THE NOME NlfGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by Tbs
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Hem*. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. o. Box 618
$1.80 PER MOMTH >16410 A YEAH
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943* «t
a* Nome> Alaska, under the Act -of
march 3, 1879. *
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_Monjay, July 30,1945
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REINDEER BUSINESS
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There seems to be a new deal on in the
reindeer business in the North Country.
The Reindeer Service has announced
that the whole Selawik herd has been
loaned to a private manager, Charlie
Smith. Previously many herd owners
were combined in the Selawik Company
and the responsibility rested lightly on
the stockholders, thus letting the herds
do practically as they chose, and to graze
wherever the spirit moved.
This new diversion from the regular
mismanagement of the reindeer may
prove to be the opportunity for which
the reindeer business in Alaska has been
waiting.
The Reindeer Service is initiating a
plan to turn over all of the reindeer to
private ownership or management as the
case may be, and the manager with his
helpers will obtain income from the
business.
It seems that there will be a probation
period during which the manager will
have undisturbed supervision of the
herd and must repay the full amount of
the “loan” in four years.
This, is would seem, is a good way for |
private management of the herds to
show just what advantages the plan
holds over the so-called concerted effort
through “associaitons.”
This creation of reindeer businesses
should benefit the herein greatly, and be
come profitable enterprises for all con
cerned.
FISH SURVEY
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The Fish and Wildltfe Service, in co
operation with the Alaska Planning
Board, and the NWA Chamber of Com
merce, is planning, in the immediate
future, to make an extensive study of
fish in the Bering Sea area.
The Chamber has been asked to make
the necessary arrangements for trans
portation to and from the various loca
tions and to assist in the plan of the sur
vey.
Residents of Alaska, who have lived
along the shores of Bering Sea, know
that fishing commercially can, and will
be, a successful business, and can bring
new business to the Nome area.
To be certain of the latter, Nome must
be on the alert and beg or borrow any
assistance necessary to make it come
true.
Our harbor must be improved. We
must have a harbor for the boats en
gaged in fishing in order to both aid the
fishing industry and to /benefit Nome.
The fellow who watches the clock does
not have to worry about the future—he
doesn’t have one.
DROWNING mam I6M0RCS STRAW
. UNCONDITIONAL
V*«R«NDW
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UPHOLD WAGES
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Everybody who rs willing and
able to work is working hardeir
^hese days; moving faster during
regular hours and putting in over
time. Pressure of war, shortage of
workers and prevailing high
wages are the cause. A larger
personal income, beneficial to all!
classes, is one of the direct re-1
suits. We would all like to carry!
fhis feature over into the post
war years. i
Philip Murray of the CIO had
the right idea when he went to
President Truman a few weeks
ago and asked for a 20% increase
in basic wage rates. Average
wages in the United States at that
time were $1.04 an hour. This
may seem high enough but it can’t
last. As soon as tfe war is over,
labor’s income will decline some,
in spite of everything that can be
done about it.
Loss** ot Labor
Bonuses will disappear when
he pressure of government con
tracts is removed. Working weeks
will be shorter. Overtime will
shrink to the vanishing point. Be
sides, high-wage munition factor
ies will close down and their em
ployees will take work where
wages are lower, some on farms.
If the basic wage scale is not
higher when war ends, labor’s in
come will suffer too much.
Farmers have hard times when
f.iclory workers do. The wage
earner’s dinner table is the farm
er’s market, so nobody is more in
terested in high wages in factories
thsn the farmers themselves. Ag
riculture and labor, both big seg
ments of Americans, are right be
hind Mr. Murray for good wages
immediately after the war be
cause prosperity for many years
will depend on it.
Bug in lha Lotion
The only disappointing detail in
connection with the CIO’s cam-j
paign for post-war prosperity is'
this: Mr. Murray’s first move was
an effort to make high wages
legal rather than to make them
possible. Lawgivers have been
trying for centuries to make peo
ple pay what they didn’t have. It
can’t be doi'C. It makes no differ
ence what ‘he wage scale is if
the employer can’t meet it.
A high basic wage scale record
ed upon the ponderous pages of
federal statute books will not buy
milk for any working man’s baby.
Folding money in the pay envel
ope, however, will do the trick.
Any employer will put cash in his
workers’ hands, in steadily in
creasing quantities, so long as he
can still show a profit on the
products that his organization
ships out from his factory.
Congrats Has Kay
There is a happy solution to
this wage problem. If plant own
ers can be enabled to ins‘all new,
modern equipment as needed, fac
tory output per man-hour will in
crease stead ly This justifies ber
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Grandmother Goes to Wi
—Serves In SPARS
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Many a OT !s worrying abc
wha* to tell his grandchildren
did in World War II. but it’s
problem for Coast Guard SPj
Adelaide E. Miller.
SPAR Miller became a grai
mother last June, at the age of
-wrbren Jst (sdry, Patrick Harold, \
born to bet; 19-year-old da ugh1
Gladys AJ Newell wife : of
Howard Newell,. who is on di
with the Army Air Corps in Ej
land. Before she joined the SPA
in October, 1943 she whs sec
tary and assistant in" the office
a Portland physician. Her first
signment was 6 months’ duty
the U. S. Coast Guard Acade
at New London, Conn., wh
| SPAR officers are indoctrinate
BERING SEA FISH
SURVEY COMMITTEE
| HOLDS MEETING
President Dudley Warner,
instructions received at the
meeting of the Northwej
Alaska Chamber of Comme
appoined G. R. Jackson, Carl
men and A. Polet as the Be:
Sea Fish Survey Committee,
committee met last Satur
morning in the offices of the
ers & Merchants Bank and it
plans to receive and entertain
experts that are due to arrivi
the near future.
The committee is anxious
meet citizens who have kn<
| edge of our fisheries, in orde
j assemble all available data
' present to them.
[ We all have heard that sain
crab, shrimp, codfish, bali
and all varieties of flat
abound in Bering Sea waters,
where and in what quantitie
not definitely known. It is he
that everyone will take a 1
time to recollect what he or
knows and write it or- speak to
committee.
Army Can Say
Which Japs May
Return To Coast
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30
—The Army reiterated that
Western Defense Command
the sole responsibility of d<
mining which persons of Jap
cestry may or may not retur
the Pacific Coast.
Maj. Gen. H. C. Pratt, hea
the Command issued a stater
to clarify what he called an
roneous impression” that i
people have emphasized
WRA has no authority in the i
ter. “I am governed solely
military considerations,” he
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ter wages without raising pi
and this is the combination
makes qu.ck markets afid i
perity. Problem: Will Congres
industry buy new machinery
Still in torce in America
ov.r war-time tax laws, ta
over 90% of corporation earn
Tney make profits in^^us
thin and uninteresting^to in
ors; increased Pr<*l^Etion ne
impossible. Congress\^lds
key. Plenty of good jobsSfei
pay can develop after the
•<cv.’ tax laws are prepared
and announced- now to take a
the day Japan surrenders.