THE NOME NUGGET i
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.,
Nomi, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
/
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER......r.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffie*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, May 28, 1947
i
The Civilian Naval Reserve
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
THE NATION EMERGED victoriously from the Sec
ond World War as the greatest naval, power in history,
with an invincible armada of fighting ships—including
aircraft carriers—ad many auxiliaries of naval com
bat and supply.
To keep all these vessels in active commission, with
the requisite personnel, would obviously have been an
extravagant action. * j
To scrap them all would have been unwarranted folly.
The proper medium was to preserve in full service a
navy requisite for immediate defense in case of emer
gency, with a reserve capable of being put quickly and
efficiently into operation.
Accordingly,. the navy decided—and Congress has
approved—a permanent policy whereby the wartime
navy as a whole was divided into echelons.
Supernumerary vessels were retired, of course.
Remaining on active duty are the Atlantic and Pacific
Fleets, comprising the “two-ocean navy” which the best
regarded experts have held to be essential for our na
tional security.
Sent into reserve are the selected ships of all categor
ies which will comprise the “second line” of oceanic de
fense. I
Under this plan, the active navy will be always ready,!
served by the officers and men of the regular sea forces.
In order that the thousands of reserve ships may not
deteriorate idly, and may be speedily available for full
duty, personnel for them must also be maintained in
training: and this is the function of the civilian naval re
serve.
It corresponds to the national guard and the organ
ized reserve which support the regular army as a land
force.
In either case, men may attach themselves to the uni
formed services, deriving all the benefits, which are nu
merous, and receiving peacetime training, without
changing their civilian status.
Training in the civilian naval reserve, to. be taken
somewhat like vacations at appropriate intervals or at
such other times as are arranged, will include instruc
tion or experience in practical trades, maritime exer
cises suitable for a deep-sea corps, and—of course—
ocean travel for many.
The emblem of membership in the civilian naval re
serve is an emblem of honor, denoting both character
and patriotism.
Either veterans or non-veterans are eligible, and en
rollment entails no reduction of G. I. preferences or
privileges.
The naval reserve is open to navy and coast guard
veterans up,to the age of 64, and to other Americans be
tween the ages of 17 and 40.
Membership is voluntary, permitting resignation at
any time, and a member may be as active or .inactive as
personal circumstances permit.
Any navy resruiting office or naval reserve base or
unit will receive applications. Or prospective enrollees
may simply write to Naval Reserve, Care Postmaster,
Seattle.
There are places for one million Americans in the
civilian naval reserve, and every place should be filled.
.
Russia's Reparation Claims
(New York Times)
THE POTSDAM AGREEMENT, which put a quarter
of Germany's arable land and her second industrial cen
ter undel* Polish administration, also provided that the
rest of Germany should be treated as an economic unit,
that Germany should retain an economy capable of
feeding her own people, and that reparations should be
met by removals of • unnecessary German industrial
equipment and should be completed by Feb. 2, 1948. In
plain violation of that agreement, Russia has completely
detached her zone from German economy and has ex
ploited it for her own benefit, to its complete exhaus
tion, while dumping millions of additional Germans into
the American and British zones, to be fed at Allied ex
pense.
Now, in further violation of that agreement, and n
conformity with her customary practice of attempting
to sell everything twice, Russia offered at the Moscow
conference to agree to the economic unification of the
rump Reich, but only if she were allotted $10,000,000,
000 in additional German reparations at 1938 prices,
which would bring the total to more than $15,000,000,
000. This sum would be paid in twenty years, and would
be collected by means of an Allied occupation for the
same per od and the admission of Russia to the control
of the Ruhr, without reciprocal admission of the West
ern Allies to control within the Russian zone.
