sss NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LVIII No. 6 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1956 Per Copy—15^
Delegates Decide People Will Elect
Governor And Secretary of State
By JIM DOUTHIT 5
FAIRBANKS, UP*—'The future
State of Alaska will elect a secre
tary of state, delegates to the Con
stitutional Convention have de
cided.
A provision calling for election
of a secretary was stricken from
the constiution Friday but dele
gates reversed the action Satur
day.
As finally drafted, the article
provides that candidates for the
office of secretary of state will be
chosen by voters of their respec
tive parties in a primary election
and paired with the party’s can
didate for governor in the general
election.
So far, these are the only two
elective officers in the executive
branch of the proposed Alaska
state government.
Fairbanks delegate Frank Barr
proposed Saturday afternoon that
the attorney general also be an
elected official but the proposal
was voted down 40-12.
Barr announced he had planned
to introduce an amendment call
ing for the election of the com
missioner of labor. He said he be
lieved the people desired several
elected officials in the executive
branch of the government.
After the vote on the attorney
general, Barr told the convention:
“It's clear to me that the con
vention now wants only two elect
ed officials in the executive
branch; therefore I am not going
to waste time with another
amendment.”
During debate on the secretary
of state issue, a majority of dele
gates expressed favor for a
“strong governor” heading the
executive branch in order that
execution of laws be “orderly, ef
ficient and free from party bick
ering.”
Many of the same delegates
were firm in their desire to see no
man in the governor’s chair with
out first facing a vote of the peo
ple. The secretary of state suc
ceeds to the governorship, if the
incumbent dies or otherwise va
cates his office.
10 Children Die
In Train Crash
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, UP>—
Twenty persons, including 10
school children, died Friday in
the crash of a two-coach passen
ger train and a freight train in
central Sweden. Sixteen persons
were injured.
Authorities said the ore-laden
freight ran out of control, appar
ently after a brake failure, and
smashed into the passenger train
near the mining village of Stall
dalen.
Ambulances and rescue work
ers already were on their way to
the scene when the accident oc
curred. They had been alerted by
the Stalldalen station master, who
sounded an alarm after making
a desperate attempt to derail the
freight.
The dead and injured were
found over a distance of 1,000
yards. Many of the victims were
hurled into the deep snow walls
along the rails.
Alaska Railroad
Not Asking For
Federal Aid In ’56
WASHINGTIN, Oft—'The gov
ernment-owned Alaska Railfc>ad
isn’t asking any appropriation for
the year beginning July 1.
Despite declining traffic, the
carrier expects to wind up the
year ending June 30, 1957 with
net income of $1,558,000 and to
reduce its deficit to $7,449,391.
The trend out of the red has
been under way for several years.
On June 30, 1954,, the line had a
deficit of $13,373,386. It cut this
to $10,667,391 the next year and
expects to come up this June 30
with a deficit of $9,007,391.
The railroad received an appro
priation of $4,100,000 for the cur
rent year for its Seward-Portage
line and the Seward dock.
The carrier said reduction in
revenues, resulting primarily
from decreased shipments of con
struction materials and installa
tion of a military petroleum pipe
line, “will not be accompanied by
corresponding reductions in ex
penses and the $2,700,000 net in
come attained in 1955 will not be
maintained, but operating econ
omies will play their part in sus
taining net income of about $1V12
million in 1957. Profits will re
duce the deficit to $7,400,000 at
the end of 1957.”
Admiral Reports
Big Buildup of
Soviet Suh Forces
TAIPEH, Formosa, Uft—Ameri
ca’s top Far Eastern fleet com
mander said today there has been
“an enormous buildup” in Rus
sia’s submarine forces.
Vice Adm. Stuart H. Ingersoll
told a news conference:
“I have a mission to defend
Formosa and the Pescadores Is
lands . . . and I will do it. My
mission is very clear ... I don’t
intend to lose.”
Ingersoll held his first news
conference since he took over
both the U.S. 7th Fleet and the
Tawain (Formosa! Defense Com
mands in December.
