™E NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL, LV No. 26 NOME, ALASKA. MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1953 Per Copy—15^
Rep. Dimock To
Protest Jap Fishing
Off Alaska Waters
JUNEAU, Ml—An Alaskan leg
islator prepared an appeal to U.S.
government heads today concern
ing a reported “Japanese trend to
send large scale fishing expedi
tions into Bering Sea waters off
Alaska’s west coast.
Rep. Barbara Dimock, (R-An
chorage) said she was basing the
appeal on a report, through of
ficial channels, that the Japanese
are sending a cannery ship and
a dozen catcher boats with enough
nets and gear to stretch out 4,000
miles.
She described the reported Japa
nese plans as a “new and ominous
threat” to American interests
which pursue giant king crabs
along the American side xof the
Bering Sea.
Rep. Dimock said she was bas
ing the appeal on reports of ad
vices from the U.S. embassy in
Tokyo to Washington on the size
of the Japanese operation.
She said the embassy report
carried these figures:
The expedition hopes to get
over a million crabs between late
April and September which would
make 50,000 cases; the 5,000-ton
mother ship, Tekei Maru, would
have two cannery lines aboard
and total crew member of all ves
sels would exceed 400.
A fishing treaty with Japan for
bids fishing for salmon, halibut,
or herring near the Alaska main
land but crabs and other shellfish
and bottom fish are not included.
The Dimock memorial asks the
government to take “immediate
and positive action to investigate
> and prevent threatened ravish
ment and destruction” of fisheries
of the West Coast of Alaska.
It urges “immediate steps to re
vise terms of the existing treaty
or that a new agreement be en
tered to protect American fishing
resources,” which are described
as vital to Alaska’s economy.
The protest is reminiscent of
bitter pre - war protests against
Japanese fishing operations out
side the Western Alaska three
mile limit.
President Lines To Talk
Wages with Striking Union
SAN FRANCISCO, (^—Ameri
can President Lines will talk
wages with the AFL Masters,
Mates and Pilots Union today or
tomorrow, a company spokesman
announced today.
Scheduling of negotiations fol
• lowed a partial withdrawal by the
APL and Pacific Far East Lines
from the Pacific Maritime Asso
ciation. The union, asking a 9.5
per cent wage increase, is threat
ening a strike against all PMA
member ships in West Coast ports.
Union officials, asserting the
wage demand would bring pay
levels up to those of East Coast
and Gulf Port deck officers, had
warned the maritime group that
its members would not man mer
chant vessels unless given the in
* creasel.
Anti-American Mobs
Stone U.S. Cars and
Homes In Tehran
TEHRAN, Iran, Iff)—Mobs shout
ing anti-American slogans, stoned
U.S. cars and homes Monday as
riots continued in Iran’s capital.
Premier Mohammed Mossadegh’s
supporters appeared to be gaining
the upper hand in the demonstra
tions which have alternately as
sailed and defended the aged Na
tionalist leader.
Crowds hurled rocks at Ameri
can homes on Roosevelt Avenue,
at the U.S. embassy’s administra
tive counselor Laurence C. Frank,
and at cars driven by embassy
attache Warren Silver and by a
secretary, Betty White. None of
them was hurt.
Mossadegh, meanwhile, moved
to re-establish his hold on the
government’s reins after the mob
attack on his home Saturday
which sent him dashing in pa
jamas for the traditional sanct
uary of the Parliament buildings.
The government arrested 70
army officers—65 retired and five
on the active list —and accused
them of inciting the demonstrators
against the government.
Replacing the weekend cry of
“death or the Shah,” the mass
outpouring of pro- Mossadegh
demonstrators around the parlia
ment building today screamed
“death or Mossadegh”—the same
battlecry which has helped avert
previous threats to the premier’s
hold on the government reins.
Bern On Import of Canadian.
