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. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, November 6, 1946
"The 49th Star
{The Oregon Daily Journal, Portland Ore., Oct. 5, 1946)
John U. Plank, in a letter printed on this page last
Wednesday, asked why Alaska is not utilized as a settle
ment area and home for thousands of displaced persons.
It is a timely question, one related to the movement
for Alaska statehood and, likewise, one that prompts
.scrutiny of government policy as to Alaska.
An answer is to be found in an article by Richard Neu
berger, published first in the Washington Post, and re
printed in the Reader’s Digest for October.
“Among other things,” says this Oregon writer, “the
political sovereignty and economic liberty associated
with American rule are lacking there. Absentee owner
ship of the Territory’s resources and long-range control i
of its government have kept in a virtually primitive
condition one of the naturally richest lands on earth.”
The “fisheries are the most valuable in the world, but
the income from them ends up in pockets outside Alas-;
ka.” As to the operation of the government railroad
from Seward to Fairbanks, “The world’s highest freight
rates prevent much of Alaska’s inestimable wealth from
being shipped beyond its boundaries.”
Yet, “Alaska has the longest coastline of any land in
the world—33,904 miles in all—and choice farm, dairy
and sawmill sites along it.”
There are forests in Alaska, coal, game, minerals, as
well as productive land. The latitude is that of the Scan
dinavian peninsula where, certainly, there is no ques
tion whether people can maintain a foothold on the land.
But, Alaska’s Territorial legislature “cannot control
the Alaska fund in the U. S. treasury. It cannot pass a
law regulating the sale of land in the Territory. It can
not establish courts of any kind. It can pass no loca’
laws. It has no control whatsoever over the fish and
wildlife which constitute Alaska’s principal resources.
And any of its acts can be disapproved by Congress.”
Most closely related to Alaska for administrative mr*
poses is the department of the interior. Coming to Por
land on October 11 is Secretary of the Intel ior J. A.
Krug. To the credit of the aggressive and youthful sec-,
retary be it said that he is seeing for himself the situa- j
tions upon which conclusions may be based. One con-1
elusion to be expected from a mind as fair as his, is that
a 49th star is due on the American Flag—the star of
Alaska statehood.
_
Truman Labor Policy “Inflationary”
i
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The executive council of the American Federation of
Labor should be commended for the restraint and states
manship attitude with which it analyzed the inflation-1
ary pressures underlying wage discussions.
In a report to the 65th convention of the A. F. of L.
the council attempted to provide light, instead of heat, I
to the complex situation, which has resulted in a spiral
race between wages and prices.
It is noteworthy that this older and more stable wingj
of the labor movement sought to divorce itself from the’
tendency by the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Political Action Committee and its allies in the Truman
administration to add to instability through arbitrary1
markups of wage costs and through an epidemic of work
stoppages.
Although it did not refer to the C. I. O. by name, the
council declared “those unions which broke price ceil
ings to get wage increases of 18% cents an hour fol
lowed a short-sighted policy.”
In spelling out precisely what it means the council
added that the administration’s so-called “hold the line”
policy was broken by the steel strike last January, when
steel workers went out in face of a 15 cents an hour in
crease.
“The President settled the steel strike by breaking
the price ceiling of a strategic commodity,” the council
said, referring to the $5 a ton increase in cost of steel.
It added that the resultant wage pattern contingent on
price increases has had “a disastrous effect on the entire
economy,” pointing out further that “it resulted in price
increases throughout industry, which have caused a
rapid increase in the cost of living.”
Prior to the establishment of the new wage pattern,
the council pointed out that the A. F. of L. had had a
policy of limiting wage demands to those that could be
absorbed w.th increases in selling prices. In the last
year, it added, the A. F. of L. had accomplished adjus
ments peaceably with few work stoppages, having ne
gotiated wage increases of between 10 cents and 20
cents an hour for 3 million workers.
Last fall, the council said, A. F. of L. unions limited
demands for wage increases to 5 to 10 cents in order to
stay within price ceilings, and in 1946 negotiated add.
tional increases after reconversion had been accom
plished.
But the council concluded that the unstabling wagf
policy of other unions, aided and abetted by the Truman
administration, had resulted in a sharp rise in the cost
of living, which seriously threatens the ability of work
ers to absorb goods produced at current costs.
Recently, it should be noted that the A. F. of L. itsel
further broke the revised wage stabilization line in the
maritime strike.
In addition to the political policy of appeasing pres
sure groups, to which the A. F. of L. refers, the Truman
administration also contributed to inflationary pres
sures by continuing federal spending on the highes4
non-war plateau in the history of the country.
Moreover, the administration further inflates the cur
rency by adhering to the Keynesian cheap money stim
ulants, which are conspicuously ill-adapted to the cur
rent abnormal financial situation.
Labor leaders have a magnificent opportunity
achieve corrective measures by joining other economO
groups in insisting that squandermania at Washing
and all the concurrent monetary manipulation, be fcr
with discontinued.
Once this is done, progress will be made in deal "
with the subtle underlying economic causes of labor un
rest in a period of high employment.
" GEORGE 1 BENI
| PmideHt—Mtritaf A
I Jritmtrn
--
YOUNG? ECONOMIST
I met a young economis
England. His thinking rev
that he would like to see the
plete crumbling of the preser,
der and the ultimate nation^
tion of all England. His discu
showed too that he would
I oughly relish failure of “the
j italistic order” in America, v
he boldly predicted would si
come within a few years.
Notable thing about this y
man is that he is very influe
in the Labor government. He
ed freely and with spirit, anc
enthusiasm he exhibited si
conclusively which school
thought in England is on the
fensive. It is unfortunate v
truth and right are no longei
the crusade, but instead mus
called to the defensive.
Influence of Youth •
I asked this young econo
the secret of the growth of the
c alist party in the United K
dom. Displaying political acu
which is engendered only fro
thorough understanding of res
and a knowledge of facts,
economist said that victory in
last election in close districts c
because of the vote of the yo
people.
“In fact, the percentage
young people who voted the
cialist ticket was greater than
percentage of older people in
ranks of Labor,” he told me, a
ng a fact I knew already: tha^
growth of Socialism has b
more rapid among young pec
and among skilled workers. '
influence of higher education,
stoutly affirmed, was a defii
factor in the spread of Social:
throughout the Kingdom.
I did not encourage him in t
regard aibout America, but
oarallel was clear. I found mys
"'istvng that our own high schc
and colleges were doing a b$t
;ob of building into the very fil
of American youth a deep app
ciation for the fundamental pr
":nles of our American way
hfe, lest our youth someday lc
‘his nation down the same unf
‘'mate road. Strange irony it
‘hat wealth created by hon
M,o~V is used in the form of ta>
and n grants as means to destr
the philosophy which begot i
f eedom and our wealth. Sm
uronder that this young econom
declared the voting age must
ir>we-ed nuickly, a step whi
would insure the continued si
""s'' of Socialism in Britain.
Competition Needed
Even the government officiE
i London do not seem quite su
'’t *he principle of national
tion is sound. Some uncertain
’v!stst for they are already detec
: ,rr basic weaknesses. During tl
',roev of July 15 a London new
”-*er ouoted the London Coun
'rncil as saying that the Londc
Transport (a government mono]
■'ly operating street-cars and bu
' needed competition. In tl
week another writer state
' ':n;on that the British Broac
"Tsting Corporation, the wea1!
^''•ses of wh:ch were at that tim
”^er fire in Parliament, ne«4|
^ competition of other broac
casting companies in England.
failure of the private enterpris
system in America, our youn
—onomist said, would soon com