THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO. .
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P.O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY .......*. Production Manager
Entered as second «class matter October 14, 1943, at the
postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
INCOMPETENCE IN THE PENTAGON
Senator Stuart Symington has charged that the
people are not being given the truth by defense of
ficials and believes that this country is not making
sufficient preparation for an emergency which threat
ens to overtake it.
Senator Symington’s blast is only one of a recent
series from investigators in Congress, who are im
pressed with the inefficilncy they find in the Penta
gon. Another senator charged recently that the slow
ness in production of artillery ammunition since the
Korean war broke out in 1950, is a national scandal.
The question of bungling and inefficiency in the
Defense Department is an issue rapidly coming to a
head. Not only do American taxpayers spend over
forty billions of dollars a year to sustain the armed
services, but they also spend another six billions for
veterans and veterans’ benefits. Counting another six
or seven billions spent on military and economic aid
programs abroad, the taxpayers’ levy for defense mea
sured is truly a gigantic one, comprising two-thirds
of the U.S. budget!
Ammunition Production
Control Taken Away
From Army By Lovett
(Continued from Page One)
tember, 1950, Secretary of De
fense George C. Marshall ordered
an investigation into the ammuni
tion situation.
But he said the first “inkling”
that he had of shortage in Korea
was in September, 1951.
This was five months after Gen.
James A. Van Fleet went to Korea
in April, 1951. Van Fleet, retired
commander of the Eighth Army,
has testified there was a shortage
the whole time he was in Korea.
Earlier, Lovett had said that
last December there was two or
three times more ammunition in
the Far East than the Americans
had in Normandy for the early
phases of the giant invasion of
Europe in June, 1944.
Lovett said that in speaking of
“unsatisfactory” performance on
ammunition he had in mind am
munition for 155-mm. howitzers,
105-mm. howitzers, 60- and 81
mm. mortars.
Lovett said he could not under
stand a statement by Gen. J. Law
ton Collins, Army chief of staff,
that ammunition had been rolling
out of production lines since cer
tain “restrictions” on the Army
had been removed last November.
Lovett declared he didn’t know
of any restrictions on the Army.
“I find myself in complete dis
agreement with General Collins,”
the former secretary asserted. “I
don’t know what he refers to.”
Then he went on to say that he
had taken the ammunition prob
lem “out of the Army’s control.”
He said from February, 1951,
the Army had held “complete
delegation of authority” to make
contracts. But he said when he
left office last January the Army
still hadn’t been able to spend all
the money oppropriated.
Lovett said the chief of ord
nance had authority to make con
tracts—and if he had wanted to
delegate authority in the making
of sub-contracts then “he should
have asked for it.”
But he said lack of authority by
th^ Army “had absolutely noth
ing” to do with the problem of
getting ammunition production.
Ike Stands Firm on
Golan as Member
Of Boundary Board
WASHINGTON, (JP^The White
House made it clear yesterday
that President Eisenhower is
standing firm on his appointment
of Samuel Golan, Chicago attor
ney, as United States member of
the U.S.-Alaska-Canada Interna
tional Boundary Commission.
“It is believed,” Presidential
Press Secretary James C. Hagerty
told a news conference, “that the
best interests of the country could
be served by appointment of an
eminently qualified lawyer as
commissioner.”
Hagerty’s statement came against
the background of a question put
to Eisenhower.
At that time, a reporter told the
President the boundary treaty
called for appointment of a quali
fied geographer to represent the
United States.
The reporter also noted that
Eisenhower promised during the
campaign to select men of spec
ialized ability for each federal job.
The newsman then went on to
ask the President how he squared
appointment of Golan, an attor
ney, with the treaty requirements
and his own campaign pledges.
The President said the reporter
certainly had stated his case—and
that it sounded terrible. He prom
ised to look into the matter and
find out why the information had
not been given to him, if the case
had been stated correctly.
AEC TO ENCOURAGE
PRIVATE INVESTMENT
IN ATOMIC POWER PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, UP*—'The Atom
ic Energy Commission said today
a policy program to encourage
private investment in nuclear
power has been adopted by the
AEC and approved by the White
House.
Details will be given Congress
when the joint Senate-House At
omic Enerby Committee begins
hearings after President Eisen
hower sends the recommendations
to Capitol Hill.
FIRE DESTROYS
SEATTLE WHARF
SEATTLE, UP\—A towering tar
and creosote-fed fire which could
be seen for miles destroyed a net
shed at the Port of Seattle’s Sal
mon Bay Terminal Monday night
as most of the city’s fishing fleet
lay nearby the “Fishermen's
Wharf.”
Three alarms were turned in.
Loss estimates range from $20,000
to $100,000, pending reports from
fishermen on just how many of
their stored nets were lost.
Two other buildings, one hous
ing hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth of marine engines and
other ship’s equipment, were dam
aged. The neai'by Ballard Bridge
was lined with thousands of spec
tators from the Ballard and Queen
Anne areas.
Upwards of 125 off-duty fire
men responded and 40 Coast
Guardsmen, manning their trailer
pumps, helped fight the flames.
They were controlled in half an
hour.
Man Who Slayed Wife
To Marry U.N. Secretary
Sentenced to Hang
BALTIMORE, UP*— George Ed
ward Grammer Tuesday was sen
tenced to hang for the “almost
perfect” slaying of his wife last
summer so he could marry a prit
ty U.N. stenographer in NewYork.
Judge Herman M. Moser, who
convicted Grammer of first de
gree murder after a sensational
trial last October, said Grammer
“not only proceeded by a cunning
scheme to murder his wife but
also developed a dastardly plan
to make her death look acciden
tal.”
