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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN AU
VOL. UX No. 138_NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1957 Per Copy—15*
Gruening Expected
Here Friday For
Statehood Report
Ernest Gruening, former gov
ernor, and at present “Tennessee
Plan Senator” from Alaska, is
expected to arrive in Nome Fri
day, Nov. 22 and will deliver a
public address covering the pro
gress made in behalf of Alaska
statehood during the recent ses
sion of Congress. His colleagues,
“Senator” William Egan and
“Rep.” Ralph Rivers have al
ready returned to Washington.
The proposed meeting is to be
held in the multi-purpose room
of the Nome grade school and will
be open to the public. It is spon
sored by the N.W.A. Chamber of
Commerce and is strictly non
partisan. Mayor Steffen Andersen
•will preside and introduce “Sen
ator” Gruening.
Similar meetings have been
held in all the large centers of
population in Alaska and have
been well attended. Press reports
indicate keen interest has been
manifested by the people in these
meetings covering the achieve
ments of Gruening and his col
leagues in presenting Alaska’s
cause to the Congress.
The date is Friday, Nov. 22, at
8 pm. at the multi-purpose room
of Nome School. The entrance is
through the south doorway facing
Third Avenue.
News-Miner Wins
Citation From
AP Editors’ Assn.
NEW ORLEANS, UK—The Fair
banks News-Miner was one of 19
newspapers thruout the nation
received a citation from the Asso
ciated Press Managing Editors
Association today.
The citations were given in
recognition of exceptional cover
age of a news event by one mem
ber on behalf of all AP members.
The News-Miner citation was
for exceptional news and photo
coverage of a Jan. 13 apartment
house fire in which more than 300
persons were trapped temporarily.
In many cases, the winning
newspapers received citations
t spelling out their contribution to
the cooperative news agency of
details and photos of a breaking
story supplied before they could
publish themselves.
Nome Chamber Meeting—
Representative
Of FHA Is Due
In Nome Soon
By RUTH McLEAN
Calling the regular weekly
meeting of the Northwestern
Alaska Chamber of Commerce to
order, Vice President Jerry Man
ning reminded the members of
the talk to be given Friday eve
ning by Ernest Gruening, senator
to Washington from Alaska under
the Tennessee Plan, reporting on
the work done by the delegates
and on the Statehood Bill.
Two guests at the luncheon
were introduced, Mrs. William
Golden of Alaska Airlines arid
Dr. E. E. Bach from Anchorage.
Wilbur Arnold, chairman of the
Tourist Committee, advised that
he had mailed approximately 120
pictures to Seattle for considera
tion of the Compton Encyclope
dia company, which has asked for
Alaskan scenes for their next
printing. «Mr. Wilbur Arnold col
lected the pictures from individ
uals in the community to repre
sent this part of the territory and
the activities of the people of the
Seward Peninsula.
In the near future, Mr. William
Collins, director of FHA in Alas
ka, will be coming to Nome, Mr.
Manning told the chamber. Plans
will be made to consult with Mr.
Collins on new housing construc
tion and multiple-unit housing in
this community.
It was noted that in the Sep
tember quarterly food price com
parison, several items sold in
| Nome stores were no higher, and
some were less, than the prices
charged in Anchorage and Fair
[ banks.
Congressmen Say Air Force Knew
Russian Satellite Plans Months”
Ago But Withheld News From U.S.
NEW ORLEANS, WV-The top
congressional investigator of gov
ernment secrecy said today the
Air Force got information of Rus
sian satellite launching plans
months ahead of time but “the
American people were never fore
warned.”
Rep. Moss (D-Calif) also said
Robert Cutler, President Eisen
hower’s adviser on national se
curity affairs, imposed a “blue
print of secrecy” on America’s
“missile-satellite deficiencies until
Sputnik sailed across the skies.”
Moss, the chairman of a House
subcommittee which rides herd
on federal information practices,
referred at one point to what he
called “public-be-damned infor
mation policies” and said they
must be eliminated.
Moss’ views were sharply chal
lenged by the Pentagon’s infor
mation chief, Asst. Defense Sec
retary Murray Snyder, who said
the congressman “apparently sub
scribes to the myth that, for some
reason, your defense officials
spend all'their spare time knit
ting paper curtains of secrecy
around the facts of our military
activities.”
Both Moss and Snyder made
their comments in speeches de
livered to the annual convention
of the Associated Press Managing
Editors Assn., which continues
thru Saturday.
Shortly before Moss and Sny
der appeared, Frank Eyerly of
the Des Moines Register and Trib
une and president of the APME
defined freedom of information
as “simply an assertion of the
individual’s right to know.”
Eyerly’s definition came in the
annual report to the president, a
report largely concerned with re
strictions on information.
“You and I” Eyerly told fellow
editors, “know that there is a
-built-in propensity on the part of
public officials, appoin-ec1 or
elected, at the level of the county
or parish and ranging all the way
up to Washington, to set up news
barriers with the bland and some
times arrogant assumption that a
government servant knows better
than the American people what
is good for the people.”
20 MILLION ACRES IN ALASKA
TO BE OPENED TO MINING
Council Approves
Phone Rate Hike
At a special hearing on rates
for the Alaska Telephone & Tele
phone Co. held last Monday eve
ning the City Council approved a
five percent boost.
An ordinance will be presented
at the next regular council meet
ing to cover the raise in rates.
