— NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 47 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1954 Per Copy—15c
Sen. Jackson of Washington Says
Partition Plan las A Tactic To
Kill Statehood For Alaska
ANCHORAGE. Iff*—Sen. Henry*
M. Jackson (D-Wash* on a 10,000
mile weekend jaunt had sharp
comments on the Eisenhower ad
ministration’s Indochina and Al
aska statehood policies in a Jef
ferson-Jackson Day speech Satur
day night/
Jackson charged before 350
Third Division Democrats that
the administration has been wor
ried about the coming election
and therefore “is unwilling to
face up to the real threat that
America and the free countries
are up against in the event Indo
china should fall.”
“The truth is, we can’t afford
to lose Indochina,” he said, add
ing that he was reserving judg
ment on sending ground troops1
until he knew “exactly what the
situation is.”
“This may be the first evidence
of the mistake of the adminis
tration in reducing ground forces,”
he said, asking: “How do they
reconcile the possibility of using
ground troops with the New Look
policy which emphasizes atomic i
retaliation?”
Jackson said statehood for Al
aska at this session has a 50-50
chance, with the matter in the
hands of the President and House
Speaker Martin.
“If the President calls upon
Speaker Martin to obtain House
approval, statehood can be achiev
ed at this session,” he said.
Jackson labelled a partition sug
gestion as nothing more or less
than a tactic to kill statehood.
He said the shock of the Senate
2 to 1 vote for a combined state
hood bill with Hawaii was so
great to the Republican leader
ship that it had to find some
means to knock off statehood for
Alaska.
“I always thought this admin
istration was against federal bu
reaucracy. Now they want to re
move from the state an area
which may be richest in resources
and perpetuate a federal bureau
cracy.”
He said the entire Republican
program reminded him of an ice
berg:
“It is cold, slow-moving, 10 per
cent visible, 90 per cent sub
merged and 100 per cent at sea.”
Woman Saves Two Lives,
Including Her Own, Gets
Disorderly Conduct Charge
BILOXI, Miss., UR—A woman
bent on suicide gave it up to save
a would-be rescuer who couldn’t
swim.
Biloxi police quoted Elaine
Martinez, 24-year-old dancer, as
saying shp jumped from a wharf
Friday because she was tired of
living.
A by-sfander, James Jenson,
forgot he didn’t know how to
swim and jumped in to rescue
her. Miss Martinez pulled him
from the water.
Officers said the dancer was
arrested on a charge of disorderly
conduct.
>
Court Martial Of
Cpl. Dickenson
Starts iti Capital
WASHINGTON, UP —Cpl. Ed
ward S. Dickenson went on trial
today at a precent-making court
martial at which he was accused
of informing on his fellow pri
soners of war while a captive in
Korea.
Dickenson, a short, dark youth of
23, glanced somewhat timidly at
the nine officers on the court
panel as the proceeding got un
derway in a small, maroon-car
peted courtroom at Ft. McNair,
in southwest Washington.
Dickenson’s bride of three
months was among a score of
spectators.
The trial got underway slowly
at Col. Guy Emery, a retired
Army officer representing the
Cracker’s Neck, Va., corporal, put
the members of the court through
rigorous questioning, as a possible
preliminary to challenging them
as fit members of a trial court.
The key question raised by
Emery was whether the court
members believed that under
Communist pressure, a soldier
would be held to blame for divulg- i
ing more than his name, rank
and serial number, as provided by
military law.
Col. C. Robert Bard, the prose
cutor, objected to this question on
the ground that it was arguing the
merits of the case. The court per
mitted the questions to be an
swered.
In general, the members of the
court said they could give no sat
isfactory answer to the question,
since they had not been prisoners
of war themselves. They said,
however, that history demon
strates instances where torture
has been useless in eliciting in
formation.
Nasser Takes Over
Priemiership Of Egypt
From Ailing Naguib
CAIRO, Egypt, UPi—Maj. Gen.
