THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .Editors
$1.50 PER MONTH 516.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice1
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
(Monday, August 16, 1948)
' ’
THE INFLATION ISSUE GOES TO THE PEOPLE
I
(The Denver Post)
Most of President Truman’s omnibus anti-inflation
program died. It is just as well it did. There is more
than a suspicion that the program was drafted largely
for the purpose of giving the President verbal ammu
nition for his fall campaign. No one would have been
more surprised than he if his request for unprecedented
peacetime economic powers had been granted in toto.
There is little reason to believe his proposal to re-|
store the excess profits tax would have proved anti-in
flationary. It is doubtful that the President would have;
dared to use wage control authority even if it had been
granted him.
His suggestions for stronger controls on speculation
and rents would have proved to be but mildly pallia
tive at best. Congress knows, of course, that high prices
annot be cured by putting ceilings on a few basic con
sumers’ items, which is what the President appeared to
have in mind when he proposed a partial restoration of
the OPA ceiling price system.
High prices are due fundamentally to the fact that
too much money and too few goods are available in the
country. The only parts of the President’s program
which Congress enacted, therefore, were two proposals
dealing directly with money supply and buying power.
One restored wartime restrictions on installment buy
ing. The other called for tightening of bank credits.
The President, by declaring an emergency, could re
store installment credit controls at any time. Congress,
however, voted to grant the President’s request for
Congressional action to restore the controls.
Just how effective installment credit control will
prove to be as a means of holding down inflation re
mains to be seen. The total of installment credit out
standing in the country is approximately 7 billion dol
lars. The increase has been less than a billion dollars so
far this year and approximately 3 billion dollars since
January 1, 1947.
In our milti-billion-dollar economy, installment cred
it does not appear to be playing a particularly inflation
ary part as yet, although installment buying conceiv
ably could get out of hand in a relatively short time if
the present retail picture should change materially.
Early last winter, Marriner S. Eccles, then chairman
of the federal reserve board, was a voice crying in the
wilderness for controls on bank credits. Because he has
been demoted on the board, it may be some satisfaction
to him to have President Truman now call for such
controls and have Congress enact them.
All in all, neither side in the flation fight covered it
self with glory. The President proposed a lot of curbs
which could not have worked and which he did not
seriously expect Congress to grant.
Congress picked out for enactment the few curbs
which might prove to be really effective, but so weak
ened those controls that prices probably will keep right
on going up although the rate of increase may be re
tarded somewhat.
Anyhow, the special session succeeded, as the Presi
dent undoubtedly planned, in drawing up the battle
lines for the fall election campaign. The people will be
the final judges.
“CHARITY NEVER FAILETH”
(Christian Sciene Monitor)
Private Americans are sending fewer packages of
food and clothing to Europe this year than last. The in
formation comes from the executive diretor of CARE
(Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe),
WE CAN *ET USED TO MOST ANYTHIN*
who holds that the decrease results from a mistaken
belief that “the Marshall Plan solves the problem.
Americans tend to think that if you pass a law, it
solves everything, he declares, and adds: “Well, we
passed a law, but it hasn’t solved everything.”
This is not, of course, an argument against the ne
cessity for ERP. It is a reminder that acute needs for
private relief persist until the recovery to which it is
hoped ERP will make a major contribution takes place.
Meanwhile, the contributions of individuals and pri
vate relief organizations can hardly be overvalued.
Writing in the United Nations World, LouisOvivet,
its International Editor, declares: “For the United
States, Europeans feel an admiration and gratitude
mixed with envy, distruct, and fear.”
The warmest gratitude, he explains and any Euro
pean observer can corroborate, is felt especially for the
millions of gifts sent by private American citizens. The
lingering distrust rests on fears of American expansion*
of American support of rightist regimes, of an Ameri
can-Soviet war.
Here, then, is a chance for private action to help up
root such distrust by giving continued evidence of the
disinterested generosity of American motives.
