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
•t Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, November 2, 1949
SALE OF GOLD
“The rumor isn’t true but we make no promises for
the future.’’
That, in effect, was the manner in which Under Sec
retary of the Treasury E. H. Foley replied to Delegate
Bartlett’s query concerning the department’s attitude
on sale of gold in its natural state at prices above $35 an
ounce.
The query was made following a report in eastern j
banking circles that the Treasury intended to bar all j
sales at more than $35.
“The rumor,’’ Undersecretary Foley wrote Delegate j
Bartlett, “is without foundation.’’ But the official was'
quick to add that, “The foregoing should not be con
strued, however, as an indication that the Department!
willl take no action in reference to the sale of gc'd in its
natural state at premium prices, should the volume of
sales of such gold require our revoking the exemption
contained in Section 54.19 of the Gold Regulations. As
you may know, the purpose of this exemption was to
obviate the necessity of licensing thousands of small
miners, ore buyers and small merchants in remote lo
calities who buy from them since, obviously, licensing
would be extremely burdensome to them.
“However, to date the sales of gold in its natural
state, which have been reported to us, have been rela
tively insignificant.’’
WANTED: A Crusade For America! v
(By George S. Benson)
There are enemies of our American heritage. Some
men have been working for a generation to destroy the
productive ability that America has built. Communism
hates freedom of opportunity, hates competition, hates
private management, hates the idea of private invest
ment in tools. Propagandists of this sort started work- i
ing hard in our country right after World War I, and
they were bent upon the destruction of ali these things,
one way or another.
Expertly directed, these propagandists did not start
out by telling people they should be communists, nor
did they tell people to overthrow the American way of
life. But they did begin, very shrewdly, to lay a founda
tion that they hoped would bring things within a gener
ation to the point where they could publicly advocate
the overthrow qd our way of life. They have desperately
near succeeded, fthe threat is serious.
J. Edgar Hoover is better qualified than anybody in
America to speak on this subject. He had said: “One of
the two major problems facing this nation is the subver-|
sive propaganda aimed at the destruction of our way of]
life.” Gen. Marshall has summarized it this way: “We
are faced with the danger of the actual disappearance
of Western civilization upon which our government and
our way of life are based.”
Another great American, President Eisenhower of
Columbia University, wrote last June: “I firmly believe
that the army of persons who urge greater and greater
centralization of authority and greater and greater de
pendence upon the federal treasury are really more
dangerous to our form of government than any exter
nal threat that can possibly be arrayed against us.” He
is exactly right, for that is how the American system
can be brought to decay.
Woodrow Wilson, another great thinker, declared
out of his great democratic soul: “The history of liberty
is the history of the limitation of governmental power,
not the increase of it. When we resist concentration of
power we are resisting the process of death, because the
concentration of power is always what precedes the dc- j
struction of human liberties.” We have seen this power
grow, in our time.
At the same time, the propagandists in America have j
c< ntered their attack upon private profits, upon the pro-!
Predicts "Gold
War” Will Last
For Generation
SPOKANE, (/P>—The chairman
of the National Committee for Eco
nomic Development urged busi
nessmen yesterday not to be so
critical of government.
“There are certain facts we’ve
go to live with these days,” W.
Walter Williams of Seattle told
the Inland Empire Electrical Deal
ers Association: “Our debt is huge.
We’ve got to spend billions every
year in the cold war. . . . Busi
nessmen must realize we can’t pay
for the last war overnight and
that certain fixed expenditures
will be in our budget fo ra long
time to come.”
“The big rewards,” he added,
“will be the preservation of our
freedom state.”
Williams also was pessimistic
about an earyl end to the “cold
war,” which he predicted may
continue “for a generation or
more.”
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Tweet of
Teller are in town for a few days
before departing for the States
for a visit.
George Mullaley and Enrich
Kauzlarich. new auditors for the
Northern Commercial Co., arrived
Monday from Anchorage.
(Communication
Nome, Alaska,
November 1, 1949.
j To the Editor of the Nome Nugget,
' City.
! Sir:
The dissatisfaction I have heard
expressed with the property tax,
as passed by the 1949 legislature,
especially as effecting the mining
interest in the Second Division,
bear out the sentiments I express
ed when opposing the measure in
the Legislature, especially in im
posing it upon the Gold Mining
Industry of the Territory.