Mohamed Naguib said today
Egypt’s government is “stronger
than ever” after the reshuffle that
boosted the vice premier, Lt. Col.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, into the
premiership.
The ailing general, who stays as
president despite his resignation
as premier Saturday, apparently
is accepting philosophically the
shifts which made plain to all
Egypt that Nasser is the real pol
itical boss.
There was little comment in
Egypt’s censored press.
Nasser took a special train to
Damanhour Province in the Nile
delta to preside at a ceremony
distributing land once owned by
the royal family to 768 peasant
families.
Government sources said Nas
ser planned to step up land re
distribution and industrial devel
opment.
Scandal Rocks Federal
Housing Administration
AUGUSTA, Ga., (UP) — President
Eisenhower today gave the Sen
ate Banking Committee access to
income tax returns for use in its
investigation of the FHA housing
scandals.
Eisenhower acted after Albert
M. Cole, chief of the Housing and
Home Finance Agency, disclosed
that one unnamed official involv
ed in the inquiry has been ac
cused of receiving money for
favors, presumably to builders.
The President’s move, announc
ed at his vacation headquarters
here, came as the Banking Com
mitee was starting an inquiry in
Washington into affairs of the
scandal-shocked Federal Housing
Administration.
Eisenhower’s order gives the
committee access to income tax
returns in connection with FHA
loans under Section 608 of the
National Housing Act.
The order does not apply to
that phase of the inquiry dealing
with small loans for home im
provements.
The Banking Committee’s in
vestigation and one by the Hous
ing and Home Finance Agency
were touched off last week after
Eisenhower accepted the resigna
tion of FHA chief Guy T. O.
Hollyday and impounded the
agency’s files and records.
Cole said later that irregular
ities had been uncovered which
were responsible for that action.
French Fight Desperately
To Hold Back Vieminh
From Center of Fortress
HANOI, Indochina, UP) — The
French fought furiously today to
hold back Vietminh assault troops
stabbing toward the center of
Dien Bien Phu’s fortifications
from the northwest.
The rebels were in a newly
menacing position after weekend
fighting widened their break in
the northwestern rim of the
fortress’ defense system. They
captured a second outpost yester
day and filtered back last night
into trenches on the main Dien
Bien Phu airstrip.
Vietminh pressure also was re
ported increasing against the
southernmost strongpoint of the
French-held plain.
Bayonet-wielding French infan
trymen had driven the Vietminh
from air field entrenchments for
a few hours yesterday. But the
latest infiltration re - established
their foothold in the shadow of
the French headquarters bunkers,
just 800 yards away.
American civilian pilots operat
ing Flying Boxcars dropped tons
more ammunition and war ma
teriel into the fortress.
CANDIDATE FOR SHERIFF
GETS $700 FINE AND JAIL
FOR LIQUOR POSSESSION
KNOX CITY, Tex., UP>—T. O.
McMinn, candidate for sheriff of
Knox County, was fined $700 and
sentenced to 30 days in jail here
Friday.
McMinn was one of 10 persons,
including his wife and 17-year^old
son, fined for illegal possession
and sale of liquor in a dry area.
Alaskan Republicans Denounce
Democrat-Authored Petition For
Removal of Gov. Heintzleman
Scientists Enroute
To Study Break-up
Of Winter Ice Pack
SAN DIEGO, Calif., UP) — The
U.S. Navy icebreaker Burton Is
land sailed northward Saturday
enroute to the Arctic Ocean for
the first extensive study ever
made by this country’s scientists
of the springtime breakup of the
winter ice pack.
The ship, which left here last
Friday, carried a crew of 240,
several scientists from the Navy
electronics laboratory here, Navy
specialists of various sorts, and
two helicopters and three pilots.
Cmdr. E.A. Trickey, skipper of
the Burton Island, said the scien
tists will see how the waters are
moving in Bering Straits, and
northward, and collect samples of
sea water and ice. An icebox has
been installed to preserve samples
for return to San Diego where
they will be studied.
