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
_ . . . . - i
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER..Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoflice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Friday, February 7, 1947
Soft, White Underbelly of Liberalism
(The Denver Post)
THERE ARE IN THIS AMERICA of ours three class
es of pro-Russian thinkers who offer varying degrees
of menace to the future of this land of the free.
The first class are the regular Communist party mem
bers; the second, fellow travelers, those who go along
in full acceptance of every Moscow mandate. These two |
classes are not good Americans; with them Russia is al
ways first. The threat of their presence in our society!
is obvious.
There is, however, another class of American citizen
devoted to the Soviet who are not' in their own minds
subversive in any sense. They are the false liberals who
have the mistaken idea that one can’t be a liberal unless
he is automatically for Russia.
These people are doubly dangerous because they are
sincere. Sincere if woefully misguided and unreasoning.
To them Molotov must always be right; Byrnes always
wrong. They would give the atomic bomb secret to Rus
sia without guarantees, with only great trust and high
hope.
To these people American newspapers and news serv
vices are ever wrong. Such obvious propaganda sheets as
Soviet Russia Today and Reporter on American-Soviet
Friendship are their measure of truth. A statement from
Izvestia, Pravda or Red Star is ex cathedra. An idle
rumor as printed in one of these publications has more
validity to these folk than any considered statement
from the American press or government.
These are the people who are always ready to prove
that democracy really exists in Russia but they are also
the people who can never produce the proof. These are!
the people who ever have to remain in a liquid mental;
state so that they can follow ever-changing Russian offi-1
cial points of view with a minimum of effort. To main-;
tain their positions they have to be intellectual acrobats j
of more than ordinary skill.
These are the people who answer a question:
“How can you talk of democracy in Russia when there!
is no freedom of speech, of press, of religion, of assem
bly?” with such an answer as “There is no fredom in
America either—the proof? The lynching of Negroes in
the south.”
These people brush aside our freedoms, hard won
though they be, as unimportant and look with starry
eyes across the seas when a total government as harsh'
as any Hitler ever headed becomes in the distance a
greatly to be,desired Utopia.
These people make up the soft white underbelly of
liberalism through which the propaganda knives of to
tal government pierce to the very heart of true liberal-,
ism. In their unrealistic convictions they serve as un
conscious outposts of dictatorship within the body of
democracy.
They are the friends of Soviet Russia’s leaders, not of
the Russian people. They are the sparkplugs of such or
ganizations as the National Council for American-Soviet
Friendship, an organization which has enrolled thou
sands of good sound Americans who are real liberals
and who want to be friends with everybody and who
little realize the type of association they have involved
themselves in nor the dangerous connotations of the
published works distributed by its leaders.
The soft, white underbelly of liberalism believes that
you can do business with Stalin just as the appeasers
believed not so long ago that you could do business with
Hitler.
Begin At Home
(Rocky Mountain News)
REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEN who promise to en
force honesty and frugality in the government have a
shining opportunity to set some good examples in their
own branch.
They've made a start by asking the attorney general
to recover as much as he can of a $122,000 shortage in the
office of the House sergeant-at-arms. House members
draw their salaries through that office, and many of
them use it as a bank.
A new Republican sergeant-at-arms replaced a Demo
crat early this month and asked for an audit—the first,
apparently, since 1890. The shortage disclosed was
chiefly due to a large number of worthless checks, many
of them dating back as far as 1928. Such checks, totaling
$64,573, were signed by one former Florida Congress
man. There were overdrafts of nearly $4000 by present
members of the House.
That s one instance of loose practice, it not worse.
Now some Republicans are talking of trying to stop the
stationery racket, another old-timer.
House members vote themselves allowances for the
purchase of stationery and office supplies. In 1945-46,
the allowance was $1650 for each of the 435 members.
Some spent the whole amount for the purposes intend
ed. Many others spent only part, and let the balance ac
cumulate to their credit. Certain present members are
said to have credit balances of as much as $3000 each,
and by ancient custom they can collect the money in
cash whenever they please.
