THE NOME NUGGET
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffic*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, September 24, 1947
Thoughts On Opening of L.N. Assembly
(Minneapolis Morning Tribune)
THE ASSEMBLY of the United Nations reconvened
in a troubled time and a troubled mood.
The relations between Russia and the United States
and Great Britain are worse, if possible, than when the
assembly adjourned.
So long as the three principal powers of the world
are seriously at odds, the other 52 members of the
United Nations cannot accomplish a great deal in be
half of peace and security with justice.
Almost every major issue which confronts the assem
bly goes back fundamentally to the conflict between
Communism and democratic aims for the postwar
world.
Whenever Russia and the western powers establish
bases for peaceable co-existence the situations in the
Balkans and the Far East can be dealt with successful
ly. So can control of atomic energy, a world police force,
the veto and other issues which at present seem incap
able of mutually agreeable solution.
Thus any success the United States achieves, for ex
ample, in rehabilitating western Europe or in helping
Greece and Turkey to resist Russian pressure will have
more effect upon the ultimate fate of collective security
than any thing said or done in the present U. N. assem
bly.
But while Russia and the United States are struggling
in those other sectors of the crucial battle for the post
war world, the assembly of United Nations is itself an
important sector. Because what goes on in the United
Nations assembly is more easily observed and reported
than the “cold war” between Russia and the United
States, a good many people are going to form their opin
ions by what they hear about the assembly.
Russia is keenly aware of that aspect of the assembly.
It will try to use this matchless forum to discredit the
efforts of the United States and other democracies to es
tablish peace with justice and to throw dust in the eyes
of the public as to what Russia is doing and not doing.
Thus the course of the assembly must be followed
discerningly. The underlying problems of peaceful liv
ing together must not be lost sight of in forensic tri
umphs scored by actors more interested in putting over
a point of view than in a constructive meeting of minds.
We shall try to focus attention on the things that
really matter in our future discussions of the work of
the assembly.
Meanwhile, friends of true collective security should
not grow discouraged by what takes place in U. N. meet
ings. They should consider how much worse off the
world would be if so many nations were not sincerely
trying to substitute a world of law for international an
archy and the rule of the ruthless. Peace with justice
and freedom is worth striving for with all our might, in
season and out.
If those who want such a world order work for it as
unceasingly and as intelligently as the Communists
work for their kind of world order, the former will pre
vail. They have the better cause and they are far more
numerous.
The Communists exercise an influence all out of pro
portion to their numbers because they are always
united against the rest of the world. They spare no ef
fort to accomplish their purpose. If the rest of us permit
Russia and its allies to cheat us out of the things we
cherish, we shall merely prove that we did not care as
much they cared.
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A Legion Mistake
(The Rocky Mountain News)
THE AMERICAN LEGION’S New York convention
made a mistake, we think, when it urged an amendment
to the U. S. Constitution providing that—
“No guarantee of freedom of speech, freedom of the
1 press, freedom of assembly or freedom of elections, by
this Constitution or the Constitution of any state, shall
constitute a valid defense in court of a charge of promo
! ting the overthrow of the government of the United
States by force.”
Conspiracy to overthrow the government is, by fed
! eral law, a felony. Under the Legion’s proposed amend
I ment, it seems to us, persons accused of this crime would
be deprived of any opportunity to try to prove that they
had merely exercised civil liberties guaranteed by the
Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
This Legion resolution is an understandable out
growth of resentment against Communists who, claim
ing protection of the Bill of Rights, preach and practice
doctrines which we and many other Americans believe
to be subversive.
But whether, in any given case, preaching or practice
actually is subversive is a question for courts to decide,
on the evidence, after a fair trial. A charge of promot
ing overthrow of the government by force is not proof
of guilt.
It is, certainly, conceivable that such a charge might
be brought against innocent persons who—under the
amendment urged by the Legion—would be forbidden
in advance of trial to attempt to defend themselves by
invoking the Bill of Rights.
It should be left for judges and juries to determine
whether the constitutional guarantees of freedom as “a
valid defense.” There is, we believe, little danger that
any court would accept this defense if offered by per
sons actually proved to have promoted overthrow of the
government.
