SSI NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LVI No. 9NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1954Per Copy—15
SENATE COMMITTEE PASSES BILL
FOR ALASKA-HAWAII STATEHOOD
WASHINGTON. UP)—'The Sen-♦
ate Interior Committee voted yes
terday to approve statehood for
both Hawaii and Alaska.
Chairman Butler told reporters
the vote to add Alaska statehood
bill was “as close as could be,”
presumably 8 to 7. Butler declined
to make public the roll call vote
which was taken in a closed door
committee session.
After voting to combine the Al
aska and Hawaii statehood bills
into a single package, the commit- j
tee voted to delay its report to |
the Senate until the Alaska state- I
hood section can be “perfected.” |
President Eisenhower twice has J
asked Congress to pass the Hawaii j
state-hood bill in time for the first;
state elections to be held this fall.
Alaska statehood, however, lacks
administration endorsement and
was not mentioned in the Presi
dent’s state of the union message.
Butler said he did not believe
the process of “perfecting” the
Alaska bill, now Title II of the
Hawaii bill, would require more
than three or four days. This con
sists mainly of choosing exact
legal language.
He said that after the close vote
adding Alaska to the statehood
bill, the committee was unani
mous in voting to report the com
bined measure to the Senate, and
also unanimous in deciding to per
fect the Alaska portion in the
committee before the report goes
to the Senate.
Butler conceded that the com
mittee again could reverse its
action on one or both of the terri
tories.
He also said it would be his
opinion that the two bills would
be separated on the Senate floor.
Commerce Secty. Refuses
Allow Export of Surplus
Butter To Russia
WASHINGTON, UP( —Secretary
of Commerce Weeks has refused
to let a Minnesota exporter ship
surplus American butter to Rus
sia.
The Commerce Department an
nounced Tuesday night that
Weeks had formally denied an ex
port license to Dwayne Andreas
of the Honeymeade Co., Mankato,
Minn. The Department gave no
further details on Weeks’ action.
The Secretary told newsmen
last Friday he would not approve
a license to permit shipment of
butter to Russia at a cost “con
siderably lower” than prices paid
by American housewives.
South Korean Pilot Flies
Fighter Plane to North Korea
TOKYO, (/P>—Pyongyang radio
said a South Korean air force of
ficer Wednesday flew a fighter
plane to North Korea. The Red
radio identified him as Second
Lt. Choi Man Chong. The broad
cast gave no details.
3 Die In Cargo Plane Crash
KANSAS CITY, UPf—Three per
sons were killed Wednesday when
a chartered cargo plane crashed
while attempting to land during a
snow storm at the Municipal Air
Terminal.
Statehood Bill
Would Carry $48
Million For Roads
WASHINGTON, UP) — Increased
x'oad construction and mainte
nance funds and continued federal
care of Alaska’s insane are pro
posed in the Alaska statehood bill
now being considered by a Senate
interior subcommittee.
The provisions, suggested by
Sen. Anderson <D-NM), were
adopted by the full committee
yesterday after it voted to com
bine the Alaska and Hawaii state
hood measures and to refer the
Alaska bill to a subcommittee for
further study.
The road amendment would
authorize a 48 million dollar fed
eral appropriation for road con
struction in the first six years of
Alaska's statehood. The apprpria
tions would begin with 17 million
in the first year and scale down
ward to one million in the sixth.
As approved earlier by a House
committee, the road construction
would have been aided only by a
15-million-dollar grant which also
would include construction and
improvement of harbors and land
surveys. Anderson’s amendment
would retain the 15 million grant
but limit its use to harbor con
struction and land surveys, setting
up the additional appropriations
for roads.
The senator also proposed and
the committee accepted an amend
ment under which the federal
government would continue in
definitely to care for those Alaska
insane for which it is caring at
the time the territory becomes a
state. The House bill would pro
vide for continued federal care
for only five years.