Congressmen have now raised their own salaries.
They have voted themselves retirement pensions, and
$2500-a-year tax-free expense accounts. They should be
able to live without writing worthless checks or chisel
ing on their stationery allowances.
If they expect honest, careful practices elsewhere in
the government they should stop every form of shady
and careless financial practice in Congress.
all SET, SAMSON ? _
labor
PROBLEM
f FltfAL
v MATFWJ
By MARY LEE COUNCIL
Secretary to E. L. (Bob) Bartlett. Delegate to Congress from Alaska
ASSESSMENT WORK
Delegate Bartlett has requested!
Congress to suspend assessment
work on mining claims in Alaska
and the continental United States
for another year in view of the
continuing difficult es in obtain
ing labor and equipment.
Assessment work on mining
claims, as the result of the Presi
dent’s recent proclamation on the
cessation of hostilities, must now
be performed between July 1,
1947, and July 1, 1948. Every;
claimant must file on or before j
noon of July 1, 1947, a notice of I
his desire to hold the min ng claim j
covering the past year of non-per
formance of assessment work.
If Delegate Bartlett’s new mea
sure receives favorable action,
assessment work will not have to
be performed until the period be
tween July 1, 1948, and July 1,
1949, with a holding notice
on or before noon of July l,
ARMED SERVICES
COMMITTEE
Delegate Bartlett will serv
three subcommittees of the H
Armed Services Committee, nt
ly Heavy Munitions, Posts
Stations and Hospital i z a t
Health, (Medical Corps).
MARINE RATE INCREASES
Following conferences held
Washington the week of Januj
27 among the Jackson subco
mittee of the House Merchant 1V1
rine and Fisheries Committee, <
licials of the Maritime Commi
sion and steamship operators f>
discussion of the contemplated n
sumption of private operation <
ships in the Alaska trade, Delegat
Bartlett issued the press releas
appearing below:
“Confronted by a cocked ant
loaded gun, Alaska has been in
structed to accept the marine rate
increases proposed or to suffer the
consequences.
“An open warning that resist
ance on the part of the Territory
would result in immediate suspen
sion of steamship service to the
north when private operation is
resumed was delivered yesterday
at the hearing of the Jackson sub
committee by an attorney for Alas
ka Steamship Company and
Northland Transportation Com
pany.
“or those who had hoped this
complex issue could be settled by
a reasonable and understanding
approach on both sides, this arro
gant and even ruthless ultimatum
comes as a shock because it can
not do other than to imperil fur
ther an already strained relation
ship.
“I very much fear that one of
the consequences will be to cause
further tension between the Ter
ritory and Seattle and to bring
about in the Territory strengthen
ing of the view that other trade
centers should be sought.
“I have only praise for the real
ly splendid accomplishments of
the Jackson subcommittee. This
unit of the Merchant Marine and
Fisheries Committee of the House,
headed by Congressman Henry M.
Jackson of Everett and with Judge
S. O. Bland, former chairman of
the committee, and Congressman
Christian A. Hertei* of Massachu
setts as the other members, has,
ever since last summer, given so
freely of time and has worked so
hard and so intelligently on this
matter that all of us in Alaska
owe the members of the commit
tee an everlasting debt of grati
tude.
“Yesterday these men agreed to
approve on the part of the sub
committee, and also pledged them
selves to aid in securing Congres
sional approval of an arrangement
whereby an indirect government
subsidy would be provided to
cover increased costs in the Alaska
trade. This arrangement would
have the Maritime Commission as
sign certain ships to the Alaska
operators at very nomnial cost and
would have the Maritime Com
mission carry hull insurance on
both government-owned and pri
vately-owned ships without cost to
the carriers. Even with this gov
ernment assistance in furnishing
ships and in carrying insurance
Alaska Steamship Company con
tends—with the other carriers
agreeing—that there must be an
overall rate increase of 56.6 per
cent over and above 1941 rates. It
should be pointed out that the in
creases will not be 56.6 per cent
on every commodity both north
bound and southbound. Rates