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 618 $16.06 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY .«... Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
post office at Nome. Alaska, under Act'of March 3, 1879.
Subscribers not receiving their paper by 5:30 p.m. call
Main 125 for special delivery. After 5:30_ call Black 102.
.
House Action on Alaska
Statehood Predicted
By Next February
WASHINGTON, WV-The chair
man of the House Territories Sub
committee predicted “we should
have House action on Alaska
statehood by mid-February.”
Rep. O’Brien CD-NY) said yes
terday he hopes for an early hear
ing before the committee and
prompt consideration by the
House.
On the Senate side, where
O’Brien predicted there would be
“not too much of a problem,” Ter
ritories Chairman Sen. Jackson
CD-Wash) said scheduling the bill
is a matter for the Democratic
Policy Committee. He said he
would prefer to hold back Senate
consideration until after action by
the House.
President’s OK Asked
For Pan Am Traffic
Rights at Seattle
WASHINGTON, UP>—Rep. Pelly
(R-Wash) asked President Eisen
hower yesterday to approve Pan
American World Airways’ re
quest for traffic rights at Seattle.
The carrier was authorized last
year to fly from Los Angeles and
San Francisco to the Orient by
way of the shorter great circle
route, but was forbidden to stop
for passengers at either Seattle or
Portland, which are served by
Northwest Orient Airlines.
In his letter to the President,
Pelly said operating records of the
two airlines show that both “are
running full across the Pacific”
and no operating subsidy would
be required by Northwest if Pan
American could stop at Seattle.
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SERVICE
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Hillary to Fly
To Meet Fuchs
On Antarctic Trek
AUKLAND. New Zealand, W)—
Sir Edmund Hillary and Dr. Viv
ian Fuchs, the British Common
wealth’s chief antarctic explorers,
today were reported in step again.
Word from Scott Base said Hil
lary, leader of the New Zealand
expedition, would fly to meet
Fuchs’ party of Britons after they
pass the South Pole and guide
them to the New Zealand base at
McMurdo Sound.
Fuchs, who is making the first
overland crossing of Antarctica,
reported today he was now 260
miles from the pole. He is to meet
Hillary at a point about 500 miles
beyond the pole and 700 miles
from Scott Base.
After returning to Scott Base,
Hillary radioed a recommendation
to Fuchs that he abandon his trek
at the pole and fly out because of
prospects of worsening weather.
Fuchs fired back that the New
Zealander need not join him at
the 700-mile depot and his group
would “find our own way out.”
Fuchs had been delayed by bad
snow conditions and weather. But
he radioed today he had dropped
off some of his vehicles, that “the
crevasse area is behind us, and
we are making better progress.”
Lapps Say Jets Scared
Reindeer to Death
OSLO, (#'—A group of Lapps in
Finnmark, on Norway’s border
with Russia, claim the effect of
the jet age on some of their rein
deer is worth 50,000 kroner, about
$7,000. N
They asked for that much dam
age from the Norwegian govern
ment, reporting that 20 reindeer
leaped over a precipice to their
death when two low-flying jets
frightened a grazing herd.
The air force said its planes
weren’t low enough to scare the
reindeer.
Letter i
To The Editor \
Box 245
Nome, Alaska
December 30, 1957 j
Dear Editor:
“Two cars in every garage; two
chickens in every pot”—its a good j
political slogan, but how about |
TWO TELEPHONE companies in j
every home and place of business? !
I am a new-comer here (we like j
the town and the climate and love j
the people. The Lord willing, we
hope and plan to make this our!
home) but I have lived where you i
had to have two telephones. It is
no good: very expensive and very
inconvenient. Almost as bad as
not having any.
A tecent advertisement in your
paper asks us to “look into this
matter.” I have done so a little
and here are some of the findings:
1. Someone has an axe to grind.
And usually John Q. Public gets
it in the neck.
2. If Nome truly wants dial tele
phone service, your present Alas
ka Telephone and Telegraph Co.
will provide it—IF YOU are will
ing to pay the cost and will ask
the Town Council to permit a
raise in the rates.
3. The A. T. & T. Co. recently
asked the Town Council for a
raise in rates (the first in 10
years) in order to improve tele
phone equipment and service and
to meet rising operating costs But
it seems that some members of
the Nome City Council are stock
holders in the new company and
apparently were able to hold the
raise to a token 5%. While at the
same time petitioned the council j
for a franchise for their own com
pany to provide more expensive
service. Seems like a clue to the
owners of the axe. The U.S. Dept,
of Labor shows that in the last 10
years most all costs and services
have risen at least 50% and most
of them 200% to 300%. And many
much 'more.
4. Dial telephone service, con
trary to general thinking, costs a
great deal more than manual be
cause of the added equipment. In
Nome there would be no saving in
operator's salary as the bare min
imum for dial or manual are now
employed. In fact, more mainte
nance help would be required.