There is grave danger in tampering with the Bill of
! Rights.
What Gen. Marshall Left Unsaid
4
_ <#*_.___.
^Chicago Daily Tribune*
WHAT USEFUL purpose was
served by Gen. Marshall’s speech
in New York the other day? It was
delivered almost on the eve of the
meeting of the United Nations as
sembly, but the speaker told nei
ther the delegates nor the Ameri
can people anything of value.
The plain fact is that our state
department regards U. N. as worse
than a futility. The only use Gen.
Marshall makes of it is to goad the
Russians, and the only use they
make of it is to jab back. The or
ganization that was supposed to
keep the peace is, in fact, the for
um where harsh inflammatory
language is tossed about by the
promoters of conflict.
Our diplomacy, if that is the
word for it, by-passes U. N., just
as the Russian diplomacy does.
We are using money and our mili
tary and economic prestige to or
ganize western Europe, Greece,
Turkey, and the Arab states
against Russia just as the Russians
are using their military power and
revolutionary technique to extend
their influence over neighboring
states. Both Russia and the United
States pursue their independent
courses without reference to the
U. N. or the principles of collec
tive security that it is supposed to
stand for.
Gen. Marshall’s speech can
hardly have been intended to per
suade the American people that
all this is not so, for the facts are
apparent to every one. What he
might have been trying to do was 4
to distract public attention from
Mr. Truman’s vote frauds in Kan
sas City and from the scandal in
Atty. Gen. Clark’s parole division.
The suspicion that the secretary
of state was seeking to divert the
public mind from the evidences
of corruption within the adminis
tration assumes that he is not a
model of candor. That is not a
very large assumption, as any one
who is familiar with the Peail
Harbor record can testify. The
most important night in the life ot #
Gen. Marshall was the night of
Dec. 6, 1941, the eve of the Japan
ese attack upon Honolulu. He is
said to be possessed with a re
markable memory, but repeate 1
questioning has never brought
from him an account of where he
was and what he was doing :n
those fateful hours. All that can
be said with certainly is that he
had access to decoded Japanese
messages that told of imminent
war, but he kept the information
from Gen. Short in Hawaii. In
consequence the garrison on Ba
taan was left to its fate a few
weeks later.
When Gen. Marshall now pre
tends that U. N. is something that
it isn’t, this record is recalled.
Along with it is recalled the fail
ure of the state department in re
cent months to take effective ac- *
tion through U. N. to protest
against many manifest violations
of principles which Gen. Marshall
asks the American people to be
lieve U. N. serves. The behavior of
the English in Egypt, the French
in Madagascar and Indo-Chma,
the Dutch in Indonesia, and the *
Belgians in Africa calls for cor
rection through U. N., if U. N. is
the kind of outfit it is supposed to *
be, but U. N. has pretty effective
ly side-stepped Indonesia and the
other problems have not even
been touched.
Nothing Gen. Marshall can say
can alter the fact that U. N. is a
whited sepulchre. It was projected
as the means of spreading the four
freedoms to the world, but in fact,
Mr. Roosevelt threw the four free
doms overboard the minute he
got us into war. This was entirely
Satisfactory, of course, to Mr.
Churchill.
As matters stand today, our for
eign policy is advancing from
blunder to blunder because those
responsible for it, when driven by
circumstances to abandon a false
assumption, only embrace another
lie. Before we can have an honest
foreign policy we must have an
honest secretary of state and an
honest administration. That car.
come only after the next election
and it should come whether or i or
Mr. Truman and* Gen. Marshall
succeed in involving the United
States in a third world war before
the election takes place.
That’s That
AS A HIGH TREASURY offi
cial said, British Foreign Secre
tary Bevin’s idea that the United
States should “redistribute” the
American gold hoard to increase
the purchasing power of devastat
ed countries is “cockeyed.” It
wouldn’t solve any problem. The
reason the United States now has *
three-fifths of the world gold sup
ply is because gold producing
countries have sold their gold to
us. They would rather have Amer
ican dollars than gold. If the
U. S. were sucker enough to fol- <
low Bevin’s suggestion, the coun
tries to which gold was given
would sell it right back to us for
American dollars.