THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME. ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH S16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher Owner-Publisher
Emily Boucher .. Local Editor
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at he postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, December 29, 1948
YOUR FREEDOM TO READ
(By George S. Benson)
Among privileges we enjoy as Americans, free speech
and free print are of first rank. Most of us prize these
and other freedoms, though we give little thought to
them. We just take them for granted. A Gallup poll on
the Bill of Rights would embarrass a majority of our
citizens. Try your own poll and see how many of your
friends can name the freedoms listed in the First
Amendment to the Constitution.
•Freedom of the press is one of those freedoms. We are
benefited by this freedom everyday. The information
that helps make intelligent citizens comes to us freely.
Our press is not curbed nor restricted by the ill-con
ceived notions of some tyrant or dictator. We can buy
the public prints we choose, and at a very reasonable
price. We can buy many of them, including those with
opposing points of view, without taking very much
change out of pocket.
Why the small price ot newspapers and magazines;
Just the paper and printing costs would amount to as
much as we pay for them! Does a fearsome dictator pay
the difference? Does a tax-rich bureaucray foot the bill
just to keep itself in power? Are our public “prints”
subsidized by Congressional appropriations? No, they
are not. Then how do we have freedom of press, when
we are able to buy for so little what costs so much Jnore?
These things are accomplished through advertising.;
Advertising thus becomes one of the basic features of j
American democracy. It is easy to see that the advertis-.
ing space sold by the publishers of our newspapers and:
magazines makes it possible for a publishing enterprise!
to pay its bills. Because of advertising, our great press
is able to remain independent, and at the same time;
render important service to the American people.
Advertising itself performs the major service of in
creasing constantly the already high standard of living,
which America enjoys. Our industry depends upon ad- j
vertising to do its share in the efficient distribution of
all the things that it makes in meeting the needs and de-j
sires of the people. And whenever something new is de-1
veloped, advertising carries the message to those who
may want the new product or new service. Advertising
sells goods.
Not only does advertising sell goods, it also sells me;
desire to improve. Americans have never wanted to be- i
come static. Advertising has helped us to expect im-'
provements, to want better things. When people have|
no desire for better living standards, then your great
output of factories will have to stop. Advertising creates
the desire to buy that keeps our economy on the move.
It sells goods, and in selling them it is the great educa
tor of the masses.
These facts show us that the business of advertising
has an important bearing upon our freedom of press. If
we cherish freedom of the press, we must also respect
our publications as business enterprises. We need to un
derstand that expenses of gathering news from all over
the world fof American readers, are paid in large part
by revenues from advertising space. And just as import
ant, we must not forget that our high standard of living
depends upon advertising.
I say these things because there are those who attack
the American Way by the sneak method.. These destroy
ers (from within and. without) will not attack freedom
of the press. They know we cherish it. But they will at
tack advertising. They will not attack our high stand
ards of living, which they erivy. But they will attack the
profit idea, Without which American initiative and. en
terprise would cease to give us jobs arid goods. May we
ever be on our guard against those who would knock out
the very props from under America!
THE BIS BOWL SAME
BRITISH FOUR-YEAR RECOVERY PLAN
(British Information Services)
The British four-year recovery plan has been widely
discussed by the newspapers. The general opinion is
that it brings out more clearly than has been done so far
the need for this country to produce more than at pres
ent. The “Times,” after referring to the White Paper’s
forecast of some easing of austerity if the plan is real
ized, says:
“The British people will quickly discover, if they ex
amine the report, that the possibility of these desirable
developments depends on them and their own efforts.”
The paper thinks that if there is a message with a
meaning for everybody in the country to be found in the
report, it is not that life will start being easy in 1952,
but that reasonable comfort by then demands increases
in production which, by the standards of present prog
ress, are unlikely to be realized.
The “Manchester Guardian” declares:
“All the comfort we can get from the given docu
ment is that without American aid and without the
strenuous efforts required to regain independence, we
should be very much worse off. In any case, we are ex
pecting twenty-five per cent less aid in the second year
of the period and diminishing amounts in the third and
fourth years. If these amounts should be further reduc
ed, recovery would be slowed down and might even be
reversed. The figures of the White Paper leave no doubt,
at all that we are walking dangerously close to a preci
pice.”
