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 $16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffict
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879. %
Friday, May 21, 1948.
50 YEARS OF CUBAN FREEDOM
(New York Times)
Fifty years ago Cuba won her freedom and be
came a sovereign state. The event marked a change
is the tide of history. It broke the last grip of Spain
on the Americas. It also signified the armed and
active entry of the United States into the march
of human freedom not only in this hemisphere but
throughout the world .In two great wars since then
we have justified our chosen course by victory on
the battlefield. It was therefore fitting for President
Truman, addressing a joint session of Congress, to
commemmorate this liberation.
For half a century now the peoples of Cuba and
the United States have lived in close friendship.
Shielded by American might, trade has expanded,
travel has spread and, despite all differences of
language and culture, mutual understanding has
steadily developed. The President did not fail to
point out that such a harmonious relationship offers
an example to other nations.
Great events and mighty figures of the past rose
to color Mr. Truman's address—the sinking of the
Maine in Havana harbor, the union of the Cuban
patriots with our army, the charge up Sas Juan
Hill, Jose Marti, Gomes, Maceo, Garcia and Shafter, j
Theodore Roosevelt, Schley and Samson. After the
conflict our aid to Cuba did not cease. We helped
her repair the ravages of war. The services of Gen
eral Wood, General Gorgas and Dr. Walter Reed
are a vivid chapter of Cuban history. Ever since
then the principles of equality and justice have
drawn the two natioss together in ever-closer friend
ship.
MR. WRONG IS RIGHT !
THE CANADIAN AMBASSADOR* to the Unitedj
States, Humphrey Hume Wrong, in discussing the!
problems of the United Nations, says that "the use
of the veto is a symptom, not a cause, of that pro-1
found division of our single world which baffles the
statesmen, the diplomats, the publicists and the or-*!
dinary man in the street."
This is a very sensible observation, reflecting the
truth. The Ambassador said that Canada was op
posed to the veto when it began, but accepted it as
the necessery price for agreement. Now, he says,
his country hopes for a change and, in the mean
time would welcome '‘some agreement between
the powers having the veto, which would limit the
occasioss on which 'the unanimity of great powers'
must be secured before a decision can be reached."
The Ambassador points out that "almost any con
stitution, good or bad, national or international, can
be made to work if there is the will to work it."
BABY REGISTRATION
(Washington Post)
It can scarcely be doubted that a goodly number
of Americans shared at first glance the antipathy
expressed by J. C. Capt, director of the Bureau of
Census, to the idea of giving every infant a serial
number at birth to identify him throughout his life.
Registration is the preamble to regimentation. There
is in this somewhat the taint of the total state. Be
sides ,this seeming reduction of the individual to an
THINKING IT OVER
integer goes against the grain of a people proud of
their resistance to uniformity. Presumably this was
what Mr, Capt meant, when the project of a "Book
of Life" was first broached to him some years ago,
to reject it out of hand as "hardly in keeping with
our manner of life in the United States."
But a second glance puts the matter in a more
favorable light. All of us, or nearly all, are regis
tered at birth anyhow. The only difference between
the present practice and the plan which the fed
eral security agency has now adopted is that in
the one case registration is entirely on a local basis;
in the other it is done nationally. And, after all,
we've become used to being identified by digits.
About 15 million Americans received serial numbers
and dog tags when they entered the armed forces
during the great war. Social security has numbered
most of the country's wage earners.
The process cannot reasonably be said to entail
any humiliation or degradation—or even any dimi
nution of the status of the individual personality. Its
justification lies in its common sense, an attribute
also traditionally appealing to Americans. To coor
dinate and systematize the numbering which has
long been an accepted part of our lives will be mere
ly to do well what has been done haphazardly,
merely to make easy an identification which has
hitherto been uscertain. The only real and serious
defect to be discerned in the scheme is that the
method of enumeration chosen by the FSA will in
escapably reveal the age of every man—and wo
man—to be born in the United States from now on.
UNITED EUROPE TO REBUILD ECONOMY
(The Manchester Guardian)
.... Mr. Truman was not speaking with im
proper arrogance when he called the measure "per
haps the greatest venture in constructive statesman
ship that any nation has ever taken".The
essence of Mr. Mars^a^s 9reat conception pro
claimed last June was that the united effort of the
natioss of Europe to rebuild their broken economies
with each other's help would call forth a generous
Response from the United States. The sixteen na
tions have begun that task at Paris, and the Am
erican people has magnificently ekpressed its con
fidence in them to carry it through.
I
But by and large they have voted for the Plan
{because they knew that the American people was
behind them .... The United States has risen to
| the occasion. It is now for the nations of Western
Europe to do no less."
LOMEN REPORT
ON SEAWALL
Washington, D. C.
May 13, 1948.
Nome Common Council,
Nome, Alaska.
Gentlemen:
This has proven to be a mosi
surprising week. Senate bill S.
1025 was on the canendar for
passage on Monday last. I was
in the gallery and after the bill
was called on the calendar, soon
realized that there was something
wrong. I saw one ot my friends
go over to Senator Malone’s desk
alter which the Senator went over
to 4he Democratic side of the
Senate.
It took me a couple of Hours
before I could call Senator Mai
on 3 from the floor and he then
told me that Senator McMahon
had asked that the b ll go over
at the request of Oscar Chapman,
under secretary of the interior.
This was most amazing, for I
held in my file copy of a' letter
which Mr. Chapman had ad
dressed to Senator Revercomb,
Chairman of Public Works Com
mittee of the Senate, in which
these statements were made:
massage ox inis measure is in
the national interest."
"I reiterate my strong support
of this bill and urge favorable
action by the Congress."
As soon sa I learned what the
trouble was, I got busy and called
on many friends of the bill in
cluding our delegate, Bob Bart
lett, and also called Joe F’akne,
Chief of the Alaska Branch, Div
ision of Territories of Interior.
Yesterday morning Mr. Flakne,
Mr. Evans, Director of Territor
ies, and myself had a long visit
with under secretary Chapman
Some peculiar stories were giv
en out, among others that the sea
wall at Nome was simply an ex
cuse for building a dock for the
Alaska Steamship Company. It
shouldn’t have taken much effort
to determine that that was not
a correct condition.
Mr. Chapman has now correCI
ed the difficulty in the Senate by
telephoning th^ leadership but we
have lost another week as the
calendar will not be called again
until next Monday. I am very
certain now that the bill will pass
the Senate.
Today I have devoted my time
to the House side of the Congress.
I saw Mr. Dondero, Chairman of
the Rules Committee, and was
told that he has made a request
of the Rules Committee for a
ruling. This normally is a diffi
cult matter as the Rules Com
mittee do not willingly give out
a ruling. I asked Mr. Dondero
what I could do and he suggested
I secure such support for him as
was possible in urging a ruling
from the Committee.
Nome has some very good
friends in the House and I called
I on most of them this morning,
including Mr. Angell of Oregon,
Chairman of* the Sub-committee
of Rivers and Harbors, Mr. Wood
ruff of Michigan, Mr. Crawford
of Michigan, Harold Knudsen of
Minnesota, Scott of Pennsylvania,
Jenison of Illinois, Leonard Hall
of New York, Harless of Arizona,
Bender of Ohio, Muhlenberg of
Pennsylvania, and Engel of Michi
gan who is Chairman of the Sub
committee of Appropriations for
the War Department and who will
be one of the key men when the
appropriation is requested.
We are fortunate in that Craw
ford, Angell, Scott, Jenison, Hall