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 .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, August 15', 1949
WHAT DO THE PEOPLE THINK?
(By George S. Benson, President Harding College)
If I were a Congressman, I can imagine that most of
my waking hours would be spent wondering whether or,
not I had correctly understood the will of the people
and whether they understood the nature of the issues
before Congress. I would be much concerned about the
position of the people in my district, particularly on na
tional issues that affect all of America. In fact, the
thinking of people throughout the country would be like
meat and drink to me.
I am happy to believe this is the case with most of our
Congressmen. Of course, there is a chance that the peo
ple might be wrong. An informed Congressman will
then act upon his own convictions, when the test comes.
But more often than not, I believe we can safely feel
that American opinion is informed public opinion. If
this be so, then public opinion is indeed worth the hav
ing to any Congressman.
Once in awhile we are fooled into believing that those
who make the most noise about something are an index
to what is in the minds of most of the people. Those who
plead special causes are generally the most noisy. Some
times these groups, with spokesmen on all sides, get the
support of the public. Sometimes they do not. At any
rate, what our Congressmen need to do is get the actual
thinking of the people, not just listen to the fellow who
has the most to say.
There’s the National Education Association. For
years on end they have whopped it up for “federal aid”
to education. Where has it got them? Well, a lot of good
people have climbed on their bandwagon, and they have
made plenty of headway in the very halls of Congress.
Federal aid has become a “political” issue. N.E.A. a
long time ago turned on the heat, and woe to anybody
who opposes them!
What is public opinion on “federal aid?” Recently,
the Detroit News and the Omaha World-Herald asked
their readers to answer some questions. One was: “Do
you favor federal aid to education?” In Detroit, a great
industrial center, the vote was more than three to one
against federal aid. In Omaha, center of a huge farming
area, more than ten to one were opposed to it. In both
places only 2,807 votes were for federal aid, 12,279
against it.
Readers of these two great newspapers spoke out, on
other questions involving more federal spending and
more control of people. They wrote to Congress. They
were opposed nearly ten to one to the administration’s j
housing bill, just passed. They opposed the Brannan
farm plan 20 to one. In Nebraska, fewer than 100 fa
vored compulsory health insurance out of nearly 6,000
reporting.
By a big margin, readers of the Detroit News wanted
to cut government spending and to make the federal
government more efficient along lines proposed by the
Hoover Commission report. The score was more than
20 to one, on both questions together. In Nebraska, only
token sympathy could be found favoring more taxes to
pay for the Truman social program. All this leads me
to wonder whether our political leaders are not pretty
far behind the thinking of the people on some of the
most important issues.
While Congressmen occasionally seem unaware of
the will of the people, the President seems consistently
so. For instance it seemed to take the President six
months longer than the general public to realize that
danger of further inflation was past. It certainly befits
the President and every member of Congress to look
out toward the people and see and listen. It is not al
ways wise to gaze at the place where the most dust is
being kicked up. Our leaders need to give the people a
break and listen to them once in awhile.
Four Years Ago
Yesterday - - -
(Continued from Page One)
across the vaslj reaches of the Pa
cific. Now they were on Okinawa.
325 miles from the Japanese
homeland.
Russia had declared war Aug. 8
and her troops were sweeping
down through Manchuria.
Japan’s vital supply lines had
long been cut. Submarines, air
planes, surface ships were hunting
down the last of the ships needed
to bring in supplies.
What did Japan have besides
3.700.000 troops? Her navy could
put to sea only two light carri
ers, two cruisers, 26 destroyers
and 22 submarines. Except for
the Kamikaze (suicide) corps,
her airforce was virtually out of
action. Radar, proximity fuses
which exploded shells when
they approached a plane and
fighter opposition were getting
SI out of 100 suicide planes. Al
though the two out of 100 that
got through did damage, they
did not stop the vast Allied
fleets.
Equipment for Japan’s still
large armies was in almost as sad
a state as her fleet and her air
force. Replacement was impossi
ble
Japan no longer had the means
to fight a major war when the
second A-bomb fell on Nagasaki
August 9.
"SPELLMAN-ROOSEVELT
WRANGLE ENDS SATISFAC
TORILY" SAYS POPE PIUS
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (£>)
Pope Pius XII said Saturday he
believes the controversy between
Francis Cardinal Spellman and
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt over
the question of federal aid to
Catholic schools has been resolved
satisfactorily.
The Pontiff expressed this
opinion in a special audience
given five American newspaper
correspondents at his summer res
idence here.
The Pope, answering a direct
question, first replied that the
matter was to delicate for com
ment.
Then he added he had seen the
exchange of letters between the
New York Archbishop and Mrs.
Mrs. Roosevelt in a Rome newspa
per and that, from them, he
thought the controversy was re
solved satisfactorily.
