m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA —MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIV No. 156 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1952 Per Copy—15^
Communist Agent
Captured After
Bizarre Flight
TAIPEH, Formosa, (/P)—A Red
agent fleeing the Philippines
Tuesday shot and killed two crew
members of a passenger plane
in a despei'ate but futile bid to
reach sanctuary in Communist
China.
Nationalist Air Force fighters
forced the plane down on Que
moy Island, a Nationalist outpost
just 15 miles from the Red main
land.
The agent, Hung Tsu-Chun,
was brought . to Taipeh under
heavy guards Wednesday night,
along with seven passengers who
survived the bizarre flight.
Hung, 23 and good looking, ap
pearing unconcerned on his ar
rival here. He smiled several
times and appeared in remark
ably good humor.
During the fantastic flight, the
plane flew over part of the main
land. Communist anti-aircraft
fired, but caused no damage.
A final ironic touch was added
when the plane, a DC-3 of the
Philippines Air Lines, taxied to
a halt on Quemoy.
Miss Mary Alice Ireton, Bethol,
O., a passenger, said Hung ap
parently thought the co-pilot had
landed in Red territory. He was
startled to find himself surround
ed by Nationalist soldiers.
Shortly. after the plane took
off from Laoag in northern Luzon
.Hung went into the crew’s com
partment, locked the door and
ordered the pilot, Capt. Pedro
Perlas, to head for Communist
China. Captain Perlas objected
and the Communist fired two
shots into his head. Then Capt.
Felix Gaston took over the con
trols. The flight purser, Eduardo
Diago heard the shot and started
kicking the door to the crew
compartment. The Red fired two
shots through the door, both hit
ting Diago. He died on the floor
of the plane.
Right up to the time he landed,
four and one half hours later, the
Communist kept his revolver
sticking into the co-pilot neck.
LIQUOR LICENSES APPROVED
A special meeting of the City
Council Monday approved of the
following liquor licenses:
Dispensaries—Bering Sea Club,
Board of Trade, Anchor Tavern,
Breakers, Polar Bar, Golden
Goose, New Lincoln, Polaris.
Retail — Wallace Liquor Store,
Nome Liquor Store, N. C. Co.,
Polar Liquor Store, Polaris
Liquor Store.
Same Job — New Boss?
FAIRBANKS, (TP) — Fairbanks
may soon be the only city in the
country where the city manager
takes orders from the city en
gineer.
City Manager Donald Eyinclc
and City Engineer Helen White
announced Tuesday they will be
married New Year’s Eve.
Prospect of Biggest Bus
Strike In City’s History
Faces New York Tonight
NEW YORK, (/P)—Millions of
New Yorkers resigned themselves
today to the prospect that the
biggest bus strike in the city’s his
tory would start at midnight.
The New Year’s Eve walkout
on eight privately - owned bus
systems has been set by the CIO
Transport Workers Union in a
wage-hour dispute.
The eight companies take in
about 3,500,000 fares a day, and
are separate from the vast city
owned subway, elevated and bus
system.
The union president last night
turned down a proposal by the
City Board of Estimate that the
stoppage be averted by arbitra
tion.
Mayor Impellitteri and other
city officials will continue peace
talks today. There was no pro
mising sign, however, that the
8,000-odd drivers and mainten
ance men employed by the eight
companies could be kept on the
job.
$4,230,900 Kodiak Housing
Project Is Announced
By the Government
' WASHINGTON, (P)—Approval
of a $4,230,900 construction loan
for a Kodiak, Alaska housing
project was announced today by
the government.
The housing and home finance
agency said the loan was made
to Aleutian Homes, Inc., of Port
land, Ore., for site development
and construction of 344 prefab
ricated dwelling units.
The units will be rented at $110
to $150 a month to Navy person
nel and employes of the naval
station in Kodiak.
The agency said construction
will begin immediately and is
expected to be completed by next
September.
Mrs. Jean Garrett May
Not Have Fatal Malady
LOS ANGELES, (P) — The
courageous mother who risked
her life to give birth to her
fourth boy may not have Hodg
kin’s Disease after all, her phy
sician says.
Mrs. Jean Garrett, 27, under
went a Caesarean operation last
Friday while under treatment for
the malady, a usually fatal can
cerous condition of the lymphatic
system. She withstood the shock
of the surgery well and the baby
was healthy.
Yesterday, her physician, who
wished to remain unidentified,
said he found no trace of Hodg
kin’s disease in Mrs. Garrett.
However, he added that addition
al tests will be made to make
sure.
If she does not have the malady
but one of several that have
similar symptoms, the Hawthorme
housewife has an excellent
chance to regain her health, the
doctor said.
GOPs Complain
Patronage Lists
Not Available
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Some
Republican congressmen com
plained bitterly today they have
been unable to get a complete,
authentic list of government jobs
available for deserving Republi
cans.
After 20 years of Democratic
presidents and administrations,
these Republicans say they, are
having a tough time even learn
ing what jobs are open to politi
cal patronage.
Several who didn’t want to be
quoted by name said the new
Republican Congress, as one of its
first steps, should pass a resolu
tion directing the Civil Service
Commission to supply a list of
the thousands of government jobs
that may be filled through poli
tical patronage.
Sen. Dworshak (R-Idaho) told a
reporter:
“When the voters demanded a
change, they certainly did not
want to carry on with policy
making officials of the Truman
administration.
“So far it seems that every
thing has been done to' confuse
the situation and make it appear
that except for a very few top
level jobs, everything is covered
by civil service."
