The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 20, 1951, Page 1

* VOL. LXXVI,, ;‘MCClltCh o ¢ central Korea today by Reds attack- "The Washingion‘ TR e SATURDAY 1 P.M. Edition THE “ALL TLE NEWS ALL THE TIME” DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE SATURDAY 1 P.M. Edition NO. 11,713 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1951 ’ RED TROOPS RETAKE KEY "TOWN, KOREA ’ * Overwhelming Reds Push on Un Troops-MacArthur | Again Visits Korea | TOKYO, JnnIP~Alhvd prob- ‘ « ing troops were forced out of the key road-rail hub of Wonju in . v ing in overwhelming numbers. An Associated Press field dispatch ( said the reinforced Allied patrol| held off an attack. Then as Red; fire subsided the Allied force with- drew to positions south of the city. An Allied convoy bringing food to Wonju had to cut its way through a Communist roadblock southeast of the city earlier. It left | Communist dead strewn in the snow. The dispatch described the fight- ing in Wonju itself as intense. General MacArthur, on a flying visit to Korea, gave new assurance that the Allies’ fight will continue. Plenty of Fight In Washington, Gen. J. Lawton Collins said the Allied army has “plenty of fight left in it.” The Army Chief of Staff added, at a Penta- gon news conference: “If the enemy attacks in any strength they will be very severely punished.” i Collins returned earlier this week | from a Korean front inspection and | conferences with MacArthur. He| said Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Air | Force Chief of Staff, had found no signs of an enemy buildup in the; entire eastern section of Koréa. To Stay in Korea | General MacArthur on his quick ¢ visit with Lt. Gen. Matthews B.| Ridgway in Korea told a news coa- | ference: | | | “No one is going to drive us into the sea. This command intends to| maintain a military position in Ko- | rea just as long as the statesmen| of the United Nations decide that| we should do so | “The Army undefeated s resolute and | i that further cf which can only come from the chancelleries of the world now faced with this new and entirely ur s st China | At Lake Success, the United| States pressed its view that the Chi- nese Communists are aggressors mj Korea and moved for a strong stand ds g 1 | other ticipated problem.” |’ Stalin Is Crificised B'flruman WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 — (® — President Truman last night de- clared “there isn’t any difference” between Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and Hitler, Mussolini and notorious despots of history. “They are all just alike . . . they believed in the enslavement of the common people,” Mr. Truman told a ‘business mobilization dinner’ of the Society of Business Magazine Edi- tors. But, he added, “we are going to win.” The President has often scored Soviet Russia as the fountain of Communist imperialism, but his pre- pared comment last night was one of the rare occasions when he has criticized Premier Stalin by name. His denunciation of Stalin as a dictator recalled that in 1948 Mr. Truman referred to the Soviet leader as “Old Joe” and called him a pris- oner of the Politburo, Russia’s top political council. PROSPECTS BRIGHT FOR WEST JUNEAU " HOUSING PROJECT Problems standing in the way of a 25-unit low rental housing project for West Juneau were par- tially solved at the meeting of the Alaska Housing Authority Commis- sion which ended here yesterday, E. Glen Wilder, executive director, said teday. An agreement with the Gastineau Utility Company to provide water services at a comparable rate with Juneau, was approved. Approval was also given to an arrangement to make payment in lieu of taxes to the Douglas Independent School District; and today final kinks in a contract with the City neau to provide fire protection, were being ironed out, It hoped that bids be advertised soon, Wilder said. At the same time approval was given for low rental housing pro- Other prospects for housing de- velopment were reviewed involving betwene and 9 million doll It is likely that another Com- sion meeting will be called near of Ju-| ts for Fairbanks and Ketchikan. March 1, Loans will be considered at the regula annual meetir which is scheduled for April 16 Anchorage. Wilder planned to leave for Ket- chikan and then return his