m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VoLTlSl No. 45 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1959 ~ Per Copy—15*
Legislature Plays !
Oil Again Off Again
With E.S.C. Bill
JUNEAU, OP)—One of the major
pieces of legislation still confront
ing the first State Legislature
swung through the House yester
day and is headed back for the
Senate. It was a substitute House
bill designed to revise the employ
ment security act.
The subject has been one of the
most difficult with Which the
Legislature has had to cope. Only
last Saturday the Senate intro
duced the bill. The House scrapped
this yesterday and passed its own
✓ version, 24-15.
The House measure provides for
a jobless insurance tax on total
wages. The present law calls for £
$4 ,200 ceiling on wages subject
to the tax and- the Senate meas
ure would have increased this
ceiling to $5,400.
The House version also pro
vides for inclusion of an experi
ence rating system as part of the
Alaska act and would reduce out
of state payments from the un
employment fund to a miximum
of $20 a week, compared with $25
under the present law.
The House action in formulating
a substitute measure probably
means the problem will be tossed
into the laps of a joint confer
ence committee. The committee’s
recommendations probably will be
put before the Legislature late to
day and failure to agree on the
committee’s solution could run the
session past midnight.
Discoverer II
Capsule Ejected
Over Polar Region
. INGLEWOOD, Calif., UF> — A
capsule from the satellite Discov
erer II apparently was success
fully ejected yesterday over the
far reaches of the North Pacifc,
the Air Force said today.
A terse announcement said var
ious radioed reports are being
checked to determine the capsule’s
probable landing area in the Polar
region.
This was the package the Air
Force had hoped to catch, aerially,
near Hawai. But malfunction of
a timing device thwarted the plan.
The announcement said:
“Analysis of radio beacon and
telemetry signals from Discoverer
II indicates that the capsule did
eject from the satellite as pre
dicted.
“Several reports of visual sight
ings and radio contacts from the
capsule are being carefully
checked.”
The capsule was set to be
ejected automatically on the sat
ellite’s 17th orbit. The satellite it
self continued in orbit.
There was no way of telling at
the time whether this happened.
It required analysis of^radio sig
nals to deduce that ejection took
place. The Discoverer II was fired
into a pole-to-pole orbit from Van
denberg Air Force Base Monday.
The point of return, however,
was calculated to be far north of
the range of Air Force planes which
had been practicing to snag the
parachyte with dangling trapeze
like devices.
Recovery of the capsule would
have been an historic achieve
ment. Satellites — both Soviet and
American — have fallen back into
the atmosphere but they burned
up long before they reached the
ground.
Executive Appointments
Expected to Fill llth-Hour
Legislative Agenda
JUNEAU, UP) — The closing
hours of the Legislature probably
will be taken up with considera
tion of executive appointments.
There is no indication how
many nominations acting Gover
nor Wade will put before the le
gislators, but some top vacancies
are sure to be filled.
Governor Egan said yesterday
there would be some top executive
appointments included in the list.
The actual nominations will be
made by Wade on proposals ad
vanced by Egan. The Governor has
said Wade must continue as offi
cial executive since Egan’s doctors
have ordered him to rest.
Workmen’s Compensation
For Fed. Workers Placed
On New State’s Shoulders
WASHINGTON, UP) — The fed
eral government is moving toward
a full turnover of control of work
men’s compensation coverage for
workers on federal projects in
Alaska to the state, Senator Bart
lett reported Tuesday.
Bartlett said he was informed
by William McCauley, director of
the Labor Department’s Bureau of
Employes Compensation, that the
bureau no longer is requiring af
fected employers to comply with
the reporting and other require
ments of the defense bases act.
McCauley said his staff is study
ing whether additional legislation
is needed to remove any question
of overlapping jurisdiction in
workmen’s compensation.
If statutory changes are neces
sary, he wrote Bartlett, they prob
ably will be proposed as amend
ments to the transitional legisla
tion in the Alaska omnibus act
now before Congress.
BASEBALL SCORES
American League
Chicago 2, Kansas City 0.
Cleveland 8, Detroit 1.
New York 13, Baltimore 3.
Boston 7, Washington 3.
National League
Milwaukee 8, Philadelphia 3.
Chicago 5, San Francisco 2.
Cincinnati 3, Pittsburgh 2.
