m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LX ~ No~8 _ NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1958 Per Copy—15^
Aviation Pioneer Donald Douglas Calls
For ‘More Guts’ In Missile Production
WASHINGTON, UPi—A pioneer
aircraft manufacturer today call
ed for “more guts and less gob
bledegook” to speed U.S. produc
tion of missiles and anti-missile
missiles.
Dopald W. Douglas Sr., chair
man of the board of the Douglas
Aircraft Corp., said only “a small
fraction of the necessary funds”
has been made available for work
on the Zeus anti-missile project
on which his firm is working
with Bell Telephone Laboratories
and Western Electric.
“Nearly two years ago we felt
this weapon was sufficiently feas
ible to warrant a go-ahead,” he
told the Senate Preparedness
Committee, “but so far only a
small fraction of the necessary
funds has been made available.”
In the 1,500-mile Intermediate
Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM)
Thor, Douglas said that even
after successful test firings “we
waited from August to December
for an order to increase produc
tion of this much-needed missile.”
But Douglas testified that on
the whole he would say “most
unequivocably that I do not share
the gloomy opinion of so many
that the race for weapon suprem
acy has been lost forever and that
we are permanently doomed to
the role of a secondary pt^wer.”
He expressed belief the armed
services and industry “have been
doing a much better job of keep
ing pace with any potential en
emy than the public realizes.”
Kitimat Aluminum
l
Plant Drastically
Curtail’s Output
KITIMAT, B.C., tffl—'The Alu- '
minum Co. of Canada said Thurs
day it will lay off about 60 men
during the next three weeks and
reduce production .capacity of its
huge smelting plant here.
Works manager Gerry Gwyn
said potline No. 5 will be taken
out of regular production, half
the line being used for experi
mental purposes and the other
half being left idle. The remain
ing four potlines will operate in
as usual.
The potlines—huge lines of
vate used to turn aluminum ore
into molten metal—have been
brought into operation one by one
since they were “frozen by a
power failure Dec. 8.
Three months ago the company
announced the ultimate layoff of
the 1,700 workers employed by
its subsidiary, Saguenay-Kitimat
Construction Company.
So far, 977 Saguenay-Kitimat
employes have been laid off.
Still to be dismissed are 790 em
ployes who have been working on
painting, covering in the partly
completed potlines and so on.
About 4,000 persons still are
at work in the town and at the
smelter, Kitimat’s only industry.
ANDY NYLEN DIES
IN WASHINGTON
AT AGE OF 96
SEATTLE, (#)—Andrew Nylen,
former member of the Alaska
legislature, died Monday at North
Bonneville, Wash., friends here
were informed yesterday. He was
96 years old.
Nylen served three terms in the
territorial legislature, the last in
1931, as a representative from
the Second Division.
In 1900 Nylen went to Nome
on the steamship Salandia and
engaged in several mining opera
tions, the last of which he con- i
ducted in the Solomon area.
Recently he and his wife have j
been living at North Bonneville. 1
He was a member of the Alaska !
Yukon Pioneers and Masonic or- |
ders.
Low Cash Balance
Necessitates Raise
In The Debt Limit
WASHINGTON, UP) —Secretary
of the Treasury Anderson told
Congress today that, “distressing
ly low” cash balances in the
Treasury necessitate the five-bil
lion-dollar increase in the legal
debt limit asked by the adminis
tration.
He said the cash position now
is so tight that next month trea
sury balances in commercial
banks may get down to 250 mil
lion dollars “or. less than an aver
age day’s disbursements.”
Appearing before the House
Ways and Means Committee, An
derson said the request for a hike
in the debt limit from 275 to 280
billion dollars until June 30, 1959,
was based also on the need for
more flexibility in managing debt
obligations.
The House committee is ex
pected to approve legislation for
the higher debt ceiling in short
order. Action by the House it
self may come next week. That
would send the question on to
I the Senate.
!
Dispersal of SAC Heavy Bombers
Spells End of Giant Airdromes
WASHINGTON (#>—The stepped
up program to disperse the Stra
tegic Air Command’s 2,300 heavy
and medium bombers probably
means that no more giant air
dromes will be built.
Gen. Thomas D. White, Air
| Force chief of staff, made that
| plain even before he took over
' top USAF command and while
1 the prr - .,s still m its early
pha said in an address a
| year 0 that “we feel super-bas
' es would mean super targets.”
The aim of the program is to
I disperse the SAC borpbers—this
j country’s main retaliatory force
! —to about 40 fields instead of
! concentrating them at a dozen
home fields. President Eisenhow- j
er has asked Congress for money }
to speed the dispersal.
In general, the plan is to de-1
ploy each of the three squadrons
of an SAC wing to a separate
field. Each heavy and medium
bomber squadron has 14 aircraft.
One squadron would remain at a
main base with complete mainte
nance facilities, including repair,
refueling and armament equip
ment. The two other squadrons
would be deployed to satellite
bases.
These satellite bases, in most or
perhaps all instances, would be at
existing military fields with im
proved or special facilities. The
satellite fields would be in the
general geographical area of the
main base, but far enough away
to escape destruction or damage
from a hydrogen weapons attack
on any neighboring air base.
Tanker aircraft, used for in
(Continued on Page Three)
MMM Hospital
Wins Praise for
Emergency Case
Opal Catlin, adminstrator of
the MMM Hospital was sent a ci
' tation of high praise fropn the
commander of the 710th Aircraft
| Control and Warning Squadron,
j Charles Bonett, for the aid and
I care given to George Clark, who
I was brought down from Tin City
j as an emergency case when he
suffered a stroke on Dec. 27th.
| The efficiency of the hospital
l staff and “all-night vigil” while
| the man was a patient here wait
ing transportation to Ladd Air
j Force Base were highly praised.
