m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXI No. 87 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1959 Per Copy—154
Former Interior
Secretary Douglas
McKay Dead
SALEM, Or., (A*) — Douglas Mc
Kay, 66, long-time Oregon poli
tical figure and President Eisen
hower’s Secretary of the Interior
from 1953 to 1956, died today.
He had been hospitalized nearly
two weeks with a heart ailment.
He resigned from the cabinet in
1956 in an effort to unseat Wayne
Morse failed and the loss was the
only one McKay ever met in a
career that took him through city
and state offices to the Oregon
governorship.
He suffered from a heart ail
ment for months. On June 11 he
walked into the hospital and his
condition worsened steadily, kid
ney complications arising. He was
in a coma the last 24 hours.
As- Secretary of the Interior,
McKay helped to formulate the
Eisenhower Administration’s part
nership plan for development of
hydroelectric power, looking to
private industry to build power
dams and the federal government
for multi-purpose dams. This was
a subject of heated controversy in
Ihe Pacific Northwest, and was
one of the issues in the 1956 Sena
torial election which he lost.
Wrapped up in it was McKay’s
championship of Idaho Power Co.’s
plan for three dams in the Hells
Canyon reach of the Snake River
and his opposition to a federal
dam. It brought charges from poli
tical foes of “giveaway of natural
resources,” a charge which friends
indignantly denied.
He is survived by his widow
and two daughters.
Living Costs Reach
Record High
Washington; upi — The cost
of living rose four-tenths of one
per cent in June to a record high.
This was the largest monthly
increase in 14 months.
Announcing the rise, as meas
ured by its consumer price index,
the Labor Department said today
that all major items in the living
costs of city families advanced.
However, Commissioner Ewan
Clague of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics told newsmen the up
surge of prices was “not a sign
that the index is about to take
off.”
He said the increase was largely
seasonal, due to a sharp advance
in foods, chiefly fresh fruits and
vegetables.
The rise took the price index
to 124.5 per cent of the 1947-49 av
erage. This is six-tenths of one per
cent higher than a year ago.
The increase will mean wage
boosts of 1 or 2 cents an hour for
about 600,000 workers whose union
contracts have escalator clauses
calling for periodic adjustments
of wages to the cost of living.
, States Vote Big Boosts
In Jobless Pay Plans
Higher pay checks for the un
employed over longer periods of
idleness have been voted in many
states thus far in 1959, according
to Commerce Clearing House, na
tional reporting authority on tax
and business law.
The highest paying state is Alas
ka, with its maximum of $70 a
week. Maximums in other top
payment states are: Connecticut,
$62; Nevada, $57.50; Michigan,
$55; Wyoming, $59; Illinois and
New York, $45 each.
Spit-in-tlie-Eye
Swedes Avoided
By Kremlin Boss
By STANLEY JOHNSON
WARSAW, (#> — “When they
spit in my face, a guest, why
should I go?”
Thus Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev explained the sudden
cancellation of his three-week
August visit to Scandinavia.
“I only want to go to places
where my message can be help
ful,” Khrushchev told newsmen
at a Soviet Embassy reception last
night celebrating his “friendship
tour” of Poland.
“Maybe I will later,” he added.
“My visit to Scandinavia would
not have been a step to peace,
but would have led to sharpened
tensions.”
The Soviet government sent
notes to Sweden, Norway and
Denmark Sunday calling off
Khrushchev’s visit because of
what it termed an unfavorable
atmosphere. It assailed Scandi
navian politicians and editors.
Asked what he thought about
the Geneva conference, Khrush
chev replied:
“I think nothing. Why must I
think? Ask a horse because a
horse has a big head for thinking.
We have our minister of foreign
affairs. Let him think!”
Commenting on U. S. Vice Pres
ident Richard M. Nixon’s visit.to
the Soviet Union: “I don’t under
stand one thing — what is his
aim? I suppose he has good in
tentions.”
Egan Uncertain
Who’s Official
Demo. Favorite
MINNEAPOLIS, IP* — Alaska’s
Governor William Egan said last
night that it is still too early to
predict the Presidential candidate
his Democratic party will put be
fore the voters in 1960.
Politics was one of the first
questions discussed as Egan ar
rived to be grand marshal of to
night’s torchlight parade of the
Minneapolis Aquatennial, summer
time festival.