The “Guardian” thinks the general objectives, set out
in the White Paper, are honest enough, but, that as far
as production targets are concerned, the whole program
is precarious. It says new equipment and new methods
have raised efficiency only to the extent of making good
the loss of production through shorter working weeks
and that, if the Government cannot get better results in
the future, the true prospect for 1953 is much bleaker
than the White Paper suggesst.. The “Guardian’s” last
word is:
“This plan is no plan; it is a day dream which may or
may not come true.”
. The “Daily Express”, and the “Daily Mail” both think
the objectives are well within the power of the British
people. The “Mail” says:
Under the stress of war they would take them in
their stride, but in peace time there is not the same spur
or stimulus. The White Paper admits that the present
economic difficulties are not obvious to the public. It is
the duty of the Government to try to make them plain
and it is the duty of the people to try to make this new
[plan work.
ExPress” and the “Financial Times” quote
the White Paper s statement that controls over produc
tion undoubtedly restrain initiative and enterprise and
think the Government could do much to help output by
getting rid of controls. The “Financial Times” sayS:
“Everything thaj* impedes production must be swept
away.”
tnlernation’l News
At A Glance —
iCunt.nued from Page One*
United States is expected to rise
me billion dollars this year tov
twenty-one billion. About thirteen
md a half billion will go to de
fense and the rest to foriegn aid.
U. N. delegates were critical of
he refusal of the Nehrlands to
jjy ;he security council’s order
a stop lighting in Indonesia. The
Dutch, busy mopping up areas
.axen from the Indonesian Repub
lic, told the council the order is
.•ding “serious consideration.”
Holland contended the U. N.
nad no jurisdiction in the matter
since it is an internal situation.
They said the Sultan of Soera
xarta has resumed governing cen
tral Java, in cooperation with the j
.>utch. A Soerakar.a newspaper
eported a major guerrilla attack |
g .;ns: the Dutch within 43 miles
; Batavia.
New peace rumors sprang up
1 Nanking, the Chinese capital.
Despite official denials, inform
.i sources predicted a new na
tional leadership and peace by
,j,i. i. President Chiang Kai-Shek
rho heads the communist list of
war criminals,” is under strong
pressure to resign.
come U. S .occupation troops
1 .ve left Southern Korea, bdl
resident Syngman Rhee said he
s sure there is no threat to Ko
rean security.
Unofficial Vatican sources said
he Pope may broadcast to the
a >rld a denunciation of Hungary
for arresting Josef Cardinal Mind
•zenty. Toe Hungarian Primate, an
urcli-ioe of communism, was held
on charges which the communist
government described as plotting
against the government, spying,
treason and black market money
dealings.
Premier Marshal Tito of Yugo
slavia threatened .o shut off sup
plies of Yugoslav raw materials to
other eastern European countries *
dominated by Russia. He accused
he o.her nations of violating
agreements since the cominform
L\e.led charges at Tito during the
rummer.
"I he Russians in Germany were
p-; because workers in their oe
cu or; i n zone are making too
n.ucn money. They threatened a
u. in piece-work rates to cut the t
earnings.
Wednesday. December 29. 1948
h:.i.x0 Kui-Snek called his
military leaders to an emergency
session at Nanking today to de
cide whether to resign, surrender
to the conquering communists or
keep up the war.
«*b0Ui
the future of China, and perhaps*
the world, was at hand. Commun
ist underground agencies were re
ported hard at work within two
miles of Nanking when the confer
ence was called.
A hint that Chiang might fight
on was seen in the appointment of
Gen. Che Cheng, former armyt
chief of staff, as governor of For
mosa.
Their island fortress off the
mainland is being turned into a
nationalist fortress. More rumors
of a negotiated peace swept the
turbulent country but high offi
cials denied the reports. The navy
and air force already have moved
some headquarters units to For
mosa.
Britain mustered the necessat^i
seven security council votes for
her resolution to order Israeli >
troops to withdraw from the Ne
The battle of the Negev seemed