m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 148 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1955 • Per Copy—151
Voting Age of Future Alaskans Set
At 19 Years After Bitter Debate
FAIRBANKS l£i—'The third and<
final series of attempts to change
the Constitutional Convention’s
decision to set the voting age of
future Alaskans at 19 years failed
yesterday.
The end came after hours of
lively and sometimes almost bitter
debate, when delegates defeated
an attempt by Warren Taylor to
amend the suffrage article to read,
» “the legislature of the state (of
Alaska) may provide by law the
age and qualifications of voting of
the state.”
Acceptance of the amendment
would have thrown out the ear
lier decision to spell out the age
requirement in the constitution
and to set the age limit at 19.
Taylor’s maneuver didn’t re
quire a rollcall vote, a rarity after
two days of close decisions.
Failure of the amendment was
followed by an attempt b37 Dora
Sweeney of Juneau to set the age
limit at 20, as originally proposed
by the Suffrage Committee. But
President William Egan ruled the
amendment out of order.
Earlier, Mildred Hermann of
Juneau had voted to put the whole
suffrage article back into commit
tee. -This was after rollcall votes
had been taken on setting the suf- j
frage age at 18, 19, 20, and 21 re-1
spectively.
When Mrs. Sweeney’s amend
ment was ruled out, the conven
tion appeared ready to accept the
fact a majority of delegates in
tended to extend the voting right
to 19-year-olds.
Anchorage Delegate John Hel
lenthal led the fight against Tay
lor’s move to throw the whole
matter of voting qualifications in
to the laps of future legislators.
Hellenthal told the convention.
“If we leave voting qualifications
out of the constitution, we will be
the only state that does.
“If we leave it to the -whim—
the whim, mind you—of the legis
(Continued on Page Two)
-j
Deadlocked Problem of
U.N. Membership Will
Go to Security Council
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Uf)—
Russia today called for an emer
gency meeting of the U.N. Secur
ity Council to reconsider the dead
locked membership problem.
Sponsors of the proposed pack
age deal to bring 18 new members
into the U.N. cast about today for
some way to keep their veto-rid
dled plan alive. There appeared
no chance, however, any of the 18
would make the grade at this ses
sion of the General Assembly.
The package proposal was de
feated in the Security Council last
night. Nationalist China cast its
promised veto gaainst Outer Mon
golia and the Soviet Union then
carried out its threat to veto the
13 non-Communist applicants.
In the final round of voting the
four other Communist applicants
could muster only one Council
vote, six short of what they need
ed.
»
Father Hubbard, Famed
“Glacier Priest” Stricken
By Cerebral Hemorrhage
NEWARK, N.Y., (Mhe Rev.
Bernard R. Hubbard, famed “Gla
cier Priest” of Alaska, was re
ported in serious condition Tues
day after suffering a cerebral
hemorrhage.
Father Hubbard was stricken
Saturday while visiting friends in
the western New York village. He
was enroute to Hartford, Conn.,
for a lecture engagement.
Father Hubbard, 67, of Santa
Clara, Calif., conducted numer
ous scientific expeditions into the
north. He led his first expedition
to Alaska in 1926 from the Uni
versity of Santa Clara, where he
was a geology professor.
In recent years, he has served
as an advisor to the U.S. Army
on cold weather clothing.
Singer Gordon MacRae
Pleads Innocent to
Drunk Driving Charge
VAN NUYS, Calif., (M—Singer
Gordon MacRae has pleaded inno
cent to a misdemeanor charge of
drunk driving and asked a jury
trial. It was set for Jan. 9.
MacRae, 34, was jailed after
being involved in a four-car col
lision early yesterday morning.
He was later released on bail.
“The crash was unavoidable,”
MacRae told newsmen. “I dropped
a lighted cigaret on the floor of
my car and the accident happened
when I leaned over to pick it up.
I had exactly two drinks during
the evening, which I spent re
hearsing for a new nightclub act.”
