2SS NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXII No. 5 _NOME. ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1960 Per Copy 15d
Mitchell Predicts
No Increase in
Steel Prices
DETROIT, I/P) — The steel wage
settlement is in line with others
negotiated this year and cannot
set off a wage spiral with highly
inflationary effects, Secretary of
Labor Mitchell said today.
And there will be no steel price
increases for- some time to come
if management and labor try to
increase the rate of steel produc
tivity, Mitchell added. He said he
was sure both sides would make
such an effort.
Mitchell, credited with playing
a major role in last week’s settle
ment of the 116-day steel strike,
also sai,d there may never again
be a major steel strike in this
country.
“With good will and good sense,
and with awareness that an eco
nomic institution like a steel cor
poration or a labor union must
serve the public interest as fully
as its own interests, it could be
possible — on the basis of this
settlement—that the United States
will have seen its last major steel
strike,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that in the new
settlement the steel companies and
the United Steelworkers Union
have cut the postwar wage in
crease trend by half. He quoted
Roger Blough, chairman of the
board of 'U. S. Steel, as saying the
average annual increase in hour
ly employment costs under the
new terms will be 3Vt to 3% per
cent compared with other postwar
settlements in which the increase
averaged about 8 per cent.
New Radio Method
Found to Measure
Polar Ice Depth
FT. MONMOUTH, N. J., UH —
An explorer-engineer has devel
oped a new way to measure polar
ice caps in the Arctic and the
Antarctic, the Army announced
today.
The method, developed toy Am
ory H. Waite of Oceanport, uses
radio waves instead of the old
seismic system of setting off ex
plosives near the ice surface and
analyzing the resulting sound
waves.
The Army described the old
way as accurate tout time consum
ing and expensive. Skilled seis
mologitss are needed to do the
readings.
Radio soundings can be made
as fast as an operator can move
over the surface in a vessel, a
tracked vehicle or a helicopter
skimming a few feet above the
ice.
Depth is computed by measur
ing the time that signals take to
pass through ice, reflect against
hidden ground beneath and re
turn through the ice to an an
tenna, the Army explained.
The fractional time elapsed
shows up on a scope like that
used in television picture tubes.
Allowance is made for the slow
ness of radio signals moving
through solid ice.
Waite, who works for the
Army Signal Research and De
velopment Laboratory here estab
lished this speed as about half
the normal radio wave speed of
196,000 miles a second when mov
ing in a vacuum, the Army said.
Justice Dept. Says
Ike Names Federal
Judge This Week
WASHINGTON, UP) — There is
a strong likelihood that President
Eisenhower will send to the Sen
ate this week his nomination of a
federal judge for Alaska, a Justice
Department spokesman said to
day.
Under its Statehood Act, the
new state will have one federal
district judge.
Senator Ernest Gruening has
said he deplores the delay in a
nomination since the state’s
court system is ready to take over
its functions.
“The delay is all the less ex
cusable,” Gruening said, “in view
of the fact that among those
available for appointment are two
men previously nominated by
President Eisenhower and unani
mously confirmed by the Senate
to serve as district court) judges
in Alaska.”
He referred to Judges Vernon
Forbes, of Fairbanks, and Walter
Hodge, now a Justice of the State
Supreme Court.
Gruening and Senator Bob Bart
lett have said they would support
the nomination of either man.
Louisiana State U. Woman
Biologist Found Murdered
BATON ROUGE, La., UP) t- Con
struction workers found the body
of Dr. Margaret McMillan, 38,
beside her auto on a lonely lane
I six miles from Louisiana State
I University campus here early Sun
day.
Deputy C. E. Johnson said the
biologist, who was not married,
was killed by 13 severe blows
behind the head with a sharp in
strument, perhaps a tire tool or
an ax. The weapon was still
missing.
Dr. McMillan was teaching at
the school’s New Orleans campus.
She left her New Orleans apart
ment Saturday afternoon, telling
neighbors she had a date.
Johnson said the attacker ap
parently struck as Dr. McMillan
started to light a cigarette. She
had a pack of cigarettes in one
hand and matches in the other.
He said there was no evidence
of rape.
