THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Telephone: Main 125 $1.50 PER MONTH
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Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943 at the
postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under Act of March 3. 1879
Subscribers not receiving tueir papers by 5:30 p.m. call
Main 125 for special delivery. After 5:30 call Black 102
SKY-HIGH EXPRESS
FASTER AND SAFER
(Christian Science Monitor)
In three hours and 46 minutes—a little more than
what it takes to sit through a double-feature movie—
men have crossed the continent from Los Angeles to
New York.
This record by an Air Force jet fighter hints at
the kind of commercial airline service one can expect
several years from now if civil aviation continues to
benefit from military research. Some day transconti
nental airliners won’t have much use for a lunch bar
any more; they won’t be in the air long enough for the
passengers to work up an appetite.
Airline flying also has become safer and safer.
The rate of 0.8 fatalities per 100,000,000 passenger
miles recently announced for domestic scheduled car
riers in the United States in 1954 is said to be better
than that of the railroads.
Now that the cause of mountain crashes has been
found (i.e., hitherto unknown air currents), steps can
be taken to prevent them.
With lower ‘fares and significant increases in
passenger volume, commercial aviation is moving
ahead on a broad front.
Only 25 years ago the one safe and fast way to go
from California to New York was by train—a total of
four days of travel. If this rate of progress continues,
it has been said, the outlook for the future is a dizzying
one.
But so was the outlook for people in the 1930s.
Now we have broken through the sound barrier, and
who is dizzy?
Brownsville, Pa., Telegraph: “Life is rapidly be
coming more and more predictable. Economists are
forever charting curves on the unemployment level
for next August; insurance companies foretell life
expectancy with astonishing accuracy; . . . widget man
ufacturers predict, with a small margin of error, how
many widgets the public will buy in 1963. All this
makes life more secure but less interesting, since the
unexpected adds zest to the stew.”
NOME NUGGET ADS PAY BIG DIVIDENDS
President Vetoes
8.6 Percent Postal
Pay Raise Bill
WASHINGTON, (^—President
Eisenhower Thursday vetoed a
bill to boost the pay of 500,000
postal workers by an average 8.6
percent.
The President told the Senate
in a veto message he regretted his
action and earnestly hoped and
recommended that “the Congress
will quickly consider and enact
postal pay legislation that will be
in the public interest and fair to
all the half million employes who
man the postal service.”
He said the vetoed measure
would impose “a heavier burden
upon the taxpayer than is neces
sary.”
Eisenhower listed these three
reasons for his veto:
“First, the bill creates new dis
criminations or inequalities which
would affect many thousands of
postal employes.
“Second, the bill creates grave
administrative problems such as
the establishment of thousands of
individual pay rates. It forces
awkward and unfair administra
tive practices in a government de
partment whose operations affect
every person, every enterprise,
every community in the country.
.“Third, the bill imposes a heav
ier burden upon the taxpayer than
is necessary to establish salary
rates throughout the department
which will compare favorably
with rates for similar work else
where in government and in pri
vate industry.”
The President has indicated an
average 7.6 raise is about as far
as he is willing to go.
$41/2. Million Air Froce
Installation for Sitkinak I.
Makes 7th Defense Site
ANCHORAGE, MV-A 4V£ mil
lion dollar Air Force installation is
planned for tiny Sitkinak Island,
southwest of Kodiak.
The Army’s Alaska district en
gineer announced it will be added
to the six remote defense sites
around Alaska for which 20 mil
lion in contracts were awarded
April 29.
Bids will be opened here June
23. Construction will include an
air strip and a composite concrete
building for troop housing, mess
hall, recreation and headquarters.
The six sites in the previously
let contracts were Unalakleet,
Chiniak, Kotzebue, Ft. Yukon,
Bethel and Homer.
Work is to be started on them
this spring and completed in late
1956.
Two Are Initiated Into
Pioneer Igloo No. 1
Frank Morris, new district en
gineer for the Alaska Road Com
mission, - was initiated into the
Pioneers of Alaska Wednesday
evening. Morris was born in Ken
nicott, Alaska.
Harry White, master mechanic
for the ARC was also initiated
into the Pioneers at the meeting.
His joining of the lodge completes
another father-and-son member
ship in the Pioneers, as his son,
Harry Jr., joined the Nome Igloo
several years ago.
Among other father-and-son
memberships are Walter Sipprell
and his father, who resides in
Skagway; Antonio and Alvin
Polet, Norvin Lewis and his three
sons; M. J. Walsh and three sons;
Nels Swanberg Sr., and Nels Jr.;
and Charles and Dan Jones.
The meeting was the last for
the summer, until activities are
resumed in the fall.