Defense Spending
Boost Proposal
Promises Debate
WASHINGTON, W—President
Eisenhower’s proposal for a billion
dollar boost in defense spending
and a possible battle over tax cuts
pointed today toward a stormy
election year session of Congress.
The President’s plan to step up
the production of B-52 bombers,
jet interceptors and development
of the guided missile program won
general support from Republicans
and Democrats.
But the $35Vi> billion defense
budget he outlined to top Con
gressional leaders at a White
House briefing yesterday held a
threat to tax reductions previous
ly proposed by Sen. Lyndon B.
Johnson, the Senate majority
leader, and others.
Several leaders in both House
and Senate said they saw little
chance of substantial tax reduc
tions, and House Speaker Rayburn
said more taxes may be needed.
It also cast some doubt on bal
ancing the budget in the new fiscal
year.
! Liquor Store Hours
Extended on Jnly 4
i And New Year Eve
Closing hours for liquor stores
were extended at the last meeting
of the Nome City Council Monday.
Liquor stores are authorized to re
main open longer hours on the
Fourth of July and on New Year’s
Eve.
The liquor dealers have asked
for longer hours, extending them
from 6:30 until 9:00. This matter
will be acted upon at a later date.
All liquor dealers and dispen
saries submitted applications for
1956 and they were acted upon
favorably by the Council.
Monday’s meeting was a com
bined regular meeting and the
first meeting of the Equalization
Board. Lester Bronson was ap
pointed to fill the vacancy on the
Council made at the last meeting
by the resignation of Rose Silver
man.
The Fire Department reported
two fires for November, with $33
in fees paid to volunteer firemen.
The Police Department reported
28 arrests and $292 collected in
fines. Fourteen dogs were dis
posed of.
Police Chief Carl Webb request
ed paint for the men’s jail. He
stated that for about $50 he be
lieved a separate juvenile deten
tion compartment could be made
possible in the jail.
The Health Department report
ed no communicable diseases for
the month; 96 X rays taken; 5
persons hospitalized, and requests
for hospitalization for 2 TB pa
tients.
Coal Miner-Clergyman
Stops at $32,000 on
Radio-TV Bible Quiz
NEW YORK UP)—Stanley Skeen,
coal miner and clergyman, last
night stopped at the $32,000 level
in the CBS radio-TV show “The
$64,000 Question.”
“The Lord has been very^gra
cious and good to me up to this
point,” Skeens said in announcing
his decision.
Skeens, 26, won his money by
answering questions about*the Bi
ble. He said he would take the
money back to West Virginia and
“tuck it in the little bank at Dan
ville.”
HUSBAND FOLLOWS~WIFE
MAYSVILLE, Ky., W—Mrs. R.
L. Lyons, 69, died of a heart at
tack yesterday, and, one hour la
ter, her husband, W. Lance Lyqns,
74, also died of a heart attack.
Ike Calls Harriman a
‘Park Avenue Truman’
WASHINGTON, UP)—President
Eisenhower was quoted as telling
Republican congressional leaders
he regards Gov. Harriman of New
York as “a Park Avenue Truman.”
Some of those who attended a
White House briefing session Mon
day said there was discussion of
Harriman, a potential candidate
for the 1956 Democratic presiden
tial nomination who has been
praised by Harry S. Truman.
Speculation Arises Eisenhower May
Support Alaska Statehood if Bill
Provides for Military Reservations
1_*
Bulganin and Khrushchev
Leave India With Pledges
Of Closer Cooperation
NEW DELHI, UP)—Premier Bul
ganin and Nikita Khrushchev, the
; Soviet traveling salesmen of Com
munist cooperation and discord,
left India today after a month of
warming up the cold war with
bitter attacks on the West.
They left behind pledges of
closer political, economic and cul
tural cooperation between Russia
and this key nation of southern
Asia.
In a final communique, Bul
ganin and Prime Minister Nehru
called for “unconditional prohibi
tion” of nuclear and thermonu
clear weapons, along with a “sub
stantial reduction of conventional
armaments, coupled with effective
international control.” ,
But in separate statements to
newsmen, Bulganin and Khrush
chev said the Soviet Union could
not disarm unless the other big
powers did.
