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 $18.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Friday, October 24,1947
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Out-Maneuvered
(By Palmer Hoyt)
BY RULING that individual unions may qualify to
use the bargaining representation and grievance pro
cedures of the national labor relations board .even
though top officials of the AFL and the CIO fail to file
anti-Communist affidavits, the NLRB pulled the rug
out from under John L. Lewis.
Lewis, who sees the Taft-Hartley law as a threat to
the czaristic dominion he has created in the mine work
ers union,"is determined, with typical disrepect for due :
processes of our governmental system, to make the law
unworkable if he possibly can.
Lewis alone of all the top AFL officials refused re
cently to agree to the filing of affidavits which would
have made all individual unions of the organization eli
gible to use NLRB facilities as soon as officers of the in
dividual unions made their own required filings.
Now the NLRB has ruled that affidavits of AFL un
ions which may want to qualify with the NLRB, has
been neatly sidestepped.
The anti-Communist section of the Taft-Hartley act
is of doubtful legality at best, but if it is to be fought—
by Lewis or anyone else—the proper place is in the
courts. If individual unions prefer to abide by the pro
vision rather than go to court, they certainly have the
right to do so and John L. Lewis, who seems to feed on
the meat of Caesars, should not be allowed to stop them, i
Putting Some Sense In Alaskan Defense
(The Denver Post)
A NEWS RELEASE from Washington states that Lt.
Gen. Nathan F. Twining has been named over-all com
mander of American military forces in Alaska. On the
face of such information there is little to cause a stir
among readers—except for the one word “over-all.”
The announcement means that, for the first time,
* Alaska will have a unified military command, one man
to control activities of air, ground and sea forces. That
should result in:
1— Greater efficiency in every phase of military ac
tivity.
2— A substantial saving of taxpayers’ money.
3— And, most important, the setting up of an effective
line of northern defense.
During the war, conditions in the Alaskan theater
often resembled a three-ring circus. The naval com
mander wanted to “do it this way,” the ground forces
commander wouldn’t agree and the air forces’ top man
had a third idea. Result—three loggerhead program to
accomplish one objective, and at a tremendous increase
in cost.
On one occasion, an army commander wanted to
move some of his troops from one island to another. He
conferred with the naval head. Plans were made to be
gin the transfer on a specific date. At the last minute
the naval chief decided to move his transport equipment
to another field of operations. The ground troops were
left stranded. Through a forest of military red tape,
which stretched all the way to Washington, the troops,
eventually, were moved. The delay was costly, both in
money and morale. And it was uncalled for.
In other instances the air forces and ground troops
were to blame. As long as the various commands were
to blame. As long as the various commands were equal
and divided there was no hope for full co-operation.
Tradition of pride in each outfit was too great.
But a supreme commander can put a stop to all that
nonsense. And the record of General Twining indicates
« A 1 «« r»4- it. A A A C AA** tf»U A 1 1 AAA 4 a ? 4 A Ta A 4 «««%«
CROSSED F
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fication is given every chance to succeed in his theater.
General Twining will make his headquarters at An
chorage, where Alaskan defense headquarters was set
up for wartime operations. Naval headquarters, at Ko
diak, at the head of the Aleutian chain, will be main
tained but under the supreme command of the air forces
three-star general.
For months’now, units of the famed B-29 Superforts,
and other outfits, have moved in relays to Alaska.
Ground forces, too, have trained, in “Operation Willi
waw’ and other maneuvers. But it is the air forces’ pro
gram which is getting the most attention from Wash
ington.
Washington could have designated a ground forces
general or an admiral as supreme Alaskan commander.
Instead, an AAF man was named. The significance is
that obvious. The air arm is the first line of defense
today, just as was the navy in the centuries before.
With too little money and too few men, the air forces,
backed up by the ground troops and navy, is preparing
this nation’s northern line of defense.