He did not specify how much
of the Russian submarine buildup
is in the Pacific.
He said the situation in For
mosa Strait is “very much as it
has been” despite Communist
strength.
Inggrsoll said there are no im
mediate plans to strengthen the
7th Fleet which he called strong
and capable of being built up
“pretty quick” in case of attack.
Ingersoll described Communist
mainland activity opposite For
mosa as “a certain amount of re
grouping and redeployment.” He
said five old airfields have been
put to use.
“I couldn’t classify it as a big
buildup,” he said.
Japanese Patrol Boats
Hunt Floating Russian
Mines In Sea of Japan
TOKYO, W>—The Japan coast
guard today sent four patrol boats
into the Sea of Japan to hunt for
floating Russian mines.
The coast guard said 10 Russian
mines had floated ashore on
Northern Honshu, the main is
land, in the last month and three
had exploded. One blew out all
the windows of a factory a half
mile away.
A coast guard spokesman said
some fishermen have been afraid
to put out to sea for weeks since
the mines, all with Russian let
tering, began appearing.
Across the Sea of Japan from
Honshu are North Korea and the
Soviet maritime provinces.
Eddie Olson and
Passenger Found
OK In Yukon Terr.
FAIRBANKS UV-The pilot and
passenger of one of two planes
missing in Canada’s Yukon Terri
tory were found safe and well by
a bush pilot Saturday.
Then men found were Eddie
Olsen, Anchorage pilot for the
Alaska Freight Lines, and Guy
Rivers, a Freight Line employee.
They had been missing since they
left Eagle, Alaska, last Monday.
Hawley Evans, Fairbanks pilot,
reported he found the pair on the
ice of the Peel River, 70 miles
south of Fort McPherson, Canada.
Evans reported he would fly Riv
ers back to Fairbanks but Olsen
was remaining with the slightly
damaged plane.
Olsen presumably will try to
fly the plane out when repairs are
made.
Still missing in the same region
are Forest Wright and Andy War
wick, both of Fairbanks, who dis
appeared on a Freight Line filght
Dec. 6. An extensive search has
been conducted by Air Force and
bush pilots for both planes.
Fainting Fairbanks
Oldster Gets Front Row
Seat at The Rose Parade
SEATTLE —Thomas H. Quirk,
probably the only man in history
to faint himself right into a front
row seat at Pasadena’s Rose Pa
rade, was a Seattle visitor Sat
urday.
There was a simple reason why
Quirk, 78, fell easy prey to the
88-degr'ee heat and the excite
ment: it was his first time “Out
side” from Fairbanks, Alaska,
since 1917.
“The heat got me,” Quirk said
as he packed for an airplane ride
back to Fairbanks. “The nurses in
a first-aid station made a great
fuss over me. Then they asked me
if I felt well enough to watch the
parade.
“ ‘Sure do,’ I told ’em. ‘Ive
come a mighty long way to see
this thing’.
“So a nurse took me out and
put me in a front seat right in the
press section. It worked out real
well.”
Quirk first went to Alaska in
1902. He went to Fairbanks in
1904 and has made his home there
j since.
Budget Allows $30 Million for Alaska;
New Federal Bldg. For Nome By 1958
Orson Welles Aets
In Wheel Chair
NEW YORK, (j'P)—Actor Orson
Welles says he will try a wheel
chair “King Lear” Saturday night
at New York City’s Center Thea
ter.
Welles suffered “the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune”
(Hamlet) a week ago when he fell
and broke his left ankle. Never
theless he opened Thursday night
in the Shakesperan play with the
ankle in a cast.
After the opening performance,
he stumpled backstage, spraining
his right ankle.
Friday night before the open
ing curtain, Welles was rolled on- [
stage in a wheelchair and asked I
the audience of some 2,000 to
either bear with him as he read
excerpts from the play or ex
change their tickets for a future
performance. About three-fourths i
of the audience stayed.