Otto John Back
In West Germany
Giving Information
BONN, Germany, (#)—Chancel
lor Adenauer and his cabinet to
day discussed the sensational re
turn to West Germany of former
intelligence chief Otto John.
An Interior Ministry spokesman
said John, meanwhile, was still
under interrogation here. He said
the questioning could last four or
five days.
“John is giving information
voluntarily,” he said. “There has
been nothing revealed so far that
would ustify the filing of any
charges against him.
Nothing of what John was tell
ing was announced. There was no
confirmation of the report by a
West German news agency that he
had said a West Berlin physician,
Dr. Wolfgang Wohlgemuth, had
drugged him and kidnaped him
from West Berlin.
Wohlgemut left West Berlin
with John and still is in East
Germany.
Communist East Germany is
sued a brief comment on the arri-;
val in West Germany of the Bonn
government’s former counter-in
telligence chief after a 16-month
stay with the Reds. The 47-word
comment tried to give a sort of
tacit blessing to John’s departure
to the West, saying:
“Herr Dr. John, former presi
dent of the Bonn office for the
protection of the constitution, who
was granted asylum in the (East)
! German Democratic Republic on
July 20, 1954, has left the German
Democratic Republic. Dr. John
had repeatedly stated he intends
to conduct the fight against neo
Fascism in West Germany.”
By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, UPV—Speculation
arose today that President Eisen
hower may ask Congress to ap
prove statehood for Alaska under
a bill permitting him to reserve
certain areas for the military.
Inasmuch as the administration
has repeatedly endorsed Hawaii's
statehood aims, a presidential
blessing for Alaska would put the
two territories on a par and there
by remove the objection of mem
bers of Congress who want state
hood for both or neither.
While endorsement of Alaskan
statehood might be considered a
reversal of the administration's
previous position of “Hawaii only,
right now,” it could be viewed
more accurately as a continuation
of the softening attitude demon
strated during the last session. A
proposal for Alaskan statehood
with big military reservations
drew some administration interest
this year.
The current speculation arose in
the wake of meetings of the Pres
ident and congressional leaders at
which statehood for Alaska and
Hawaii was announced as one of
the items under discussion.
Sen. Knwoland, Senate major
ity leader, recently told Delegate
Bartlett that statehood for the
northern territory was “the first
thing” he had discussed with the
President at a recent meeting in
Gettysburg. Knowland, however,
declined to comment on what
transpired at the meeting.
A strong supporter of statehood
for both Alaska and Hawaii, Sen.
Knowland was quoted by the Al
askan delegate as reiterating a
(Continued on Page Two)
AFL-CIO President
Calls Nehru and Tito
‘Allies of Communism’
NEW YORK, Ut)—AFL-CIO Pres
ident George Meany says Prime
Minister Nehru of India and Mar
shal Tito of Yugoslavia are “aides
and allies of Communism.”
The nation’s top labor leader
also attacked “liberals” in this
country in a speech yesterday be
fore the National Religion and
Labor Foundation.
Meany said he was disturbed
that many U. S. “liberals” are
“stone silent” about the loss of
human rights in Soviet-dominated
countries.
Speaking of Nehru and Tito,
Meany said no country can be
neutral in the struggle between
Communism and Democracy.
Meany’s speech was made short
ly before the announcement in
New Delhi of a cooperation pact
signed by India and Russia.
His remarks brought a formal
protest later in the day from K. T.
Tripathi, general secretary of the
Indian National Trades Council.
Tripathi said the attack on Nehru
would have “most unfortunate re
percussions” throughout Asia.
Q <rnMR A P Presented by SKY PILOTS of AFRICA - International
V^A ▼ JL 7:30 PjM.—Thursday, Nome Gospel Home—Friday. Naiarene Fellowship Hall Saturday. Covenant Church