is NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LVII No. 11NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1955Per' Copy—15^
Statehood Advocates Seek To Limit
Coming Congressional Hearings To
Summary and Review of Testimony
By Harrison Humphries
WASHINGTON, UP>—Advocates
of statehood for Hawaii and Alas
ka today sought to limit forth
coming congressional hearings to
summary and review of prior
testimony.
Delegate Elizabeth Farrington
(R-Hawaii) offered members of
the House Insular Affairs Com
mittee 5,194 printed pages com
prising the record of 16 previous
congressional investigations of
Hawaii’s fitness for statehood.
Delegate E. L. Bartlett <D-Alas
ka) displayed seven volumes to
taling 2,633 pages as the record
of previous congressional hearings
on Alaska statehood.
The House committee decided
yesterday to conduct another
hearing, primarily for the benefit
of new members. The extent of
the inquiry was not determined,
blit Chairman Engle (D-Calif)
said he had no inclination to de
prive any committee member of
the opportunity to be fully in
formed.
Full Information Demanded
One demand for full informa
tion came from Rep. Rutherford
(D-Texas) who claimed only a
“passing knowledge” of the sub
ject.
A new member of the commit
tee and a first-termer in Congress,
Rutherford told the committee:
“As far as I am concerned, the
issue just arrived this morning.”
If forced to vote without addi
tional information, Rutherford
said he would vote against the
admission of both territories as
states.
Another newcomer to the com
mittee, Rep. Edmondson <D-Okla>
raised specific questions about the
safeguards to be provided for na
tive populations, particularly the
Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts in
Alaska.
Assured by Delegate Bartlett
that Alaska native groups are sat
isfied with the language in the
statehood bill designed to protect
native right, Edmondson said he
would like additional information
as to the competence of the na
tives to judge whether their rights
are adequately protected.
Edmondson expressed himself
in sympathy with the statehood
ambitions of the residents of Ha
waii and Alaska and said he is
inclined to implement the declar
ations of the Democratic National
Platform in favor of immediate
statehood for both territories.
Engle said Edmondson had
raised good questions and asked
other members to inform him of
specific points they wanted cov
ered in the hearing.
Bill To Be Discussed Friday
A point by point discussion of
the contents of the combined Ha
(Continued on Page Three)
Approves Full War
Powers For Ike To
Defend Formosa
WASHINGTON, MV-The Senate
Foreign Relations and Armed Ser
vices Committees today approved
26-2 a resolution giving President
Eisenhower full war powers to
defend Formosa and its outposts.
Sens. Langer (R-ND) and Morse
(independent-Ore) voted against
the resolution which was recom
mended to the Senate in exactly
the form it passed the House yes
terday by a 409-3 vote.
Leaders noted it might be im
possible to get the measure offi
cially before the Senate if any
senator objected to immediate
consideration. Unless there is
unanimous consent for immediate
consideration, any measure must
under Senate rules “lay over” for
one day after it is reported by a
committee.
First Refugees
Start Evacuating
Taehen Islands
TAIPEH, Formosa, —An old,
l gray landing ship slid into the
small, hill-girt harbor of Keelung
in northern Formosa Tuesday
with the first 193 refugees—many
of them children—from the Com
munist-menaced Taehen Islands
200 miles to the north.
The dingy LSM carried widows
and orphans of Nationalist guer
rillas who died last week in the
defense of Yikiangshan Island.
One woman, the widow of a guer
rilla chieftain, carried a 12-day
old baby.
On board also were 18 sick and
wounded Nationalist soldiers and
85 children under 14 years of age
from a Taehen orphanage, and 15
women of the orphanage staff.
The wounded soldiers were car
ried ashore. Only two men were
among the refugees. They were
the elderly father of a guerrilla
squad leader killed at Yikiang
shan and the orphanage cook.
The evacuation was a National
ist operation, possibly the fore
runner of a complete withdrawal
from the two small Taehen Is
lands.
But the evacuation ship on the
final stage of its trip passed thru
waters protected by the U.S. 7th
Fleet built around four fast car
riers of the Essex class.
The fleet is in position to assist
in the complete withdrawal of
20,000 Nationalist troops from the
Tachens if it gets orders to do the
job.
Churchill Turns Down
Suggestion He Meet
With Malenkov
LONDON, IvPI—Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Tuesday re
jected suggestions he should meet
with Soviet Premier Georgi Mal
enkov to discuss the explosive Far
Eastern situation.
“I do not conceive a meeting of
this, character on the Far East
between me and Mr. Malenkov
would be likely to yield favorable
results at this time,”, Churchill
told the House of Commons.
Straub Appointed
To City Council
Elmer Straub was appointed by
the Nome City Council in its reg
ular meeting Monday night to fill
the unexpired term of Council
woman Rita Harper, which is un
til April of this year.
Councilwoman Rose Silverman
called attention to the similarity
of the dog problems in Fairbanks
where the council is trying to pass
new ordinances. There, the coun
cil objected to a proposed change
of $5 per year per dog, preferring
their present $2 per male and $5
per female.
Fairbanks now impounds any
dog running as a public nuisance
and imposes a $10 fine for repos
sessing an unlicensed dog, and a
$5 fine for a licensed dog as well
as $1 a day board bill for dogs
held.
An estimated 1,500 dogs in Fair
banks is a bigger headache than
that which the Nome Council has.