; The man was cared for during
! the absence of the local physi
I dan.
j Strategy Switch
| To Get Statehood
| Bill to Senate First
By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, (#1—Informed
sources said today a switch in
strategy probably will bring the
Alaska statehood bill up for first
consideration in the Senate—pos
sibly before the end of this month.
The tactical change followed
reported word from House Speak
er Sam Rayburn that the bill
could not be considered by the
House this month.
Unofficially it was understood
that consideration is being given
to bringing the bill before ^the
Senate possibly within the next
10 days.
Previously it had been planned
to bring the bill up first in the
House, where it is believed pas
sage would be a virtual certainty
once it reached the floor.
While believing they have suf
ficient votes in both the House
and Senate to assure passage,
statehood supporters have ex
pressed private fears that if the
bill doesn’t pass early in the ses
sion it may become lost in the
late maneuverings of an election
year Congress.
Navy Successfully Launches
Its Polaris Ballistic Missile
-'---A
Radioactivity from
Nuclear Weapons
Can Be Confined
LOS ANGELES, UPt—An Atom
ic Energy Commissioner says
there’s no doubt now that man
can confine radioactivity pro
duced by atomic explosions.
It has been proved, Dr. Willard
F. Libby said yesterday, at the
Atomic Energy Commission’s test
site in thq Nevada desert.
Dr. Libby said in an interview
that scientists last week located
the radioactive heart of a nuclear
blast set off last Sept. 19 in a
tunnel some 800 feet beneath the
top of a desert mesa.
It was still hot, the commis
sioner said, meaning that radio
activity had been confined there
nearly four months.
Libby, scientific member of the
AEC, said the radioactive center
was 100 to 150 feet wide. He said
that for some reason it had shift
ed a little from the place where
the nuclear device was exploded.
The device was estimated to
have had the force of 1,000 to
3,000 tons of TNT.
Five Above Zero Is
Record High For
‘Coldest Spot On Earth’
WASHINGTON, UP) — The
world’s coldest known spot—the
American IGY station at the
South Pole—has now reported a
“record high temperature” for
that spot.
The U.S. National Committee
for the International Geophysical
Year announced that on Jan. 12,
a temperature of 5.5 degrees
above zero was recorded by
scientists there. The previous re
corded high was about five de
grees below zero.
This same station previously
had reported a record low of
102.1 degrees below zero, record
ed on Sept. 17, 1957. This was
the lowest temperature ever re
ported from any place in the
world, IGY spokesmen said.
Weather Reconnaissance
Plane Disappears In Path
Of Typhoon Ophelia
HONOLULU, (#)—Aircraft and
ships crisscrossed the parth of
Typhoon Ophelia ' again today,
hunting a U. S. weather recon
naissance plane that vanished
Tuesday, night with 10 crewmen.
The missing plane, a B-50
bomber adapted for weather re
connoitering, last reported at
11:30 p.m. Tuesday when it was
some 600 miles north of Guam,
heading into the typhoon’s center.
The center contained winds re
ported in excess of 140 miles per
hour.
At Yokosuka, Japan, yesterday
the Navy reported that listening
stations at Guam, Hawaii, Anch
orage and Adak picked up faint
SOS signals from the general
area of the plane’s disappearance.
> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., UPV—
The Navy launched a Polaris bal
listic missile test vehicle here
today.
It was the first Polaris test
officially identified as such.
Judging from its performance
at the start, and until it disap
peared down the Air Force mis
sile testing range, it was a highly
successful shot.
It streaked away, straight as an
arrow, toward its undisclosed tar
get.
Watchers in the chill morning
air saw it whoosh upward with
a considerably greater rate of ac
celeration than that of other big
ballistic missiles launched here
recently. The Polaris is noted for
its fantastic speed.
It left a long white wake high
out across toward the southeast.
The roar of its rocket motor '
came some seconds after the mis
sile left the ground.
Almost immediately after the
launching the Air Force missile
test center here confirmed it with
the following announcement:
“A test vehicle in the Navy Po
laris program was fired from the
missile test center at 7:59 a.m.”
In Washington, the Defense De
partment’s director of missiles,
William Holaday, said the firing
was considered a success.
Fairbanks TV
Shows Sputnik
Passing Overhead
FAIRBANKS, UP)—K F A R-T V
Wednesday night telecast with a
live camera the passing overhead
here of Sputnik II at 4:25 p.m.
Station personnel positioned
the television camera on its back
atop the Lathrop Building and
picked up the satellite as it
passed in northern skies at 87 de
grees above the horizon. #
Telephone calls to the station
after the telecast said that the
dog-carrying satellite showed up
clearly on home TV screens. As
far as is known by station per
sonnel, this is the first time a live
telecast of a Sputnik passing has
been accomplished.
The passing took about four
minutes, with the rocket visible
on the screen for about a minute.
BOMB SCARE AT
LITTLE ROCK
HIGH SCHOOL
LITTLE ROCK, UP) — A bomb
scare resulted in a thorough
search of Central High School by
a platoon of Arkansas National
Guardsmen last night, but no ex
plosive was <found and the sol
diers were withdrawn.
Classe are not scheduled at the
court - integrated school today.
Teachers are grading mid - term
examinations.
However, an Arkansas military
district spokesman said the nor
mal complement of federalized
guardsmen—about 25 men—was
on duty today as usual.