THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO. .
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 61 x
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editor*
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffir^
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, February 19, 1947
Red Termites In Government
(Rocky Mountain News)
FORMER SEN. ROBERT M. LAFOLLETTE, JR. is
one of the most respected progressives in American po
litical life.
Called many things in his time, as was his father be
fore him, “young Bob” never has been labeled a “Red
baiter” or a “witch-hunter.”
He has been identified with liberal and progressive
movements for many years. He has studied Communism
since it first appeared in this country, and shows thor
ough understanding when he writes about it, as he does
in the current issue of Collier’s. Almost every aggressive
man in public life has had the charge of “Communist”
hurled at him, Mr. LaFollette remarks. And, like any
cry of “Wolf! Wolf!” repeated without basis, it has had
the effect of disarming people about the dangers in real
Communist activities.
Our tolerant background and free institutions, he
says, have made it possible for Communists and fellow
travelers with a “fanatical loyalty” to Russia so to worm
their way into strategic positions in our government and
labor unions that we are in great danger.
The party-line strategy for success in this country is
based on the creation of chaos—“class conflict’ discon
tent, depression or anything else that will form a frame
... conductive to revolution,” Mr. LaFollette points out.
Moreover, persons who embrace the Red faith do not
fight fairly or in the open. They use “the same under
ground, unscrupulous methods employed by Hitler and
Goebbels,” because “all totalitarian, whether of right
or left, believe that their own ends justify the use of
any means.”
One familiar practice is to color information from of
ficial sources so that local Red organizations and party
line newspapers “can incite and inspire any desired re
action by high-pressure propaganda techniques.”
The State Department is notorious for the leaks of se
cret information which have been distorted to such pur
poses.
And what are we doing to eradicate this spreading
cancer? Next to nothing, Mr. LaFollette says. Even dur
ing the war, loyalty checks were made of only about one
out of every 25 employed in the civil service, and fewer
checks are being made now. Congressional efforts to
deal with the problem have been more or less futile. Nor
does the former senator himself seem to have found a
wholly satisfactory solution.
But surely ways and means can be found to cleanse
the government itself of all such subversive elements.
That must be done or democracy itself will be “discred
ited and immobilized.” Once it is thoroughly understood
that a Communist is a traitor to America, not merely a
misguided zealot, we will begin moving in the right di
rection.
British Determination Faces New Test
(The Denver Post)
THE LIQUIDATION of the British Empire is nearing
completion. The era of imperialism, which reached its
height of power under Victoria and was immortalized
by Kipling, has passed. The world is beginning to real
ize only slowly what the significance of that change will
be. The empire has been replaced by a commonwealth
of independent dominions, bound together only by their
recognition of a common king. The dominions are free
to sever even that loose bond if they should choose to do
so.
Complete’independence of Canada became an actual
ity on Jan. 13 when the judicial committee o? the British
privy council ruled that the Canadian house of commons
was within its rights when it abolished all appeals from
Canadian courts to the British tribunals.
Britain is moving out of India. The British Labor gov
ernment has agreed to make Burma a free country soon.
King George and the royal family are now in South Af
rica to strengthen the one remaining tie to Mother Eng
land, the recognition c* the common monarch.
Whatever else the British system of imperialism ac
complished, it preserved the peace of widely scattered
sections of the globe for many years. The Pax Britannia
was to our times what the Pax Romana was during the
early centuries of the Christian era.
Now Britain is bowing out, partly in deference to the
will for self-determination which the peoples of the
former possessions have developed, partly because Eng
land, worn out by war and desperately short of man
power, no longer has the resources to police far-flung
territories.
At first it will be hard to get used to the idea of a
world in which Britain no longer assumes the responsi
bility for maintaining a status quo—regardless of whe
ther the rest of the world always approved that status
or not.
A stabilizing force in international affairs will be
gone to an extent at least. What new responsibilities
that fact may create for the United States—just awak
ening to the fact that it somehow has become a No. 1
power—remains to be seen.
