The Nome Nugget
Published Monday, Wednesday
and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125
P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH
$16.00 A YEAR
W. A. BOUCHER .EditorPublisher
EMILY BOUCHER..Society Editor
Entered as second class matter
October 14, 1943, at the nostoffice
at Nome, Alaska, undei the Ac
of March 3, 1879.
Monday, April 30, 1945
RUMORS OR OFFICIAL?
As a rule, where there
is smoke, there must be
some fire. Either the Ger
mans surrendered, or they
didn’t.
But, nonetheless, we
should be extremely cau
tious of rumors, under the
guise of authenticity, with
official confirmation ex
pected momentarily.
Without any relaxation,
let us take the end of the
war in Germany in stride,
and continue on with the
job of beating the Jap.
One day wasted in cele
bration may cost us many
lives neednessly lost be
cause of needed supplies.
Prophecies have been
made regarding the war in
Germany. Many say the
war will not end with sur
render, but will continue
in underground and guer
rilla warfare.
In spite of all the arm
chair predictions, official
military leaders expect the
complete collapse of Nazi
Germany in the matter of
a few days.
It will then be necessary
to destroy the fears and
fanaticisms built up by a
generation of strict train
ing. The responsibility
rests *with the victorious,
peace-loving nations of the
world.
Systems must be de
vised.
THE GESTAPO IN
AMERICA
(New York Times)
Facts belatedly made
public by the Army au
thorities and reported for
this newspaper by Russell
Porter indicate that fanati
cal Nazi agents created a
reign of terror in some
German prisoner camps in
this country between Sep
tember, 1943, and April,
1944. Six prisoners who
proved “disloyal” to the
I
; Hitler regime were killed,
i Two others were driven to
suicide. On our own soil, in
; the presence of our own
armed guards, Nazi
“courts were set up and
Nazi sentences carried out.
These outrages might have
been prevented if the au
thorities had realized that
we were capturing Nazi
gangsters as well as run
1 of-the-mill soldiers. They
have now learned that
gangsters may be found in
any German military unit
and that capture and in
ternment does not human
ize them. These creatures:
have supposedly been seg
regated and their activities
halted.
This ugly episode has a
moral for the rest of us as
well as for those whose
duty it is to guard German
prisoners. The completely
indoctrinated Nazi is not
converted by being beaten |
and captured. He will not !
be converted when the j
German armies are cut to!
ribbons and Germany it
self occupied by the Allies.
He will understand that he
was unsuccessful but not
that he was wrong. Not all
such individuals can be
convicted of crimes for
which they can be kept out
of circulation after peace
has been won. Many in
Germany itself will have
to.be turned loose, free of
any restraints except such
as are imposed by the oc
cupying armies on all in
habitants. There will be a
difficult police problem
while Such sanity as re
mains in Germany is reas
serting itself and while a
new generation is being
educated for a civilized ex
istence. And this is another
reason why compromise
with the Nazis is a vain
and menacing dream. They i
will have to be policed in;
Germany as they now are|
in prison camps. In small
conspiracies as in large j
ones they prove their un
fitness for life in a civilized
world.
ioome
AHEAD
•V GEOROC 1 0CNSON
L flgg/AW| iTiiM'/Bf faille
CHINA'S FUTURE
Farmers in the United States
made up 72 per cent of the whole!
nation’s population back in 1820.
That was just half-way between
the invention of the iron plow and
the mechanical reaper for small
grain crops. Only 23 per cent of
?OME SMOKE SCReen
our people live on farms now.
China still has the “good old
days” if you like that kind. Eighty
per eent of her people arc farm
ers- even yet.
If an American farmer’s h red
man earned 50 cen's a day in 1820
he had to be a good one. The
farmer was not to blame. In order
to pay better wages he had to get
better prices for what his hired
man produced, or manage some
way for the worker to produce
more. Even then both develop
I
ments had begun. The plow and :
the reaper improved farm income
and farm wages also.
I
Supply and Damand
Using improved machinery one
workman could do the work three
had done with crude tools, so two
out of three farm hands quit the
farm. Some of them went to work
at transportation, taking farm
products to cities where there
were quick markets. Others got
jobs in factories making desirable
things to sell to the farmers who,,
by this time, had quite a little
money to spend.
The two farm workers out of
three who left the farm did not,
quit using farm products. Wher-!
ever they worked they bought and
consumed farm produce, also
made more profitable work for
people in transportation. This is
a simple outline of the growth of
American prosperity, and it is a
rough sketch of what must take
place ’'n* China star i-*" of‘er 4he
w
war, if China is to prosper.
A Unification Plan
High-brow students of political
economy talk about “social, poli
tical and economic unification of
China.” Those are SS-cen’s words,
trying to say that Ch:na is all
broken up and needs to be made
one. Nothing that is broken can
be welded again until the pieces
are brought close togethre. Chi
na’s dismembered parts need to be
brought together close; close in
time; close in spirit.
China already has everything
needed to live well: meat animals
and grain, timber and fiber, coal
and oil, iron and copper. China
has supply and demand also—450
million people anxious to earn
more and live better. One trouble
is, there are 360 million farmers
when 12 million with good tools
would be enough. There is much
other work to do: ore to mine,
timber to cut, roads to build.
Hidden Treasures
Roads will bring the Empire’s
far-flung segments near in time.
Business dealings will create mu
tual confidence and make China’s
remote tribes close in spirit. There
is money in the Orient—most of
it hidden, but it’s there. More,
much more, will come from other
lands as soon as investors learn of
the empire’s rich resources and
great markets. Only fear of rob
bery and fraud can keep it away.
These fears can be removed by
? cenfr-l government, able
CHIEF OF STAFF
VISITS NOME BASE
Brig. Gen. Isiah Davies, Chief
of Staff of the 11th Air Force vis
ited Lt. Col. Richard H. Hackford,
Commanding Officer, Nome A rn*
Air Base this week accompanied
by Col. D. M. Young, M. C., Capt.
Paul Shirley. Capt. J. C. Barr. 1st
Lt. John B. Gawford, Lt. George
E. Thelen, USNR, Ralph W. An
derson, Chief, OAS. *
NUGGET RECEIVES COPY OF
"FREE PHILIPPINES"
Ed L. Mack sent the Nugget a
copy of the paper published in the
Santo Tomas internment camp,
the ‘‘Free Philippines”, where he
has been for three years. He came
to Nome in 1900 and in 1929
worked for the Hammond Console
idated Gold Fields here. Since
then he has been in the Philip
pines and thinks often of his Alas
kan friends. His address is H.S.
H.C. office, Manila, Philippine#.
U. S. A.
to maintain order and security for
investment at home, and able to
command the respect of other
world powers. Chiang Kai-Shek
has promised these things for
post-war years and rebel rulers
already are learning to trust him
and work with him. The United
States should help him, for China
is America’s natural ally in the
East; for mutual profit in time of
peace, protection in time of war.