head- | quarters in Anchorage to attend the labor-contractors meeting. He expects to réturn to Juneau in three or four weeks in connection with legislative matters concerning the Alaska Housing Authority. against the Peiping regime. Ameri can diplomats sought to line up sup- pert for a resolution condemning Red China. The resolution faced Soviet-bloc opposition, a move by 12 Arab- Asian countries to try another peace appeal and a fear in European, countries that the U.S. would be- come so involved in Asia that they would be left open to attack. FROM SEATTLE Samuel Weems of Seattle arii here yesterday on PAA and is re- gistered at the Baranof Hatel. 110“,\'5’!‘0‘\' HERE AS CONSULTANT ARCHITECT Laurance P. (Larry) Johnston, |former Juneau architect and well- i known here, returned on yesterday’s Pan American Clipper on a four weeks’ visit. His visit has a two-fold purpose, to act as a consultant in the office of tHe local architect Merry - Go - Round| By DREW PEARSON (Copyright, 1951, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) ASHINGTON Mobilization boss Charles Wilson has ordered his staff to be ready to clamp down price and wage controls with- *in two weeks. He got the nod last week from President Truman who| has finally agreed to all-out con- the President had gone the Federal Reserve Board, which advised against put- ting the economy in a govern- ment strait jacket. The Board ar- gued that indirect controls, such as higher taxes and restrictions on consumer and bank credits, would eventually curb inflation. These in- direct methods, however, have fail- ed to hold down prices. At the same time, a shake-up in the mobilizatioon high-command may also accompany the new con-| trols. For example, Wilson makes; no secret around his office that he hopes to get rid of Price Adminis- trator Mike Di Salle and Di Salle doesn’t try to conceal his distaste for Economic Stabilization Director Alan Valentine. All this backbiting is likely to result in some heads| rolling. | Meanwhile, across the Potomac in | (Continued on Page Four) | firm Moss, Malcolm and Olsen, with which he was formerly associated, and to spend some time with his son-in-law and daughter, Dr. and Mrs. D. D. Marquardt. Johnston will return %rom Juneau to Washington, D.C., where he has established his own architect firm. WHO 1S “BUTCH?” In a larger town Pan American Airways would have some delivery problems on strangely addressed cargo. Yesterday two packages ar- rived marked, “Butch, Juneau.” Of course, everybody knows Butch is Mae Suhrdier, popular waitress and Bubble Room hostess at the Baranof Hotel. Ed Anderson of Nome is stopping at the Hotel Juneau. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Princess Norah from Vancouver scheduled to arrive at 7 tonight, ils at 11:30 for Skagway returning to Juneau Tuesday 7 a.m., south at 8 am. Denali from Seattlg scheduled to arrive Monday night. Baranof from westward sched- uled to arrive 5 p.m., Sunday, south- bound. "Miss Pin S the drive. (P Wirephoto. Miss Nina “Honey Bear” Warren, daughter of California’s Governor, who contracted polio last November has been named “Miss Pin-On- Girl” of the 1951 March of Dimes campaign. ernor’s Mansion at Sacramento, Calif., and anxious to be the first contributers are polio victims Danny Smith, 6, of Los Angeles and Donald O'Conor, 18, of Sacramento as they drop their donations in Nina’s pin-on coin collector which will be used extensively during Shown at the Gov- 2 GUNS USED INSHOOTING, ANCHORAGE of the shooting at Anchorage early this week in which Mrs. Mernice Murphy of Juneau and Charles Rohda, of Se- attle and well known contractor, were the principals are given in the following as appeared in the An- chorage Times of Thursday, Jan- uary 18: Two guns were used in the shoot- ing in which a Juneau woman and a Seattle man were injured here late Monday night, police revealed for the first time today. Questioning of Mrs, Mernice Murphy at Providence Hospital this morning brought forth the tentative admission that she owned both the .25 caliber and .380 caliber revolvers found in her room after the shobt- ing. Six slugs fired from the .25 caliber pistol and four fired from the .380 pistol were accounted for by police investigators. Charles Rohda, who received bullet wounds of the arm, face and