™s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LXI No. 46 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1959 Per Copy—15*
Unanimous Vote Confirms Governor’s
Choices for Four Top Department Jobs
JUNEAU, i>P* — Nominees to
four top-ranking state positions
were among those confirmed late
yesterday by a joint session of
Alaska’s first State Legislature.
By a unanimous voice vote the
House and Senate jointly con
firmed the appointments of John
Rader, 32, Anchorage, as Attorney
General and, Richard A. Downing,
43, Fairbanks, as Commissioner of
'Public Works and Highways. Lew
is Dischner, 41, Fairbanks, was
confirmed as Alaska Commissioner
of Labor, and Phil Holdsworth,
48, Juneau, as Commissioner of
'Natural Resources.
Attorney General
Rader, a young attorney who
managed Gov. William A. Egan’s
successful campaign last Novem
ber, succeeds J. Gerald Williams
to the $17,000-a-year position.
Rader set up private practice
in Anchorage in 1951. He will
probably take over his new duties
early next month. Rader was
elected to the Alaska State House
of Representatives last fall.
Highway Commissioner
Downing, a Fairbanks construc
tion engineer, will take office ini
tially as Commissioner of the ex
isting Alaska Highways and Pub
lic Works Department. He will as
sume his duties in the new office
after it is established under the
state reorganization act. It pays
$17,000 annually.
Downing, a native of Cordova,
is a 1941 graduate of the Univer
sity of Alaska.
Commissioner of Labor
Dischner is president of the
Alaska Federation of Carpenters,
business manager of the union’s
Fairbanks local and vice president
of the State Federation of Labor.
He also is chairman of the Cen
tral District Democratic Com
mittee.
At an annual salary of $15,000,
Dischner will head the new De
partment of Labor, which includes
the Alaska Employment Security
Commission. He was nominated
for the job by acting Governor
Wade.
Dischner came to Alaska in
1950. He was superintendent of the
Chris Berg Construction Co. at
Fairbanks before entering organ
ized union work in 1954.
Natural Resources
Holdsworth, a mining engineer
and current Commissioner of
Mines for the state, is expected
to play a key role in the depart
ment of Alaska’s oil arid gas lands.
He is considered a top authority
on mineral leasing problems.
He has been mines commissioner
since 1952. In the reorganized
state government, the mining de
partment will be combined with
the natural resources agency.
A graduate of the University of
Washington, Holdsworth will re
ceive $17,000 a year.
Nixon Will Visit
Moscow to Pave
Wav to4Agreement'
By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
WASHINGTON, (jR—Vice Pres
ident Nixon will visit Moscow in
late July. His expected talks with
high Soviet officials may h,elp to
set the stage for a summit con
ference.
His designation by President
Eisenhower to make the trip also
could promote Nixon’s chances for
the Republican Presidential nom
ination next year.
A White House announcement
at Augusta, Ga., said Nixon will
make the trip to open an Amer
ican exhibition in Moscow July
25. No other details were given
but diplomatic officials were sure
he would meet with Premier
Khrushchev.
The six-week exhibition is de
signed to show Soviet citizens
how to develop broad understand
ing between the American and So
viet peoples—“The kind of mutual
understanding upon which our
peaceful future lepends.”
If Nixon demonstrates a capa
city to deal effectively with Soviet
leaders it could give him a boost
in his unannounced quest for the
Presidency in 1960. At a minimum
it will focus attention on him in
the months leading up to selection
of the Republican nominee.
Internationally, the trip means a
new round of high-level contacts,
following up the January visit
here of Soviet Deputy Premier
Mikoyan.
Presumably one of Nixon’s pur
poses will be to demonstrate to
the Soviet peoples a friendly
American interest in them. He is
expected to emphasize a United
States desire for better relations.
Nixon now plans to remain in
Moscow three or four days.
C.A.B. Examiner Asks
Denial of Tokyo Flight
To British Airline
WASHINGTON, UP) — A Civil
Aeronautics Board examiner to
day recommended denial of the
British Overseas Airways Corp.
request for permission to add
Tokyo to its route across the
Pacific.
Examiner Ferdinand Moran told
the board the “public interest con
siderations” require the denial. He
recommended that BOAC should
be authorized instead to operate
across the Pacific by way of Hono
lulu and Wake Island rather than
through Tokyo.
The CAB now must pass on the
recommendation and forward it
findings to President Eisenhower
who will finally settle the case.
