY, Australia, (£1—Queen
Elizabeth II left 150 fainting wo
men in her wake Thursday and
her handsome husband, the Duke
of Edinburgh, had bobbysox trou
ble in another incident of the
royal tour.
The women fainted in a crowd
of excited Australians who broke
police lines in front of a Sydney
restaurant to get a better view
of the Queen as she entered to
lunch with 670 representatives of
women’s organizations. They were
treated by ambulance crews.
Teenage girl students staged a
junior mob scene during the
Duke’s visit to Sydney University.
Blowing kisses and screaming,
they surged through barriers and
darted up for a close look. Genial
Philip, officially on hand to con
fer with various educators there,
grinned at them. Then police,hus
tled the girls back into the crowd.
Federal Reserve
Board Lowers
Discount Rate
WASHINGTON, —'The Fed
eral Reserve Board applied a psy
chological spur to business by
slashing its discount rate today
in five sections of the nation.
The board’s action made it
easier for banks to obtain funds
for lending to busines and the
public. But since most banks were
already well supplied with lend
ing funds, the Reserve Board’s
move appeared to be a bit of
psychological warfare on business
slump talk.
The discount rate was lowered
from 2 to l3/4 per cent in the
New York, Boston, Philadelphia,’
St. Louis and San Francisco dis
tricts.
This discount rate is the interest
l'ate at which federal reserve
member banks—comprising most
of the nations’ commercial banks,
can borrow from the Federal Re
serve System.
Banks borrow from the reserve
system when they need extra
funds to meet the demand for
loans. A low discount rate en
courages banks to borrow in order
to make commercial or personal
loans, thereby helping to keep
business rolling at a fast clip.
However, lowering the discount
rate does not automatically in
crease the flow of credit. It does,
only if business and the public
request credit from banks, and if
banks whose reserves are low are
willing to borrow from the re
serve system to meet the demand.
U.S, Beefing Up Atomic
Artillery Strength On
European Defense Line
WASHINGTON, UP) — The
United States, which already has
atom bomber planes in Europe
and is preparing to send nuclear
guided missile units there, is beef
ing up its atomic arti’lery strength
on the Western European defense
line.
Another six - gun unit of 280
millimeter cannon will go to Ger
many in the next three months,
the Army disclosed yesterday.
The first battalion of atomic
guns were sent there last fall.
Since then, it is now learned, an
undisclosed number of atomic can
non were quietly shipped to U.S.
forces in Germany.
An Army spokesman said yes
terday that the next unit to go
will be the 264th Field Artillery
Battalion, which like the others
was trained and equipped for
atomic warfare at the Army’s ar
tillery center, Ft. Sill, Okla.
The bomber planes, missiles and
artillery represent a new atomic
firepower for the American forces
guarding the frontier of free Eu
rope that exceeds by thousands of
times the explosive power of their
conventional arms.
Delegate Bartlett Expresses
Cautious Optimism on Prospects
Of Alaska Statehood In Senate
WASHINGTON, UR — The pro
posed state of Alaska would be
given the right to take over exist
ing federal coal reserves and to
claim lands now under oil and
gas leases under a statehood bill
approved by the Senate Interior
Committee, it was learned today.
The provisions for such mineral
rights were among five changes
approved by the committee yes
terday when it voted to send the
Alaska statehood legislation to the
Senate for consideration. Word
ing of the changes is now being
worked out.
Chairman Cordon of the Terri
tories subcommittee declined yes
terday to go into detail on the
amendments to the bill.
However, a source, who asked
not to be identified, said the pro
visions were the basis for asser
tions by committee members that
the present Alaska bill has been
liberalized and represents a “tre
mendous improvement” over ear
lier versions.
4 Disobedient Adventists
Sentenced By Army
To Six Months Hard Labor
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Four Sev
enth Day Adventist servicemen
were convicted yesterday of wil
ful disobedience for refusing duty
on their sabbath and were sen
tenced to six months at hard labor
by a special army court martial at
Ft. Richardson.
The charges against the four
who had refused to take part in
a practice alert on Saturday had
been reduced from an original one
of mutiny. The sentence imposed
was the maximum possible. If
they Had been tried for mutiny,
the possible sentences included
death.
In addition to the hard labor
sentence, each of the men was
ordered to forfeit $30 monthly for
six months. The time is to 'be
served in the post stockade here.
The men are Privates Numan V.
Haffner, Harrisburg, Ore.; Robert
L. Nelson, Chicago; Harold L.
Massey, Salem, Ore.; and Richard
E. Spencer, New Orleans.
The military court consisted of
six officers who / took only 23
minutes to reach a verdict after a
trial that lasted an hour and a
half.
Each of the defendants told the
court that previous Saturdays had
been given them off in order to
observe their sabbath. All nor
mally were assigned regular
duties on Sundays.
The soldiers were represented
by Capt. James Harvey, assisted
by R. L. Benton, Los Angeles, and
G. W. Chambers, Washington,
D.C. The latter two were repre
sentatives of the Seventh Day Ad
ventist Church.
WASHINGTON, UP) — Alaska’s
delegate to Congress expressed
“cautious optimism” today about
future prospects for the commit
tee approved bill to give the terri
tory statehood.
Delegate Bartlett said he felt
“extreme gratification” after the
Senate Interior Committee okayed
the bill by a 14-1 vote yesterday,
but he commented:
“I have a feeling of very cau
tious optimism as to what will
happen next. Until the adminis
tration itself endorses Alaska, the
road will be hard.”
President Eisenhower never has
asked Congress to pass the Alaska
bill, although he twice has urged
such action for Hawaii.
The Senate committee voted
12-3 in favor of statehood for
Hawaii last week. Efforts to com
bine the two bills are expected
when they reach the Senate floor.
Sen. Butler, Interior Committee
chairman, told the Senate a “min
ority” of the committee members
had reserved the right to oppose
the Alaska bill in the Senate.
Sen. Long (D-La), the only Sen
ator to vote against the Alaska
bill in committee, told a reporter
“I simply don’t think the terri
tory is sufficiently developed to
warrant statehood.”
He added that he understands
some who voted to report the
bill to the Senate plan to oppose
it when debate starts.
Major provisions of the bill as
okayed by the committee would
give Alaska one representative
and two senators in Congress, per
mit it to claim 103,350,000 acres
of land within its boundaries, and
provide grants totaling 93 million
dollars for road construction,
maintenance, harbor improve
ments and land surveys.
1953 Accident Toll
Three Times More
Than Lost in Korea
CHICAGO, UPV—This is the tre
mendous price the nation paid for
accidents in 1953:
Killed: 95,000. Injured: 9,600,
000. The cost: $9,100,000,000.
The bill was added up Thursday
by the National Safety Council.
It noted that the 1953 accident
death toll was 1,000 below the
1952 total. But it also noted that
it was more than three times as
great as the toll of American dead
during the entire Korean War.
The motor vehicle held its place
as the No. 1 accident killer. Traffic
deaths numbered 38,300. That was
a gain of 300, or one percent over
1952.
The traffic total was the third
largest in history, exceeded only
in 1937 and 1941.
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