THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
- NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Noma. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 61H
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editor*
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, June 2, 1947
Must We Have A Recession?
(Anchorage Daily Times
IT LOOKS MORE and more as if the country were'
going to have a business recession before it has any
marked price recession. President Truman has made
several appeals to business and industry for price reduc
tipns. But no one has noted business and industry falling
over themselves in their eagerness to follow the sugges-'
tion.
Instead, affairs continue about as before. Th.e Feb-|
ruary cost of living declined a fraction of 1 per cent over
January, but was still 17.9 per cent higher than Febru
ary, 1946. The continuing price rise of many items was
accompanied by a rise in unemployment. Women’s
clothing prices “advanced sharply,” according to the|
Bureau of Labor Standards. But there was an even'
sharper decline in dress production.
Mr. Truman’s suggestion is highly sensible, and the!
response of business seems increasingly puzzling. Why
must prices continue to climb where buyer resistance
has reached such a pitch that production has to be cur-!
tailed? It doesn’t make sense. Manufacturers emphasize
that labor costs are their chief expenditure. Yet in most
industries labor costs are governed by yearly contract
This does not explain month-by-month price advances.
Business paper editors seem agreed that a recession,'
or readjustment, is on the way, probably before next
fall. It will probably come about, they say, by a continu
ation of the present price trend. They predict it will end
when prices reach a sensible level in balance with buy
ing power.
That result would be good, of course. But the remedy
seems unnecessarily drastic and risky. There would
surely be unemployment, and this could very well be
accompanied by resentment and agitation. In fact, there
could be no guaranteed safeguard against panic in such
a planless correction.
The state of the world at the time this predicted re
cession occured could cause unforeseen results. The
American economic system, for all its accomplishments
and promise, is the object of many skeptical looks and
hard words today. Capitalism isn’t what you would call
the world’s pin-up philosophy at the moment. Even a
mild depression might have a profound effect on Amer
ica’s international position.
This is taking the gloomy view, but it is a view that
ought to be considered. A lot of businessmen seem to
agree with the theory that prices should be reduced.
Most of them agree that the higher they go the farther
they’ll fall. Cause and effect have been neatly blue
printed many times. But too few are following the blue
print.
DP Canipg In Germany
(Cincinnati Enqtiirer)
IN THE AMERICAN ZONE of Occupation in Ger
many some 530,000 displaced persons are living. For
two years they have been there, supported almost en
tirely by the United States government which, in the
final analysis, means you, your neighbors and the peo
ple who live across the railroad tracks. A few days ago
Gen. Lucius D. Clay, commander of the occupation area,
formally notified these people that we soon would cease
providing them with food, shelter and other necessities.
On its face this seems a hard—almost a brutal—ac
tion. The unfortunate half-million have no resources,
for the mqst part. They have no homes, no property, few
friends. They have no place to go except back to the
land from which they fled or were ejected. The fates
I y , HOLDtNO OUR INTEREST ’
' TttCHT
limit*
they are likely to meet “back home” may be more tra
gic than the conditions under which they have been
.iving in Germany.
Yet what is to be done with these persons? Certainly
their present status is entirely futile—for them, for the
land in which they are living and for the citizens of the
United States. Conditions in DP camps are far from
pleasant, not through administrators, but of necessity.
They cannot go on in that state indefinitely, nor can we
contiuue to support them indefinitely.
Europe has had two years to return toward normalcy.
Political, economic and social structures are beginning
to assume normal patterns, in spite of bickering, in spite
of the scars of war. The continifed existence of DP
camps retards, rather than hastens, the program of re
habilitation. In many instances individuals, returning
to their old homes or attempting to find new homes in
Germany, will face untold hardship and suffering. But
the change is one which must come. There is little rea
son to believe that further postponement of the evil day
will soften, even a little, its tragic repercussions.
Grass Roots Opinion On Closed Shop
(New York Sun)
WHEN GOVERNOR ROBERT D. BLUE of Iowa
placed hi? signature on a bill outlawing the closed shop,
his State became the thirteenth to enact such a law since
1944. The Iowa statute, similar to that in these other
States, makes it unlawful to prevent any Iowan from
working because he is or is not a member of a labor
union. It also forgids deduction of-union dues through
the checkoff without* the written approval of the em
ployee. Now in the list of States banning the closed
shop are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska,
New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Da
kota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. None of these is
an industrial State although some of them do have large
industrial interests and urban populations which are al
most as great as the rurel. It is to such States that poli
tians have turned whey the wanted to get down to the
grass roots in quest of public sentiment. They can find
in the action of these Legislatures, closer to their con
stituents in most instances than are members of Con
gress, proof of the grass roots opninon on the closed
shop.
By OBOROES BENSON
N«ldwi» of Harding Colisgs
Ssotcy. Arkansas
- I 1 ■
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
There is one way, and only one
way, to avoid a serious depression, j
and that way is open to the Amer-'
lean people. Responsibility rests'
firmly upon each of us, no matter
what may be our economic status
or individual social background,
to choose out this proper course.
There is no way to go, if we
should face into a depression, ex
cept toward hard work, and the
high productivity of industrial
peace.
That’s the formula that will en
able us to weather a business re
cession, provided we begin to use
it now. We must all tighten our
belts, get our feet on the ground,
and go to work. A greatly increas
ed measure of productivity per
man-hour is the best answer to the
present situation that can be
thought up.
Down With Prices
With increased productivity,
with an honest hour’s labor given
for every hour’s pay, we could see
a considerable lowering of prices
Indeed, with genuine whole-heart
ed cooperation from labor and in
dustry, it would be quite possible
to increase output as much as 40
ner cent generally. This should be
enough to bring about a general
25 oer cent reduction in prices.
This could be done with our pres
ent labor force and without in
creased working hours.
This would in fact bring prices
down until it would be equivalent
♦n an increase in wages. This is
the one sound answer to.-the pres
ent threat of a depression. Such
answer would also give us hope
of regaining our foreign markets,
which have had little attention
paid to them since the war. We
must promote these markets if we
exnect to be able to operate our
industry at maximum production
for any length of time, thus hav;n<j
hif*h employment and high na
tional income.
Wisdom of A Sage
The importance of this thing
prompted Bernard M. Baruch to
state recently that the whole post
war world would “get going only
if men work” and to come out for
a five and a half day, 44-hour
week. The seriousness of the prob
lem we face is such that we may
be able to save civilization if we
accept the challenge, Mr. Bunich
said, adding that this would mean
greater effort than that exerted
during the- war.
In proposing a 44-hour work
week, “with no strikes or layoffs
to January 1, 1949,” as a means of
increasing production, Mr. Baruch
recognized our present tendencies
to put limitations on our work. He
emphasized that a way must be
found for production to flow
smoothly. This achieved, then “a
seqse of security would return to
worker and employer, and the re
action upon the economy of the
world would be deep and lasting.”
Heads Together
The sage Mr. Baruch has more.
“Until we have unity, until we
straighten out and solve our own
problems of production, and have
internal stability, there is no basis
on which the world can renew it
self physically or spiritually,” he
continued. To admit that we in
America cannot do these things is
to admit the failure of democratic
civilization. And if we fail, there
is little in Western civilization
that may be salvaged.
If labor and industry would put
their heads together, come to a
realistic solution of their prob
lems, shake hands across the table
and go to work in earnest to whip
this threat of immediate depres
sion through maximum and
whole-hearted production, then no
one would have anything to fear.
This is the solution that would be
best for the public. In fj*ct, no
solution will do unless best for all
three of these groups. No one of
them can prosper very long at the
expense of either or both the
others. '