THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
SI.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffie#
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, July 30, 1947
Native Service Closing Out Schools
(Daily Alaska Empire)
THE ALASKA NATIVE SERVICE h as sent notice
to Dr. James C. Ryan, Territorial Commissioner of Ed
ucation, that it is closing schools which it has been op
erating at Fort Yukon, Haines, Juneau-Douglas,
Ketchikan, Nome and Cordova.
The letter, signed by ANS Director of Education
George A. Dale and approved bv ANS General Super
intendent Don C. Foster, states that authority for the
closure has come from the Office of Indian Affairs to
abandon all schools in cities and towns where Territo
rial schools exist. A postscript to the letter declares
that the instructions for this action are incorporated
in the action of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Dale writes Ryan that, in each of the communities,
with the exception of Nome, ANS is prepared to make
the buildings and equipment available to the Territory
or to the local school boards on a use permit basis. The
Nome building was excluded because it is in such un
satisfactory structural condition.
Rvan says he intends to contest the idea of a “use
permit for the Fort Yukon building if the Territory
does take over the schools. He said this building was
built by ANS as a replacement for a building destroy
ed by fire after the Territory had turned it over to
ANS. Ryan declares the Fort Yukon building should
be considered Territorial property without any at
tached strings.
The Territorial Education Commissioner states that
he has informed the Board of Education of the action
by the Native Service. He said that he does not know
where he will find money to operate the schools be
cause of a lack of funds in the Territorial Treasury
and the limitations on his work placed there by the
Territorial Board of Administration.
Dale told Ryan, however, that ANS will open a one
rcom school at Saxman, near Ketchikan, which will
accommodate some of the students affected by the
Ketchikan closing. He said that the school at Kana
kanak will also be closed because attendance there has
dropped below 10 students. Dale expressed the hope
that these children would be accommodated at the
Dillingham school.
ANS will also discontinue furnishing a teacher for
native children at Bethel and Hoonah. The town of
Hoonah has already received a use permit for the ANS
school building there but only part of the Bethel fa
cilities will be made available as ANS wants to keep
the building for use of its other personnel.
Native Service schools at Sitka and Kake will also
be discontinued by the order. The town of Sitka has
already agreed to provide school facilities for those
formerly enrolled in the ANS school there. At Kake,
an independent school district was recently formed to
manage its own problems thereby relieving ANS of
any responsibility there.
Dale says the schools affected will be cslosed in July
and will not, of course, be opened again in September.
Fairness To Foremen
(Rocky Mountain News)
IN AT LEAST one respect John L. Lewis does seem
to have bowed to the Taft-Hartley Act.
He agreed that his union wouldn’t try to organize
mine foremen during the life of the soft-coal contract
recently signed.
The new law doesn’t forbid foremen to belong to
unions. But under it, if they do belong to unions, they
can’t have the same protection the government gives
THE LAMPLIGHTER
7
THEM**
OF PEACE
MM
other workers. No employer can be required to ' al
with any union as a bargaining agent for supervisors
who exercise “managerial authority.” Efforts by Mr.
Lewis to take mine foremen into his union were large
I iy responsible for this provision of the law.
The National Laljor Relations Board is now dismis
sing all petitions by unions for certification as agents
for foremen. Since the new law was passed, the Ford
Motor Co. has withdrawn bargaining rights from an
independent union which, since 1944, has represented
several thousand of its foremen.
There are sound reasons, we think, why the govern
ment should not compel employers to deal with fore
men’s unions. And, if Mr. Lewis had succeeded in get
ting mine foremen into the same union with the rank
and-file workers they are supposed to supervise, it
seems to us there would have been an intolerable sit
uation of divided loyalty.
But we can well understand why many foremen
have felt that they needed the protection of organiza
tion, especially in the great mass-production indus
tr.es. In far too many cases they haven’t really been
treated as part of management; they haven’t had much
actual authority, and their pay has been little, if any,
better than that of unionized rank-and-file workers.
In all fairness and in self-interest, we believe, it is
now up to industry to give its foremen a better break
—to^see that they have genuine “managerial author
ity” and the recognition and rewards that go with it.