The final dissolution of the British Empire is com ng
at a time when England is going through a grave politi
1 cal and economic crisis. Food, clothing, coal and raw
materials, which England must have if she is to bring
about a trade recovery, are scarce.
There is talk of importing Polish workers to increase
production. Conservatives are saying the latest Ameri
can loan cannot be repaid. The outlook is not bright. Tra
ditional British determination is undergoing a severe
test. The rest of the world had better hope it will be
equal to the task.
THE FIXER
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THAT’S THAT By bruce gustin
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President Truman told the new
J Polish ambasador “it is a cause of
] deep concern to me and to the
American people” that the provi
sional government of Poland has
failed to carry out the Yalta and
t Potsdam agreements on free and
unfettered elections. This rebuke
should have been directed at Mos
cow. That is where the responsi
bility lies for making a farce of the
elections in Poland. The Polish
provisional government is a pup
| pet of Russian Communists.
The United States is deeply con
| eerned over the Polish situation.
| Our country was a party along
j with Russia and Great Britain to
the Yalta and Potsdam agreements
at which the Poles were solemnly
promised their independence
would be restored and they would
select their own government in
free and unfettered elections. That
pledge has not been kept.
Last week, on the floor of the
Senate, Senator Vandenberg of
' Michigan, chairman of the foreign
afairs committee, expressed the
view that “a world war which
started in behalf of Polish liberty
can scarcely be considered ade
quately won until Polish liberty is
something more than a rigged and
terrorized election which, it is
•..arged, defies and defeats every
elementary concept of autonomy,
sc.f-determination, and democracy,
and which nullifies the most sol
jain pledges of which Britain and
the United States and Soviet Rus
sia are capable.” That indictment
has been confirmed by the state
department and by the President.
At the end of 1946, the federal
government had 2,777,000 civilian
workers on its pay roll. The enor
mity of that number is not the
only thing to be criticized. In the
last month of 1946 there was, a net
increase of 46,191 in the number
of federal employees. That is in
excusable. Before the war, the fed
eral government had only 900,000
employees. By no stretch of imag
ination can it be argued reason
ably that it needs three times that
many now.
.Maybe some of the Presidents’
. o-called “war powers” should be
extended. He has asked Congress
to grant such an extension so the
government will have power to
deal with emergencies which pos
sibly may arise during what he
calls “the remainder of the recon
version period.” Any extraordinary
authority which may be delegated
by Congress to the President now
should not be disguised as “war
power.” The war is over. It would
be worse than a legal fiction to
pretend there can be any grant
now, in peacetime, of “war pow
ers.”
President Truman’s announce
ment of an agreement between the
American Federation of Labor
Building and Construction Trades
council, representing nearly 2 mil
iion construction workers, and the
Associated General Contractors of
America to arbitrate all building
controversies does not lessen the
need for regulatory labor legisla
tion. There were some “no strike”
agreements during the war. But
they didn’t prevent strikes. Big
business doubtless would ogre.' to
refrain from practices in retsraint
of trade, but that wouldn't jus.fy
repeal of anti-trust laws.
Sugar looms big on the Con
gressional calendar. The govern
ment’s wartime authority to ailo- „
cate sugar expires March 31. Its
authority to control sugar prices
ends June 30. And the sugar act,
under which quotas are establish
ed, expires Dec. 31. How to increase
the supply of sugar for all Amer
ican consumers and prevent run
away prices are the immediate
problems.
From a long-range standpoint,
the American sugar policy should
be one which will promote expan
sion of the domestic industry, both
beet and cane, so we will not be
dependent upon off-shore sources
for the major part of our supply.
Recently the Florida state Cham
ber of Commerce called for
“amendment of the national sugar
quota act so sugar-producing
states may be permitted to supply
their own citizens’ sugar needs, ir
respective of national quotas."
Floridians long have complained
that under the quota system they
were not allowed to produce as
much sugar as was consumed in
their own state. It is absurd for
Congress ta restrict production of
any food, and especially sugar of
which the whole nation normally
produces only about one-third of
what the American people use.
An Associated Press dispatch
from Tokyo stated that General