shoulder was believed to have been shot with the .380 gun, according to posttion of slugs found in the woodwork of he room. The possibil- ity that Mrs. Murphy might then have fired “hesitation shots” at the ceiling with the .25 caliber auto- matic before attempting suicide was | advanced by officers. Possibility that one of the guns! might have been taken to the room Further details 23-HOUR DELAY ON PAA NORTH FLIGHT At noon presstime today, Pan American World Airways south- bound flight was expected to take off from the Juneau Airport. The northbound flight out of Seattle i today was delayed 23 hours, it was reported. Yesterd flights brought 20! persons from Seattle, took ten to Seattle and three to Annette. From Seattle: A. Anderson, Ches- tef Loop, George Madsen, Duncan ! McGibbon, Mrs. S. A. Starbuck, Robert Sneddon, Bill Wilson, Don Abel, Ted Brady, Walter Field,| Marty Flichler, Harold Foss, Jane Hawkins, Charl Virginia and £haron Hermens, Laurance Johnston, George Mis- | covitch, Louis Potter, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Scavenius, Sgt. H. Rutledge, Leoonard Schibi, Mr. and Mr { Robert J. Sommers, Al Sollars, and ! Malcolm Stockwell, | To Seattle: Joe Pike, Burton | Young, Fred Knotti, Robert Slater, Z. J. Loussac, J. C. McLean, Emily | Mo phen Johnson, William McHaffs and Jack Hendrickson. To Annette: O. R. Walker, Samuel Weems and George Crammer. {BRITISH PUT SMOKES BEFORE FOOD IF CUT SHOULD ENE(ESSARY LONDON—(P—Britain’s little peo- | ple would rather trim the food bili| than deny themselves those cigar- ettes if a salary cut struck. Mass a commercial outfit that polls the British public on timely topics, got that result in a| poll of middle class folk on this gloomy line: “Given a one-tenth reduction in income, where would you make your cuts?” Ignoring a dismal country parsen who replied “across my throat,” the figures showed that 32 per jcent of those queried would take | the first hitch in the food bill. But only 22 per cent would cut down | on smokes. s i Observation DON ABEL IS BACK Don Abel, Juneau building con- tractor, was a passenger for Ju. au on yesterday afternoon’s Pan iAmeriCEn plane, returning here from a business trip to the states. FROM ANCHORAGE Paul H. Shannon of Anchorage ! is registered at the Baranof Hotel. FROM SEATTLE i Lewis E. Potter of Seattle is re- | gistered at the Juneau Hotel. | GEORGE MADSEN HERE George Madsen, Representative from Nome, arrived here yesterday !via PAA from Seattle and is stop- | ping at the Bafanof Hotel. i I VFWA SPONSORS MARCH OF DIMES TAG DAY JAN. 27, of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary is sponsoring the annual March of Dimes Drive in Juneau again this year and has The Veterans named Saturday, January 27 as special Tag Day when funds will be soliciteq from Channel citizens for} re of the victims of Infantile an Mahoney is chairman is co- Drive. All mem- bers of the Auxiliary are named as la working James f the Brunette committee, Mrs. honey said. Posters calling need for funds polio, and banks, in the shape of an iron lung have been placed in Juneau business houses. Anyone may make contributions to the ks, it is pointed out. Mrs. Mahoney said today p substantial contribution has al- ready been received from the of- fice staff of veterans administra- tion who subscribed to the March of Dimes one hundred percent. ‘With teh recent and tragic epi- demic of Infantile Paralysis which struck the territory such a short ness of need for aid to fight the of the need for aid to fight the disease, we are confident Alaskans will make a record response to the March of Dimes Drive this year,” declared Mrs. Mahoney. Mrs. Mahoney said that anyone who is not contacted and wishes to send in contributions may do so my mailing them to Box 1654, Ju- neau. TRASRenLL TED MATHEWS HERE Ted C. Mathews of Fairbanks at the Baranof Hotel. e o o o o o WEATHER REPORT Temperatures for 24-Hour Period ending 6:20 o'clock this morning In Juneau—Maximum, 18; minimum, 11. At Airport—Maximum, 13; minimum, —3. FORECAST (Juneau and Vicinity) Cloudy with gusty north- easterly winds and occasional light snow tonight and Sun- day. Lowest, temperature to- night about 16 degrees and highest Sunday near 25. PRECIPITATION (Past 24 hours ending 7:30 a.m. today City of Juneau — Trace since