The British line now operates
from London to Hong Kong by
way of New York and San Fran
cisco. Under a U. S.-British air
agreement, BOAC asked the CAB
for permission to include Tokyo
on the schedule.
Northwest Airlines, which al
ready serves Tokyo, opposed the
request. It said BOAC has no
right to fly the Pacific into Tokyo
under the Anglo-American air
pact and thus gain access to “an
enormous traffic plum.”
Northwest argued that the pub
lic interest of the United States
demands rejection of the British
bid. Tokyo traffic across the Pa
cific, it said, properly belongs to
American carriers.
BOAC now reaches Tokyo by
way of the Middle East.
WEATHER FORECAST
Fair and cooler with winds 10
to 20 m.p.h. Low tonight -15, high
tomorrow 10. Sunrise at 4:21 a.m.,
sunset at 7:34 p.m.
Temperature at Nenana, 8.
LEGISLATORS DISPERSE AS 81
DAYS OF HISTORIC SESSION ENDS
Appointments Confirmed by Joint Body
Mark Finale of 1959 Alaska Legislature
JUNEAU, UP> — Confirmation
of an extensive list of adminis
tration appointees to government
boards and councils was the last
major piece of business last night
for the first session of Alaska’s
Legislature.
In a joint meeting of the House
and Senate, the lawmakers con
firmed acting Governor Hugh
Wade’s appointments to the State
Board of Education, Alaska Ju
dicial Council, State Alcoholic
Beverage Control Board, State
Hospital Advisory Council and
the Employment Security Advisory
Council.
Here is* a list of the appoint
ments confirmed by the Legis
lature:
Stale Board of Education: Hunt
Gruening, Juneau, and Robert
Baldwin, Nome, for terms ending
January 31, 1960; William G. Mor
an, Ketchikan, and Mrs. S. J.
Buckalew Jr., Anchorage, for
terms ending January 31, 1961, and
George E. Smith, Palmer, and
William V. Boggess, Fairbanks,
for terms ending January 31, 1962.
Judicial Council: Lay members
— Dr. William Whitehead, Ju
neau; Roy Walker, Nome, and J.
H. Werner, Sew^d, all for six
year terms.
State Alcoholic Beverage Con
trol Board: Ernest Parson, Ju
neau, for a term ending January
31, 1960; Bill Ray, Juneau, for a
term ending January 31, 1961, and
William Boehl, mayor of Douglas,
for a term ending January 31,
1962. The three new members of
U. S. Air Force To Search
Arctic Norway Islands for
Capsule from Discoverer IF
BODOE AIR BASE, Northern
Norway, UP) — A small fleet of
U. S. Air Force planes was ex
pected to start an Arctic search
today for the space capsule ejec
ted from the satellite Discoverer II.
Lt. Col. Ebbesen of the Nor
wegian Air Force said the hunt
would concentrate on the sea and
ice around the Spitsbergen archi
pelago 400 miles'north of Norway.
Military authorities refused to
let newsmen talk to the crews
of the American planes arriving at
this Norwegian base beyond the
Arctic Circle. They came from
U. S. bases in Germany and Bri
tain.
Informed sources at the World
Congress of Flight in Las Vegas,
Nev., said the capsule apparently
landed off a Norwegian island in
the Arctic — presumably Spits
bergen. The capsule was supposed
to float.
Discoverer II, launched Monday
from California, ejected the cap
sule Tuesday. Original plans to
catch the cone in the air over the
Hawaiian Islands failed.
MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL SCORES
American League
Baltimore 7, New York 4.
Kansas City 6, Chicago 0.
Washington 7, Boston 5.
National League
Los Angeles 7, St. Louis 6.
Milwaukee 7, Philadelphia 3.
Chicago 11, San Francisco 5.
the board will replace the five
man board of state officials who
previously had served on the
Alaska Liquor Control Board.
State Hospital Advisory Coun
cil: Mrs. George Bayer, Nome, for
a term ending January 31, 1960;
Lee Johnson, Valdez, for a term
ending January 31, 1961; Mrs.
Erma McFarland, Anchorage, for
a term ending January 31, 1962;
Dr. Arthur Schaible, Fairbanks,
for -a term ending January 31,
1964.