Russia justified these demands on the ground that the
war cost her a total of $485,000,000,000, or nearly half
the total spent by the Big Four. But quite aside from
the fact that the Russian figure appears to exceed Rus
sia’s total national wealth ,it must be said that Russia
has already compensated herself quite liberally by her
own actions. She has annexed more than 250,000 square
miles of territory (containing 25,000,000 people) whose
value is incalculable. She has looted all Eastern Europe
and Manchuria. And she has been collecting direct rep
arations through seizures and slave labor whose value
former Secretary Byrnes has estimated at no less than
$14,000,000,000. Meanwhile the United States and Brit
ain have been compelled to spend hundreds of millions
of dollars to feed the German population.
Furthermore, Russia proposed to collect this vast
sum primarily from the British and American zones
For that purpose she is willing to agree to raise German
industrial production 45 per cent above the level hither
to agreed upon, and German steel production to nearly
three times her original proposals. However, such an
increase would have to be financed first of all by Amer
ican and British capital, and, even then, unless Ger
many’s agricultural areas are returned to her, this in
creased production would scarcely suffice to feed the
Germans. This means that any reparations paid from
that production would have to be compensated for bv in
creased Allied food supplies. In other words, what Rus
sia proposed, in effect, is that all Germany be reared to
work for Russia for a generation, and that the other
Allies not only forego reparations for thems^lv^s but
also pump new funds into Germany for Russia’s b°nefit.
Secret a rv Marshall flatly rejected this proposal on
behalf of the United §tates.
rw THE BETTER MAN WIN
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BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Too much misinformation has
been circulated about Russia. A
}oi of this has been put into circu
lation by Russia. Some of it has
come from fellow-travelers and
other admirers of the Soviet ex
periment. There have been honest -4
mistakes of American writers who
have been unable to penetrate the
mysteries behind the iron curtain.
Prominent Americans who have
“toured” Russia have too often be
come dupes of propaganda shows
cleverly contrived for visiting
eyes.
Gradually, however, facts are
coming to light. Documented and
unbiased studies are greatly need
ed, for they will dispose of many
fallacies about the Soviets.
Straight facts will set folks right
who have accepted such boners as
this one: There’s no unemploy
ment- in Russia. It’s quite true,
but slave laborers have been es
timated at 14,000,000. You see,
unemployment insurance is not
even necessary.
Facts Talk Out Loud
Such a factual study is the 141
page book “Communism in Ac
tion,” prepared under direction of
Congressman Dirksen of Illinois.
Printed as a House document by
the Legislative Reference Service
of the Library of Vongress, the
book may be obtained from the
U. S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D. C., for 25 cents.
Copies are also distributed free
' by the American Wage Earners
I Foundation, Suite 605, 30 North
j LaSalle Street, Chicago, 111.
i Written in a simple, factual
j style, without the customary
! slanted or biased approach, the
| book shohld interest all Amert
| carts who have been confronted
j with fhe idea that “the State does
the job better.” The facts set
forth' therein do not call for elab
oration or editorial bias. They talk
loud enough to make a mighty
good advertisement for the Amer
ican way of life.
Special Privileges
I
; Russian Communism theoretic
! ically envisions a classless society,
i On the basis of pay, the difference
i between the status of the wage
earner and the manager is much
greater there than in America.
The many “special privileges and
bonuses” that are distributed to
the Soviet managers make this in
equality more striking. The aver
age wage of workers was reported
in a pre-war 'year as approximate
ly $10 to $12.50 a month.
■ American G.I.’s have been
j known to gripe about service pay.
An ordinary private in the Soviet
I army “earns” from $2 to $4 a
I month, a non-commissioned offi
■ cer a maximum of $25, and a col
one! about $450. This spread is
j typical of differences in economic
J status, and this study points out
that “special privileges to men in
the army follow in similar ratio.”
Theoretical Failure
What about labor? Yes, in Rus
sia labor is active and organized.
Joining unions there is a politi
cal and economic necessity. Labor
leaders are appointed bv the rul
ing group, and their duties are to
speed up production, to keep la
bor disciplined. Wages are not a
subject for discussioft or negotia
tion. There is no collective bar