Jan. 1 — 3.82 inche: since July 1—41.81 inches. At Airport Trace since Jan. 1 — 221 inches; since July 1—30.21 inches. ® 0o 0 0 000 0 0 0 Ma- attenion to the for treatment of by Rhoda and fired by him was tentatively ruled out by investigat- ing officers from statements. made by Rhoda and from Mrs. Mernice f\Murphy's admission of ownership. ‘When questioned last night Mrs. Murphy was “unable to remem- ber anything,” and this morning refused to make a statement saying she did not remember the details of | the shooting. Rohda had previiously stated to police that he went to the woman's room for a private conversation ati her request and was there a few minutes when she drew the gun out from behind her and fired three shots at him. Rohda’s version of what took place and the conversa- tion before the shooting, was with- held by police until a statement could be obtained from Mrs. Mur- phy. After he was shot, Rohda fell to the floor. The woman made no further move but when he got up and ran out of the room he saw her pointing the gun at herself, Rhoda told police. Officers investi- gating his story found her uncon- scious on the floor in a pool ot blood, She had a bullet crease along the top of the head and powder burns on the forehead just below the hairline. R. D. Egge, Rhoda’s partner .2 the contracting business, told po- lice that Rohda was only gone from the room for two or three minutes before he returned With blood streaming from his face and said “she shot me.” Mrs. Murphy was believed to have taken a large dose of sleep- ing tablet which kept her uncons- cious until yesterday morning. Both are recovering in Providence Hos- pital. Mrs. Rhoda arrived last night from Seattle to be at the bedside of her hushand. is ' IIough Marine Gunner Is Taken from Lines; {But He's Civilian a | (By Associated Press) The Marines in Korea are wond- ering what to do about a civilian who is a tough man with a ma- chinegun and one of the fighting- est leathernecks in the bloody Kor. ean campaign. He's Joseph Washburn of Long Beach, California, and he'd be en- titled to wear a Corporal’s stripes— of he hadn’t got an honorable dis- charge from the Marines just be- fore the fighting started. It seems Washburn has been a @ ! civilian all during the important o | fighting he's been doing—from In- ®ichon to the terrible rereat to ® | Hungyan. The error has finally ® | been traced—he is indeed a civilian. . And they're pulling him out of ® | the front lines until they get his olsmus figured out. eon Quizzed on Palmer Airpor $1,200,000 IS ALLOTED TO JUNEAU BLDG. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 — (® — Secretary of the Interior Chapman says $1,922,750 has been alloted for a public works construction program in Alaska for the current fiscal year. Chapman said the major share of this, $1,200,000 will go to construc- tion and equipment of a five-story reinforced concrete territorial office building at Juneau. He said John D. Argetsinger, Dis- trict Engineer for Alaska, has been instructed to complete negotiations promptly with engineers for the professional services required for the construction program. The other projects for which funds were al- loted: Furnishing and installing coal handling facilities at the Fairbanks electric plant, $221,800. Construction of water supply system, including supply dam and supply lines, at Petersburg, $152,000. Improvement of Ketchikan’s Third Avenue between Tongass and Legislature Starts Work Next Monday TighteningE—Laws, Re- vamping of Departments Are Now in Prospect Alaska's lawmakers were gather- ing here today for Monday's open- ing of what might be their last ses- sion as a Territorial Legislature. Whether the next session is as a territorial or state legislature, however, will depend on what hap- pens in Congress, not what hap- pens here. With control of the House solidly in Democratic hands, 14 to 10, the evenly divided Senate—with one or two “unpredictables” in each party lineup—looks again like the cham- ber in which the big controversies { will whirl. i The first one is likely to be over the election of a Senate President. ‘There might also be one over the Senate Secretary’s post. ;Creek. construction of a new con-!Fairbanks was McCutcheon’s right- 'Security Is Secure, Washington Streets, $198,500. In the House, reports