THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone Main 125 $1.50 PER MONTH
P.O. Box 610 $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered aa second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
post office at Nome. Alaska, under Act of March 3, 1819.
Subscribers not receiving their paper by 5:30 p.m. cat
Main 125 for special delivery. After 5:30 call Black 102.
Scorched Tundra
AS THE HIGHWAY out of Nome extends farther
out into the foothills, and longer roads become
accessible to those with cars, the more chance there
is for fire starting from those who are careless with
cigarettes, or careless with campfires.
If we want the roadside to be free of unsightly
gutted areas, it behooves every driver and every pas
senger in a car to use the ash trays provided in all
makes of automobiles.
During the past week there was a fire reported
near the end of the Kuzatrin Road, which was brought
under control through the efforts of the BPR. Tundra
fires burn deep and are hard to put down when there
is wind blowing. Fighting fire is costly work, and the
price must be paid out of tax money. — Just recently
it took more than a hundred men with planes, heli
copters and special fire-fighting equipment, to subdue
the fire at Haycock.
On many of our roads the traffic is not continuous,
.and a smoldering blaze could get a good start before
it might be seen.
With this in mind, everyone can help to prevent
■the total ruin that fire brings, by exercising a little
care, and teaching the children to use caution with fire.
Burned-Out Vegas Casino
May Operate in Tent
LAS VEGAS, Nev., 1* — The
lire-ravaged El Rancho Vegas,
which lost its main building in a
multi-milllon-dollar blaze, may
move into a tent.
. Construction of a new casino,
showroom and restaurant will be
gin immediately. The tent ar
rangement may be used until the
new facilities can be readied.
. El Rancho’s rooms are located
in cottages removed from the
main structure, which was de
stroyed before dawn Friday.
Among the losses were star
Betty Grable’s costumes and what
was termed a fantastic sum in
gambling customers’ checks. More
than $400,000 in cash was recov
ered, scorched, from the casino
vault.
For Packing, Painting or Pupple*
Old Nawspapors---25c Bundle
For Bala at tha Nugget
To Enjoy Life . . .
TUNIS, UTi — Abdel the spy is
a spy. Of that much everyone —
including Abdel — is certain.
But a criminal court is still try
ing to figure out for whom Abdel
worked.
The prosecutor says Abdel
started out as a French agent in
Tunisia, then became an Algerian
rebel agent in Libya and finally
ah Egyptian agent in Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor says,
Abdel plotted with dissident
agents in Tunisia to kidnap Pfes
iden Habib Bourguiba — and sold
details of the plot to the govern
ment.
At that point Abdel was ar
rested.
Abdel explained, “In order to
make money and enjoy life, I
worked lor , everybody at the
same time.” '
Latter-sis* and legal file folder*
available at The Nome Nugget
Treasury Officials
Clarify Position on
Gold Possession
WASHINGTON, — Treasury
officials disagreed with a pub
lished report that it is illegal to
arrest a person for having melted
gold in his possession.
Leland Howard, Assistant Di
rector of the Mint, conceded there
are no criminal penalties in the
Gold Reserve Act of 1934. Under
this act, the civil penalty is con
fiscation of the gold plus twice
its value.
But, Howard pointed out, gold
regulations also are backed up by
the Trading with the Enemy Act
of 1917 carrying criminal penalty
up to 10 years imprisonment and
$10,000 fine. In addition, he said,
there are criminal penalties for
conspiracy and for violation of
customs laws in the import and
export of gold.
The Treasury official was asked
to comment on an article by G. R
Watson of Olympia, Wash., in the
May issue of the California Min
ing Journal.
“It is,” he said, “99.44 per cent
incorrect.”
Possession of newly mined
gold in its natural state is not il
legal. But its processing by melt
ing or treatment with chemicals
or other means, except under
Treasury license, is forbidden.
Howard and Treasury attorneys
said the constitutionality of the
Gold Reserve Act and the author
ity of the government to regulate
newly mined gold was upheld
most recently in an Oregon case
involving Gladys Laycock in
which the Supreme Court sus
tained a review in January of this
year. They said there is no fur
ther litigation pending.
An earlier Washington State
case, testing current applicability
of the Trading with the Enemy
Act, was dropped in 1959 when
the defendant pleaded guilty of
possessing gold bullion, they said.
Treasury attorneys concede the
1917 act is applicable only in a
period of national emergency pro
claimed by the President. But,
they said, there has been a con
tinuing series of emergency pro
clamations since 1933, and the lat
est is not yet terminated.
Incidentally, possession of gold
coins minted prior to April 5,
1933, is no longer illegal provided
they are not mutilated by punc
ture or soldered into jewelry or
other objects. In 1954, the Treas
ury recognized all such outstand
ing coins as having special value
to collectors and they were ex
empted from the 1933 order that
they be delivered to the Treasury.