There will be no matinee to
day, he said, but tonight he’ll
try “King Lear” on wheels.
After his readings, which lasted
about an hour, Welles received a
standing ovation.
* * *
Shelley Winters, star of the
Broadway hit, “Hatful of Rain,”
broke a bone in her right foot
Wednesday while teaching her
three-year-old daughter, Victoria
Gina, to roller skate in Central
Park. Her part is being taken by
her understudy, Christine White,
of Washington, D.C.
By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, UfU-Funds to
start work on the Ketchikan har
bor and increased appropriations
for Alaskan public works and
road construction were asked of
Congress today by President Eis
enhower. He budgeted a total of
$30,265,317 for the territory.
The money would be supple
mented with funds asked for de
fense and other programs which
were not broken down by area.
Although smaller dollar-wise
than the $32,163,998 earmarked in
last year’s budget for Alaska, the
President’s program for the year
beginning July 1 calls for increas
es in a half dozen programs over
what was appropriated by Con
gress for the current year.
He asked '$500,000 to start
work on the $3,670,000 Ketchikan
harbor project. He also included
$393,000 to erect local flood pro
tective works at Gold Creek and
$129,000 for work on the harbor
at Valdez.
Hospital For Kotzebue
Included in a lump sum request
for Indian health facilities, he
said, was an unspecified sum to
build a replacement hospital at
Kotzebue.
The President proposed spend
ing $5,000,000 ($2,000,000 more
than appropriated for the current
year) for Alaskan public works
and he called for a $7,800,000
road construction program. This
is an increase of $1,500,000 over
the present year.
In his message, Eisenhower
(Continued on Page Five)
\
Eisenhower Sends Balanced Budget To
Congress, Predicts 435 Million Surplus
WASHINGTON, UD— President
Eisenhower sent his first balanced
budget to Congress today. It calls
for spending $65,865,000,000 in
the year beginning July 1, an in
crease of more than 1 billion
dollars over this year, mainly for
defense.
Offsetting the upward swing in
spending, the budget predicted an
increase of $1,800,000,000 in reve
nues to a total of $66,300,000,000.
This foreshadowed a surplus of
435 million dollars in fiscal 1957.
The President asked Congress
to forego a tax cut unless the
cut would not interfere with
small debt reductions planned in
the new budget.
The President also predicted
the government would wind up
the current, 1956, fiscal year 230
million dollars in the black. He
said spending of $64,270,000,000
will be more than balanced with
revenues of $64,500,008,000
If the balance predicted for
this year and next are achieved,
it will be the first time since
1947 and 1948 that the govern
ment has operated in the black
two years in succession.
Eisenhower predicted a debt of
$274,300,000,000 on June 30, 1956,
and of $273,800,000,000 at the end
of fiscal 1957 a year later.
The President asked Congress
to “continue” the Treasury’s tern-;
porary authority, expiring June
30, to borrow up to 281 billion
dollars. The debt ceiling will re
vert to 275 billion dollars next
July 1 unless Congress extends
the higher limit.
Eisenhower asked for new ap
propriations amounting to $66,
291,000,000—amost equal to pre
dicted revenues, and 326 millions
higher than planned spending.
The new appropriations request
was the first in three years to be
bigger than spending, and ex
ceeded fiscal 1956 appropriations
by 4V\ billion dollars.
The budget proposes an in
crease next year of virtually 1
billion dollars in direct defense
spending, to a total of $35,547,
000,000, plus an increase in
spending for atomic energy devel
opment and control of 230 million
dollars, to $1,945,000,000.
The massive figures got a mix
ed reception in Congress. By and
large, Republicans tended to
stress the balancing of outgo with
income — something the govern
ment has achieved in only three
years out of the last 25.
Senate Democratic leader John
son (Texas) said the budget “is
nearly eight billion dollars above
the goal the President, as a can
didate in 1952, set for this year.”
Johnson said also that with much
depending on revenue estimates
only time could tell whether the
budget “is realistic.”