THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
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NOME, ALASKA
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
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Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943 at the
postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under Act of March 3. 1879
Fifty Years of Service
Juneau Daily Empire
On May 15, the Alaska Road Commission will have
completed fifty years of service to Alaska. Created by
act of Congress of January 27, 1905, as an agency of the
War Department, the first Board of Road Commission
ers convened at Skagwav on May 15, 1905. This board
consisted of Major Wilds P. Richardson, 1st Lt. George
B. Pillsbury and 1st Lt. Samuel C. Orchard.
Funds available to the board for the construction
and maintenance of wagon roads, bridges and trails in
the then District of Alaska were limited to 70 percent
of the “Alaska Fund,” monies derived from liquor
occupation of trade licenses outside incorporated towns.
For the fiscal year 1905 such funds totaled $28,000.
In describing the few existing “roads”—financed
by public subscription—the board's first annual report
stated in part, “By no reasonable oervers:on of the
term could these steep slope sections be called roads.
•Intersected and cut up in all directions by h^avy
wagons and struggling animals, with deen ditches
washed by the recent rains, they appeared only as huge
ugly scars on the face of nature.” There were "ntua!ly
reports of horses having drowned in the roads!
“Permafrost,” the principal obstacle to economi
cal road construction today, was equally a problem
half a century ago. A book by Chester Wells Purington
includes this paragraph: “A serious detriment to the
making of a road in Alaska is the thawing of the ground
beneath the moss. It has been universal experience
that wherever the moss is cut into, thawing immediate
ly commences, and the trail which was passable be
comes a filthy, slimy mass of mud, roots and broken
stone, a difficult route for men on foot, a slow and tire
some road for loaded animals, and an impassable
obstacle to any sort of vehicle.”
By 1932, when the Alaska Road Commission was
transferred to the Department of the Interior, the road
system consisted of some 2,200 miles of roads, of which
less than 500 miles were improved gravel-surfaced, and
10,000 miles of trails and sled roads. Expenditures for
the quarter century totaled $18,312,825.40.
Today the territory’s highway system totals 3791.5
miles. The primary system connecting Interior Alas
ka’s principal cities with each other and with conti
nental United States via the Alaska Highway through
Canada is either paved or scheduled for paving in the
immediate future. There are 2,174 miles of the system,
including all primary routes, which are maintained
open the year round. Total expenditures to date exceed
$189,500,000.
The development of the territory’s highway sys
tem closely parallels the development of the territory
itself. Alaskans have long recognized the fact that
development of overland transportation facilities are a
prime requisite to the economic development of the
territory. The first session of the Alaskan Legislature,
convened 42 years ago in 1913, memorialized Congress
to develop a highway network. The demand for roads
—and ever more roads—has continued to this day.
The Alaska Road Commission is proud, and justly
so, of its contribution to the growth of the territory.
Arrangements are going forward for banquets to be
held by commission personnel in Anchorage, Fair
banks, Valdez, Nome and Juneau in commemoration of
the ARC’s 50 years’ service to Alaska.
As the Golden Anniversary draws near we salute
Mr. A. F. Ghiglione, the Alaska Road Commissioner,
and the many able persons who in the past and the
present have contributed to the achievements of the
Alaska Road Commission. Alaska has a great destiny
and the Alaska Road Commission will play an impor
tant part in Alaska’s future as in its past. I
Twilling Attributes
Chinese Ability To
Treble Air Force
WASHINGTON, W — Gen. Na
than F. Twining advised Congress
in February Red China’s air force
could be doubled or tripled “over
night” from Russia.
In testimony given Feb. 9 and
made public today, the Ar Force
chief of staff said Red China’s
“rapidly expanding system of
bases . . . gives the Communists
the ability to move in aircraft
rapidly from the Soviet Union/’
“We cannot ignore their ca
pability to double or triple their
air strength in the Far East over
night,” he told a House Appropri
ations subcommittee.
Twining did not buplicly locate
the new Chinese airfields nor dis
cuss their relationship to the For
mosa Strait.
Early this month, President
Eisenhower, in discounting pre
dictions of a possible Red attack
on Quemoy and Matsu Islands by
April 15, said the Communists
still lack sufficient airfields and
supply bases to support such an
assault.
Twining testified that in the
last four years the Communists
“have created a whole new air
force in Red China.”