Banks Up Interest on
Short-Term Deposits
JUNEAU — Alaska’s banks
started paying a n additional
three-quarters of one per cent in
terest on the State’s 90-day bank
deposits on January 1.
Revenue Commissioner Peter
Gatz said the increased rate would
bring an estimated $42,750 a year
additional into the State, treasury.
The new increase, second with
in a six-months period, brings the
interest rate paid on 90-day de
posits to 2Vt per cent — twice
that in effect-last June 30.
MILT BERLE ENTERTAINS
WHILE PLANE HOVERS
NEW YORK, UH — Comedian
Milton Berle entertained passen
gers for two hours Sunday night
while an American Airlines jet
circled near Idlewild Airport
dumping and using up fuel. Then
the plane landed safely. Airlines
officials said the plane’s pilot,
Capt. William Miller, thought the
gear level indicator was function
ing improperly.
Missile Diplomacy
May Impress World
With Russian Skill
By SPENCER DAVIS
WASHINGTON, UPt—The Soviet
Union’s newly announced rocket
tests in the Central Pacific may
be the start of a new campaign
of missile diplomacy. It nfky be
aimed to impress Asian nations
as well as the United States and
European countries.
U.S. officials note that the
Moscow warning for ships and
aircraft to remain out of the tar
get zone between Jan. 15 and Feb.
15 neatly bracket two important
diplomatic events:
1. The formal signing of a new
10-year security treaty between
the United States and Japan
scheduled to take place at the
White House on Jan. 19. Japan’s
Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi
and President Eisenhower will be
present.
2. The 10 - day visit of Soviet
Premier Khrushchev to neutral
Indonesia, due to begin in mid
February.
Any prestige gathered by spec
tacular space accomplishments
would come, too, just ahead of a
series of European diplomatic ne
gotiations leading up to next
May’s four-power summit confer
ence and Eisenhower’s visit to the
Soviet Union in June.
Another less immediate objec
tive may be a Soviet desire to
boost Communist prestige in Asia
following the great success of
Eisenhower’s recent visit to South
Asia.
20 Still Marooned
On Crumbling Floe
FAIRBANKS, UT> — The Air
Force today stepped up plans to
remove 20 men manning a scien
tific outpost on a crumbling ice
floe in the Arctic Ocean.
The floe, known as Station
Charley, was reduced to a fifth
of its original size when two huge
chunks cracked off the ice pack
last night. The floe has been
slowly disintegrating since Wed
nesday.
The Air Force had originally
planned to keep the men on the
island until all scientific equip
ment had been removed.
Air Force officers would not
comment, but it was believed con
cern for the safety of the men on
the floe is rising.
The latest ice disintegration
tore off about 200 feet of run
way, but the Air Force said the
loss was not expected to affect
aircraft landings or takeoffs. An
other 100 feet of area also dropped
off one side of the ice pack last
night. A 3,700-foot chunk broke
off Saturday night.
The floe, originally two miles
wide and four miles long, has
crumbled to an area one mile
wide and one mile and a fourth
long. A flight from Ladd AFB is
scheduled to pick up four men,
and was set to leave at 11 a.m.
A second flight is to- leave three
hours later.
It takes seven hours to make
the rOund-trip flight. The floe
is located 400 miles northwest of
Barrow.
Plans were completed months
ago for an orderly evacuation in
case the floe began breaking up.
So far the plans have been car
ried off without a miscue.
Labor Department Begins Inclusion of
Two New States in Employment Reports
WASHINGTON, tfl — Workers
in Alaska and Hawaii will be
added statistically to the nation’s
total of employed and unemployed
starting this month.
The Labor Department an
nounced this today as the first
step in gradually bringing the
two new states into its periodic
reports that cover employment,
wages and other labor data and
the cost of living.
Adding Hawaii and Alaska to
the labor force will raise the
total a few hundred thousand, the
Department said. The 48-state
tabulation no longer will be made.
The latest figures, covering
November, included 65,640,000
workers employed and 3,670,000
out of work. The first 50-state fig
ures, covering January, will be
out next month.
The Labor Department said the
payroll employment total — a
count of the number of factory
workers — will continue to be
published on a 48-state basis
through this year. The reports on
unemployment insurance — cov
ering about two-thirds of all
workers — have included Hawaii
and Alaska since last July.