indicate Improvements to existing water |that Rep. William Egan of Valdez system at Seldovia, including stor- [may step up to the speakership if age dam and supply lines, $85950. |Stanley McCutcheon of Anchorage, Hoonah water system, including|the 1949 speaker, chooses to exer- replacement of the conversion dam |cise his majority leadership from with a storage reservoir on Shotter [the floor. Rep. Warren Taylor of version dam on Dalton Oreek, and | hand man on the floor in 1949, but the erection of a 100,000 gallon stor- | with Taylor gone this session the age tank and supply lines, $64,500. | Democrats may figure McCutcheon can fill his party leader role better BIDS TO BE ADVERTISED on the floor than in the chair. H Bids will be advertised immedi-| The lineup in the Senate on thej ately on the $1,200,000 Alaska Office | election of a President and on the Building, John Argetsinger, district |issues that will follow is a tough engineer for the Alaska Poblic|one to predict. Works, said today upon receipt of | On the Democratic side, Sen. How- word from Washington, D.C., that|ard Lyng of Nome, broke openly the allotment of construction funds|with Governor Gruening, with a for the project had been approved.|bitter blast at him after the elec- Plans have been ready and ap- tion. proved for several weeks. Sen. James Nolan of Wrangell 1 has been definitely opposed to many i Democratic majority proposals. ] In the Republican camp, Sens. Anita Garnick of Juneau, Gunnard Engebreth of Anchorage and Percy Ipalook of Wales have supported a PRICE TEN CENTS = ¢t Deal EXCHANGE 15 HEATED, STATEHOOD Issue BroungfiJp at Hear- ing-Denial Made of In- tent fo Defraud Govt. By FRANK W. VAILLE WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 — (® — The Senate Investigating Commit- tee hearing into allocation of fed- eral funds for the Palmer, Alasks airport has been recessed indefin- itely, after a heated exchange over whether the inquiry was an offshoot of the Alaska statehood fight. The assertion that the statehood question was involved in the Palmer investigation was made yesterday by Stanley McCutcheon, speaker of the Alaska House of Represen- tatives and attorney for the Terri- torial Aeronautical Commission. McCutcheon also denied that there was any intent to defraud the gov- ernment and asserted that the Civil Aeronautics “knew exactly what we were doing every step of the way.” Administration Land Values Involved The subcommittee is investigat- ing circumstances concerning the commission’s rejection of one CAA- approved application for funds for an airport at Palmer and' its sub-" mission of a second request listing higher land value figures. The sec- ond request would have raised fed- eral participation in the program from $94,760 to $145,125. McCutcheon frequently crossed with the committee and its counsel during his testimony. At one time, while reading ex: cerpts from his diary, McCutcheon admonished committee ~member; sharply: “Now pay attention.” Later, when committee counsel Barney Flanagan broke in during the middle of a statement, Mc- Cutcheon cautioned, “Now Mr. Flanagan, if you won't interrupt me, I won't interrupt you." When Flanagan asked if Me- General Eaton Finds CAMP COOKE, Calif—(®—They teach every buck private that “loose lips can sink ships.” This one learned the lesson well. One night a unit was drilling in the dark. A stranger passing by asked, “what unit is this?” % “None of your business,” promptly replied the soldier. And Brig. Gen. Homer O. Eaton, assistant commander of the recently activated 40th National Guard Di- | vision, continued his lonely walk, unapprised of the unit's name, but perhaps consoled by the thought he was bossing a security conscious outfit. Mayor of Faimouth Visits 1 Lfalmouihs FALMOUTH, Eng.