s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXI No. 138 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1959_Per Copy—15<g
Mass. Senator
Outlines Busy 1960
j
Congress Program
WASHINGTON, UP) — House
Democratic Leader John W. Mc
Cormack of Massachusetts today
outlined a heavy and controver
sial program which he said Con
gress should consider next year.
He also predicted that the Dem
ocrats will sweep the 19-60 gen
eral election. He reiterated his
support of Senator John F. Ken
nedy . of Massachusetts for the
Democratic Presidential nomina
tion.
McCormack expressed hope
Congress will adjourn before the
Democratic National Convention
in Los Angeles starting July 11.
Otherwise, he said, there will
have to be a recess until after
the Republican convention later
in July, with a resumption of the
session in August.
As controversial subjects which
he said Congress probably will
consider during the session start
. ing in January, McCormack listed
these;
The usual dozen or more an
nual appropriation bills; exten
sion and financing of the foreign
aid progam; an increase in the
minimum wage, with extension of
coverage; broadening of the civil
rights law; a housing bill; in
creased interest rates on the gov
ernment’s long-term obligations,
tax revision; increased benefits
and wider coverage under the So
cial Security program; aid to
•economically depressed aeas; fed
eral help in construction of com
munity facilities, and “an effec
tive democratic” farm bill.
Stronger Eruption
Building New Cone
In Island Volcano
By HENRY HARTZENBUSCH
HONOLULU, UP» — A new vol
cano cone was born today as
mighty Kilauea Volcano spewed
tons of glowing, molten lava and
steaming rock 1,000 feet into the
air from a week-old fiery vent.
The cone, half-moon in shape,
began to rise around a 150-foot
fissure in the southern wall of
Kilauea Iki crater. It began to
take shape after seven days of
eruption flowed an estimated 10
million cubic yards of lava down
the crater’s gentle inner slope
in a 100-foot wide river.
At ‘the bottom of the crater,
a lake of lava had risen to over
200 feet in depth. And it was
rising at a rate of three feet an
hour.
Seismologists continued to min
imize any threat of an overflow,
saying it would take weeks be
for Kilauea Iki — a mile wide and
equally long — would spill over.
An overflow would not threat
en surrounding farm land or the
few hundred inhabitants of Vol
cano Village, about a mile north
of the erupting crater.
Thousands of spectators were
warned to remain in their cars
while viewing the flaming spec
tacle on Hawaii’s southernmost
island. The warning came after
the unpredictable volcano burst
forth with a tremendous thrust
yesterday, sending its fiery foun
tain 1,150 feet high for a new
record in the history of Hawaii’s
volcanos.
! Alaska Magazine Dealer
Suing Big Supplier
In Antitrust Complaint
SEATTLE, UP)—John M. Ander
son, of Anchorage, testified here
yesterday that he lost an annual
net income of $12,000 because
magazine publishers refused to
sell to him directly.
Anderson’s testimony wound up
the plaintiff’s case in Anderson’s
$540,000 magazine distribution
antitrust suit against the Ameri
can News Co., formerly one of the
nation’s top wholesale distribu
tors of magazines and pocket
books.
Harry Henke Jr., Seattle de
fense attorney, moved for a di
rected verdict, but the motion was
denied by United States District
Court Judge William J. Lindberg.
The trial, being heard by a jury
of ten men and two women, is in
its fourth week. The defense has
indicated its presentation will take
several days.
Anderson, who in 1955 obtained
' military contracts to supply maga
| zines to post exchanges through
out Alaska, contends the publish
i ers and the national distributors
. refused to sell to him because
they were engaged in a combina
! tion to restrain and monopolize
trade.
Florida Resort City Awash
From Heavy Downpours
MIAMI, Fla., UP) — Rain which
poured 11.13 inches of water on
Miami in 30 gusty hours let up
today, but maybe not for long.
The Weather Bureau predicted
further showers.
Yesterday, there was a day
long deluge. Numerous streets
were flooded bumper deep and
some were impassable. Hundreds
of cars drowned out. No residents
had to be evacuated, although
water lapped into many a front
door.
Business in the uptown section
came to a virtual standstill and
no sightseeing buses were seen
hauling tourists who chose to
■spend the day in» dryness and
comfort of their hotels.
