THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 6it»
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher ..Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, June 1, 1949
THOSE HIGHER POSTAL RATES
(Claremont, Minn., News)
The 80th Congress granted the postal employees the
pay raise they demanded and thus created a posta*
deficit of around 500 million dollars, according to the
Postmaster General’s report. Part of this has been
passed back onto the public in the form of higher rates
for parcel post, air mail, money orders, and 3rd class
matter, but it remained for a special law to increase the
rates on newspapers and magazines. The new rates on
newspapers, contained in House Bill 2945, is supposed
to raise an additional 125 million dollars a year, and
probably would do so if it didn’t put too many of the
small newspapers out of business.
Newspapers have been paying a rate of IV* cents a
pound on reading matter in each issue. The new rate
would increase local mailings by 1 u cent per copy and
increase the rate on advertising matter from 25 to 100
per cent according to the percentage of advertising car- [
ried. Then the Postmaster General asks that after one
year these rates be raised by 50 per cent.
But there is a little “joker” in this bill that may prove
to have quite a “kick-back” on the many government!
bureaus.
One provision of the proposed bill classes as adver-j
Using any write-up designed to promote any product or
attraction. ,
When Jim Farley was postmaster general, he decided
that news matter was an account of what had already i
happened. If the future was involved, it was advertis
ing. Even church notices came under the advertising
section but as this was a department order and not a:
law, the newspapers disregarded it, and it was not push-!
ed through as a law. If Congress approves the present
bill, it will have to be obeyed.
The low postage rate on newspapers was made be
cause the government does not pay for advertising the
directives it aims at the general public. The newspapers
have been depended on to publish at their own expense
draft notices, bond drives, civil service examinations,
income tax notices, and hundreds of others as well as
AAA schedules, conservation plans, extension depart
ment meetings and similar notices of local advantage
and importance. These would call for the high advertis
ing postage rate under the new bill.
Even if all these “future date” notices were omitted
from this paper, it is plain that the subscription rate
would have to be increased. Then if the usual run of fu
ture community events were published without being
paid for at advertising rates, another raise in subscrip
tion rates would have to be added. Some of the weaker
weeklies refusd to print such notices at the present.
Every mail brings to a newspaper, propaganda from
the many hundreds of government bureaus which
would be classed as advertising if it came from a pri
vate agency. They pay no postage on such mailings, of
course. Some of this is informative, and may appear in
print, but more of it goes direct to the waste basket
where all of it will go if the new postage bill is passed.
If the government would dispense with such mailings
which are mostly “puffs” for overstaffed bureaus, they
might save enough expense money to secure the regular
run of free publicity they have been receiving—but
won’t get under their new schedule of rates.
LET S AWAIT SOVIET DEEDS
(Hugo S. Sims)
There.is hope, of course, that following the lifting of
the Berlin blockade, the diplomatic representatives of
the United States, Great Britain and France can reach
some satisfactory agreements with the Soviet diplo
mats, which will ameliorate the so-called “cold war.”
It would not be too wise to expect important results
from the negotiations, but it is possible that they will
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pave the way for a gradually improving relationship.
The long record of Soviet opposition to anything like
joint controls will not be dissipated by the fact that the
avenues have been opened into Berlin, at least, tempo
rarily.
It would not be wise for the three Western Allies to
accept Russian agreement on paper as a full and satis
factory solution of the issues between the countries.
Certainly, it would be extremely foolish to slow down
the work of creating a better balanced military situa
tion in Europe. The Atlantic pact must be approved, the
Western nations must continue to be prepared for war.
It would be fortunate for the world if the negotia
tions could produce a satisfactory basis for cooperation
in the effort to establish something like a permanent
peace. Naturally, it will take more than a signature to
an official document to convince a doubting world that
the rules in the Kremlin have changed their policies.
This fact will have to be established by deeds, not
words, before it will be safe to assume that Russia is
ready to take her place among the nations of the world
as an equal, but not a superior, partner.