Mrs. Grammer, former Balti
more nurse who had come here
from New York to help care for
dying father, was found dead in
! her sedan after it had careened
down a hill at the northeast edge
of Baltimore last August 20.
Her husband, evidence at the
trial showed, had spent a week
earlier in the month at Chicago
with Miss Mathilda Mizibrocki, a
U.N. secretary from Canada, and
they had talked of marriage.
Grammer, 36, was personnel
manager for a mines and metals
firm in New York.
Vandalism Breaks Out
As 15,000 College Students
Take Spring Vacation
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., UP)
—Officers grappled with a ser
ious problem of vandalism Tues
day in this resort city swarming
with about 15,000 college students
on spring vacation.
Coconuts have been hurled
through hotel lobby and automo
bile windows. Dead fish, includ
ing a six-foot hammerhead shark,
have been tossed into swimming
pools.
A group of teen-agers stole a
city bus and abandoned it after a
drive. A city water tower was
smeared with paint. Glass cases
on the beach displaying large,
mounted fish have been smashed
and the fish thrown into the
streets,
Groups of nude boys have been
arrested on the beaches in the
early morning hours. Three of
these picked up last week were
fined $10 for indecent exposure.
Arctic Sanitary Service
Phone RED 181
Russia Asks U.S. to Drop
Demand for Impartial
Germ Warfare Probe
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., UP)—
Russia appealed to the U.S. Tues
day to drop its demand for an im
partial investigation of Commu
nist charges that American troops
waged germ warfare in Korea.
Soviet Delegate Valerian Zorin
told the U.N.’s 60-nation political
committee there was “no need for
the committee to consider the de
tails” of the charges now. He
urged, instead, that the U.S. ratify
the Geneva Convention against
bacteriological warfare and indi
cated that such action would close
the incident so far as Russia is
concerned.
The War In Korea —
SEOUL, —Chinese Reds struck
into Allied defenses in western
and central Korea today but bat
tle-toughened Americans and Bel
gian infantrymen sent the Com
munists reeling back.
B-26 bombers wiped out 130
Red trucks on north Korean high
ways during the night, while fight
er-bombers blasted three rail
bridges and a radio station at
Haeju, in western Korea, the Fifth
Air Force said.
Chinese Communists in com
pany strength—about 175 men—
stormed up Bunker Hill on the
western front but were blocked
by a Marine combat patrol.
The attack carried some Com
munists into Allied lines but the
sharp-shooting Leathernecks, in
11 minutes of bitter, close-quar
ter fighting, stopped the Reds
cold, the Eighth Army reported.
The cruiser Los Angeles shot up
the port of Wonsan and the car
riers Valley Forge and Philippine
Sea sent bombers against Red
positions on Korea’s east coast,
Navy headquarters announced.
"4-on” Duplicate Receipt Books
at the Nugget
%
CHILDREN WAKE PARENTS.
PREVENT DEATH FROM GAS
ANCHORAGE, UP)— Because two
small children felt sick during the
night, Mr. and Mrs. John Defore
and a roomer, Emeline Hamilton,
can give thanks today that they
are alive.
The two Defore boys, Johnnie,
6, and Bill, 4, became ill before
dawn Sunday and went to their
parents’ room to rouse them.
The Defores found the house
full of gas from a leaking jet.
They and their roomer were too
weak to stagger outside, but man
aged to telephone police who hur
ried them to a hospital.
PRESBYTERIANS TO STUDY
ALASKA MISSIONARY WORK
SEATTLE, Iff)—National and Se
attle area leaders will direct ship
board programs during the Pres
byterian cruise to Alaska May 31
to June 8, the Seattle Advisory
Committee was notified Monday.
They will include the Rev. Dr.
W. Sherman Skinner, Pittsburgh;
Mrs. Charles W. Olds, Duluth;
and the Rev. Theodore Koopmans,
Seattle. The cruise, approved by
the Board of National Missions,
will take Presbyterians from
many states to several Alaska
ports to study missionary work
and problems.
A single silk worm produces a
thread about 800 to 1,00 yards
long.
- 11 >
CLARK'S
Pet and
FLORAL
Cut Flowers . . . Corsages
Funeral and Wedding Orders
—CALL US—
Nome Drug Store
Report of the Financial Condition
of the
Miners and Merchants Bank of Alaska,
Located at Nome, Territory of Alaska, at the close of business on the
6th day of April, 1953.
RESOURCES
Loans and Discounts . 494,679.28
Loans on real estate . 81,205.51
Overdrafts ..'.... 10.56
United States bonds and securities .. 556,312.00
Other bonds and warrants . 99,391.24
Banking house, furniture and fixtures .,. 29,658.93
Other real estate owned . 7,051.87
Due from other banks . 233,611.23
Checks on other banks and other cash items . 8,541.58
Cash on hand . 125,847.45
Gold Bullion on hand . 892.05
Prepaid insurance . 2,199.07
Other Assets . 51,307.34
Total . 1,690,708.11
LIABILITIES
Capital stock paid in . 100,000.00
Surplus fund . 25,000.00
Undivided profits less expenses paid . 108,882.14
Demand deposits . 1,163,107.39
Time deposits . 293,718.58
Total .'..^. 1,690,708.11
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA )
TERRITORY OF ALASKA ) SS
SECOND JUDICIAL DIVISION )
I, Alva A. Daue, Cashier of the above-named bank do solemnly
swear that the foregoing statement is true to the best of my knowledge
and belief. ALVA A. DAUE, Cashier
(CORRECT ATTEST)
G. R: JACKSON
WILLIAM T. HALEY
(NOTARIAL SEAL) Directors (
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
7th day of April, 1953.
BEVERLY A. MORGAN
Notary Public in and for the Territory of Alaska.
My commission expires Noyem ber 10, 1956.