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
S1.S0 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of ^larch 3, 1879.
Friday, August 13, 1948
STUDENT MISSIONARIES
Mutual understanding is a two-way ocean. That is
why it is as important that European students are visit-1
ing in the United States this summer as it is that Ameri
can students are again landing in Europe.
Both hosts and visitors will do well to look beyond
superficial appearancse.
The 73 foreign graduate students from 17 nations
currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (
will learn, it may be hoped, more than the United |
States’ latest technical advances. Some of them come
from “iron curtain” areas. As valuable as any technical
information they might take home with them in Sep
tember would be the conviction that, behind the glitter
and dazzle, the United States is as willing to cooperate
for peace as to fight for it.
The 300-odd American graduate students and teach
ers woh are participating in a two-month University of
Vermont tour of “the Marshall Plan in action” will have
opportunities both as students and as missionaries.
Sharing the same food, housing, and general living
conditions as the men and women of the ERP countries
for two months will not in itself ensure deeper under
standing of European problems. But it should help.
Their intelligent interest could do much to encourage
Europeans to realize that Americans have a genuine
conern for their problems.
Although these exchanges represent only a micro
scopic proportion of the total populations involved, they
nevertheless indicate a flowing of interest across oceans
that adds to the understanding between nations.
WANTED: MORE ERP DRIVE
(By Jack Foster)
Administrator Paul Hoffman at the Paris conference
is reminding Marshall Plan governments of some of the
facts of life. If they don’t keep their part of the bar
gain, the flow of dollars from America eventually will
be shut off. The warning is needed:
To say that Mr. Hoffman is getting tough with them
would miss the point. On the contrary, he is most sym
pathetic. He is merely being fair to all concerned in
pointing out, while there is yet time, that the Marshall
Plan in letter and spirit is a program of self-help.
Unless they can make the dollars multiply in their
own economy, lubricating their stalled machinery for'
much bigger production and wider trade, the whole
thing will be a flop. This requires courage, initiative,
and skill too often lacking in the past. Above all, it
means vaulting national barriers, which cramp the
minds and impoverish the business life of separate
countries, to achieve a European economy.
Just as the individual 48 states of our American
union could not survive, much less prosper, if cut off
from each other, so European recovery depends on
rapid development of interstate operations.
One of the worst difficulties, of course, is the cur
rency chaos. Barter is not elastic enough for multiple
foreign trade. Until currencies can be stabilized and
monetary exchange ratios fixed in some relationship to
international purchasing power, the Western European
nations will continue to seek American supplies and
markets while ignoring those nearer home.
Far too much is being drained from America which
should be produced and exchnaged for mutual profit
KEEPS SETTING HOTTER |
v.
WORUDPjj^*
among European buyers and sellers themselves.
Granted that customs unions cannot be created in a
day, or erratic money rates brought into line over
night, the Western Europeans must start in that direc
tion soon if they are ever to arrive.
Even if they do their part fully, there will be two
problems beyond their control. One if the East-West
split, which severs one part of inter-dependent Europe
from the other. The other is American price inflation,
which is cutting the purchasing power of Marshall Plan
appropriations.
But these obstacles to full European recovery, which
America is trying to overcome, make it all the more im
perative that the Marshall Plan nations get on with
their part of the job as quickly as possible.
WHEN IS A FACT?
(Christian Science Monitor)
In the old days when tariff schedules were put to
gether by a friendly legislative game known as log-roll
ing, tsatistics were tossed hitehr and yon with delight
ful disregard of their authenticity. Times apparently
haven’t changed where the tariff is an issue.
During the debate in Congress certain Republicans
asserted that their refusal to extend unchanged the Re
ciprocal Trade Agreements Act was “a necessary un
dertaking to rescue American labor from the competi
tion of pauper labor in other lands.” To which Repre
sentative Harold Knutson added the statistical bit that
already ”6,000 shoe workers at Lynn, Mass., were out of
work, and that another 30,000 soon would be “walking
the streets.”