5. The new company has not
filed nor given any indication of
the rates they would use. Would
the council favor one company
over another in giving a higher
rate and enter into discrimination
at the taxpayer’s expense? I think
not. In fact I* find that the council
would probably have granted the
needed and reasonable rate in
crease to the present company if
it had not had been for the axe
grinders. And so John Q. gets it
coming and going.
6. How would Nome look with
another set of poles, wires, cables,
etc., honey-combing its streets?
Contrary to rumor, underground
cables are not yet feasible for
general telephone service in Nome
unless the public is willing to pay
the prohibitive cost for installa
tion and maintenance.. The per
mafrost is still with us, I under
stand.
Finally, don’t buy a pig in a
poke. DO INVESTIGATE. Ask
your present Alaska Tel. & Tel.
Co. about its plans for improve
ment in service and how it can be
accomplished, if you have com
plaints against it: tell them. They
can’t know them and correct them
if you don’t. Sure, I have an axe
to grind. This is it: the best possi-!
ble telephone service at the least
possible cos 1: r Nome.
Sincerely yours, j
(Signed) Chas. D. West
| Extending A Great Discovery j
I iwiiin «»i»pmiiii urn i - -~=r- ~n hike: i
Mention fermentation to most people, and they think beer — or
maybe sauerkraut. But to the great French scientist Louis Pasteur,
fermentation was the key to a whole new concept of life — a startling
insight which enabled him to lay the foundation of modern medicine.
Just a hundred years ago, Pasteur plunged the scientific world
mto frantic controversy when he <
declared that fermentation is
caused by livingmicro-organisms.
Until Pasteur’s discovery, most
scientists believed that fermen
tation — which produces alcohol,
lactic acid and many other im
portant substances — was purely
a chemical process. The yeasts or
other “germs” found in profu
sion in the brews were regarded
merely as accidental invaders.
No one suspected that microbes
were the very essence of the pro
cess.
The notion that living things
too tiny to be seen without a
microscope could cause wholesale
chemical changes and produce
new substances seemed an ab
surdity at first. Once scientists
accepted it, however, it made
them receptive to the idea that
such minute creatures could also
cause drastic physical changes
in man and animals — Pasteur’s
monumental germ theory of dis
ease upon which most of today’s
medicine is based.
Even today, Pasteur’s work
continues to guide scientists into
new fields of research. Recently,
distinguished scientists from all
parts of the world gathered in
New York for the Pasteur Fer
mentation Centennial, an event
marking the anniversary of the
publication of Pasteur’s paper of
1857. The conference, chaired by
Dr. James A. Shannon, director
of the National Institutes of
Health, was sponsored by Chas.
Pfizer & Co., Inc., world leader
in fermentation chemistry and
antibiotic developments.
It was this study of fermenta
tion which turned Pasteur, a
chemist by training and profes
sion, to the study of the proces
ses of life — a turning point with
enormous consequences for the
health of the world.
Today, an entire branch of the
►
chemical industry is based on
fermentation, and from this in
dustry comes one of the world’s
greatest boons — antibiotics.
They bring Pasteur’s researches
full circle: the fermentation pro
cess he studied now helps fight
the disease germs whose impor
tance he established.
One subject which Pasteur
wanted to explore, but never
managed to find time for, was the
chemical interplay between the
sick patient and the germ that
invaded him. Modern research
into this subject was discussed
at the Pasteur Fermentation
Centennial by Dr. Rene J. Dubos
of the Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research. Dr. Du’oos, a
pioneer in antibiotics studies,
also has written a biography of
Pasteur.
Among other eminent scien
tists from six countries, includ
ing Russia, who took part in the
Centennial program was Dr.
Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot,
grandson of the great French
scientist and President of the
Pasteur Institute of France. Dr.
Pasteur Vallery-Radot, who
looks amazingly like his eminent
grandfather, also discussed mod
ern investigation's and applica
tions of Pasteur’s key discov
eries:
Participants included scien
tists from the United Kingdom,
the USSR, France, Japan, and
Cuba, as well as the -United
States. The conference was at
tended by more than 800 scien
tists from colleges and universi
ties, scientific foundations, in
dustry, Federal and state gov
ernments and United Nations
organizations.
Thus, though a century has
passed, the genius of Pasteur
continues to influence the mind
of science throughout the world.
80-Mile-an-Hour Winds
Topple Ketchikan Tower
KETCHIKAN, [M—Winds up to
81 miles an hour Monday night
blew down the tower of radio sta
tion KABI here, uprooted trees
and downed power lines.
The radio tower broke off at its
base and fell in front of a nearby
house.
There have been no reports of
anyone being injured in the storm.
The station resumed regular
broadcasts this morning from a
temporary antenna. The value of
the fallen antenna was placed at
$25,000.
House Territories Group
May Visit Hawaii
During Easter Recess
WASHINGTON, OB—There is a
possibility the House Tersitories
Subcommittee will go to Hawaii
during the Easter recess.
Rep. O’Brien, chairman of the
group, said the trip was proposed
by island residents as a means of
offsetting adverse publicity creat
ed by the Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee’s report on Com
munist influence in Hawaii.
No definite decision has been
reached, O’Brien said.
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