Methodist Churches To
Double Building Program
Of 1,500 Churches by 1956
BUCK HILLS FALLS, Pa., UH
—An urgent need to double the
former goal for construction of
new Methodist Churches was re
ported today at the annual meet
ing of the Methodist Board of
Missions.
“It is now quite clear that our
estimate of 1,500 new churches is
far short of the actual need,” Drs.
W. V. Middleton, of Philadelphia,
and B. P. Murphy, of Louisville,
told the board yesterday.
That goal for the 1952-56 quad
rennium was set in 1952, the two
church extension secretaries no
ted, but present trends point
clearly to a need to organize 3,000
new congregations before the end
of 1956, they said.
“The denomination will need to
raise 100 million dollars for the
housing of newly organized con
gregations during the remainder
of the quadrennium.”
The church extension offices of
the division of national missions
reported assisting 270 projects
with loans totalling about 2Mj
million dollars during the past
fiscal year. Nearly 600 projects
received donations totalling
$1,130,397.
Police Rescue
Kidnaped Twin,
Jail Abductors
SAN FRANCISCO, Iff) — Two
one-time private detectives jailed
as abductors in the “case of the
kidnaped twin” split up today—
police said one confessed and
blamed the other, who denied
some of the story but essentially
wouldn’t talk.
The victim, short, round-faced
Leonard Moskovitz. 36, was res
cued unharmed and smiling yes
terday morning after 2V2 days of
captivity. No ransom was paid de
spite demands of first $500,000
and then $300,000.
Under California’s Little Lind
bergh Law, kidnaping with bod
ily harm carries a maximum pen
alty of death and a minimum of
life without parole. Kidnaping
without harm carries a penalty
of life with the possibility of
parole.
Moskovitz said he was not in
jured, but Dist. Atty. Thomas
Lynch told newsmen the inter
pretation of bodily harm is up to
a jury, which could decide the
cruel bonds or the like could mean
injury. Moscovitz was bound and
shackled during most of his im
prisonment.
The two men arrested were
seized separately. The first, Jo
seph William Lear, 43, of Sacra
mento, Calif., was caught in a
telephone booth making a ransom
call to the victim’s identical twin
and constant companion, Alfred.
Police said Lear broke down
and led them to a rented house,
where a stocking - foot raiding
party broke in, rescued Moskovitz
and arrested 57-year-old Harold
Jackson of Sacramento as he stood
shivering with fright in his shorts.
The arrests ended the biggest
San Francisco manhunt ever—and
broke the best - kept secret of
years. On police request, all news
outlets had voluntarily held back
the story until Moskovitz was safe.
Police said Lear, a soft-faced
and fearful hearing aid salesman,
made a complete confession after
he and Jackson had been booked
on suspicion of kidnaping.
Chief Homicide Inspector Frank
Ahern said Lear blamed the whole
plot on Jackson. He said Lear re
lated:
Lear had believed he was work
ing with Jackson on a detective
case until Moskovitz was bundled
into a house rented by Jackson
and threatened with death unless
Moskovitz’ family paid $500,000
ransom.
Lear followed Jackson’s lead
from fe^ir.
Moskovitz himself said Lear
kept muttering “ ‘Didn’t know it
was to be this kind of a job or
I wouldn’t have gone into it’.”
“Jackson seemed to be the lead
er,” Moskovitz said.
French Sent Warships to Africa
PARIS, iff) — France sent a
squadron of warships today to her
Mers-el-Kebir base in Algeria—
within easy striking distance of
Spanish Morocco. But Paris of
ficials said their arrival had no
connection with France’s warn
ings to Spain against any move
to split the Madrid-ruled protec
torate from the sultanate of Rabat.
Nome Children To Be Given
Injections of Gamma Globulin
Supplied by Public Health Service
Eisenhower Starts
Second Year In
Office Today
WASHINGTON, M — President
Eisenhower started his second
year in office today, and a close
associate said “he’s thriving on
the challenge” of the job ahead.
Cabinet members, Republican
party officials and White House
staff members arranged to present
a surprise gift to the President at
a ceremony in his office commem
orating the first anniversary of
his inauguration.