Egan was met at the airport by
Minnesota’s Governor Orville
Freeman and other state Demo
cratic leaders. He also received
a pair of kisses from Barbo Erik
sson and Mary Olson, Aquaten
nial princesses.
Officials entertained Egan at
dinner and the party then attended
a night performance of the Aqua
Follies Water Show.
Egan said that Alaskans were
grateful to Minnesota’s Demo
cratic Senator Hubert H. Humph
rey for his aid in gaining them
statehood but he hedged on how
Humphrey stands currently in the
Presidential race.
Egan did say that Senator John
F. Kennedy had “made quite an
impact” on a recent trip to Alaska
and that he expected both Hum
phrey and Senator Lyndon John
son to visit the new state this fall.
AIR FORCE PLANE CRASH
KILLS SEVEN CREWMEN
ANDOVER, N. H., OP — An Air
Force plane Crashed in flames and
all seven crewmen perished early
today.
The plane was flying on a rou
tine training mission from Pease
Air Force Base.
The craft was a KC97 propeller
driven tanker plane.
Proper Regulation
Of Federal Carriers
Called for in Alaska
WASHINGTON, UP) — Alaska’s
future economy will be handi
capped if the federal government
fails to bring its transport system
under proper regulation, Congress
was told today.
Kenneth H. Tuggle, chairman of
the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, called . the new state’s
present regulations a “patchwork
•— with holes.”
What is needed, he told a House
Commerce subcommittee, is ICC
jurisdiction over rates of the Alas
ka Railroad and of water carriers
to and from Alaskan ports.
Otherwise, Tie said, a wasteful
struggle will continue between the
unregulated government - owned
railroad and regulated motor car
I riers.
The subcommittee is considering
legislation to integrate Alaskan
transportation under the ICC.
Tuggle^said the costs of a com
petitive struggle for traffic would
fall indirectly upon the entire
population of Alaska and “the na
tion in the form of lost opportu
nities and a restriction of economic
development and defensive
strength.”
W. C. Kumell Jr., vice presi
dent in charge of traffic for the
Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corp. of
Port Newark, N. J., filed a state
ment opposing the legislation.
Pan American Airways
Will Have Hot Opposition
To New Tokyo-Flight Plan
SEATTLE, OP) — The president
of United Air Lines promised
“vigorous opposition” yesterday to
the bid of Pan American World
Airways to fly from six eastern
cities to Tokyo by way of Fair
banks.
Such service to the Far East by
PAA would by-pass Seattle and
other Pacific Coast gateway cities.
W. O. Patterson, UAL president,
said this diversion of Orient-bound
traffic from gateway cities would
curtail “normal growth needed to
keep fares down.”
Patterson said he believed other
domestic carriers would take the
same position.
Cook Inlet Fisherman,
Son Drown in Stormy Sea
ANCHORAGE, UP)—A fisherman
and his son drowned when their
boat capsized in Cook Inlet dur
ing one of a series of violent
storms this week.
The death of Ralph W. Slone
and his son, Edgar, 11, was re
ported yesterday. Their boat, the
Slonel, capsized Monday off Kal
gin Island.
Winds of 15 to 30 knots con
tinued to keep most fishermen
off the high running seas.
Much setnet gear was destroyed
by the storms. With big tides and
winds blowing, gear that had been
set out from the shore could not
be retrieved. Many beach cabins
were washed away or lifted from
their foundations by the tides.
John Skerry, Cook Inlet super
visor for the Bureau of Commer
cial Fisheries said that the fish
pack for the season was only a
third of normal.
Harold Daubenspeck of the Ke
nai Packers Inc., cannery at Kenai,
said that this season was the worst
in history.
He described the damage to the
setnet fishery as “an awful loss.”
Eisenhower Calls for Reduction of U. S.„
Debt Before Consideration of Tax Cuts
By MARVIN L. ARROWSMITH
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower said today there must
be some payment on the huge na
tional debt before any tax reduc
tion can be justified.
The President, at a news con
ference, identified himself as the
source of news dispatches yester
day saying, among ither things,
that he sees no deal hope for any
tax cut during his last 18 months
in office. ,
William McGaffin of the Chi
cago Daily News called Eisen
hower’s attention to the series of
news dispatches yesterday which
expressed Eisenhower’s views on
many subjects but did not name
the source.
