m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 32 ~ NOME. ALASKA, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1953 Per Copy—15^
Nuclear Device
To Be Tested On
Average Home
ATOM BOMB SITE, Nev., W—
The little white house on the
corner of Elm and Main is due to
take a fearful pounding tomorrow.
And how it comes through may
mean life or death to you in an
atomic attack.
Fortunately, this house is not
on the corner in your, home town,
but in the middle of sprawling
Yucca Flat.
There — as 1,000 troops and a
group of 20 picked newsmen
* crouch in foxholes—the two-story
frame and concrete structure will
be put to a fiery atomic test.
It may or may not withstand
the blast from a tower less than
a mile and one-half away. A sis
ter structure only 3,500 feet from
the tower is expected to be de
molished.
Equals 15,000 Tons TNT
It may be a “ bomb ” to the
average man, but tomorrow’s test
object is still a “device” to Dr.
Alvin C. Graves and his fellow
scientists. He said neither a shell
nor a bomb is being detonated.
But the device, whatever its
shape, will still pack a punch equi
valent to 15,000 tons of TNT.
The troops and front-line news
men will be dug in two' miles
south of the tower. The test houses
— built to specifications of the
average American home for the
Federal Civil Defense Administra
tion—lie east of ground zero.
If the surrounding area is not
too hot, radioactively speaking,
newsmen and civil defense offi
. cials may be able to find out how
the Joneses—a family of manne
quins—fared in the more distant
house.
19 Dummies
There are 19 dummies in the
white colonial home — seven of
them in two bomb shelters in the
basement. The rest are in he liv
ing room, dining room and up
stairs bedroom.
The typical family picture is
expected to be rudely shattered,
but civil defense project director
Harold I. Goodwin and his aides
hope that the bomb shelter groups
will weather the atomic pasting.
Last Day Legislature Can
Consider Any New Bills
JUNEAU, l#)—This is bill burial
day in the Alaska Legislature.
It is the 50th day of the session,
which is the last day either house
can consider bills introduced by
its own members.
Dozens of them await action in
both houses, and this is the day
when both houses become execu
tion chambers.
Both houses are likely to run
their sessions far into the night
tonight, with many of the legisla
tors’ pet bills due to die along
he rough road.
Air Force Chief of Staff
“Fed Up” With Our Clay
Pigeon Role In Europe
WASHINGTON, UP)—Gen. Hoyt;
S. Vandenberg said Sunday night
he is “fed up with our boys being
used as clay pigeons” by Com
munist plane pilots in Europe.
“I’m worried about it,” said
Vandenberg, te Air Force- chief
of staff, in speaking of the situ
ation which saw two planes, one
U.S. and one British, shot down by
the Reds in Germany last week.
He said in talking with news
men on his return from an inspec
tion trip to Europe and Africa,
that he could not comment fur
ther.
Vandenberg said U.S. pilots in
the American Zone of Germany
must fly near the borders of Com
munist East Germany and Czecho
slovakia “to see what is going on,
but they stay well within opr own
lines.”
Tito Is First Head
Communist State
To Visit Britain
LONDON, UP)—President Tito of
Yugoslavia stepped ashore Mon
day to begin an historic visit—the
first ever made to Britain by any
head of a Communist state. His
arrival on British soil had been
delayed four hours by a typical
British weather phenomenon —
fog.
Greeting him at Westminster
Pier in the shadow of parliament
were the Duke of Edinburgh,
Queen Elizabeth’s husband; Prime
Minister Winston Churchill and
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden.
Tito was attired in a naval uni
form. Smiling broadly, he shook
hands all around.
The Duke saluted him and Tito
returned the greeting. A guard otf
honor also presented arms as the
Yugoslav natiohal anthem was
played. After the welcoming cere
mony, which lasted about 10 min
utes, Tito strolled along the
Thames embankment with the
Duke.
Tito is here for talks with Brit
ish leaders. The exact nature of
the parley has never been dis
closed and as deep a veil of sec
recy surrounds the purpose of his
visit as surround his movements
while here.
Stern security measures have
been taken to protect the Red
ruler from any danger at the
hands of a possible assassin.
TAX DEADLINE TONIGHT
WASHINGTON, UP)—You get an
extra day to pgy your federal in
. come tax this year, because the
legal deadline, March 15, was
Sunday.
So you have until midnight to
night to get your return post
marked and on its way to your
nearest director of internal rev
enue.
Malenkov Asserts
Issues Can Be
Solved Peacefully
MOSCOW, (£) — The more than
1,000 members of the Supreme
Soviet unanimously confirmed
Georgi M. Malenkov as the Soviet
Union’s prime minister Sunday
and loudly cheered his inaugural
assertion that all “troublesome
and “unsolved” issues with the
United States and other countries
can be solved peacefully.
One foreign diplomat termed
the speech to the nation’s parlia
ment by Joseph Stalin’s successor
“almost an offer to sit down with
the United States and anyone else
and try to ease the world’s ten
sion.”
. “It could be one of the most
important statements to be made
in a very long while,” another dip
lomat commented.
House Votes First
Fax Reduction For
Salmon Industry
JUNEAU, —The House voted
Saturday for a reduction in the
cannery fish tax. The vote was
17-5 to reduce the raw fish tax
from six to five per cent.
It was the first approval by
either branch of the legislature
in many years for any cut in raw
fish taxes, which have climbed
over a period of many years. The
canning industry has been labeled
as “sick” several times during the
present legislative session.
One of the sponsors of the bill,
Rep. Frank G. Johnson told the
House the canning industry has
been taxed progressively higher
through the years.