Total rainfall for the year here
rose to 85.89 inches — far over
the 75.65 inches that fell all year
in 1948, the previous wettest year
of record.
Nehru Accepts Red Offer
To Discuss Border Quarrel
NEW DELHI, India, (A*)—Prime
Minister Nehru has proposed to
Red China that the disputed area
of Ladakh, in Kashmir, be made
a no man’s land.
The Indian leader accepted
Premier Chou En-Lai’s proposal
that they meet to discuss the
border dispute but declared
there must be detailed advanced
negotiations. Chou had suggested
they meet “in the immediate
future.”
Son of Frank James
Dies in Missouri Town
LIBERTY, Mo., UP! — Robert
Franklin James, only son of the
infamous Frank James, and a
nephew of Jesse, is dead.
The 82-year-old retired fanner
died Wednesday night in a hos
pital here. Cause of his death
was not announced.
He was the only son of Frank
James, chief lieutenant of the
Jesse James gang of train and
bank rctobers who plundered the
Midwest after the Civil War.
Ike Nixes Idea He
Ask Harry on Tour
WASHINGTON, OlC-President
Eisenhower has turned down a
suggestion that he take a top
Democratic leader with him on
his foreign tour next month. \
He said he thought a pre-depar
ture discussion with Congression
al leaders of both parties would
be more useful. He said he has
already proposed such an ar
rangement.
The President stated his views
in a letter to Senator Thomas J.
Dodd (D-Conn). The letter was in
reply to a suggestion Dodd made
last week that one or more Dem
ocrats experienced in interna
tional affairs be invited to make
the trip. He specifically sug
gested former President Harry
S. Truman, among others.
Eisenhower leaves December 3
on a 20,000 mile tour of 11
nations.
Japanese Chemical
Plant Explodes
4Like Earthquake’
By DAY INOSHITA
YOKAHAMA, Japan, Iff) — A
fire in a chemical plant touched
off a series of gigantic explosions
in a heavily populated Yokohama
suburb today. More than 1,400
buildings were destroyed or dam
aged, and 376 persons were in
jured.
There were three confirmed
deaths, and 23 persons listed as
seriously injured.
The death toll would have
been huge, but word of the fire
spread quickly. Before the explo
sions began, most of the workers
within the plant had raced to
cover in caves or behind earth
and concrete bunkers built when
the plant was a Japanese Navy
ammunition depot.
“It was worse than a bombing
— like a gigantic earthquake,”
said one witness.
Windows were shattered for a
mile around. Debris crashed
through the roofs of homes and
business houses. Cut and bleed
ing school children ran scream
ing from nearby classrooms.
Air Force Captain Bails J
Out of Balloon in Greatest
Free Fall Parachute Jump
WHITE SANDS MISSILE
RANGE, N. M., UP> — The Air
Force today disclosed that a 31
year-old Air Force captain this
week made a parachute jump of
15 miles, most of it in free fall.
The Air Force said the jump,
by Captain Joseph Kittinger, was
a record distance for free fall and
the longest parachute jump in
aerial history.
The jump was made Monday
over this southern New Mexico
missile range from a height of
76,400 feet.
That height is also a record,
for man in an open gondola bal
loon, the Air Force said. Kittinger
fell to 12,000 feet in three min
utes before opening his ’chute,
through temperatures as low as
104 degrees below zero.
‘Hold the Phone ! ’
BOSTON, MP) — In this case,
necessity to reach a popular girl
by telephone was the mother of
invention.
The invention is a device which,
without continued operation,
keeps calling a busy telephone
number until the* call gets
through.
The inventor is Vinod Sundra,
a native of New Delhi, India,
now an engineer with Clevite
Transister products, Waltham,
Mass.
He told all about the invention
and demonstrated it at an elec
tronics show in Boston.
Sundra said every time he tried
to reach a certain young lady, a
student at Simmons College, her
line was busy.
So Sundra went to work and
developed a mechanism which
keeps trying the number. When
the connection is made a buzzer
goes off at the caller’s end and
he can pick up his telephone and
begin his conversation.