St. Louis 6, Lis Angeles 2.
Russian Jets Again!
Buzz US Transport
In Berlin Corridor
BONN, Germany, UP) — Soviet
planes have-buzzed an American
Air Force transport in another
incident in an air corridor to Ber
lin, the U. S. Embassy disclosed.
An embassy spokesman said
two Soviet jet fighters harrassed
an Air Force double-decker pro
peller transport on its way back
from a routine cargo delivery
flight to Berlin April 3.
The embassy spokesman gave
this account of the incident:
The big military version of the
Boeing Stratocruiser was flying
at about 12,000 feet when two So
viet jets came up from behind and
began cruising, each about 100
feet from a wingtip of the Amer
ican plane.
The Soviet fliers then swapped
positions, one going over and the
other going under the transport.
The American pilot reduced alti
tude a little. This seemed to satis
fy the Soviets, for they flew away.
J. W. Beburov, chief spokesman
of the Soviet Embassy in East Ber
lin, commenting on the incident,
indicated the Soviet Union is
standing by its demands that
American planes fly below 10,000
feet in the corridors.
The United States Monday re
jected the limit the Soviets are
trying to put on the corridors and
said U. S. planes will fly as high
as they need to whenever they
want to.
The Soviet Union has warned
the United States that it cannot
be responsible for the safety of
American planes flying above
10,000 feet.
With the new turboprop and jet
transports coming into full serv
ice, the Allied powers have been
determined to establish clearly
their right to fly in the corridors
at any height.
DREAM COME TRUE . . .
FLORENCE, Italy, UP) — Gio
vanni Calamai, a barber in a
nearby village, dreamed he won
a weekly numbers lottery.
The dream, he said, was so
convincing he invested in a dozen
tickets at 50 lire—8 cents—each.
One was a winner — worth 67
million lire, or $107,000.
Eisenhower Sadly Announces Dulles'
J
Retirement as State Department Chief
By MARVIN L. ARROWSMITH
AUGUSTA, UP — President
Eisenhower, his voice choked with
emotion, sadly announced today
the resignation of cancer-stricken
Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles.
At a dramatic news conference
at his vacation headquarters, Eis
enhower said Dulles now is “ab
solutely incapacitated” to carry
on the administrative burden of
•his office, and make policy as
well.
The President said he has made
no final decision on a successor.
He gave newsmen the impression
he might pick someone other than
Undersecretary Christian A. Her
ter, who has been serving as act
ing Secrtary.
But the President by no means
ruled out Herter.
In Washington, one top Repub
lican official said Herter is easily
the outstanding candidate, and is
regarded as such by the President.
Eisenhower’s noncommittal an
swer about Herter today, this offi
cial said, was not meant to alter
this but to show the President
wanted to wait a few days before
announcing the choice of Herter.
Dulles, Eisenhower said, will
continue to serve him as a for
eign policy consultant.
There was a trace of tears in
Eisenhower’s eyes as he an
nounced the 71-year-old Dulles’
decision to step down.
A reporter told Eisenhower it
had been pretty much taken for
granted that Herter would move
up to Dulles’ cabinet post.
Asked whether he had someone
other than Herter in mind, Eisen
hower said there are “all kinds of
considerations” to take into ac
count. He added there are “a
number of people with particular
talents” who could fill the top
foreign policy post.
Eisenhower’s dramatic an
nouncement came less than 24
hours after Dulles’ doctors con
cluded that his cancer probably
has spread to the neck area.
Earlier it apparently had been
confined to the abdominal area.
Joint Session Takes Up Question:
Who Has Authority of Governor’s
Office, Wm. Egan or Hugh Wade
JUNEAU, UR — Alaska’s Senate
passed unanimously Tuesday a
27V2 million dollar appropriation
bill for general fund expenditures
during the coming fiscal year.
Several amendments were made
to the bill, however, which means
it must go back to the House. The
action was not expected to delay
the measure, which apparently
will be approved in plenty of
time for tonight’s scheduled legis
lative adjournment.
A $3,350,979 highway fund ap
propriation and a quarter of a
million dollar expenditure from
the water and harbor facilities
fund also are provided, giving the
state a $31,208,834 spending pro
gram.