Otherwise, this provision of the Taft-Hartley Act
seems certain to result in more discontent among
foremen, more feeling that they are victims of injus
tice, and more trouble for employers.
One Man’s Opinion By Walter kiernan
There is discouraging news from Washington that
one-third of us are dopes. — Furthermore you know
some of them! . . . The Bulletin of Population Research
says 33 per cent of us are “backward and dull.’! — This
will surprise those who never found dull people the
least bit backward. . . . But I hear every Congressman
grabbed a copy of the report and checked it against his
veto votes to find which third he stood with. . . . Our
only comfort is in statistics from England that they
also are getting duller. — It is estimated that in 100
years we will all be dopes together. . . . Still after all
these years of education we ought to be able to do bet
ter than 45 million Clifton Finnegans. — Two to each
Anchie. . . . And I don’t think the figures should have
come out now. — This is no time to point. . . .
xiooxrm
I AHEAD
Tm GEORGE 1 BENSON
1 Eizz 1
SOMETHING NEW
For the first time in the history
of the United States a President
vetoed a bill passed by Congress
for reduction of taxes. Tradition
ally, it has been considered proper
for Congress to hold the purse
strings and determine expendi
tures. Consequently, when Con
gress has spoken on the subject
the President has always accepted
the verdict with regard to lower
ing taxes. This time the bill passed
•both Houses with a large maiority
and still was veetoed by the resi
dent—something new.
j Financial cxper;s are now pre
} dieting a considerable budget at
■ the end of the fiscal year. This
| happens because more income
from taxes is being realized than
was expected. Moreover. Congress
has succeeded in cutting down
proposed expenditures a great
deal. Consequently, the reduction
of four billion dollars in taxes
could have been made and -at the
same time a large payment on the
national debt.
Soaring Tax Load
The total tax bill of the nation
is now running just about one
third of the total amount of money
earned by all the people of the na
tion. This means that one-third
of the average income of the av
erage individual is going for
‘axes. It means that one-third of
every man’s income directly or
indirectly goes back to the govern
ment in taxes. This is a danger
ously high tax rate for peace time
and if continued can be ruinous to
the economy of this nation. In
fact, no nation can be expected to
orosper under that kind of tax
load—not for very long.
President Truman, in comment
ing on the tax bill, said there was
already sufficient cash available
for “necessary investment and
business expansion.” It should be
remembered however, that Amer
ica didn’t become great by making
only what the government con
sidered “necessary investment and
business expansion.” The govern
ment did not pronounce as “neces
sary” the development of our
great western railways.
Neither did government pro
nounce “necessary” the develop
ment of the great automobile in
dustry. The government did not
pronounce “necessary” the pro
duction of a cheap automobile
made possible by Henry Ford,
General Motors and others who
had similar dreams and who made
great capital investments beyond
what the government announced
as “necessary.”
No Brakes Needed
From personal contact with in
dustrialists and financiers I am
thoroughly convinced that new
ventures are entirely too few.
Much capital is being held back
because of various discourage
ments, including high taxes and
uncertain industrial relations.
Had these brakes been on during
preceding generations they would
have prevented the development
of fhe railroads, the atuomobile
industry, the refrigeration indus
try, and the airplane industry.
Our nation would have been much
poorer today and we would have
been living on a lower income
level.
If we are going to have a pros
perous economy ten years from
now, taxes should be lightened
immediately and industrial re'a
tions tremendously improved. We
must look ahead to anticipate our
needs. We can go along making
“necessary” investment and busi
ness expansion and move into
poverty and mediocrity, slipping
gradually backward. If our nation
is to remain great, free men must
be able to dream their own
dreams and make new ventures.
SEEING DOUBLE
NEW YORK, UP)—Peter J. Don
ahue and Joseph Murphy, who
married twin sisters and sha"e a
double house in Brooklyn can
start stringing up matching
clothes lines. Their wives gave
birth to their first children Satur
day at a Brooklyn hospital, at
tended by the same doctor who de
livered the mothers 33 years ago.
I “We all did very nicely,” said
Dr. Henry Aronson.