TAXPAYER'S BURDEN
FT. HELIER, Jersey, Channel
Islands, (#>—A man walked into
the income tax office yesterday,
put a loaf of bread and his coat
on the counter, and said, “There’s
the bread out of my mouth and
the coat off my back.” He then
walked out.
Taxi Loses Out
In Seagull Chase
TORQUAY, England, WV—Tak
ing a taxi to catch a seagull is a
losing proposition, P. A. Bovey
reported today.
The gull, with a fishhook stuck
in its beak, has been flying around
the seafront for a week. Bovey,
an employe of the Royal Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, has been trying to catch
the bird and remove the hook.
“Every time somebody sees it
they call us and I speed to the
spot in a taxi,” said Bovey. “We j
have spent 2 pounds 10 shillings
($7) in taxi fares, but each time
the bird has flown.”
► By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, OR—Secretary
of the Interior Seaton said today i
initial steps have been taken to
open 20 million acres of Alaska’s!
arctic slope to mineral leasing:
and mining claims.
The announcement, long sought
by Alaskans, was made at a news
conference. Seaton also (1) con
firmed the department’s intention
to protest a proposed 15 percent
freight rate increase asked by
two Alaska shipping companies
and (2) said 9,000,000 acres in
northeast Alaska have been tem
porarily set aside for future es
tablishment of the nation’s largest
wildlife refuge.
The 20,000,000 acres to be
opened to mineral leasing and
5,000,000 acres of the area set
aside for the wildlife refuge were
withdrawn from all forms of pub
lic entry in 1943. Seaton said he
had earlier today signed a notice
of intention to modify the 1943
Generals Hailed Into
Court for Illegally
Hunting Wild Geese
BALTIMORE, UP)—'The chief of
staff of the Second Army and the
deputy commanding, general of
the Continental Army Command
have been charged with illegally
hunting wild geese over a baited
area of Maryland’s eastern shore.
The two generals were among
15 persons charged in U.S. dis
trict court yesterday. They were
alleged to have hunted in Kent
County Nov. 7 in an area baited
in violation of federal law.
Those named were Maj. Gen.
Rinaldo Van Brunt, 56, chief of
staff of the Second Army at Fort
Meade, Md., and Lt. Gen. Edward
T. Williams, 56, deputy command
ing general, Continental Army
Command, at Ft. Monroe, Va.
Driver of World-Girdling Jeep Plans
Much of His Future in Armchair
SAN FRANCISCO W—Ben Car
lin, Australian mining engineer
who has almost completed a trip
around the world by amphibious
jeep, plans to spend a lot of fu
ture in “an armchair, bolted to
the floor.”
Carlin and Half Safe, the U.S.
Army surplus sea-going jeep, ar
rived here yesterday after cross
ing the Pacific to Alaska and com
ing down the Alaskan Highway.
Carlin, 45, was serving in the
Indian army during World War
II when he first saw the amphib
ious jeep and decided to go
around the world in one.
Coming to the United States
after the war, he acquired the
jeep and a wife, an American
nurse he had met in India. The
pair started from Montreal in
1948. After crossing the Atlantic
they spent four years in England
before jeeping on across seas,
mountains and deserts.
Mrs. Carlin decided in Calcutta!
that she’d had enough and flew
back to to New York, where she
is still patiently awaiting her hus
band’s arrival with the jeep and
material for their second book on
globe girdling.
Carlin and a jeepmate who dis
embarked at Anchorage took 26
days to travel from Japan across
the North Pacific to Shemya Is
land at the western tip of the
Aleutians—1,340 nautical miles.
“It was a terrible grind. My
mate and I took turns at the
wheel, two hours on, two off,
night and day. You’ve got to steer
a jeep on the ocean every blinking
second,” Carlin said.
Now faced with what some may
consider the most perilous leg of
the world trip—the highways
across the U.S. and up to Mon
treal—Carlin was asked if he’d
consider the great adventure once
again.
“I’d shoot myself first,” he re
plied.
order to permit resource develop
ment.
The modification, he said, would
leave unaffected the 23,000,000
acre naval petroleum reserve
No. 4, also included in the 1943
order. The secretary said the
modification would provide a
two-mile buffer zone surrounding
the Navy’s reserve in which no
entry would be permitted.
Tremendous Step Forward
Alaska’s Gov. Mike Stepovich,
who attended the news confer
ence, described the proposed ac
tion as “a tremendous step for
ward in developing Alaska’s na
tural resources.”
None of the 20,000,000 acres
proposed for release, Seaton said,
are expected to be open to the
staking of mining claims until
about Sept. 1, 1958. He said no
acreage would be available for
oil and gas leasing until leasing
maps are prepared.
Seaton said the proposed modi
fication would open approximate
ly 16,000 acres in the Gubik gas
field to competitive leasing while
about 4,000,000 acres of adjacent,
ldnd would be open to non-com
petitive leasing. An aide said the
acreage to be opened to competi
tive leasing probably would be
ready for bids about April 1,
The lands affected by the pro
posed modification all lie about
150 miles north of the Arctic Cir
cle and are in an area which the
Navy and the Department of In
terior’s Geological Survey ex
plored during the 1943-53 period.
This exploration uncovered one
oil field within the Navy’s reserve,
a very promising gas field lying
partly inside but mostly outside
the Navy’s reserve and several
potential oil and gas deposits.
Seaton said the application
temporarily setting aside the
9,000,000 acres for a future wild
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