Morningside Sanitarium Operators
Oppose Bill to Provide Treatment
Inside Alaska for Mentally 111
Senate Investigators To
Go After “Higher-Ups'*
Of Armed Forces Grafters
WASHINGTON, (tf — Senator
McClellan (D-Ark) said today his
Senate Investigation subcommit
tee intends to expose the higher
ups in “a nest of small grafters”
he contends has fattened on con
tracts with the armed forces
He said in an interview he
sees no evidence that corruption
in big scale buying of uniform
equipment has reached very high
in the procurement services. But
he said further evidence will
show it has reached levels higher
than those shown in two days of
testimony this week.
The subcommittee’s public
hearings recessed yesterday after
a former chief inspector for the
Army admitted that he had lied
under oath.
The witness, Joseph Porreca of
Clifton, N.J., testified he had re
ceived a home freezer, meat to
stock it, and some lingerie for
Mrs. Porreco in 1952 from Marvin
Rubin, a key figure in the in
quiry.
Rubin was a business finder—
Sen. Bender (R-Ohio) called him
a “fixer”—for some firms whose
products for the armed services
were inspected by Porreca’s sub
ordinates.
Porreca admitted he had lied
in prior sworn denials to the
subcommittee that he had accept
ed any of those things from
Rubin. He still insisted they were
not gifts, but he said he never
paid for any of them.
Four Men Rob Bank Of
$85,000 to $90,000 Cash
JACKSONVILLE, Ala., UP —
Four armed white men robbed the
First National Bank of Jackson
ville of between $85,000 and
$90,000 today, after kidnapping a
bank official from his home.
The bandits surprised Jesse N.
Wood, assistant vice president and
cashier, at his house and forced
him to accompany two men to
the bank while the other two
guarded his wife and two chil
dren.
At the bank they waited in
side, meeting employes as they
arrived for work, tying them up
and putting them in a back room.
When the time lock opened the
bank vault they scooped up be
tween $85,000 and $90,000 and
carried it off in a repossessed
bank car.
THURSDAY BASEBALL
National League
New York 3, Milwaukee 2
Pacific Coast League
Portland 4, Seattle 1
San Diego 12, Sacramento 4
Oakland 7, Hollywood 5
San Francisco 17, Los Angeles 1
^■■■■■mmmtmmmmwarn
Watch this space
for announcement of
GRAND OPENING
of
DON’T FORGET CLEAN-UP WEEK
By FRANK W. VAILLE
i WASHINGTON, W—Operators
! of the Morningside Hospital at
| Portland, Ore., which for 50 years
has had a government contract to
care for Alaska’s mentally ill, op
posed Wednesday a bill to provide
for treatment facilities inside Al
aska.
Wayne R. Coe, owner and man
ager of the hospital, described as
“purely an emotional appeal” the .
testimony by psychiatrists earlier
that removal of ailing Alaskans
1,500 miles to Portland created
problems adverse to their recov
ery.
His son, Henry, general man
ager of the Sanitarium Co. of
Portland which operates the hos
pital, said that with construction
of facilities in Alaska, patients
and relatives still would not be
close enough for visitation because
of the scattered population.
The elder Coe presented figures
which he said showed that not
more than about 10 of the hospi
tal’s present 360 patients would or
could be visited by relatives even
in Alaska. Less than half the hos
pital’s patients, he said, return to
the territory.
Both Coes, however, endorsed a
bill by Rep. Green (D-Ore) to re
vise procedures for commitment
of Alaska’s mentally ill along
modern lines. Similar endorse
ment was given earlier by spokes
men for various governmental
agencies and medical men.
Territorial procedures now make
no provision for voluntary com
mitment. Ailing persons are ar
rested after filing of a complaint
and are held in jail pending a trial
by jury on the charge of being
mentally ill, witnesses testified.
The hearing before the House
Territories subcommittee almost
got sidetracked during the after
noon when Mrs. Green twice sug
gested the committee seek an.
audit of the Morningside opera
tion.
The final decision was post
poned for further committee con
sideration after the elder Coe first
agreed, then retracted and subse
quently re-agreed to submit to
the audit if the committee desires.
Rep. Sisk (D-Calif) supported
Mrs. Green’s request, contending
there should be an accounting of
money earned by the Morningside
patients in the course of occupa
tional therapy.
Chairman O’Brien (D-NY), who
said the thought of a jury trial
prior to commitment “almost gags
me,” told newsmen he hopes to
have the bill approved at a meet
ing of the committee next Tues
day.
TOKYO, Ut)—A joint Japan-In
dia fishing firm will start operat
ing this fall, the newspaper Nihon
Keizai said yesterday. The Indians
reportedly will invest IV2. million
rupees and provide bases for a 51
percent interest in the venture.