™s NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOlTlVI No. 28 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 5,' 1954 Per Copy—15<
Nome Hi Nanooks
Leave Sinnlav For
Fairbanks Tourney
The Nome Nanooks will leave
Sunday morning for Fairbanks to
play in the annual Alaska High
School Basketball tournament.
The Nanooks will play in the “B”
class.
Under Pete Hahn’s coaching
last season, the Nanooks came
back victorious from their four
games as winners of the “B” class
tournament. Going into play next
week, the high school record
stands at nine wins and 10 de- i
feats.
Cordova, Kodiak Navy, Wasilla j
and Valdez, along with Nome
make up the Class B teams while
in the “A” class there will be
Fairbanks, last year’s winner, An
chorage, Palmer, Seward and Ko
diak City.
Representing the Nanooks will
be: Sam Atuk, Dave Bell, Vernon
Carlson, Chuck Fagerstrom, Bob
Herman, George Kost, Sam Mogg
Jr., Robert Summers and Gordon
Swanberg. Filling out the travel
ing party will be coach Herb
Williams and LeRoy Reader, man
ager.
The team leaves with Wien Air
lines. Others planning to see the
games include Sam Mogg Sr.,
Donna Lyle and Nancy Tripp.
Final Standings Base-City League
W L PF PA
Merchants .8 0 409 268
Nanooks .5 3 338 344
Commercials .4 3 250 211
23rd IJet.* .3 4 243 246
10th Radio .3 4 248 310
Air Force Five .0 6 131 213
Old “Vic”, Famed
Nome Gold Ship,
Has Been Sold
SEATTLE, UP) — The Alaska
Steamship Company’s steamer
Victoria, has been sold.
The high cost of operating the
“Vic” in the Alaska service was
given as the reason for the sale.
The Victoria has been inactive
since 1952 when she was employ
ed for the last time to help han
dle peak season traffic to Alaska.
Built in 1870 in Scotland as a
combination sail - steam ship for
the Cunard Line, the Victoria
gained her greatest fame as the
Alaska “gold ship.”
For many years she was the
first steamer to reach Nome after
the ice breakup in the Bering Sea.
She often was the last to leave
for the “outside.”
D. E. Skinner, Alaska Line
president, said many estimates
have been made as to the amount
of gold the Victoria carried out
of Alaska. There is no record,
however, on which to make a
reasonable determination.
In the old days of the Nome
trade it was a common occur
rence for the Victoria to handle
as much as $2,000,00 a trip
from the Seward Peninsula gold
fields. It was said that at times
the purser’s strong box would be
full and the bags of gold would
be stacked on the floor of the
purser’s office.
All that will remain to remind
Alaskans of the old Victoria is
her whistle. It was transferred
last summer to the steamer Al
aska.
19 Teams Enter North American
Championship Race At Fairbanks j
FAIRBANKS, iff) — The cry of
“mush” will mix with the yelp
ing and snarling of prize Alaskan
trail dogs here today as 19 teams
start the first heat of the North
American dog team racing cham
pionship.
Eighteen of the drivers are Al
askans; one is from New Hamp
shire. The incumbent titlist, Hor
ace (Holy) Smokes of Stevens
Village is favored to repeat his
victories of the past two years.
But some of the betting — and
there is much on this event — is
swinging to a team of dogs picked
from Arctic Circle points and
driven by Dan Snyder of Kotze
bue.
Snyder is racing a team of
dogs that represents the best ani
mals Eskimo villages along the
Arctic coast of Alaska could put
together. The best dog in each
village was contributed to Sny
der’s team.
The first lap is over a 20-mile
course. It will be duplicated Sat
urday. Sunday, the runners will
wind up the gruelling event with
a 30 mile lap. The winner will be
the musher who has the lowest
elapsed time over the full 70
miles.
The race has the same title as
one run last week in West Yel
lowstone, Mont. Alaska mushers
say the Montana race is an im
poster; that theirs is the only true
dog team championship since no
musher from the United States
ever has placed in the money in
an Alaskan race.
Almost every contestant in the
derby here has won laurels as the
regional champion in his own sec
tion of Alaska. Most of the com
peting dog teams are “working
teams,” which are maintained for
use on trap lines or freight runs.
They are trail hardened by a
winter’s work.
Temperatures were just above
zero, considered ideal for dog
racing. New snow, a persistent
threat, might make the trail diffi
cult.
25% ‘Cost of Living’
Tax Exemption for
Alaskans Proposed
SKAGWAY, l#>—A labor group
here has suggested a 25 per cent
“cost of living” income tax ex
emption for everyone in Alaska.
Skagway’s Central Labor Coun
cil wrote Coleman Andrews, Com
missioner of Internal Revenue,
asking him to grant the exemp
tion.
A letter from Cyril A. Coyne,
council president, noted the Rev
enue Department ruled last fall
that the 25 per cent cost of living
differential for federal employes
in the territory is non-taxable.
Coyne added that the cost of
living in Alaska and “the lack
of properly balanced social, cul
tural. amusement and health fa
cilities certainly add up in dollars
and cents to more than the 25
per cent exemption asked for and
the Treasury Department to rule
otherwise would be gross discrim
ination.”
The council suggested the re
quested exemption be retroactive
to 1950 or 1951.
- I
Civil Defense Director
Denies Report Bristol Bay
Residents Are Starving
ANCHORAGE, (*> — Alaska’s
Civil Defense director has denied
reports that any Bristol Bay resi
dents are starving.