INTELLIGENCE VITAL TO LIFE
Let’$ not make the mistake of underestimating intel
ligence.
Too many people take every opportunity to say smart
things about the man of book-intelligence, suggesting
that they believe that this is a big joke.
No problem of the world will be solved by emotion.
No great benefit comes to the world except through
change. Thousands of experiments would have been
valueless without a trained mind to read their mes
sages and apply them truthful 1.
It is all right for a man to take pride in his experience,
garnered through the years. He has something that is
distinctly an asset to him. However, let him not under
estimate the value of so-called book-intelligence, if he
has little of it.
Experience and intelligence together will solve many
problems that neither , alone, can handle. The man with
out either is badly handicapped. He who pokes fun at
intelligence is as foolish as the hook-worm, who im
agines he can understand all of life by reading between
the covers of the printed word.
ONE ONLY CAN END PEACE
We yield to few people in our appreciation of the
Christian doctrine of brotherly love but, so far as we
are are concerned, we would not try it on a mad dog
coming down the street, with evident intention of bit
ing anything contacted.
Much the same observation is applicable to the pres
ent strain in international affairs. We yield to no one in
advocating peace with Soviet Russia but we do not see
how there cam be peace, in the long run, unless Russia
is anxious to have peace and to live in amity and coop
erate with other nations.
•)
Public Accountants
Must Be Bonded
Governor Greuning’s address at
the opening of the 1949 session of ^
the Legislature stressed the need
for enlarged supervision of pub
lic accountants and asked that
they be bonded in the interest of
protection of the public. House
Bill 90 regulating the accountancy
profession passed and became ef
fective April 1, 1949.
The major change in the law is
the requirement that all public ac
countants be licensed and bonded.
Heretofore only certified public
accountants have been recognized
by law. The old board of account
ancy has been abolished and in its
place there is a Board of Public
Accountancy, of five members,
only two of whom are certified.
Acting Governor Lew Williams
appointed the members of the
0
new' board, which has been organ
ized as follows: Marshall Crutcher
of Kodiak, president; Elmer G.
Johnson. Ketchikan, secretary;
Charles M. Maries, Ketchikan,
treasurer; Joseph A. Boulet, Fair
banks, and Clayton Esslinger, Pal
mer.
Public accountants who were in
active practice before April 1, g
1949 are entitled to be licensed
without examination if they com
ply with the Act before July 1,
1949. Hereafter no one may en
gage in the public practice of ac
counting until he has been a resi
dent of the Territory for one year
and has passed an examination.
Non-resident accountants may ob
tain licenses by reciprocity with |
other states but will have to be
bonded and must pay a license fee
of $250.00.
The Board has ruled that all
present and future accountants
must post surety bonds of S2.500
to protect their clients against
wrong-doing.
The first examination to be
given will start next November 16
and will last two days. The exam
inations for public accountants
will be much easier than the ex
aminations that are given to certi
fed public accountants.
The full board met in Juneau
and has been in session five days.
It is likely that the next meeting
will be in Palmer, in the Spring
of 1950. The board estimates that
the fees to be collected under the
new act will be about $2,500 per
annum and that it will cost that
amount to administer the Act.
WEATHER SUMMARY
FOR APRIL
April was somewhat colder than
usual with the mean for the month
about 4 degrees below normal and
the mean minimum 17 degrees
below normal. The coldest tem
perature for the month was —26;
the highest 37 above. Precipitation
was slightly heavier than usually
can be expected with about 3
inches more snow falling during
the month than usually experi
enced in April. The average cloud
iness for the month was very close
to normal with 64% of possible
sunshine. At the beginning of the
month there was 68 inches of
show on the ground and this de
creased to 37 inches by the end
of this month.
Wm. Parle teacher of the Ter
ritorial school at Council for the
past winter, passed through Nome
enroute to Canada and the east
coast for his vacation. He plans
to return to Council to teach in
the fall.
Orange is the color most likely
to attract attention, color experts
say.