m NOME NUGGET
_ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV NO. 54 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1953Per Copy—15^
Tour Agents Will
Be Guests of NVA
At Dinner Tonight
A group of travel agency repre
. sentatives from Washington, Oi*e
gon and California are guests of
the city today. They arrived this
afternoon by Wien Aii'lines plane
from Fairbanks by way of Kotze
bue and Wales.
A special program, under the
sponsorship of the Nome Visitors
Association, has been planned for
the day and evening to show the
agents what this part of Alaska
has to offer the tourist to whom
they sell travel tickets. Ten of
the guests wall be at the Polaris
Hotel and ten at the Wallace
Hotel, with luncheon planned at
the Polaris, dinner at the Bering
Sea Club and breakfast tomorrow
at the North Star Grill.
A bus ride covering historical
points and mining centers with a
lecture throughout the tour has
been planned for about 2 o’clock
this afternoon.
The dinner reservations include
businessmen and other interested
citizens. An excellent program
has been planned starting at 7
o’clock with Boyd Harwood as
toastmaster. Dan Jones, council
man, will give a short talk on
local history and mining and Bob
Curtis of Alaska Airlines will
tell what bush flying means to the
(Continued on Page Six)
House Committee
Raps CAA For
Poor Planning
WASHINGTON, (JPi—The House
Appropriations Committee accus
es the Civil Aeronautics Adminis
tration of “either poor planning
and management or a deliberate
attempt to thwart the action of
Congress” in connection with
building of airports at Anchorage
and Fairbanks.
The committee so reported in
eliminating $600,000 from the
agency’s budget for operation of
the two airports in the 12 months
beginning July 1. The committee
cut the amount to $500,000 and
the House went along with this
figure in passing the Commerce
Dept, appropriation bill yester
day.
Specifically deleted in the
$600,000 cut was $416,000 asked
for extension of water and sewer
systems at the two airports.
The committee said that of 17
million dollars appropriated for
the two airports to date, $1,782,526
has been spent on the Anchorage
terminal building and $165,145 for
sewer and water systems there.
At Fairbanks $777,526 is being
spent on the terminal building
and only $17,041 for sewer and
water systems.
“It is to be noted,” the commit
tee said, “that the funds being
spent for the terminal buildings
at both airports are considerably
in excess of those set forth in the
justifications to the committee
when the construction funds were
requested and that funds for the
sewer and water systems are less
than the amount justified before
the committee at that time.”
Reds Ignore Allied
Nomination of Pakistan
Neutral Custodian POWs
PANMUNJOM, (jPI — A U.N.
truce negotiator today said “zero”
progress had been made toward a
Korean armistice after the Reds
.rejected a proposal to free North
Korean prisoners who refuse to
go home after a truce is signed.
The Reds again ignored the Al
lied nomination of Pakistan as
neutral custodian of 48,500 prison
ers who refuse to return to their
Communist homelands.
Instead, Gen. Nam II charged
the Allied proposal was “void of
reason” and “unworthy of refuta
tion.” He reiterated the Red de
mand that balking captives be
shipped to a neutral nation and
that the functions of the neutral
be ironed out before deciding
anything else.
Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison
suggested that the 32,000 North
Koreans be freed immediately
after a truce is signed and that
they be given civilian status so
they could settle anywhere in
Korea.
Limited Protection To
Newsmen Sources
WASHINGTON, UP) — A bill to
give newsmen limited protection
for their information sources in
federal cases today was assured
consideration by the House Judi
ciary Committee.
The bill would exempt report
ers from being required to reveal
their news sources generally in
federal courts, before federal
grand juries or to congressional
committees. It would apply to
those actually gathering news for
publications, news services, radio
and television broadcasts.
However, it would provide for
exceptions to the protection when
ever a federal court rules that dis
closure of sources “is necessary
in the interests of national secur
ity, or to avoid the concealment
of a crime, or to enable the de
fendant to make his defense.”
Defense Dept. To
Suspend Work On
Atomic Engines
WASHINGTON, (#) — The
Washington Post said today the
Defense Department has decided
to suspend its projects for devel
opment of atomic powered air
planes and aircraft carriers.
Precise reasons for the decision
were not clear, the story said,
mentioning that 10 to 12 million
dollars already has been spent on
the effort.
But defense officials were
quoted as saying in private con
versations that the action is in
line with general economy moves
and the over - all program of
stretching out the time for reach
ing full re-armament goals.
Thus, the officials said, the
start on an aircraft carrier with
atomic power, once scheduled for
the fiscal year 1955, might be put
off for a couple of years but not
abandoned.
The Post suggested, however,
that a different reason seems to
have been hinted by Roger M.
Kyes, deputy secretary of de
fense, in closed-door testimony to
the Senate-House Atomic Energy
Committee last week.
The story said Kyes is reported
to have told the committee the
development of atomic aircraft
and naval vessels would go fast
er if there were more and freer
participation by private industry,
and that whatever time is lost in
suspending the projects now
would be made up later by more
vigorous operations by free enter
prise. '
This was taken as a suggestion
from Kyes that the basic atomic
energy law should be amended to
allow participation by private in
dustry under less strict condi
tions.