Why Stalin Fears Marshall Plan
*
(Rocky Mountain News)
STALIN HAS CLARIFIED the issue of American aid
to Europe. He fears the Marshall Plan so much that he
not only boycotted it but brought his revised Comin
tern out in the open to sabotage it.
He is accurate in judging the Marshall Plan the best
barrier againts Soviet control of Western Europe. He
knows hunger and chaos are his essential allies. He
knows that a recovering Europe will never go Red. And
he knows that Europe is so far down that she cannot re
cover without American food, fuel and machinery to
help her help herself.
There are two smart propaganda methods to prevent
such American aid. Stalin is to frighten Americans into
thinking that help will be futile—that Europe is going
Red, anyway. The other is aimed to convince Europeans
that American aid means enslavement to “Yankee cap
italism.”
These Communist lies about alleged American con
trol of Europe through dollars and food are making
some headway, and for that reason our government by
its acts and words should be careful to keep the record
straight.
On the record, the United States is not trying to im
pose its form of government on any other nation. It is
not interfering in the internal affairs of others. It is de
fending the right of others to self-government.
The obvious proof that we are not trying to impose
our system is the aid we have given the Socialist gov
ernments of Britain and France.
This infuriates Stalin. In his new Comintern propa
ganda he classes the Socialist leaders of Britain and
France with American capitalism. And he is accurate
at least in that, because the issue is not capitalism ver
sus Socialism, but the right of each country to a free
, This right we accord to Com
munism no less than to Socialism.
If we were trying to overthrow
Communism in Russia, we would
not have recognized the Soviet
government years ago and we
would not have helped it since. In
our book, any nation has as much
right to go Communist as capital
ist, provided that is the free will
of the majority—something that
c:o not happen in Russia, where a
small minority seized power, and
has not happened in any other
1 country.
While we do not oppose Com
munism as such, for those who
want it, we do oppose Commun
ims penetration and aggression.
On that specific condition we rec
ognized the Soviet government,
which gave its pledge not to in
terfere in our country. Stalin has
oroken this pledge here and in
every country where his agents
operate. In weak countries close
to Russia, he violates this pledge
by military aggression as well as
through Fifth Columns.
American policy from the be
ginning has been based on the as
sumption that the American sys
tem and Russian Communism
could both exist in the world
peacefully.
The only American “interfer
ense” in the internal affairs of
others is in protection of those ma
jority rights to which Stalin ’s
pledged, but which he destroys.
We insist that American relief
shall not be used for partisan pur
poses, as the dictators use it. We
insist that reconstruction funds be
used for the agreed purpose, not
1 wasted by corrupt, or inefficient
officials.
| That is not enslavement, but
liberation—a brand of help with
which the Commies cannot com
pete. No wonder Stalin fears it.
r LOOKING
I AHEAD
f n GEORGE & BENSON
k President—Msrdlnf Mbft
A Sea ref. Arkansas .
ON WAITING FOR GEORGE
My name happens to be George.
But today I would like to use these
paragraphs in presenting the
thoughts of a friends of mine*
named James, who writes about
another George: the George that
everybody waits for. Our guest
writer is Dr. James W. Fifield, Jr.,
a minister on the West Coast. An
inspirational religious leader for
many years. Dr. Fifield is also a
leader in his community’s civic
life.
The important thing to mention
now is that Dr. Fifield is a careful
observer of trends. An active con
tributor to religious journals and
radio programs, he knows also
how to express his ideas.
"Who Is George?"
“Most everyone I know thinks
the world is in a mess. They think
that trends in our country are
wrong, that we are threatened with
dark days unless trends are chang
ed, but they are waiting for
George to change them.
“Recently I spoke to a gathering
of educational administrators. As
I visited with different ones, I
found them greatly concerned.
They feel there is more frustra
tion and anxiety now than at any
time during the war. They recog
nize that education has helped cre
ate the problem which presently
exists, but they are waiting for
George to remedy it.
“At a conference of business ex
ecutives recently there was dis
cussion concerning relations with
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