The director, Harold Pomeroy,
said that Alaska Secretary Waino
Hendrickson has been in “daily
contact with local community
committees throughout the Bristol
Bay area” and that Welfare De
partment representatives recently
made a village-by-villge check.
Pomeroy commented after the
starvation reports.
He said the checks made it
plain the reports “just aren’t
true.” t
Pomeroy said there is 35 pounds
of food per person on hand.
“There is certainly enough food
for every family that needs it,”
he added. “There’s no reason for
any to be without.”
Sultan of Morocco Injured
Slightly By Bomb While
Saying His Prayers
PARIS, —The French Press
Agency said today the Sultan of
Morocco, Moutlay Mohammed
Ben Arafa, was injured today
when a bomb exploded in a mos
que at Marrakech, where he was
saying his prayers.
The sultan reportedly was
slightly injured in the forehead
and was able to walk unaided to
his car. His chief political sup
porter, Thami El Gloui, the pasha
of Marrakech, was with the sultan
but escaped injury, the dispatch
said.
Communism In Hawaii Major Issue
In Senate Debate On Statehood Bill
Wilson Terms Charges of
Coddling Communists
“Just Damn Tommyrot”
WASHINGTON, UR — Secretary
of Defense Wilson says any “idea
the Army is coddling Communists
is just damn tommyrot” but that
he is looking for better ways to
handle security-risk cases in the
future.
Sen. McCarthy retorted that
“No one has ever claimed that
the Army as such is coddling
Communists.” But, McCarthy in
sisted, testimony had established
that “certain individuals in the
Army have been protecting, pro
moting, covering up and honor
ably discharging known Com
munists.” The senator said he was
sure the secretary “will not dis
agree with that.”
Wilson did say that using a
“task force” from his office, he
is setting out to determine the
“who and why” element in the
Army’s sudden issuance of an
honorable discharge for Maj. Irv
ing Peress months after Peress
was said to have invoked the
Fifth Amendment in refusing to
answer questions about Com
munism. Peress was inducted and
commissioned under the doctors’
draft law.
“I doubt he should ever have
been made an officer,” was Wil
son’s reply to a question whether
he thought Peress should have
been given an honorable dis
charge.
Bernt Balchen May Be
Promoted to Brig. Gen.
WASHINGTON, UP) — Delegate
Bartlett said today he has been
advised that Col. Bernt Balchen,
noted Arctic air authority, may be
promoted to brigadier general this
fall.
Bartlett requested such action
last fall, noting that Balchen, now
54, is subject to early retirement
unless prmoted in rank.
Bartlett said then that Balchen
was considered one of the world’s
foremost authorities on Arctic air
operations and that his loss to
the armed forces would be “tra
gic” in view of the fact many
military authorities feel the next
war would be fought in large part
over Arctic terrain.
He said today he has been ad
vised by the White House that
Balchen would be eligible for
promotion this fall after consid
eration by an Air Force selection
board and the Secretary of the
Air Force.
Balchen, a native of Norway,
has had vast Arctic flying experi
ence, including service as chief
pilot for both the Byrd and Ells
worth Antarctic expeditions and
with the Tenth Rescue Squadron
out of Fort Richardson.
By HARRISON HUMPHRIES
„ WASHINGTON, lift—'The extent
of Communism in Hawaii emerg
ed today as the major issue in the
Senate battle over statehood for
the territory.
Sen. Eastland (D-Miss) fired the
opening salvo yesterday, declar
ing that “admission of Hawaii to
statehood would place on the floor
of the Senate of the United States
two senators who, if not Com
munists, would be subject to in
fluence from Moscow.”
The charge was promptly dis
puted by chairman Hugh Butler
(R - Neb) of the Senate Interior
Committee who first raised the
Communist issue in opposition to
Hawaii statehood in 1948.
Eastland said Communists con
trol the economic life of Hawaii
through control of the Interna
tional Longshoremen’s and Ware
housemen’s Union.
He said the Democratic party
in Hawaii “is largely a captive
party which is controlled and
dominated by Communists.”
But, he declared, “the Commun
ist conspiracy has infiltrated the
territorial government of the is
lands through both parties.”
Sen. Butler told the Senate
“no one denies” that there are
still a few Communists at large
in Hawaii.
But, he said, “I am convinced
that today the people of Hawaii
are alert to the problem of Com
munism and are fully able to
cope with the Communist dan
ger.”
“Hawaii has had to pass more
rigorous tests for admission than
any of the existing states,” Butler
said. “In simple justice, we ought
not to deny statehood any longer.”
Contractor Competition In
Alaska Military Building
Means Large Savings
ANCHORAGE, (/R—Uncle Sam
is chalking up large savings on
military construction in Alaska
because of keener competition
among contractors, the Alaska
district office of Army Corps of
Engineers reported today.
The most recent bid openings
show low bids ranging 5 to 20
per cent below government esti
mates.
An example is an Elmendorf
Air Force base sewer project,
estimated to cost from $886,607
to $1,006,650.
The offers of the apparent low
bidder ranged from $719,242 to
$807,226.
The low bid on an aeromedical
laboratory at Ladd Air Force base
was $727,340, compared with an
estimate of $765,325.
Bid openings on two smaller
projects also resulted in offers
well below estimates.
Youth for Christ
Tomorrow - 8 p.m. Methodist Church Rev. Hudgins will speak Film Special Music