THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
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Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at the postoffie*
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, August 11, 1947
# j
Congress Should Catch Up With People
(The Denver Post)
THE' EIGHTIETH CONGRESS coming home to the j
people—to the farmlands, to the great industrial cen-j
ters, to the maritime cities which front out upon the
world. The concentrated tensions and pressures oL
Washington will be behind. The men who make the laws
will be face to face with the basic force of American
political life, the people who produce her wealth, pay
the taxes and give their sons in war.
In Washington, the people are a remote and formless.]
force, represented occasionally by blizzards of mail|
when their interests are touched. At home, they are in-1
dividuals who see the nation and the world in terms ofj
themselves and their neighbors, and who judge their:
Congressmen in that personal relation. It is good thatj
Congress must come home now and again to hear whati
the people are saying. Otherwise, Congress would—as
this eightieth Congress has seemed tending—mistake
the loud voices of the lobbies for vox populi.
The first Republican Congress in seventeen years set
about its tasks under two handicaps. The first, of course.1
was the necessity of reorganizing both Houses, not
only to shift powers to the new Republican majority but
also to conlorm to the reassignment of committee func
tions under the Congressional reorganization act passed
by the previous Congress. Weeks were lost before the
new leadership got into the swing of things. The second,
and major, handicap was the atmosphere of internation
al crisis in which this Congress has found itself. Repub
lican promises of retrenchment in government had to be
reappraised in terms of a world situation which de
manded billions for military strength and aid to foreign
peoples. But these handicaps cannot excuse the Con
gressional leadership for the inadequacy or absence of
legislation in several critical areas.
The session left one monumental achievement, the
Taft-Hartley labor act which was passed over violent
opposition of a Democratic minority and over a Presi
dential veto. It is much too early to tell what the results
of this law will be, first experience indicates it is going
to contribute to a healthier stability in labor relations.
Beyond the labor act, the important new legislation
enacted by this Congress may be counted on less than
the fingers of one hand. It includes unification of the'
armed forces, a program of emergency relief for foreign
countries and establishment of a national science foun
dation, the latter a highly significant extension of gov
ernment activity.
In contrast were the matters left untouched. Housing,
which continues to be the most urgent domestic prob
lem, received no attention whatever (except negatively
through a serious weakening of rent controls). Mea
sures to combat price inflation of consumer goods, per
haps equally urgent, were not considered (except for
last-minute provision of a committee investigation).
Bills to provide federal aid to.health and education, to
extend the coverage of social security and to raise mini
mum wages were left pigeon-holed. No progress was
made toward development of a postwar national farm
policy. Universal military training, in spite of the most
pressing arguments for its enactment, barely got out of
House committee before the session ended. The Strat
ton bill to permit thousands of Europe’s homeless to
come to this country met with Congressioanl indiffer
ence. The Mundt bill to establish a permanent U. S. In
formation program was sidetracked in the Senate.
Even more disturbing were the attempts to lay the
ax to the great problems of rfational development. Only
after the most vigorous protests by the west were ade
quate reclamation funds provided. Soil conservation
barely escaped total abandonment and emerged great
ly weakened. Thus also with funds for administration of
the forests and the public lands.
To sum up the eightieth Congress from the first ses
sion indications, it has not been great or public-minded,
and centainly not sufficiently world-minded. On the
vital questions of the day the people are shown in pub
lic opninon polls to be far ahead of Congress. The law
makers can put in a useful vacation talking to the home
folk. •
We Should Sponsor Justice In Palestine
(Rocky Mountain News)
OF ALL THE NATIONS vitally interested in settle
ment of the Palestine question, the United States has
the most confused and conflicting policies. The state de
partment has firmly refused to commit itself, but Presi
dent Truman has long since come out for increased im
migration—a move favorable to the Jews.
American policy is further complicated by our return
to the principles of the Atlantic charter—from which
we had strayed since the end of the war. A narrow in
terpretation of this would make Palestine an Arab state.