The mechanism keeps trying
with such frequency that no one
can nip in ahead of it.
The device not only got Sundra
his dates but it gave him his ba
chelor of science in electrical en
gineering thesis at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Solemn Splendor Marks Consecration
Of Catholic Shrine in Nation’s Capitol
WASHINGTON, UO—In solem
nity and splendor, a national
shrine for the 36 million Roman
Catholics in the United States
was 'dedicated today.
While ,3,000 worshippers and
hundreds of richly-robed mem
bers of the church’s hierarchy
bowed silently in its vast interior,
the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception was consecrated to the
Virgin Mary.
Thousands more stood outside
the huge, glistening church, lis
tening to the ceremony over a
loudspeaker. Catholics throughout
the country, for whom the shrine
is meant as a center of devotion,
added their prayers of special
rites in their home parishes.
The shrine is the largest Cath
olic church ever built in the
United States.
A brilliant procession of church
dignitaries, headed by Francis
Cardinal Spellman of New York,
opened the dedication ceremonies.
It took more than half an hour
for the long dine of priests, bish
ops, archbishops and cardinals to
make their stately way down the
aisle to their places in the sanc
tuary.
Pope John XXIII, in a letter
read from the pulpit, hailed the
dedication of the shrine as a day
of joy for Catholics everywhere.
The shrine dominates the north
east section of Washington. It is
on the campus of Catholic Uni
versity, three miles north of the
capitol.
The shrine is a blend of the
Byzantine and Romanesque styles.
From the ground to the top of
its gold-tipped bell tower is 329
feet. The wall behind the altar is
459 feet from the entrance across
50,000 square feet of marble floor.
Pews for 3,000 fill little more than
half the huge interior, the rest
being taken up with the sanc
tuary and altar.
education Deputy
Matthews Resigns
JUNEAU, OP — Howard Mat-'
thews, Deputy State Commis
sioner of Education and one
time head of the Alaska Educa
tion Department, resigned today
effective December 31.
Matthews’ resignation was
submitted in a letter to Robert
Baldwin of Nome, and delivered
at the opening of the State Board
of Education meeting here. His
resignation was made formally
from Matthews’ post as Director
of Vocational Education under
the board, of which Baldwin is
president. *
Matthews, a member of the
department for 4V& years, was
expected to join the staff of the
U. S. Office of - Education after
the first of the year.
In that role, he will be follow
ing Don Dafoe, the former Ter
ritorial School Commissioner,
whom he succeeded as head of the
Education Department last April
when Dafoe resigned to join the
federal agency.
Matthews served as commission
er until October 3, when Gover
nor Egan activated the Education
Department under terms of the
state, reorganization act and ap
pointed Dr. Theo J. Norby as
commissioner.
U. S. Editors See
Newspaper as
Town Conscience
SEATTLE, — “It is the
editorial page that distinguishes
the newspaper from the shopping
guide,” a group of newspapermen
from the Pacific Northwest was
told last night.
Vincent S. Jones, executive
editor of the Gannett newspapers,
addressed a banquet sponsored by
the University of Washington
School of Communications and
the Pacific Northwest Chapter of
Sigma Delta Chi, national jour
nalism fraternity.
“A good newspaper,” he said,
“can be the true conscience of
the community.”
Jones said most newspapers are
becoming “semi-public utilities”
because they have a monopoly in
their areas.
“As in the case of any other
important public service — and as
the TV pedple seem to be just
discovering — that role carries
with it a responsibility,” he
added.
The annual “Green Derby”
award of the School of Communi
cations was presented at the ban
quet to Murlin B. Spencer, chief
of the Seattle Bureau of the As
sociated Press.
Dr. Henry Ladd Smith, director
of the school, said Spencer has
been active for many years in
promoting and encouraging bet
ter journalism in the newspapers
of the Pacific Northwest and
Alaska.
COMPETITION . . .
DENVER, Colo., tPl — Only 44
of the more than 300 delegates
attending the annual convention
of Colorado County Commissioners
heard a speech by Senator Rob
ert S. Kerr (D-Okla) Thursday.
The senator’s subject was water
resources.
His chief competition came
from a cocktail party sponsored
by an implement firm in the sme
hotel.
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