The proposed general fund ex
penditures amount to $27,632,855,
which includes $24,410,377 for
general administrative expenses.
$1,080,000 for construction and
$2,151,478 for contingencies. The
contingency appropriations were
made in case Alaska should as
sume full control of its game and
fishery resources and establish its
state court system within the next
year.
The budget reflects a sizeable
increase in state expenditures,
the 1957 Territorial Legislature
appropriated 36Vfe million dollars
for two fiscal years. State offi
cials, however, estimate available
revenue during the next fiscal
period will amount to more than
29V£ million dollars.
A Senate amendment would al
low the Governor to spend $200,000
for work projects in the state’s
depressed areas. Originally the
Bartlett Asks
Public Hearings on
AEC Land Use
WASHINGTON, UP) — Senator
Bob Bartlett suggested today that
public hearings be held in Alaska
on an Atomic Energy Commission
request for use of some 1,600
square miles of the 49th state.
AEC has asked use of the area
through the period ending on Jan
uary 1, 1961, in connection with
an experiment involving the blast
ing out of a harbor with a nu
clear explosion.
In a letter to Secretary of the
Interior Seaton, Bartlett said the
1,600 square miles is 40 times
larger than the 40 square miles
mentioned by AEC in the public
notice published in the Federal
Register last September 5.
Bartlett also commented that
several weeks ago AEC chairman
John A. McCone has made “rather
a positive declaration” that the
Alaska plan had been abandoned.
He said other AEC spokesmen
later said a revised plan was un
der study involving blasting of
the harbor without construction
of facilities such as wharves.
“In view of the apparent de
cision of the AEC to carry on a
smaller experiment than that
first proposed,” Bartlett said, “it
may well be that much less land
will be required than originally
contemplated, whatever it is.
“In any case, * I believe the
Atomic Energy Commission should
be required to make a showing as
to why it proposes the withdrawal
of such a simply vast expanse of
land.”
bill would have limited the funds
to the Bristol Bay area.
Prior to Senate passage of the
measure, members of the House
and Senate Finance Committees,
which have worked on the bill
for weeks, were called to the Exec
utive Mansion for talks with Gov
ernor Egan.
Earlier in the day a joint ses
sion took up the question of whe
ther Governor Egan or acting
Governor Hugh Wade had the full
authority of the Governor’s office.
The question arose when Sen.
George McNabb said a Constitu
tional provision requires the Gov
ernor to carry out the duties of the
office if he is in the state and not
incapacitated.
Egan, who returned to Juneau
Monday after a three-month ab
sence because of illness, called
members of the House and Senate
together for conferences yester
day. This, McNabb said, meant the
Governor could not be considered
incapacitated.
When the Governor returned to
the capitol he asked Wade to con
tinue as acting Governor since
physicians have said he must have
long periods of rest.
McNabb moved, and both houses
approved, a proposal to have a
joint Judiciary Committee study
the Constitutional question.
The joint session had been called
specifically to consider Wade’s
veto of a bill to revamp the make
up of the Legislative Council.
When the question of Wade’s
authority arose, the legislators de
cided to postpone action on the
vetOj
State Officials
May Contest Govt.
Fish-Game Control
JUNEAU, UP) — Alaska’s two
elected officials were expected to
make a strong statement today
against operation of fish traps in
state waters.
There was no immediate word
concerning the stand to be taken
by Governor William Egan and
acting Governor Hugh Wade, but
it appeared possible they might
challenge the federal government’s
continued jurisdiction over Alas
ka’s fishery resources.
Word of 'the statement came
after the U. S. Court of Appeals
at Washington, D. C., stayed a
proposed Interior Department ban
on traps. A move by fish trap
owners and operators to obtain
an injunction against the trap
closure previously had been re
jected by a lower court.
The Alaska statehood act pro
vided for federal control of fish
eries, at least until next January.
However, Alaska officials con
tend 'the provision could be un
constitutional because it brought
admission on an unequal basis
with the other states of the union.
Should the federal government
fail to win court approval of its
trap ban, it could set the stage
for the state to move to obtain
immediate control of the fisheries.
This could bring a request for a
Supreme Court ruling on the state
hood act’s fisheries provisions.
James Fitzgerald, Alaska’s spe
cial attorney for the fisheries liti
gation, is expected to return to
Juneau this weekend for confer