The Civil Service Commission
said Dec. 1 that 170,382 jobs were
open to political replacement and
said many of these were low-paid.
The federal payroll is slightly
over 2Vfc million.
HST Says Outlook
For World Peace
Better Than In ’52
WASHINGTON, (JP) — Presi
dent Truman said today the out
look for world peace is better
now than it was a year ago.
Truman explained, at his last
news conference of the year, that
he was referring to the outlook
for the cold war in all parts of
the world.
He said no new plan for hasten
ing the end of the Korean war
has been submitted to him. But
he added that obviously he could
not talk about such a plan even
if one existed, unless it was some
thing to be put into operation
immediately.
Truman announced he will ap
pear on radio and television Jan.
15 from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. EST,
to report to the people on the
state of the nation.
This address, he said, will con
tain some material in addition to
what he will give Congress in his
formal state-of-the-union mes
sage early next week. He will not
appear before Congress in person.
Truman avoided comment on
two controversial issues — Gen
eral Douglas MacArthur’s latest
blast at him and the status of
diplomat John Carter Vincent.
New Year on Korean War
Front Ushered In By
Thunderous Barrages
By JIM BECKER
SEOUL, (J?)—A new year came
on a Korean front Thursday but
it was the same old war—stale
mate on the ground and artillery
barrages.
The new year began as rela
tively quiet as the final day of
1952 had been. There had been
shelling Wednesday and some Al
lied artillery units greeted the
new year with thunderous bar
rages at midnight.
Wednesday had been quiet
after a few pre-dawn scraps, but
in the air the workhorse Super
forts took on two vital Red tar
gets and worked them over.
The Eighth Army announced
its troops inflicted 1,814 casual
ties on the Reds in the week end
ing Dec. 28, including 1,092 killed,
711 wounded and 11 captured. In
the final week of 1951, Red cas
ualties totalled 3,866.
A bright sun flashed off the
snow-covered battlefront as the
year drew to a close. Tempera
tures were higher, hovering in
the 40’s.
Acheson Says National
Security Not Endangered
By Disloyal UN Employes
WASHINGTON, (£>) — Secre
tary of State Dean Acheson said
today national security is not en
dangered by United Nations em
ployment of American of ques
tionable loyalty.
But Acheson told a House Ju
diciary subcommittee that the
presence of “these people,” as he
called them, among U. N. em
ployes does give the United
States a “black eye.”
There is no real threat to se
curity, he said, because U. N.
workers do not handle matters
“concerned with our national de
fense.”
Acheson had hardly settled in
the witness chair before the Con
gress members were sparring
with him over his refusal to dis
close the names of State Depart
ment employes who have handled
investigation reports on U.S. citi
zens hired by the U.N. The De
partment has refused to give thjs
information (1) to the New York
grand jury, (2) to a Senate com
mittee, and (3) to the House com
mittee.
Acheson said he consulted
President Truman before reject
ing the request from the grand
jury, and that Truman instructed
him to refuse to give up the in
formation.
When Acheson asserted that
U.N. employment of possibly dis
loyal Americans presented no
threat to national security, Rep.
Keating (R-NY) commented that
he and Acheson apparently placed
different interpretations on the
words “national interest and na
tional security.”
“It strikes me they are syn
onymous terms,” Keating said.
Alaska Housing
Program Marked
By Trial and Error
WASHINGTON, (IP)—A House
committee charged Tuesday that
the multi-million-dollar Alaskan
military housing program has
been “marked by trial and error
and considerable lack of expert
knowledge.”
In a knuckle-rapping report,
congressional investigators large
ly blamed the Corps of Army En
gineers, criticizing its “easy going
attitute” toward construction de
fects.
The report was filed by a spe
cial subcommittee of the House
Committee on Government Op
erations. Chairman Holifield (D
Calif) conducted hearings in Al
aska ths fall.
The committee noted “an un
even approach to the austerity
goal in Alaskan housing,” citing
unsuitable design, materials and
construction methods “to meet
economy demands and military
needs.”
The report criticizes the Alaska
District of Army Engineers for
“serious weakness in contract ad
ministration,” including lax
supervision and inspection of con
tractor performance.
The total postwar construction
program for the territory was
estimated to exceed one billion
dollars, with the military housing
program amounting to approxi
mately 212 million. Military hous
ing is centered chiefly at Ladd
and Eielson Air Force bases in
the Fairbanks area, and Ft. Rich
arrson near Anchorage.
Asserting a “material reduc
tion of unit costs could and must
be made,” the committee criti
cized hurriedly prepared housing
designs, “unrealistic” require
ments for foundations and foot
ings in Arctic, and semi - Arctic
regions, “unusually poor” con
tractor performance, lack of suit
able inspections and cost account
ing, use of inadequate building
substitutes, and failure to pro
perly plan for utilities.
The committee found that non
military government housing un
der the Federal Housing Admin
istration is more austere than mil
itary construction but “still af
fords quite satisfactory and at
tractive quarters.”
Investigators also were criti
cal of the number of supervising
officers assigned to Alaska by the
engineers. The Alaska District,
they said, had only 19 military
officers immediately responsible
for a program currently involv
ing outlays of 150 million dollars
a year. At one time, hey said, the
number was as low as three.
John Huderi is visiting in De
troit with his son John, who is a
student at the University of De
troit and is living with his mater
nal grandparents. John Jr. will
spend New Year’s Eve in New
York, maybe in Times Square.
NEW YEAR’S EVE DANCE
Favors - Balloons - Erom 9 ’til the wee hours BERING SEA CLUB