TRAVELING TRAVELERS. Pacific Coast travel agents
research Alaska for tourist information. Front row reading
down: Dora Weiner, Santa Ana, Calif.; Nadine Boyinglon,
Burbank, Calif.; Wilmer Snyder, Huntington Park (L.A.),
Calif.; Frances Smithers, Portland, Ore.; Julianne Hyde,
Santa Ana. Calif. Back row: Bob Vernon, Western Air
Lines, Los Angeles; Bob Bronson, Eugene, Ore.; Eric Draper,
San Diego, Calif.; Merritt Greene, San Jose, Calif.; Virginia
Pattison, Olympia, Wash.; Don Churchward, Alaska Air
lines, Portland, Ore. In parkas: Charles B. West, Seattle;
Larry Hopkins, Oakland, Calif.
■McKay Requested Make
Further Study Eklutna
Hydroelectric Project
WASHINGTON, UP)—1The House
Interior Committee wants Interior
Secretary McKay to make further
study of the Eklutna hydroelectric
project near Anchorage.
In a letter made public by the
committee, Chairman Miller told
McKay the Territories subcom
mittee does not wish to proceed
with further hearings on legisla
tion to increase the authorized
appropriation for Eklutna until
the secretary has reviewed cer
tain problems concerning the in
crease and supplied the commit
tee with additional information.
The Eklutna project was author
ized two years ago at an esti
mated cost of $20,365,000. Current
estimates run $35,300,000. Interior
spokesmen have said that changes
in design as well as increased
costs are responsible for the boost
ed estimates.
Only One Lode Mine
In Alaska Still
Producing Gold
JUNEAU, UP — Lode mining,
once a fairly important part of
the gold industry in Alaska, has
slipped to the point where only
one lode mine is operating pri
marily for gold in the territory
today, reports Phil R. Holdsworth,
Territorial Mines Commissioner.
Holdsworth, who just returned
from an all-Alaska tour of mining
operations, reported that all other
hardrock mines in the territory
are producing other ores, mostly
for metals considered strategic in
the U.S. defense program.
The sole remaining gold lode
operation is the Creighton Mine,
located with a mill, on Pedro
Dome near Fairbanks, Holdsworth
said.
Alaska’s current gold produc
tion, he reported, comes princi
pally from 199 placer outfits
which range in size from giant
dredges down to shovel and sluice
box ventures.
(Lode minfhg, or extraction of
gold from deep in the rock, has
become increasingly expensive in
recent years because of the ex
tensive and costly equipment
needed, which must be shipped
from the states. About 40 per cent
of Alaska’s gold was produced by
this method from 1919 to 1940 but
it had slipped to one per cent
in 1947, gold reports show.)
Strangler Christie Pleads
Innocent in Old Bailey
LONDON, UP — John Christie,
55 - year - old owl - eyed trucking
clerk, pleaded innocent Wednes
day to charges of murdering four
women in his shabby back-street
London apartment.
Christie was arrested March 31
after a nation - wide manhunt
touched off by discovery of three
bodies in the walled up alcove of
his kitchen. Later the body of his
wife, Ethel, was found beneath
the floorboards. He is charged
with the murder of the four. Re
mains of two other women were
found in a garden behind the
house.
Christie will be tried at Lon
don’s famous Old Bailey court
house.
Adm. Gives Private
Industry Go-Ahead
On Power Sites
WASHINGTON, UP)—1The Eisen
hower administration has decided
to sidetrack public in favor of
private development of' a big
western water project and con
gressional reaction ranges from
approval to “turn the rascals out.”
Secretary of the Interior Mc
Kay, making the announcement
yesterday, said the administration
will allow private enterprise to
develop hydroelectric power
wherever passible so long as it
does not interfere with “proper
development of natural re
sources.”
McKay told a news conference
he has decided to set aside, at
least for the present, plans for
a 560-million-dollar federal dam
at Hell’s Canyon along the Ore
gon - Idaho border. The depart
ment, he said, will no longer op
pose a substitute proposal by the
privately owned Idaho Power Co.
to build for 23 million dollars the *
first of three dams on the Snake
River in the same area.
Asked if he was considering
abandoning the idea of a federal
project at Hell’s Canyon, he re
plied, “Could be.”
But Sen. Morse (Ind-Ore) inter
preted the decision as “further
proof” of his contention that “the
Eisenhower administration would
be a tool of American monopolies.”
“Never was it more appropriate
to say that in the next election
the people Should ‘turn the rascals
out’,” he declared.
Sen. Jackson (D - Wash) said
the department had “abdicated
its responsibility” for developing
“a multi - purpose project involv
ing matters directly under the
jurisdiction of the Department of
the Interior-, to wit: irrigation and
power . . . the people of the
Northwest are not interested in
fence sitters when we are faced
with the most critical power
shortage in our history.”
Sen. Magnuson (D-Wash) said
the site “belongs to all the people
and it is the duty of the Depart
ment of the Interior to represent
the people’s rights.”
Senate Bill To Give States
Title to Off-Shore Lands
May Pass House Soon
WASHINGTON, UR—!The bill td
give the states title td oil-laden
submerged lands off their shores,
debated in the Senate for more
than a month may pick up marked
speed and wind up within a few
days on the desk of President
Eisenhower, who has indicated he
will sign it.
The measure which the Senate
passed 56-35 late yesterday, after
an acrimonious debate which
started April 1, differs in one
major respect and some minor
ones from the measure approved
earlier by the House.
But effbrts were being made to
persuade the House Republican
leadership that the best course
would be for the House to accept
the Senate version, rather than
risk a new Senate talkfest over a
' compromise.