Livestock Is Lifted
WASHINGTON, (fl>—Secretary
of Agriculture Benson signed an
order Monday opening U.S. bor
ders to imports of Canadian cattle,
sheep and other domestic animals
and their products, effective im
mediately.
Imports had been barred for a
year befauce o' an outbreak of
the dread foot and mouth disease
in the province of Saskatchewan.
Benson said the disease no longer
exists in Canada.
Barge Service Between
Alaska And St. Louis
To Start April 15
ST. LOUIS, (*—Regulai
towboat-barge shipments 1
St. Louis and ports in Alaska and
Western Canada are scheduled to
begin April 15.
Frank J. McDevitt, president of
the St. Louis Board of Public Ser
vice, said Alaska Freight Lines,
Inc., will use the municipal docks
for initial shipments expected to
total only 1,000 to 2,000 tons
monthly.
McDevitt urged quick action on
two proposed bond issues for con
struction of new docks and im
provement of existing facilities on
the Mississippi River here.
It was announced previously a
Dutch shipping firm plans to start
regular service between St. Louis
and Caribbean ports within about
two months.
An official of Alaska Freight
Lines said barge shipments will
be at regular 30-day intervals at
first but will be stepped up to
twice a month as soon as possible.
Nome’s Dream Theater
Destroyed By Fire
Attorney Gen. Believes
States Have Mineral
Rights to Submerged Land
WASHINGTON, Ml—Atty. Gen.
Brownell told the Senate Monday
he believes the states should get
the mineral resources in sub
merged coastal areas but that he
would not give them quitclaim
title to the territory.
The tidelands issue figured pro
minently in last year’s presiden
tial campaign. President Eisen
hower suported the claim by some
states that title to the land should
be vested in the states. Adlai Stev
enson, his Democratic opponent,
held that the U. S. government
owns paramount rights in the
region.
Brownell said his view was
aimed as “minimizing if not elim
inating altogether the constitu
tional point raised by the wit
nesses before this committee.”
“I do not thereby intend to
cast any doubt upon the consti
tutionality of the so-called quit
claim statute.”
By quitclaim, Brownell meant
action by Congress which would
have the effect of the federal
government abandoning—or quit
ting— claim to title to the sub
merged regions.
Former President Truman twice
vetoed such legislation.
Three Mining Men *
Report Fabulously Rich
Copper Deposit In B.C.
PRINCE RUPERT, B. C., UP) —
Three mining men returning
from a helicopter expedition into
the mountains of northern British
Columbia say they and a rival
group have staked claims on a
fabulously rich copper deposit.
The trio reported Saturday they
have staked 72 claims on an ice
covered, 7,000-foot peak known as
Leduc Glacier for Frobisher, Ltd.,
a large Canadian concern with
headquarters at Montreal, and
“an amalgamation of other large
eastern mining interests.”
And they told of what they
described-as a claim-staking race
with Granby Consolidated Mining,
Smelting and Power Co., Ltd.,
The mining men, enrcrute to
Victoria for talks with the pro
vincial government after spending
10 days on the wind-swept ice,
are Bill Richardson, Wendel Daw
son and Howard Fowler, a former
Alaska government mining engi
neer.
The reported copper strike is in
the rugged ( Alaska - B.C. border
land territory. Its location was
given as about 25 miles north
west of Premier, B.C., the near
est settlement, and 800 miles
northeast of Ketchikan.
First word of the reported find
came more than a week ago, when
an Alaska newspaper quoted a
pilot as saying he was shown a
“solid mountain” of copper.
Nome Junior Police
Show Efficiency
The recently-formed Junior Po
lice, under Police Chief Clyde
Glass, showed their efficiency
throughout the Dream Theater
disaster Saturday.
They kept a]^ children away
from the fire, stood guard over
private property removed from
the adjacent buildings and ably
assisted in returning the property
to these buildings after the fire.
They were also seen distribu
ting gloves and steaming coffee
from the local business houses to
the fire fighters.