To a reader of a newspaper in Montana, who had just
paid $15 for a pair of shoes which not long ago were
$8.50, this didn’t make sense. He wrote and asked for
i the facts.
This is what an investigation on the ground turned
up about the situation as of a few days ago:
There were only some 3,200 employed in the shoe
factories of Lynn during 1947. (Obviously, double that
number couldn’t be unemployed now).
Out of 50,000 workers in all Massachusetts, 6,000 were
working part time; about 2,000 were unemployed.
The causes of the lay-offs? Industry representatives
ascribed them to (1) high labor costs on cheaper wo
men’s shoes. (2) competition from shoe manufacturers
in other states, (3) the usual annual slack season.
On the basis of this picture about all we can see for
Mr. Knutson and his associates to do about Lynn’s
ghostly unemployed when Congress meets again is to
(1) reduce by law the wages of Massachusetts shoe
workers, or (2) set up a system of protective tariffs
within the United States so that the “pauper labor” of,
say, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Hampshire caYi’t
undercut the price of Massachusetts shoes.
Territorial Tax
payers Association
Establishment of the Territori
al Taxpayers Association, an or
ganization formed to study Alas- *
ka’s basic tax structure and to
foster legislation designed to at
tract new industry to Alaska, was
announced by W. C. Stump,
Ketchikan, attorney.
The group is Territorial wide
and the following well-known
Alaskans are serving as the first
board of directors:
Z. L. Loussac, mayor of An
chorage; Dan Lhamon, Fairbanks;
Henry Hogue, Juneau; Theodore
Kettleson, Sitka; Emery F. To
bin, editor and publisher of the
Alaska Sportsman, Ketchikan.
W. C. Stump will act as execu
tive secretary.
“As permanent residents of the
Territory, we are vitally concern
ed about the taxation base.”
Stump said. “No one wants to pay
more taxes but we recognize that *
the present needs of the Territory
require more funds and the future
development will not lessen that
need. Studies should be completed
and submitted to the people of the
Territory regarding the financial
needs of the Territory and the
equitable distribution of the tax
burden in the Territory. All pro
posed legislation should be stud- ^
ied with a view to its effect on
our tax problem. Legislation
should be encouraged that will
favor development of new indus
try and not penalize private en
terprise.”
“The Territory today is in the
position where its entire future
! depends upon attracting new in
| dustry and developing our natur
al resources. Only a diversified
economy is the solution to Alas
ka’s future arid permanent popu
lation.”
S ump pointed out that Alaska
must compete with other regions,
including other foreign countries,
who are eager to attract new in- *
dustries. He pointed out the long
fight that Southeastern Alaska
has made to induce the pulp in
dustry to utilize the perpetual
supply of timber available in that
area.
“Alaska has much to offer ven- *.
ture capital—our natural resourc
es are one of the greatest treas
ures of our national economy.’’
Stump continued. “Before em
barking on a venture in a new,
untried field, investors demand
that the taxation program be a
fair, equitable one. They want to
be sure that tax laws don’t make
it impossible for them to get a
fair return for their savings. That
is the basis for our American sys
tem of free enterprise. The resi
dents of Alaska must carefully
consider any legislative program
| in this light.” *
The new Association is inter
, ested in receiving pertinent infor
i mation on the subject of taxes
1 from any interested citizens or
1 groups. The association has con
tacted the Tax Foundation, Inc.,
of New York, a national philan
thropic organization which works
with other state taxpayers asso
ciations in the United States for
the purpose of securing assistance
with the Alaskan tax problems.
Headquarters will be at Ketchi
kan, Alaska.
It is also the hope of the new
organization, that local commit
tees in each city will be formed I
for the purpose of making a sur
vey of municipal taxation prob
lems. This information will be
correlated with the Territorial
lax program for the purpose of *
providing proper Territorial funds
, to all municipalities.