There are twice as many Arabs as Jews in the Holy
Land, and an election under the clause calling for free
self-determination of peoples could have only one re
sult.
From reports and exposes it appears that while Presi
dent Truman has been favorable to the Jewish propos
als, the state department has tried, by various methods,
to placate the Arabs—probably because of the vital
question of oil in the middle east.
Even so ,a continuation of American confusion may
serve as a wedge to drive the United Nations further
apart than they already are, unless some solution can
b° found in the next few months.
Before the U. N. inquiry commission went to the
Holy Land, the Russians came out for a single state, with
bo'h Jews and Arabs participating. But in the light of
the emotionalism governing the problem, the Soviets
may change their policy, and .the Arabs hope they will
support an Arab state.
The British, who have hopelessly bungled the situa
tion since they were given the mandate, would like
nothing better than a single state with dual participa
tion. The Arabs want the whole thing, and so do a great
number of the Jews.
From the standpoint of tenure, of pure justice and
enunciated American principles, the Arabs have a
strong case. But the Jewish case is also a strong one
made stronger through British mal-administration. The
Jews have literally been kicked around the world for
the last thousand years—culminating in the brutal ma
cerations they suffered from Hitler Germany. The world
cannot turn the Jews out, as would the Arabs, and the
world must find some suitable place for European re
fugees to settle.
Throughout the years, because of the religious and
POWERFUL STUFF
IMHKSIVhHI
world political aspects involved,
the rights and justices of the ques
t:on have become badly tangled.
The best answer that can now be
given is that everyone concerned
is wrong. But some solution must
be reached.
In this the fifth decade of the
twentieth century, the onyl feasi
ble solution seems to be partition
—which would give both the Jews
and the Arabs a modicum of jus
tice and a share of what they have
asked.
\LOOX7NO
f AHEAD
ir GEORGE 1 BENSON
k Prtslicat—JtarHaf Aiyr'
^ Sfsnp.Afimm
BUSINESS TELLS A STORY
Time wa> when it was fashion
able for everyone to talk about
big business and count over the
gross and net sins of corporations.
Of course, there were mighty good
stories even then about our stead
ily rising standards of living. But
the busybodies then didn’t bother
with those success stories, big or
little. I have said that America is
now beginning to assume her task
in public relations, that of selling
her ways and her freedoms and
her institutions to people every
where.
I should like to say that some
of our groups and institutions have
special responsibilities in this job.
I think that labor does, as well as
business. The task is important to
agriculture, to tradesmen to edu
cation. to the professions, and to
civic minded folks in every walk.
Certainly, labor and industry are
each so important in our economic
system, that they must be inter
ested reawakening the people to
an appreciation of America.
A Report To Workers
I would like to tell you about a
company that is doing its part,
thereby shouldering its reponsibil
ity for this kind of public re-edu
cation. Somebody sent me a copy
of a report this company makes to
, its employees. The report answers
questions employees want to know.
The answers are frank, fair, and
simply stated. There is no doubt
the report has made its readers
better informed Americans. It did
so to me.
The company describes its
shareholders. “The American ‘Big
Business’ that you read about is
really the combined business of
millions of Americans, most of
them working people. . . . They
largely own it and, through the
directors they elect, they manage
it. Business in the United States
is big because this is a big coun
try with tremendous needs that re
quire big companies to satisfy
them. And it is big because, as no
where else on earth millions of
working people can each be part
owner in the Big Business of
America, help it grow and share in
the profits it earns.”
Me. A Capitalist?
It takes $7,507 worth of capital
to give a person a job in this com
pany. Naturally, there would be no
jobs for their 3,951 people if it
were not for this $29,660,626.
Shareholders who put up this
money out of what they earn and
save, hope to get “a fair rental”
for their money. These folks, the
report tells us, are capitalists—
“and so are you?” Because we own
our possessions, we are “capital
ists” and this is a “capitalist”
country!
“We have a ‘capitalist’ industry
in the United States because mil
lions . . . use part of their ‘capital’
to own and operate the most pro
ductive farms, stores, mines, and