Plans are not to include Alaska
and Hawaii in the nation’s con
sumer price index — the monthly
cost of living figures — until
1964, when a comprehensive re
vision of that index will be com
pleted.
The Department said it already
includes the two states in its reg
ular reports on wholesale prices.
Starting next spring, the Bur
eau will survey consumer prices
in Anchorage and Fairbanks, as
a basis for consumer price indexes
for these two cities. Toward the
end of this year', the Bureau hopes
to begin publishing semi-annual
indexes, as well as comparisons
of price levels in these two cities
with those in Seattle.
Caryl Chessman Loses
Last Right to Reprieve
WASHINGTON, UPl — The Su
preme Court today again denied
a hearing to Caryl Chessman, Los
Angeles sex bandit who is sched
uled to be executed Feb. 19.
The high tribunal refused to re
consider its action of last Dec. 14
when it rejected a lengthy appeal
filed on behalf of Chessman.
Chief Justice Warren, former
goyernor of California, took no
part in consideration of various
legal moves made for Chessman
in the Supreme Court.
Convicted in 1948, Chessman
has evaded the executioner thru
a series of appeals and petitions
in federal and state courts.
In his 11V4 years in San Quen
tin’s death row he wrote several
books, two of which became best
sellers.
Gov. Jimmy Davis
Promises ‘Peace’ in
Louisiana Politics
NEW ORLEANS, UR — Ballad
singing Jimmy Davis, winner of
Louisiana’s Democratic runoff for
Governor, today sought to return
this political topsy-turvy state to
“peace and harmony.”
The 58-year-old former Gov
ernor said he would create a state
sovereignty commission to pre
serve segregation. Negroes have
pressed suits in three parishes to
begin school integration.
“I’ve been all over the nation,”
said Davis, “and I’m convinced
the Southland is the happiest place
in the nation. I think right-think
ing white people and right-think
ing colored people believe that.”
Davis also pledged • to keep
hands off an independent legisla
ture and promised he would not
build a political machine in this
state that remembers the web-like
control of Huey Long.
A record turnout signaled the
end of the Long era. The ticket
of lame-duck Governor Earl Long,
Huey’s brother, was soundly
whipped in the December 5 pri
mary.
Davis piled up a 71,000 vote
lead over New Orleans Mayor
deLesseps S. Morrison, seeking to
become Louisiana’s first Catholic
Governor Since 1884.
New York Central Train
Roars Off Track at
Northern Ohio Town
WHJLIAMSTON, Ohio, UR — A
10-car New York Central passen
ger train roared through a cross
over switch at 80 miles per hour
in mist and fog last night and
hurtled off the rails. At least four
persons died and more than 50
were hurt.
The eastbound flyer was being
switched to the westbound track
so it could pass a freight train
up ahead, and a railroad official
said the top speed for this cross
over should have ben only 15
miles per hour.
The train’s engineer, H. W. Kir
stein, 63, of Cleveland, was in
jured in the pile-up and was
taken to a hospital.
There were about 155 passen
gers aboard when the speeding
train crumpled into a jagged line
of steel in this village of 3,000,
about 37 miles southwest of
Cleveland.
Leaking diesel fuel caught fire
and flashed up to a height of 50
feet for a brief period.
Air France Considered
For Anchorage Terminus
WASHINGTON, UR — Civil
Aeronautics Board Examiner Les
lie G. Donahue recommended to
day that Air France he granted
a route between France and An
chorage, 'by way of Hamburg,
Germany.
Air France now has a refueling
stop at Anchorage on its Paris
Tokyo route, but has no authority
to pick up or deliver passengers
in Alaska.
The examiner proposed that
the French airline be denied the
privilege of using Anchorage as
a stopover for Paris-Tokyo pas
sengers.
Air France made no request for
such authority in its application
for a France-Alaska route.
However, in its exhibits in the
CAB proceeding the airline did
refer to stopover privileges for
passengers at Anchorage.
One of its witnesses testified,
also, that the airline desired such
authority to promote traffic to
'Tokyo as well as to Anchorage.
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