For Good Printing Call Main 125
New S.S. Line
I
Enters Shipping
Trade to Alaska
_V
SEATTLE (/P)—Entry of a Cali
fornia ship line into Puget Sound
Alaska trade may force higher
shipping rates to the Territory, G.
W. Skinner, president of Seattle’s
Alaska Steamship company, as
serted Friday.
Coastwise line of San Francis
co announced earlier that it has
purchased two 10,500-ton freight
ers for service between California
ports, Puget Sound and Alaska. |
The ships are the James Lick> and J
Joen Chandler Harris.
“The trade is wide open,” Skin
ner declared, “but the only logi
cal result from addition of any un
necessary number of ships in any
trade is higher rates!”
Skinner also voiced sharp criti
cism of the U. S. interior depart
ment's Alaska shipping policy,
which he charged “up to now has
given Coastwise Line what
amounts to an unfair subsidy” in
dividing Alaska Railroad cargoes
between Coastwise Line out of
Portland and Alaska Steamship
company out of Seattle.
Coastwise Line has been oper
ating from Los Angeles, San Fran-1
cisco and Portland to Seward, the
past year.
Skinner continued:
“Freight for the Alaska Rail
road should have been allotted in
proportion to the amount of com
mercial cargo hauled by each ship
line for distribution into Interior
Alaska by the railroad. Alaska
Steamship company carried 80
per cent of this type of freight and
»
should have received a propor
tionate share of the other cargo.”
A Coastwise Line spokesman
advised by telephone from San
Francisco that its newly-purchas
ed Liberty ships would be placed
in the new service as soon as they
can be regularly scheduled. Pur
[ chase price reportedly was about
$500,000 each.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLUE
BERRY AND HUCKLEBERRY
What is the difference between
the blueberry and the huckle
berry is a question frequently
asked. According to the latest
bulletin from the Extension Serv
ice of the University of Alaska,
numerous seeds distinguish the
blueberry from the huckleberry,
which contains only ten seeds
which are much larger than the
blueberry seeds.
DUTCH TREAT
m -
^ .rin. M t* ■ ™aaaa^™
Why Were Deep
Freezers Given
To High Officials?
(Continued from Page One)
the plan.
Secretary of defense Johnson re
ported to the President and the
cabinet Friday that Canada wants
to barter warships, aircraft, small
arms ammunition and other things
they make for American supplies.
This would conserve her dollar re
serve but still provide her with
equipment she can get only in
this country.
Senator Bridges (R.-N. H.> said
that if the plan involves acquiring
naval vessels from Canada, he does
not think it will work out. “We’ve
got more ships tied up now than
we know what to do with,” he
said.
Morrow-Tait
Defies Canadians;
Flies To Greenland
<Continued from Page One)
world.
Canadian aviation authorities,
vl o had forbidden the Transat
lantic flight as unsafe for single
engined civilian planes, had or
dered Mrs. Morrow-Tait to fly
back to Bangor, Me.
She took off at 7 a.m. <EST» Fri
day, ostensibly for Bangor, then
changed course and landed six
and one half hours later at Bluie
West One, the U. S. air base in
Southern Greenland.
Canadian officials said Mrs.
Morrow-Tait was now outside Ca
nadian jurisdiction. They would
not speculate on whether the Bri
tish woman would have further
trouble with U. S. authorities at
the Greenland base.
Waiting in England for the
world flier are her husband and
two-year-old daughter. She saw
them last on August 18, 1948,
when she took off on her eastward
trip.
She had hard luck most of the
way. Her little plane hit a ditch
in Marseilles, France, and had en
gine trouble at Calcutta, India.
Last November the plane crasTied
near the Alaska highway, 235
miles southeast of Fairbanks.
She worked all winter as a wait
ress and singer in a Fairbanks
night club, borrowed another
plane and resumed her trip this
^ summer.
She told reporters in Montreal
[ that Canadian government offi
cials tried to discourage her from
continuing her flight. One official,
she said, told her “to go home and
look after the baby.”
BOY ENJOYS HOME COOKING
AFTER 14 DAYS ON BOAT
EDMONDS, Wash. </P)—Dallas
Sears filled up on his mothers
fried chicken today and admitted
he was tired of the sandwiches
and beans he fed himself during a
solo boat trip down from Ketchi
kan.
Dallas, 17, was working in a
cannery and had earned $2)0
when a law was passed placing
the minimum age for cannery
workers at 18. Not wanting to
spend his wages for a plane ticket
home, he remembered that his
step-father’s cruiser was nearby
and the latter had wanted to get
it home.
Acting on the theory that par
ents don’t worry about things they
don’t know, Dallas set sail on the
27-foot power boat. The trip took
14 days.
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