—»—The may- or of Falmouth, A. V. Baker, is off at his own expense to visit 11 other Falmouths which took their names from his town. His trip in- volves travel in the United States, Canada and Jamaica. At each stop Baker will wear his mayoral robes and chain of office, and hopes to be given an official recep~ tion by his hosts. FROM SKAGWAY Leonard Sahbi of Skagway is re- gistered at the Baranof Hotel. N, FROM PETERSBURG Marguerite Bidwell of Petersburg is at the Baranof Hotel. W. W. LAWS AT GASTINEU W. W. Laws, Representative from Nome, is living at the Gastineau Hotel. DR. MacKENZIE AT BARANOF Dr| R. M MacKenzie, Senator from Ketchikan, arrived yesterday and is stopping at the Baranof Hotel. AT HOTEL JUNEAU Marie Fueston of Juneau has moved into the Hotel Juneau. SKAGWAY VISITORS Mr, and Mrs. C. L. Hermens and daughter of Skagway are at the Baranof Hotel. number of proposals of the pro- | Cutcheon had discussed with Chris Gruening faction in the past. {Lample, CAA administrator of |Alun public airports, an agree- Few Favor More Taxes jment between the Territorial Com- There seems to be little sentiment mission and the Palmer Airport among legislators for increasing of | Association for return of $145,000 of taxes. Several have expressed the’ the $150,000 purchase price, the opinion that some ironing out, and | Ajaskan rose in his chair and de- tightening up, of present tax laws should suffice. Liquor control pro- posals are another likely prospect. Sen. John Butrovich, who is ex- pected to be the Republican leader in the Senate, said he doesn’t expect any new taxes and that keeping a tight rein on the budget is the major Job. Sen. Steve McCutcheon of An- chorage, who is likely to be the Democratic floor leader in the Sen- ate, commented: i “It would appear that the most important problem facing the legis- lature is holding the line at appro- priations made in the past bien- nium. However, we should probably try to appropriate more for reve- nue-producing departments — The Department of Taxation and the] Territorial Attorney General's of- fice.” clared: “My dear Mr. Flanagan, I'll say we did.” McCutcheon Rebuffed McCutcheon was rebuffed by the committee in his efforts tc tie the airport investigation to the state- hood question and also was denied permission to read a lengthy an- swer to charges which he said had been made concerning the airport applications during the statehood fight on the floor of the Senate. His answer was accepted however for inclusion in the record. Although definite throughout his testimony that CAA personnal had been aware that the.commission did not actually own the airport land at the time of its first appli- cation, McCutcheon refused to be pinned down to a definite answer later when questioned by Senator McCutcheon said moves to re- locate certain government agencies, i in a stream-lining effort, probably False Certification will be supported by Third Division| The Senator asked repeatedly Legislators. They sought to get|whether, when McCutcheon certi- some of them, and a new territorial | fied the application as commission office building, in the Anchorage-|counsel, he did not know, and CAA l McClellan (D-Ark.) Palmer sector last session. “It seems odd, for example,” said McCutcheon, “that the territorial Department of Mines is located in Juneau when all the mining is done in the Second and Fourth Divisions. | Similarly, the Department of Agri-) culture is in Fairbanks, while the highest percentage of farming is carried on in the Matanuska Valley and the Kenai Peninsula.” | | Tax on Contraciors Sen. Gerrit (Heinie) Snider, a newly elected Republican, suggested in Anchorage: “Why hasn't a tax been placed on contractors working in the territory on government projects, as Governor Gruening suggested ¢o the legisla-| jture at the start of the 1947 ses- sion? Contractors working on gov- ernment projects operate on a cost plus fixed fee basis, so it would be a painless tax, with the contractor passing it on as part of the cost of operation to Uncle Sam.” officials in Anchorage did not know “that it was a false certifica- tion.” “I signed the statement,” McCut- cheon replied. “You didn’t answer my question. “Senator, I have said I signed the application and you have heard my testimony,” McCutcheon said. *“I will say no more.” “If you want to leave your testi- mony at that,” replied McClellan, “I can draw no other conclusion.” Later when Senator Mundt (D- SD) asked virtually the same ques- tion regarding whether the CAA had knowledge that the commission did not own the land, McCutcheon replied: Brunt Carried to CAA “Absolutely—there’s no doubt in my mind.” At one point he testified that George S. Schwamm, commission director, made such frequent trips to the CAA office for advice in fill- (Continued oix— -'P:nfl'i‘wo) (Continued on Page Two)