OOPS! HE DID IT AGAIN
, (By Lawrence Martin)
President Truman’s wise-cracking dismissal of the
Communist spy investigation as a “red herring” is an
other one for the book. It will join the long list of his off
hand remarks which now look foolish on the record.
The President has a very facile ability to coin phrases
of the wish-I-hadn’t-said-that variety, and his derision
of the Communist expose is one of the choicest.
Mr. Truman points out that the Congressional inqui
ry has not brought out anything which the FBI had not
already known and that the evidence is not sufficient to
bring crimnal charges aganst those accused. This is pos
sibly true. But that is not the point.
Whether or not the evidence produced is adequate for
indictments, it is nonetheless substantial. It is a start
ling index of the extent to which Communists and their
cpmoathizers had penetrated high government offices.
There is no denving that the Republicans are getting
a Cheshire cat grin of political satisfaction out of Ihe
orobe. It is good campaign material. And it does offer a
welcome diversion from the embarrassing spot on
which the President had placed the G. O. P. with his de
mand for an anti-inflation program. #
But by lightly and laughingly dismissing the evidence
of Communists in government, the President has walk
ed right into the Republican sack. Henceforth, as evi
dence of Communist infiltration of Washington devel
ops, the Republicans will be able to point at the Man
Who Laughed. And they can ask this question: Can such
a man be trusted to clean the Reds out of government?
It was too smart, Mr. President.
Form Governor’s
Advisory Board
Formation of a Governor’s Ad
visory Board to act with respect
to application for executive clem
ency has been announced. Mem
bers appointed by the Governor
are: The Attorney General of
Alaska, Ralph J. Rivers, Mr. John
F_ Mullen, and Mrs. Mildred R.
Hermann.
A year ago the pardon power of
the Governor of Alaska was ex
tended by Congress in the follow
ing language: “He may grant par
dons and reprieves and remit
j fines and forfeitures for offenses
against the laws of the said Ter
, ritory and reprieves for all of
fenses against the laws of the
United States until the decision of
the President thereon shall be
I made known.”
; Since extension of the Govern
: or’s pardon power it has been ex
ercised in behalf of but one ap
plicant, Miguel D. Zamora, whose
sentence was commuted in De
cember of 1947 to time then
served. However, some forty oth
ers have since sought executive
i clemency, an investigative load
too large for continued individ
ual attention.
- %
Army Plans New
Rating System
Another step in the U. S.
Army’s program to make it easier
for enlisted men to rise through
the ranks has been announced by
the Department of the Army. It
consists of a new rating system in
which non-commissioned officers,
for the first time, will officially
evaluate the work of the men who
serve under them.
In the past, efficiency reports
for enlisted men have been made
by officers only, and have con
sisted of one-word ratings rang
ing from “unsatisfactory” to “ex
cellent.” The new system pro
vides for detailed evaluations of
a man’s technical skill, leadership
abiltiy. and similar qualities.
These reports will be made by
the direct superior of the man
concerned, and in most cases this
*
superior will be a non-commis
sioned officer. The next higher
superior, usually an officer or
warrant officer, will check the
rating and also indicate his own
evaluation.
i Under the new system, a sol
dier’s efficiency rating will direct
ly affect his chances for promo-*
tion, advancement to a more re
sponsible job, or assignment to
specialized training,
i Efficiency reports will be made
for all enlisted men above the
grade of Private.
I
I In all fairness, the three rail
road brotherhoods which are
challenging the constitutionality
of the federal court injunction
restraining them from striking
should have government co-oper
ation in getting that case before
the United States supreme court.
In fact, the administration should
be as eager as the unions to have
a clean-cut decision on this ques
tion. But government attorneys,
in moving to have the injunction
dissolved, seem to be trying to
block a supreme court ruling.
STOCKHOLM (^P)—The Egyp
tian government notified Count
Folke Bernadotte Saturday that it
had rejected Israel’s proposal for
direct Palestine peace talks be
tween the Arabs and Jews.