When McGaffin started to ask
a question, Eisenhower inter
rupted and said that if McGaffin
wanted to know whether he had
had a group of newsmen in to
dinner, the answer was yes.
McGaffin then called it a good
idea because, as he put it, the
procedure increased the flow of
news. Eisenhower thanked him
but took exception when McGaf
fin protested that what he termed
only a chosen few newsmen had /
been invited.
The President called the proce
dure an experiment, adding he
probably will do it again.
On the point of taxes, Eisen
hower was asked whether he be
lieves a reduction is impossible.
He replied that the government
should start to pay off the big
national debt. Estimates are, he
said, that interest on the debt in
the fiscal year starting a year
from now will total about $8,700,
000,000.
When you have to pay out that
much in interest alone, the Pres
ident said, it is the better part of
wisdom to start whittling the debt
so a tax cut can be justified in
the future.
Herter Says U. S.
Won’t Be A Party to
Ransoming Berlin
GENEVA, UP — The United
States today accused Russia of
trying to hold West Berlin for
ransom and declared the West will
not become an “unwitting accom
plice in this deal.”
U. S. Secretary of State Chris
tian Herter made this accusation
in a crucial Big Four conference
session after Gromyko had once
more rejected a Western effort to
get him to cut his price for a
truce in the Berlin crisis.
Gromyko said one Western pro
posal for continuing the big power
conference during the period of a
Berlin truce is not a basis for ne
gotiation.
He renewed an assurance that
the Soviet Union would not take
single-handed action against West
Berlin during the truce or during
subsequent negotiations which the
great powers might hold on the fu
ture of Germany.
But this fell short of what the
West has demanded — guarantees
for West Berlin until Germany is
reunified.
Ike Lists Three Top Issues
For ‘Must’ Legislation
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower today put labor con
trol, road construction and farm
measures at the top of legislation
he wants Congress to pass in this
session.
Eisenhower was asked at his
news conference if he has any
■“must” list of legislation.
The President replied that he
has not gone to the trouble of
making out such a list. But he
said the first order of business in
his earlier messages to Congress
was a bill to provide machinery
to curb all of the abuses brought
out by the Senate Labor-Manage
ment Committee investigations.
Eisenhower went on to say that
in his judgment one necessary
measure would be the one to pro
vide the revenue for continuing
the interstate highway construc
tion program.
The President said a decent
farm bill is terribly important at
even this late date in the session.
Temporary Truce
Puts Carpenters
Back to Work
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Approxi
mately 75 per cent of the avail
able work force of carpenters in
the Anchorage local are working,
union officials reported yester
day.
This estimate was made follow
ing a temporary agreement be
tween the Alaska Homebuilders
Association and the Carpenters
Council.
The agreement is expected to
return at least 50 carpenters to
jobs here.
The agreement accepts union
proposals for a 50-cent wage in
crease and more travel pay. It
will be in force until next March
or until a contract is signed be
tween the Associated General Con
tractors and the carpenters.
In another labor armistice, one
contractor’s representative esti
mated 100 to 150 plumbers would
be called back to local jobs fol
lowing settlement between the
union and the Alaska Plumbing
Contractors’ Association.
Settlement of the strike here is
not expected to affect a similar
strike of plumbers in Fairbanks.
Miss Universe Pageant
Will Produce Top Beauty
In Thursday Finals
LONG BEACH, Calif., UP) — Fif
teen American beauties compete
tonight in Miss USA finals of the
Miss Universe Pageant.
Tonight’s winner mixes with 33
foreign lovelies tomorrow in the
international beauty contest. Fair
est of the fair will be selected
Miss Universe on Friday.
The 46 American contestants
last night were pared to a select
15.
Stern-faced judges and a crowd
of 3,500 in Memorial Auditorium
watched while the girls paraded
in evening dresses and bathing
suits. Then the girls nervously sat
backstage while an adding ma
chine decided the winnrs from
judges’ tally sheets.
Anfiouncement of the winners’
names brought applause from the
crowd, smiles from the victors and
tears from some of the losers —
who had come from as far away
as Alaska and Vermont.