Employment Security Advisory
Council, which serves in an advis
ory capacity to the Employment
Security Commission: Jack Bul
lock, Kotzebue, employers’ rep
resentative, for a term ending
January 31, 1960; Joel D. Wiegert,
Fairbanks, employers’ represen
tative, for a term ending January
31, 1961; James Campbell, Ketchi
kan, employers’ representative for
a term ending January 31, 1962;
George Discher, representative of
general public, for a term ending
January 31, 1963; and Mrs. Lorena
Showers, Anchorage, employes’
representative, for a term ending
January 31, 1964.
State Fish & Game Board
Appointments Made In
Legislature’s Last Acttion
JUNEAU, (jD — Vacancies filled
on the new eight-member State
Board of Fish and Game were the
last appointments made when -the
Legislature adjourned yesterday.
Arthur Hayr, Fairbanks, will
head the board that will replace
the present Fish and Game Com
mission of which Hayr is chair
man.
Hayr and Erling Strand, Peters
burg, were appointed for terms
ending January 31, 1963.
Other appointments and expira
tion of terms were:
Arnold Brower, Point Barrow,
and Richard Jansen Jr., Cordova,
to January 31, 1962.
Dan Ross, Anchorage, and Roy
Selfridge, Ketchikan, to January
31. 1961.
Oscar Dyson, Kodiak, and Rob
ert I. Martin, Naknek, to Jan
uary 31, 1960.
First Load of Bering Sea
Halibut Reaches Seattle
SEATTLE, UP) — The first boat
of Seattle's halibut fishing fleet
returned Thursday from the Ber
ing Sea with a catch valued at
about $16,000.
Adolph Samuelson, skipper of
the 72-foot schooner Eclipse, said
his heavy catch was taken in five
days.
The Eclipse was one of a fleet
of about 24 Seattle and Canadian
fishing boats which took advantage
of a special halibut fishing season
in the Bering Sea which began
April 1.
His boat was in about the same
area as the Soviet fishing fleet in
the Bering Sea. None of the Rus
sian craft were sighted, however,
he added.
The regular halibut season be
gins May 1 in an extensive area
south of the Shumagin Islands,
south of the Alaska Peninsula.
JUNEAU, Oft — The first legis
lative session in the 3t4-month-old
State of Alaska ended last night.
The 60 lawmakers, after 81 days
in session, adjourned until next
January, when they will convene
again to assess the efforts of their
first meeting.
Into the still thin history of
what will remain the nation’s new
est state until the formal admis
sion of Hawaii, the Alaska law
makers wrote:
A 3114 million dollar spending
program for the next fiscal year,
including 314 million dollars for
highways and a balanced 2714
million dollar general expense ap
propriation.
The highway money comes out
of a special highway fund not in
cluded in the general expense ap
propriation. The remainder of the
money comes from special but
dedicated funds.
A powerful executive-type state
government, with 12 appointed
department heads operating di
rectly under the elected Governor.
Into the dozen cabinet-level de
partments went more than 100
assorted boards, commissions and
agencies that existed in defunct
territorial times.
A controversial and still un
signed proposal to cure the state’*
ailing jobless insurance fund that
will apply a tax on total wages
paid by employers and collected
by workers covered under the em
ployment security program.
Stiff ESC Tax
There were no new general tax
laws enacted as such.
However, opponents of the em
ployment security proposal, con
tended the open end provisons
amounted to a stiff tax that Alas
ka’s industries could not bear.
Under present law, employers
pay a 2.7 per cent jobless insur
ance tax on wages paid up to
$4,200 a year. Employes pay a
one-half of one per cent levy on
all wages they earn up to the •
$4,200 ceiling.
Starting next year, if the ESC
bill is sighed into law in the next
two weeks, the employer tax
would be placed on a variable
scale, with the average levy ex
pected to run about 2.8 per cent of
total wages paid.
The proposal is designed to re
place a two million dollar annual
operating deficit in the unemploy
ment fund with a $400,000 yearly
surplus — and at the same time
provide enough money to pay off
an eight million dollar loan from
the federal government that has
been needed to keep the fund
afloat.
Courts, Fish Ic Game
In other action, the Legislatures
created the framework of a state
court system and made prepara
tions for Alaska to assume control
of its great fish and game re
sources next January 1.
The court system, from a state
supreme court down to local mag
istrate courts, is ready to go into
operation this year if necessary,
but could be delayed as long as
three years.
The fish and game resource con
trol may be tested in court by the
state, in an effort to get jurisdic
tion beore the .irst o the year.
If so, the Legislature enacted le
gislation to provide full manage
ment of both sports and commer
(Continued on Page Four)