Representing a group of moth
ers of teen-age students, Mrs. Pete
Reader asked for modification or
Ordinance 347 so that students
going home from dances or par
ties will not be molested by auth
orities as long as they are enroute
home, at the proper time.
. She stated that the present in
terpretation of the law makes the
young people feel like law break
ers, just to be walking home from
a party.
Chief Jenks explained that the
city police would try to use dis
cretion in the future.
CANADA PLANS
TO START ATOMIC
POWER PLANT
OTTAWA, (A*)—Canada plans to
start designing an experimental
atomic power plant this spring.
To be built jointly by the gov
ernment and private industry, the
installation may be ready for op
eration early in 19C8.
Trade Minister C. D. Howe an
nounced the project Monday in
the annual report of Atomic En
ergy of Canada Ltd., a govern
ment corporation.
Officials said no final decision
has been made yet on a site for
the plant. The cost of the project
has not been estimated.
Britain and the United States
are now building atomic power
plants to produce electricity.
. f — —■
Heintzleman Recommends Increase
Of 2 or 3 Cents a Gallon In Gas Tax
In Message to Senate-House Session
-<
Nationalist Forces
Will Abandon The
Tachen Islands
By Spencer Moosa
TAIPEH, Formosa, —Although
Nationalist Chinese officials won’t
say so, there is no question but
that Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces will
abandon the Tachen islands.
Reliable sources said today the
many problems involved have
been worked out at conferences
between Nationalist and Ameri
can officers. Planning has reached
the stage where the operation can
begin whenever the signal is
given.
Formal announcement appears
to await only congressionl ap
proval of President Eisenhower’s
recommendations.
The sources said the evacuation
would be a joint operation, under
the overall command of Vice Ad
miral Alfred M. Pride, command
er of the U.S. 7th Fleet. His flag
ship, the cruiser Helena, is now
at the north Formosa port of Kee
lung.
-- - -■■
1 Secty. Wilson Sees No
Need For Changes In
Military “Short of War" ^
WASHINGTON, tffi—Secretary
of Defense Wilson told a con
cerned Congress tojlay he sees no
need for any “important changes”
in United States forces “short of
war.”
Wilson, appearing before the
House Armed Services Committee
to report on American military
strength, made no mention in pre
pared remarks of the mounting
tension over Red Chinese threats
to Formosa. But the Formosa situ
ation loomed large in the back
ground, Also scheduled to brief
the lawmakers was Adm. Arthur
W. Radford, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
The House yesterday approved
409-3 a resolution endorsing acts
of war, if President Eisenhower
thinks them necessary, to defend
the Chinese Nationalist island
stronghold from the Reds.
Chairman Vinson (D-Ga) of the
Armed Services Committee told
newsmen the briefing by Wilson
and Radford had been scheduled
some time ago and was not spec
ifically prompted by the Formosa
problem.
Wilson said he did not expect
Russia “to take action during the
next few years that would delib
erately precipitate another world
conflict.” But Communist aims
are unchanged, he said, and a
“conflict might arise through mis
calculation on their part.”
By JIM HUTCHESON
AP Legislative Correspondent
JUNEAU, U?—In his first mes
sage to a territorial legislature,
Governor Heintzleman today rec
ommended an increase of 2 or 3
cents a gallon in the gasoline tax
and called upon the lawmakers to
guard against allowing “sectional
ism ambitions and rivalries to
divide us.”
The Republican governor, in
his address to the House and Sen
ate in a joint session, covered a
wide range of problems facing the
territory. Generally he suggested
the legislators “give considera
tion” to specific problems or pos
sible solutions, but on the subject
of raising funds for road con
struction he made direct and
specific recommendations.
Dwindling Employment Fund
He described the dwindling em
ployment security fund as “one of
the gravest problems you will
face.” He referred to the shaping
of a budget within territorial in
come—in which a 12 million dol
lar gap is involved—^as “the most
important set of problems.” He
advised that he will submit
promptly to the legislators a new
budget outline to help solve the
problem of matching outgo and
income.
In discussing the general condi
tion of the territory, the governor
declared that “on the whole Alas
ka prospered during the past bi
ennium,” with increasing popula
tion and industries, but the de
pressed condition of the fishing
industry stood out with other
lesser setbacks on “the dark side.”
More Air Service Advocated
He advocated “all possible
measures to see that air service is
increased rather than curtailed”
and for resumption of passenger
ship service.
In a preface to his road fund
recommendations, the governor
cited mounting congressional crit
icism because of “relatively small
participation by the territory in
providing road construction and
maintenance funds.” The territor
ial gasoline tax is 2 cents a gallon.
Governor's Recommendations
These were his recommenda
tions on that subject:
“Increase the tax on motor fuel
for highway use vehicles to 4 or §
cents a gallon and scrutinize mo
tor vehicle license rates with a
view to bringing them into line
with those of the states.
“Place all motor vehicle license
revenues in the Highway Fund
instead of the General Fund,
where they go at present.
“Finance the operations of the
Department of Police by appro
priations from the General Fund.”
A large share of the Territorial
Police funds now come from high
(Continued on Page Three)
Gilbert Roland in —
Tonight
and
Thursday
TERRIFIC ! — DYNAMIC ! — One of the outstanding pictures of the year! Show times 7:15 and 9:30 — DON’T MISS IT!
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