THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at
the postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of
March 3, 1879.
Friday, May 4,1945 ~
ENGINEERING PROGRESS
(Alaska Daily Empire)
The Society of Automotive Engineers
was told at its annual meeting in Decem
ber that wartime experience, notably in
the field of technical advances in air
craft, may be expected to have a pro
found effect not only on peacetime fly
ing machines but on post-war automo
biles as well. One of the important im
provements in aircraft power plants, for
example, has been the injection of water
into engine cylinders to give perform
ance above the rated horsepower for
short emergency bursts. This innovation
in Pratt and Whitney radial engines in
the Thunderbolt fighter has been at least
in part responsible for its deadly effec
tiveness against the planes of the Luft
waffe in Europe and against the robot
bombs. At the SAE meeting A. I. Col
well of Thompson Products reported
that recent tests of water-alcohol injec
tions indicate that this procedure im
proves shock control and internal cool
ing and can facilitate the use of higher
compression, lighter-weight engines in
ground vehicles. Use of lower-octane
fuels would thus be possible with equal
or better performance, and engine
roughness and wear would be reduced.
The use of power steering in military
vehicles of very large size with marked
success presages peacetime application
on motor trucks, buses, tractors and even,
larger passenger cars, according to pa
pers presented before the truck and bus
section of the meeting. It is held that
power steering promises to provide ease
of control and reduction in driving haz
ards and may result for commercial ve
hicles in larger gross carrying capacity
and duel front wheels. The engineers in
the transportation and maintenance sec
tion were told that another feature of
aircraft design, the use of multiple en
gines, would prove practical and desir
able for motor coaches and buses.
Aircraft of tomorrow will imitate
rather than innovate when it comes to
certain types of short-haul business, in
the opinion of James R. Kendrick of
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. We may j
look forward, he believes, to a develop-'
ment of air cabs carrying five passengers
on flights of ten to twenty miles or more I
at costs not greatly exceeding those of
land vehicles. The air cab and air bus,
whether of rotary or fixed wing design, I
can play an important part in augment
ing ground transportation for traveling
moderate distances at high speed f,or
commuting from suburban areas, for col
lecting and distributing passengers andi
goods from main airline terminals and
for the fast pick-up and delivery of light i
merchandise.
The team-work which the aircraft
and automotive industries have display
ed with such conspicuous success for war
production seems destined to contribute!
usefully to post-war transportation.
FIBDS OF A FEATHER
\ mane
1 AHEAD
ft GEORGE 1 BENSON
BOOBY TRAP
In public speeches, in published
articles and in this column since
early January, 1944, I have been
calling attention to the “booby
trap” in America’s wartime tax
laws. Now, as our fighting men
press harder upon Berlin, the in
dustries that support them are
drawn closer to the trap. Most
war contracts will be voided on
V-Day but taxes and payrolls
must still be met.
Corporations pay income tax
each year on the previous year’s
earnings, just as personal income
taxes were paid prior to 1944. In
1948 firms will be taxes on 1945’s
earnings. But if war ends, (term
inating war contracts) this year,
1946 will be the year of change
back, of costly sales and few.
Problem: How to hire more men
and pay 1943*s taxes with small
earnings or none?
Apple-Polishing?
Any time a voice is raised in
the interest of American business,
any time a writer suggests that
corporation tax laws need revi
sion, somebody accuses him of ap
ple-polishing or grinding the axe
of big business. But right is still
right. Prosperity in America de
pends on full employment; full
employment depends on business
expansion, and business expansion
depends on wise tax provisions.
Firms that have used their war
year profits expanding production
for victory are not to be blamed.
They are solvent. They will have
adequate working capital due
them under the present law after
their Refund Bonds are cashable
and after their carry-back credits
on excess profits taxes are allow
ed. But when will this be? As the
law is written now, years will pass
before the money comes.
Keep Jobs Alive
Food does a man no good after
he has starved to death. Neither
will money due a firm help its
employees after bankruptcy. What
war-production firms need is
money when they need it; to hire
men, to buy machinery for peace
time work, to save useful enter
prises and avoid wholesale unem
ployment in their communities.
Laborers and farmers and small
town merchants have the most at
stake.
William L. Hutcheson, presi
dent of the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters & Joiners surely
was looking through the lenses of
Labor when he wrote Robert L.
Doughton, chairman of the Ways
At Means Committee of the House
of Representatives, urging the
passage of amendments to make
Refund Bonds and Carry-back
funds promptly available to in
i
dustry at plant reconversion time.
Labor Leader Says
‘Analysis of a large number of
companies shows that . . . they
have ha dto use their tax reserves
! for current operations, so that
when war ends they . . . can not
reconvert to peacetime operations
and employment of men . . . We
strongly urge that these provi
sions be amended in a manner
which your Committee believes
will make refunds available im
mediately at the time war produc
tion of these companies has
stopped.”
Mr. Hutcheson’s letter reached
Mr. Doughton’s desk only shortly
ahead of one like it from William
Green, president of A. F. of L.
Are these labor leaders apple
polishers? No! They are far-sight
ed thinkers serving the interests
of working men, and they know
how. They are not recommending
bodle for business men. They are
intelligently promoting post-war
jobs and prosperity for the United
States.
Fifteen Family
Units Authorized
For Nome
0
WASHINGTON, May 3—(/R)—
The National Housing Agency au
thorized the privately financed
construction of fifteen family
units for Nome. The houses to
sell for up to eight thousand dol
lars or rent for up to sixty-five
dollars monthly.
Nome Directory
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IRA D. ORTON
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Noma. Alaska
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O. D. COCHRAN
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