Ninety percent <90%) of the in
dustry in the Second Division, is
and has been Gold Mining, fish
ing, trapping, trading, tin mining
and some small industries com
prising the rest of it. The Federal
Government has arbitrarially peg
ged the price of Gold, which, in
the free market outside the United
States, such gold as it traded in
sells for better than twice the peg
ged price. EVERY item which en
ters into the process of mining has
■advanced from fifty <50 to three
hundred <300* percent. Under Ter
ritorial Laws, if one does mine
and makes a profit above one
thousand dollars <$1,000.00* it is
taxed at four per cent <4% * up to
ten thousand dollars and by pro
gression up to eight percent <8'.' >
for any profit over one hundred
thousand dollars ($100,000.00), in
all fairness and justice, I feel and
0
fit system, and upon competition. To accomplish their
purposes, they have tried to drive a wedge between em
ployers and employees. They have created so much dis
satisfaction that they have jeopardized our productivity.
They have created antagonistic attitudes toward man
agement. They have led many honest but unthinking
people to believe that profits are immoral.
So well have these attackers laid their plans, it is my
firm belief that if we should now be thrown into a na
tional crisis—either another serious war or any consid
erable amount of unemployment for any considerable
length of time—somebody would then be able to run
for President and others for Congress on promises to na
tionalize our industries. These candidates could promise
full employment and high wages and be elected.
In other words, I think that we are just now one na
tional crisis from the socialistic state, from government
al management and operation of American industry, un
less the present psycrology is changed in the meantime.
How shall we get back to sanity We must have a rebirth
of appreciation for these things that make up our Amer
ican heritage. Renewed belief in this heritage, better
understanding of how it works, and energetic citizen
ship will be required. We must have a new American
crusade—FOR AMERICA!
A FOOT IN THE DOOR
■ -- - . - r
'Jj
UCONOMtO
PAOAUY?l$
I I .
-Jl
The Covenant Ladies Aid Soci
ety will meet at the residence of
Rev. Paul Carlson Friday after
noon at 2 o’clock.
Miss Louise Klassen, missionary
; from Golovin will be guest speak
er. Mrs. Carlson states that any
one is welcome to attend.
believe that that is ALL THA1
THE INDUSTRY SHOULD BE
ASKED TO PAY. In mining for
gold one cannot include their taxes
in the price of their product as in
any other mercantile business, so
that Social Security, Unemploy
ment Compensation and wage and
employee insurance, ALL must
come out of any, probable or pos
sible profits, so to add, at this
time a PROPERTY TAX, was ab
solutely unjustifiable. I introduced
an amendment to the act, to ex
empt Gold Mining in the Terri
tory, until either the restrictions
upon the sale of gold was removed
or a subsidy granted, which was
defeated by a vote of ten to six.
In addition I question the legality
of taxing, as property, a mining
right. A contract with the Federal
Government good only as long as
one complies with the contract to
do one hundred dollars worth of
work, on or for the benefit of the
ground held under the right. That
is a question for the Courts to de
cide. I opposed the property tax
itself upon the grounds that the
cost of collection would be all out
of proportion to the amount col
lected and that, at this time, such
a measure was NOT NECESSARY,
T still believe so.
I feel and believe that we are
trying to carry on too big a uro
gram in the Territory that our To
tal industry is in too formative
and restricted condition to justify
all of the various functions, which,
as a Territory, w'e are trying to
operate, in other words, we are
living beyond our means.
One of the most costly features
is in the matching of Federal
Funds. The Federal Government
owns ninety-eight percent <98%)
of the property in Alaska, yet in
some of the matching programs
the Territory is required to put up
thirty-three and one-third percent
(33 1/3%) with Federally appoint
ed officialls to administer the ex
penditures, the Territory having
but little control over their ex
penditure.
If the Territory will divorce it
self from the Federal Government
and carry on in purely Territorial
Functions with our own funds and
in our own way and let the Feder
al Government expend their funds
upon necessary and advisable
Federal function, for the best in
terests of the people of the United
States, in my opinion both parties
to the partnership will benefit
thereby.
I do not believe it the function
of the Legislature to see HOW
MUCH TAXES can be collected,
but how few to carry on the de
sirable and necessary functions of
the Territory in an economical
and efficient manner and with as
little POLITICS as can humanly
be expected.
I have unbounded FAITH in the
Territory, its potentialities and
its possible development. It is a
possession of the People of the
United States of America they arc?
commencing to be aware of its
value and its potential worth to
them, a well thought out Federal
program to help in its development
by the PEOPLF, will return a
thousand fold any such funds ex
pended on the same. ROADS so
that men can get out into the hills
are of crying importance and the
FIRST IMPERATIVE NEED.
Respectfully yours,
CHAS. D. JONES.
9