OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 15 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1954 Per Copy—15<f
Eisenhower Names
Walter H. Hodge
2nd Division Judge
WASHINGTON, UP>—President
Eisenhower Tuesday nominated
Walter H. Hodge to be U.S. dis
trict judge for the Second Division
of Alaska at Nome.
He would succeed Judge Joseph
W. Kehoe, who resigned in 1952.
Hodge is a resident of Cordova,
Alaska. He is a native of Auburn,
Indiana.
Hodge has been practicing law
in Cordova. From 1926 to 1929 he
was assistant U.S. attorney for
the Third Division of Alaska.
Turbo-Prop Globemaster
With 00% More Power
Makes Maiden Flight
LONG BEACH, Calif., UP) —
Douglas Aircraft Co. announced
today that a giant troop carrying
plane — a combination propellor
and jet driven transport — has
completed its maiden flight suc
cessfully.
The company said the plane, a
development of the Douglas
Globemaster, was taken up yes
terday by Frank Boyer, a com
pany test pilot.
The* 200-passenger air giant is
powered by four turbo-prop en
gines. This engine is a gas turbine
which spins a conventional pro
pellor and also delivers some jet
thrust. Douglas said the distribu
tion of power is approximately
80 per cent propellor and 20 per
cent jet.
John C. Buckwalter, chief en
gineer of the Long Beach Douglas
division, said the plane, known as
the TC-124B, has 60 per cent more
horsepowe-r than the conventional
piston - powered Globemaster,
which presently is the largest
transport in military service. The
announcement said the dimen
sions of the new plane are ap
proximately the same as those of
the Globemaster but that it was
necessary to increase the strength
of the basic structure to take ad
vantage of the increased power.
Molotov Looses Another
Tirade At West In Berlin
BERLIN, CP)—A new Soviet at
tack on Ihe West’s plans for a
European army embroiled the Big
Four conference today in another
session of words.
Russia’s V. M. Molotov, open
ing the foreign minister’s ninth
meeting in Berlin, loosed a tirade
at the West for espousing a Ger
many that woud be a partner in
a European defense community.
Molotov declared the United
States and Britain are “the mid
wives of the European army”—•
an army Moscow appears to dread
even though it would be purely
defensive in character.
This was Molotov’s day to make
another try at imposing the So
viet idea of a united Germany, an
effort he must know by now is
useless. He had contrived a plan
for “free elections” and presum
ably laid it before the conference,
without much hope of it accom
plishing anything more than a bit
of home front propaganda behind
the iron curtain.
House to Debate Bill
Authorizing U.S.-Canada
Build St.Lawrence Seaway
WASHINGTON, (IP)—The House
Public Works Committee today
approved a Senate - passed bill
authorizing the United States to
join with Canada in building' the
, St. Lawrence Seaway.
The measure, lightly amended
from the form in which it passed
the Senate on Jan. 20, now goes
to the House Rules Committee.
The latter group will' decide if
and when the bill is to be sent
to the House for debate.
The bill, as passed by the Sen
ate, would authorize a St. Law
rence Development Corn, to issue
105 million dollars in bonds to
the U.S. Treasury to finance this
country’s share of the construc
tion.
The House Committee amend
ed the financing provision by pro
viding that the corporation issue
revenue bonds in the same
amount to the treasury. They
would be amortized by imposition
of tolls on ships using the 27
foot deep Atlantic-to-Great Lakes
waterway.
ANY CANDIDATES SEE
THEIR SHADOWS ON
GROUND - HOG DAY?
JUNEAU, UP) — By coincidence
(or did some one plan it that
way?) the long list of candidates
for territorial offices came out on
Ground-Hog Day.
How many of them, a political
quipster asked, do you suppose
saw their shadows?
Mrs. McCarthy
Selected Nome
Mother of the Year
Mrs. W. B. McCarthy was unan
imously chosen as mother of the
year for Nome by the members
of the Home Arts Club. Her name
will be turned in to the territorial
committee of the Golden Rule
Foundation to be entered as a
candidate for the Alaska Mother
for 1954.
Mrs. McCarthy is well known
here, as she has been a resident
for many years as well as a pri
mary grades teacher in Nome
School. She was retired more than
a year ago.
One of the requirements for the
Mother of the Year candidate is
that all her children must be over
15 years of age and that they
must have proved themselves good
citizens. Another requirement is
that the candidate must be active
in civic work as well as in her
church.
Mrs. McCarthy has two chil
dren, both sons, who are college
graduates holding responsible po
sitions. The elder son, Paul, is an
engineer with General Motors Co.,
the younger son, Walter, is a pro
minent official with the China
Air Transport Co., stationed in
Bangkok and Tokyo.
Mrs. McCarthy has been a will
ing worker for all worthy causes
in the community over the years,
and has been a teacher in the
Methodist Sunday School for over
20 years. She is at present a mem
ber of the Territorial Welfare
Board.
City Takes Over
Power Company
As Of Today
The city clerk received notice
yesterday from Mayor Steve An
dersen that the agreement with
the Northern Light and Power
Company had been completed.
The City of Nome is taking over
the power as of today with meters
being read for the last time for
the Northern Light and Power
Company.
The new utility board under
which the new utility will operate
will have to be elected. According
to the city clerk this may be de
ferred until the regular municipal
election in April.
America Turns To
Mineral and Power
Potential of North
WHITEHORSE, Y.T., UP)—W. J.
Borrie of Vancouver, president of
the Canadian Chamber of Com
merce, says the need for increased
horsepower energy in the atomic
age has turned the eyes of Amer
ica west and north.
W'est, to the oilfields on the
Canadian prairies; north, to the
vast water power potential for
the development of electrical en
ergy.