The Burton Island is due back
here in June, to prepare for an
other expedition into the Arctic
Ocean starting in July. The ship
took part in two1 Antarctic expedi
tions and since 1948 has made
two trips each year into the
Arctic.
During the summer ,months the
vessel usually operates north of
Alaska. The Burton Island is the
only naval Vessel that has ever
penetrated the permanent ice
pack along the north coast to a
point east of the Alaska-Canada
boundary.
Soviets Hustle Mrs. Petrov
Aboard Plane In Australia
Enroute to Home In Russia
SYDNEY, Australia, UR — Two
Soviet diplomatic couriers grip
ped Mrs. Evdokia Petrov firmly
by both arms today and hustled
her aboard a plane for Europe,
amid heated Australian protests.
A throng of several thousand
Australians, convinced the wife
of ex-Soviet envoy Vladimar Pet
rov was being taken aboard
against her will, swarmed onto
the airfield calling “Take her off”
and “bring her back.”
Pblice, apparently fearing a
rush on the plane, called the air
port fire engine and water hoses
were quickly trained on the angry
crowd. The show of force caused
the crowd to fall back.
Mrs. Petrov, whose diplomat
husband broke with his Red
bosses last week and turned a
batch of documents over to Aus
tralian authorities, looked as if
she had been crying. Her eyes
were red as she was rushed up
the steps of a London - bound
British Overseas Airways Con
stellation for the first leg of a
journey back to Russia.
Despite the crowd’s belief that
Mrs. Petrov had been forced to
board the plane, the Australian
government had made it clear
she would not have to return
to Russia if she did not want to.
" JUNEAU, —Four prominent
Alaskan Republican leaders de
nounced over the weekend the
Democrat - authored petition for
„the removal of Gov. B. Frank
Heintzleman.
The petition was launched at
Anchorage last week. The author
was Stanley McCutcheon, former
Democratic national committee
man and a 1954 candidate for the
legislature. He called it a non
partisan petition and said many
Republicans were subscribing to
it.
Criticisms off the petition came
from Sen. Alton Engstrom of Ju
neau, territorial Republican chair
man; Mrs. Helen Brosius of Sew
ard, vice chairman; Walter Hickel,
president of the Anchorage Re
publican Club, who has been
among the Governor’s critics in
the past, and E. Well Ervin of
Anchorage.
Engstrom labeled the petition
“ridiculous” and said the Repub
lican party is 100 per cent against
any such action to discredit the
governor.
“McCutcheon has not only made
himself ridiculous,” Engstrom said
“But he has done the one thing
that could and will unite the Re
publican party in a solid stand
behind the governor.
“We may have our internal
bickerings; we may differ whe
ther or not to' partition the terri
tory in the statehood move, but
what McCutcheon has done is
going too far . . . the Republican
party will not condone any action
of this nature that is as stupid
as it is unworthy.”
Hickel made his criticism in
Juneau on his way home to An
chorage. The candidate for na
tional GOP committeeman said:
“I am not now, or will I be, a
party to such a petition. When the
governor does something which
we think is good for Alaska, we
will back him 100 per cent. Any
time we disagree, we will make
our opinions known. However, we
will not resort to this method.”
Mrs. Brosius and Ervin released
a copy qf a stinging telegram to
President Eisenhower to whom
the petitions against the governor
also are addressed.
The telegram assailed McCutch
eon’s personal record in Alaskan
affairs and charged:
“He is a former Democratic na
tional committeeman and a chief
lieutenant of ex - Gov. Gruening
and is presently a candidate for
the territorial legislature, using
the petition as a subterfuge for
political mud-slinging in the com
ing primary elections.
“Pseudo - Republicans collabor
ating in originating this unscrup
ulous move are principally dis
appointed gubernatorial candi
dates and all but the most gullible
Alaskans consider the action
puerile and asinine. This is a
brazen attempt by McCutcheon to
vicitimize the electorate in the
approaching primary elections.”