Otherwise, the 63-year-old chief
executive’s day shaped up pretty
much like scores of others during
the last 12 months.
Last night the President and
Mrs. Eisenhower gave a White
House dinner, with 78 invited
guests, for Vice President and
Mrs. Nixon.
People who have worked with
Eisenhower in the White House
report he seems to be in top
physical condition and in a cheer
ful frame of mind.
One aide who sees the Presi
dent many times a day said Eisen
hower “probably hates” some of
the details of his job and that he
isn’t very happy about having to
attend all the social functions he
does.
This aide, who asked that his
name be withheld, also said the
President chafes somewhat under
the confinement of the presidency
—although he has traveled 36,474
miles since his inauguration.
The White House said the Presi
dent’s health remains as it was
described in a speech last Nov. 20
by his personal physician, Maj.
Gen. Howard M. Synder, who
said:
“Our President shows less evi
dence of the ravages of time and
stress than is anticipated in a man
of his age.”
California Gov. Advocates
Private Health Insurance
Similar To Auto Policies
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AT—Gov.
Goodwin J. Knight advocates
voluntary private health insurance
plans written like $50 or $100 de
ductible auto collision policies.
If private insurance companies
can’t handle the load alone, he
told his news conference yester
day, he favors setting up a non
competing state medical insurance
fund which would offer policies
on a strictly voluntary basis.
Knight said his idea was a bet
ter solution than President Eisen
hower’s* proposal for a system of
government reinsurance of private
medical plans.
The governor favors letting pri
vate insurance companies write
policies under ‘ which the insured
person would pay the first $100—■
or whatever the deductible figure
is—and the company the rest.
Dr. Fred Langsam announced
today that he is planning a mass
innoculation of Nome children as
soon as the gamma globulin is re
ceived here.
The scarce blood fraction,
gamma globulin is being made
available by the Territorial Public
Health Service for injecting all
children 16 years old and under.
The globulin is expected soon
and with its arrival Dr. Langsam'
will announce the time and place
for the injections.
Four Nome boys have been
stricken with polio in the last
two weeks, first Angelo Buffas,
Jr., then this week John Cooley
Jr., and Sifried Larsen, and yes
terday, LeRoy Reader. The in
noculation is being made to fore
stall any further spread of the
polio among the school children
of the community.
India Returns
21,809 Anti-Reds
To U.N. Command
PANMUNJOM, UFi— India com
pleted early Thursday the his
toric turnover of 21,809 anti-Red
prisoners to the U.N. Command
as North Korean broadcasts de
clared the action “destroys” the
armistice.
The last prisoner, a Chinese,
was turned over at 12:55 a.m., at
the end of a surprisingly smooth
operation during which the North
Korean and Chinese captives often
sang and cheered in the rain and
mud.
The Indian Command announ
ced that 14,227 Chinese and 7,582
North Koreans were turned out of
the compounds at Panmunjom,
ending more than three years of
captivity for many of them.
The Indians said 72 Chinese and
32 North Koreans asked to go
home or to a neutral country
during the operation, which began
Wednesday morning.
The Communists, who had pro
tested the turnover plans bitterly,
made no threatening gestures as
the prisoners streamed southward.
The U.N. Command has prom
ised all of the prisoners their
freedom at midnight Friday.
Red China’s Peiping radio Wed
nesday night repeated it’s warn
ing that “any unilateral action
with regard to the prisoners of
war is absolutely impermissible.”
But the warning was mildly word
ed and officials said the Reds ap
parently had accepted the Indian
Command’s decision to return un
repatriated prisoners as an ac
complished fact.
TRUMAN NOT AT ALL HOME
SICK FOR WHITE HOUSE JOB
KANSAS CITY, tD —Harry S.
Truman looked back today on a
year out of the White House and
said he wasn’t a bit homesick for
the place.
A year ago he shared attention
with President - elect Eisenhower
at the inauguration ceremonies in
Washington.