Both Canadians and Americans
are interested in the power po
tentials of the north, and in a
speech last night to the White
horse Board of Trade, Borrie
said:
“Knowledge and understanding
in the joint development of nat
ural resources affecting two great
nations—Canada and the United
States — is vital for peace and
prosperity.”
He spoke of the great water
power potential in the Yukon
River district and the search for
(Continued on Page Three)
Air Force Technicians
Aid French In Indochina
WASHINGTON, UP — Some 125
U.S. Air Force technicians are re
ported helping keep attack bomb
ers and transports flying against
Communist guerrillas in Indo
china.
Informed officials who reported
this today emphasized that the
men are far removed from battle
areas and are helping the French
men who fly the planes only in
an advisory capacity.
Regulation of Coffee
Recommended in Senate
WASHINGTON, UP — Govern
ment regulation of trading and
speculation in coffee was recom
mended to the Senate today by its
Agriculture Committee.
A major aim is to head off any
more such skyrocket rises as the
one that has driven retail prices
above a dollar a pound.
Chairman Aiken (R-Vt) said the
committee approved by a unani
mous vote a bill which would di
rect the Commodity Exchange
Authority to monitor future trad
ing in coffee.
The legislation now goes to the
Senate with approval indicated.
Ike Says U.S. Going Through
Period of Economic Adjustment
But Everything Will Be All Right
Eisenhower Makes First
Official Cla»m That U.S.
De+onates Hydrogen Bomb
WASHINGTON, W — President
Eisenhower says the huge 1952
atomic blast in the Pacific was
“the first full scale thermonuclear
explosion in history. It was the
first step in the hydrogen weapon
program of the United States.”
His statement to Congress Tues
day was the first official claim
that the United States got the
jump on Russia with a full-scale
hydrogen explosion. Moscow, an
nouncing a hydrogen explosion
last summer, said then the United
States no longer had a monopoly
in the field.
Secretary of Defense Wilson, j
meanwhile, told a news confer- I
ence he does not regard Russian
talk of its atomic strength as just
bluff, and he added: “I personal
ly wish we could quit rattling the
atomic bomb.”
Asked if in another Korea
type war this country would limit
itself to the use of conventional
weapons, Wilson replied:
“I think it would be hard to
determine the reason why you
shouldn’t use a gun that shoots a
hundred times more powerful
than another gun.”
3 Million Religious
Bathers Trample
Scores in Stampede
NEW DELHI, India, (^—Scores
of Hindus were trampled to death
Wednesday in a frenzied stampede
of religious bathers into the holy
waters at the joining of the Gan
ges and Jumna rivers, near Alla
habad.
Unofficial estimates of the
death toll ranged from 200 to
1,000. Unconfirmed reports said
at least 1,000 were injured.
The vast throng of pilgrims, es
timated at three million strong,
had gathered at the rivers’ con
fluence in eastern India — 350
miles south of New Delhi, in ob
servance of the orthodox Hindu
belief that bathing there during
the Kumbh Mela spared them the
pangs of rebirth into a reincar
nation.
Hindu astrologists had pro
claimed Wednesday’s ceremony as
a 12th Kumbh Mela, the most im
portant religious bathing festival
in 144 years.
Prime Minister Nehru was to
visit the festival Wednesday and
Indian president Rajendra Prasad
had been scheduled to join the
bathers. There were no indica
tions where the two government
leaders were when the stampede
occurred.
More than two million of the
pilgrims had waited all night on
the river banks amid cold rains.
They hoped to bathe during the
first three hours after the day
light eclipsed the new moon, con
sidered by tfye Hindus the most
auspicious time for the ceremony.
WASHINGTON, UPl — President
Eisenhower said today he be
lieves the United States is going
through a period of economic ad
justment but he is confident ev
erything will turn out all right.
A readjustment has always fol
lowed in the wake of defense
emergency, the President told a
news conference.
His administration, he added,
believes the prosperity of a coun
try lies in the prosperity of its
masses, not in the wealth of any
small groups.
His statement followed an ex
pression of opinion by Secretary
of the Treasury Humphrey yes
terday that the country is under
going a “rolling adjustment”
which is nothing to be disturbed
about.
In response to a question, Ei
senhower said he is sticking by
his decision that it will not be
wise to try to raise the minimum
wage of 75 cents an hour at this
time of economic transition.
Roy Scherer of the National
Broadcasting Co., asked for com
ment of what Scherer described
as a feeling in some quarters that
it is practically un-American to
say there is a recession going on.
Eisenhower laughed and then
said this is a free country and
people are entitled to use what
ever language they like.
As for himself, Eisenhower said,
he supposes we have receded from
something since not everything is
at its peak.
In a conference covering a wide
range of subjects, Eisenhower
also:
Declared emphatically that he
will not compromise one bit—one
single word — on the Bricker
treaty power amendment in any
way which would alter the tradi
tional balance of power between
the three branches of government.
Asserted he deplores any spread
of hysterical fear in connection
with America’s possession of at
omic weapons. Big talk and bom
bastic statements are noi the way
to deal with the situation, the
President said, adding that a calm
attitude is the better course.
Confirmed reports the United
States has air technicians in Indo
china, as it has, the Pifesident
added, in many other countries
of the world. The units are entire
ly technical, and are not fighting
units, he said.
Asserted something has to be
done about the cost of butter be
fore that commodity prices itself
out of the market, but he ad
vanced no specific solution to the
problem.
Laughed off an attempt to find
out how he takes his coffee —•
whether with cream, sugar or
black—but added that he is a
great lover of the beverage, as ‘
most soldiers are.
He repeated he is most inter
ested in getting the price of cofLe
reduced.