Twining gave this additional
balance sheet:
Of an estimated 20,000 Soviet
combat planes, thousands of jet
fighters and bombers now can
reach targets in Western Europe,
Alaska, Japan or the P’nilipines.
The United States plans a total
of 23,000 planes. Twining report
ed ‘“good progress” toward devel
oping an atomic - powered air
plane capable of “unlimited
range.”
The Soviet are “putting vast
resources” in the race to develop
a workable 10,000-mile-an-hour
intercontinental ballistic missile
(IBM) “with sufficient range to
destroy targets in the United
States.”
The United States have given
top priority to this weapon, be
cause these missiles “with inter
continental ranges present a de
fense problem more difficult than
any faced before in history.”
AP News Reporting
Is “Better Than Ever”
Board of Directors Told
NEW YORK, uPV—The Associ
ated Press news report became
“better than ever” in the past
year through increased scope and
depth of coverage, the AP board
of directors said today.
The directors reported AP ful
filled “a solemn obligation to
provide news and information
vital to intelligent decisions on
public questions of enduring im
portance.”
This was accomplished, they
said, by “skillful, forthright, ob
jective and fearless reporting”
that enabled the public to keep
abreast developments “in today’s
changing and eventful world.”
The board’s report was read at
the AP annual membership meet
ing in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
prior to a luncheon address by
President Eisenhower. More than
1300 of the nation’s editors and
publishers heard the President.
In their report, the AP direc
tors said:
“The Associated Press has a
solemn obligation to provide
news and information vital to in
telligent decisions on public
questions of enduring importance.
That responsibility could not be
discharged by superficial report
ing, skirting controversial areas
or dull, routine presentation.”
ARCTIC SANITARY
SERVICE
PHONE RED 181
NO NEWS ISN’T GOOD NEWS
T A* ERICAS!
AlZMEA/
i
m/?z/£— :
Chou En-Lai Offers to Negotiate
With U.S. on Formosa Area Tension
By OLEN CLEMENS
BANDUNG, Indonesia UP)—Pre- j
mier Chou En-lai of Red China
offered Saturday to negotiate
with the United States on ten
sions in the Far East, including
the Formosa area.
In a move interpreted as the
launching of a new Communist
peace offensive in Asia, Chou is
sued this formal statement at the
Asian-African conference:
“The Chinese people are friend
ly to the American people. The
Chinese people do not want to
have a war with the United States
of America.
“The Chinese government is
willing to sit down and enter into
negotiations with the United
States to discuss the question of
relaxing tension in the Far East,
especially ... in the Taiwan
^Formosa) area.”
The. Chou statement was issued
after an informal luncheon con
ference that included represen
tatives of the Colombo powers,
sponsors of the Asian-African
meeting, Thailand, China and the
Philippines. The five Colombo
powers are India, Indonesia, Pak
istan, Ceylon and Burma.
Burma’s Premier U Nu, who
has assumed the role of an East
West negotiator and plans a trip
to the United States, called the
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Chou statement “a good step
toward ending world tension.”
Officials in Washington reacted
with extreme caution to Chou’s
statement. They said, however, it
may be his most determined ef
fort so far to break out of diplo
matic and economic isolation.
In London, a Foreign Office
spokesman said Britain “is inter
ested in any idea which might
provide the basis for settlement”
of Far East problems.
But the reaction on Formosa
was cold. A spokesman for
Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist
government termed Chou’s offer
“another Communist move in
tended to divide the free world.”
He noted Red China’s move
was timed on the eve of the arri
val at Taipeh of Adm. Arthur W.
Radford, chairman of the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of'Staff, and Asst.
Secretary of State Walter S. R, b
I erison.
The spokesman said the United
States “is on record” that it will
take no part in discussions of
Formosa without Nationalist par
ticipation. “And the Communists
know it,” he added.
Charles Esch, of the well known
pioneer mining family, returned
this week and plans to mine in
the Kougarok district this sum
mer.
Ruth Fagerstrom, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fagerstrom,
who has been attending school
in Tacoma. Wash., returned home
Friday for the summer.
Nome Bakery
and Restaurant
Daily-Fresh Soft, Darigold
PIES ICE CREAM
$1 each 75c qt.
Nome Maid Bread 50?
Fresh Doughnuts .... 75< doz.
Frosted Doughnuts 90<? doz.