SOVIETS CLAIM NEW
FLIGHT SPEED RECORD
MOSCOW, (if) — The Soviet
Union Saturday claimed a new
air record of 1,306 mph. in a
turbojet aircraft. The Communist
Party newspaper Pravda said
test pilot Boris Adrianov had set
the record over a 62-mile closed
circuit course.
CLUE POT
Soda Fountain
CIGARS, CIGARETS
TOBACCO
CANDY
FRESH ICE CREAM
EVERY DAY
From The
Nation’s Capitol
By GEORGE SUNDBORG
Administrative Assistant
(The Weekly Newsletter from the
Office of Senator Ernest Gruening)
WASHINGTON—The research
division of the National Educa
tion Association last week pub
lished information from NEA
headquarters here on school stat
istics and teachers’ salaries, in
which interesting data concerning
Alaska are revealed.
The 49th State leads the nation,
for example, in the number of
school age children per 1,000 pop
ulation, with 947 children for
each 1,000 adults (the national av
erage is 470 per 1,000) while it
trails all other states in total
number of school age children,
with 54,000. The average Alaskan
of 25 years of age or older has
completed 11.3 years of school,
compared with the national av
erage of 9.3, while 45.2 per cent
of Alaskans have completed four
years of high school, at age 25
(the national average is 33.3). J
Alaska ranks sixth with a popu- I
lation percentage of 7.4 who have !
completed four or more years of
college (the national average is
6 per cent).
Again, Alaska leads in the per
centage increase in public ele
mentary and secondary school en
rollment in the decade from
1949-50 to 1959-60, with 182.4 per
cent (the national average in
crease in the ten-year period is
44.4 per cent). Also, Alaska has
the highest percentage of school
age population compared with
total civilian population in the
state, 30.8 per cent (the national
average is 24.4).
Teachers in Alaska are far
ahead of teachers in the rest of
the nation as far as salaries are
concerned, the state’s average sal
ary for instructional staff in pub
lic schools being $6,600, while the
national average is $5,160. It is ]
recognized, of course, that because
of Alaska’s high level of living |
costs, salaries buy less in the 49th !
State and need to be higher than I
elsewhere.
Another representation shows a !
Wien Alaska Airlines, Inc.
SUMMER SCHEDULE
We Are Happy to announce that
Beginning May 20 we will operate
A DAILY SCHEDULE INTO NOME
¥-¥-~¥-¥-¥
FLIGHT 311
Departs Fairbanks daily at 8:00 a.m.
Arrives Nome daily at 9:10 a.m.
FLIGHT 312
Departs Nome daily at 1:00 p.m.
Arrives Kotzebue daily at 1:50 p.m.
Departs Kotzebue daily at 2:45 p.m.
Arrives Fairbanks daily at 5:45 p.m.
Beginning June 20 and continuing thru Attg. 20
We will operate two flights daily to Nome.
Senate Defeats Federal
Pay Hike Limit
WASHINGTON, Ufi — The Sen
ate today defeated 54-28 a move
to limit the pay raise for federal
employes to 6 per cent.
Debate then continued on the
House-passed bill giving postal
workers an average 8.1 per cent
pay hike and one million other
government workers 7.5 per cent.
Senate Democratic leaders
planned to try to get the House
measure through without amend
ment so it would go directly to
President Eisenhower.
Sen. Frank Carlson (D-Kan),
Administration spokesman o n
Civil Service matters, offered the
6 per cent amendment. He said a
7.5 per cent bill would have no
chance of becoming law.
tremendous increase in revenue
from local governments in Alaska
for public elementary and sec
ondary schools, from 1953-54 to
1957-58, of 230.8 per cent (the
national increase in that period
was only 56.2 per cent). Alaska
ranked second during 1957-58 in
revenue from state sources per
pupil enrolled, the figure being
$301 per pupil (outranked by Del
aware at $371 per pupil) while
the national average is $146 per
pupil. The 49th State also leads
the other states in per cent of
total revenue for public elemen
tary and secondary schools that
comes from the federal govern
ment, 14.7 per cent (the national
average is 3.0 per cent).
Alaska is exceeded only by New
York in the estimated current ex
penditure per pupil for 1959-60,
with $530 per pupil (the national
average being $369 per pupil).
Alaska is third in per capita state
expenditure for all public edu
cation (1958) at $100 per person
(outranked by Delaware and New
Mexico) while the national aver
age is $43.22.
The reports on teachers’ posi
tions indicate that teachers’ sal
aries have risen during the past 15
years but have not kept pace with
the general cost of living increase.
The report states that salaries for
teachers “are still far below the
earnings of comparable profes
sional workers. . . . Employment
other than teaching offers greater
financial rewards."