He said the industry could ab
sorb the tax during good times,
but now salmon is a luxury item
in competition with meat and that
some small canneries actually are
losing money.
Rep. Ed Locken said reduction
of the tax would not make much
difference to the large operators
but would prove a boon to the
small ones.
Johnson also said if canneries
were forced to close there would
be a real reduction in territorial
revenue through the loss of in
come taxes and payrolls.
The House voted 15-6 Saturday
night for a bill to reduce petition
peddling for liquor licenses.
Sponsored by Rep. John Coghill
the measure eliminates the neces
sity Of annual circulating of peti
tions in two mile radius for re
newal of liquor licenses outside
the cities.
The bill would allow liquor dis
penser to renew automatically his
license annually if he hasn’t been
charged with any law infractions.
The bill would make it tougher
to get the first license, by requir
ing the approval of two-thirds of
the residents within one mile.
Senate To Inquire Into
Why of Ammunition
Shortages In Korea
WASHINGTON, UP)—Sen. Fer
guson (R-Mich) said he had set off
an investigation of reported am
munition shortages in Korea and
elsewhere.
Ferguson heads the Senate Ap
propriations subcommittee which
passes upon the Defense Depart
ment budget. Chairman Bridges of
the full committee said in an inter
view Sunday that “the military
has received every penny they
asked for and if there are ammu
nition shortages then it has been
a matter of mishandling.”
Ferguson added: “I think the
people are entitled to know where
the money appropriated was spent
and why it didn’t receive results,
if it didn’t.”
Ferguson said he has not de
cided whether there will be public
hearings.
Father of Nine Helplessly
Watches Five Children
Burn To Death
MEADVILLE, Pa., UP) — Unable
to find a ladder a father of nine
watched helplessly as five of his
children, trapped in an upstairs
bedroom in their flaming home,
burned to death.
Four other chidren and the wife
of Donald McElhaney fled to safe
ty through second floor windows.
McElhaney awoke at 4 a.m. on
Sunday and smelled smoke. He
jumped through a window to the
ground. Unable to find a ladder
he yelled to waken his family.
His wife, nightclothes aflame,
appeared at a window. She col
lapsed and dropped 10 feet to the
ground. Shortly afterward the
dwelling exploded in flames. She
is in critical condition at Titusville
hospital with extensive burns and
shock.
Fighter-Bombers and
Mediums Can Now
Carry A-Bomb
INDIAN SPRINGS, Nev., UP) — i
The Air Force has added the
F-84G Thunder jet fighter-bomber
and the B-45 Tornado jet bomber
to its roster of A-bomb carrying
planes.
The announcement was made
Sunday at Indian Springs Air
Force Base as the five planes cap
able of carrying nuclear devices
were shown to newsmen and civ
ilian defense officials.
Besides the Republic F-84G and
North American’s B-45, the Air
Force listed the following planes
as atomic age mainstays:
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet, a
six-engine medium bomber; the
Convair B-36 heavy bomber, with
six piston engines and four jet
engines; and the Boeing B-50
Superfortress, four - engine me
dium bomber.
The F-84G and B-47 are in the
600 miles per hour class. The
others are capable of top speeds
ranging from 400 to 550 mph.
Alaska Better
Qualified As State
Than' Hawaii
WASHINGTON," UP)—Rep. Lan
ham (D-Ga) said today that Al
aska appears more nearly quali
fied for statehood than Hawaii.
“Alaska is a part of the North
American continent and its people
more nearly like crur own,” he
said “which in my opinion, more
nearly qualifies it for statehood.”
Lanham made his statement in
his weekly news letter in explain
ing why he voted against the Ha
waiian statehood bill last week.
The bill passed the House, 274'
to 138.
The Georgian, a member of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee,
said twice before he had voted
for bills which would have given
statehood to both Hawaii and Al
aska. These bills were killed in
the Senate.
He stressed the closeness of Al
aska to this country and gave
these other reasons for his vote:
“The omission of any call for
the admission of Alaska made it
appear that the purposes of the
bill were so obviously political
that I could not support it.
“Furthermore, the debate dis
closed that there are so many dif
ferent races represented in the
population of Hawaii and the
Communists so strong that I fear
ed its admission would bring, not
two Republican senators, but two
men who might be Communist
sympathizers.
“Moreover, Harry Bridges the
Communist leader of the Seamen’s
Union, is so powerful in Hawaii
that I dreaded to open the door
for his domination of the country.
“In addition to all these rea
sons, the admission of Hawaii will
mean the loss of a representative
in Congress, from Georgia or some
other state in the union. ..
It just doesn’t seem right that
Hawaii, with its small population,
3,008 miles from the mainland
of America should be treated as
a state and given the tremendous
influence its two senators would
give it, if it becomes a state.”
House Memorial Slaps
Congress On Wrist
JUNEAU, W)—Rep. Julien Hurly
(R-Fairbanks) intx'oduced a mem
orial Saturday to individual mem
bers of Congress on a new wrist
slapping note.
It contended Congress has neg
lected Alaska, overlooked the ter
ritory’s needs, and disregarded the
Alaska Legislature’s petitions.
The memorial said the Terri
torial Legislature “respectfully
prays” Congress will pay some atir
tention to the Alaska Legislature’s
memorial, appropriate enough to
allow the territory to develop for
statehood and closed with a sug
gestion “that you do a little pray
ing on your own” about Alaska
affairs.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY
*T THE PIONEER HALL admission $1.00 TOMORROW EVENING, 8 P.M.
CARDS, DANCING, VOCAL SELECTIONS AND REFRESHMENTS
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