Legislators Wire Wash. DC
Urging Alaska Statehood
JUNEAU, UP —Six Republican
and three Democratic representa
tives joined in weekend wires to
Washington in support of immed
iate Alaska statehood.
They sent three wires after the
Territorial House Saturday tabled
a proposal that the House should
send the telegrams.
The wires went to Rep. Saylor
(R-Pa) in support off his statehood
bill, and to Interior Secretary Mc
Kay and Alaska gubernatorial
nominee B. Frank Heintzleman
asking support of Saylor’s bill.
The wires were signed by Re
publicans Howard W. Pollock, Leo
McKinley, Herald Stringer, Lloyd
C. Olsen and Carl Rentschler of
Anchorage; and Frank G. John
son, Kake; also by Democrats Ted
Duffield of Nome; Richard Greuel
of Fairbanks and Wendell Kay of
Anchorage.
Meanhwile, McKay said in
Washington that it is his “guess”
the present Congress will give
statehood to Hawaii but “I think
Alaska will have to wait its turn.”
Japanese House Threatens
Overthrow Premier For
“Stupid Idiot” Remark
TOKYO, (41 — The Japanese
House today threatened to over
throw Prime Minister Shigeru
Yoshida’s staunchly pro-American
government because the aging but
peppery statesman called a pol
itical rival a “stupid idiot.”
The House, in a move unprece
dented in Japanese politics, sent
to a censure committee a motion
to reprimand the 74 - year - old
prime minister. ,
If the committee recommends
severe censure — and Yoshida
loses the ensuing vote in the
House—he almost certainly would
be forced to resign.
Yoshida dismissed Agriculture
Minister Kozen Hirokawa Mon
day night on grounds he had been
uncooperative. Hirokawa is a
leader of one of the factions
threatening to split* the Liberal
party. He led a group of 30 dis
sident Liberals who boycotted
Monday morning’s vote on cen
sure and thus assured its being
sent to committee.
V —.- »
The Dream Theater was com
pletely destroyed by fire Saturday,
afternoon, but .all the adjoining
buildings were saved due to the
fine cooperation of local and mili
tary fire fighting groups, the
fact that the theater was com
pletely sheathed in sheet iron
and the abundance of water that
was available.
Manager Gordon Osborne states
that he was in the apartment in
the south end of the theater build
ing doing his laundry when he
heard someone shout “Fire!”
He rushed to the basement of
the building, where the heating
plant was located and finding
everything in order there rushed
upstairs to the second floor. Upon
reaching the unused i^ird floor
room he found the fire, he states,
well under way, already into the
attic the full length of the theater.
Although the Fire Department
arrived immediately the firemen
were unable to fight the fire from
the front of the building due to
smoke.
The law office of Jim von der
Heydt which was on skids to the
east of the theater was quickly
pulled away, leaving room to fight
the fire and protect the North Star
Grill.
The Breakers Bar was evacu
ated quickly, but due to the gal
vanized iron wall of the theater
and the skillful fire fighting the
building was saved.
The big diesel pump of the
Fire Department was put to use,
the department states, and six
powerful streams of water cov
ered the fire on all sides of the
building as well as four more
hoses from Nome Field which
pumped water from the water
tank trucks.
The Dream Theater was built
in 1934 after being destroyed by
fire and replaced one of the old
est theaters in the territory. The
owner, Charles Code, is one of
two brothers who brought the
theater to Nome in the gold rush
days and put on shows on the leg
itimate stage until movies were
introduced.
Mr. Code is retired and now
l\yes in Seattle with his wife.
Gordon Osborne lost all but a
few of his personal effects.
Osborne states that only a
week’s supply of film is kept in
the theater and strangely enough
that was still in the projection
room in its cases and not burned.
W. W. Laws, fire chief, missed
the fire Saturday as he was in
the hospital recovering from the
“flu.”
Word was received this morn
ing from the Dream Theater
owner, Mr. Charles Code, in
dicating that he was interested
in rebuilding the theater.