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 postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday June 14, 1948
FLAG DAY
THE ORIGINAL RESOLUTION which gave birth to
our national flag as recorded on the pages of the
Continental Congresses ,is reproduced below:
Saturday June 14, 1777
—Resolved That the Flag of the United States be
13 stripes alternate red and white, that the union be
13 stars white in a blue field representing a new
constellation.
Respected among the flags of the nations ....
"Old Glory" or as the legal name of our emblematic
cloth, "The Flag of the United States," symbolizes
to the world the principles for which we as a nation |
stand ....
With forthright assurance American men and wo
men have won a victory over the foes of righteous
ness. These same men and women are continuing
to lead us into a secure peace and happy future
with the “Flag of the Free" unfurled to the four
Winds of freedom. I
RUSSIA j
(National News-Letter, London)
THE RUSSIANS. — According to information the
Western Powers are not particularly well informed
about the state of the Russian armed forces, but
there is general agreement that on land the Rus
sians have an army which, even if not reinforced
by the divisions from their satellite states, is over-!
whelmingly more powerful than anything which1
America, France and Britain could mobilize at this
time. The Russian tanks are very good. At sea
the Russians have a considerable force of sub-,
marines—some people believe it adds up to two
hundred boats—but Russia has only the bases
in Manchuria and at port of Vladivostok from which
to operate on the oceans. For this submarine force to
be dangerous it would have to obtain bases in the
Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast. Therefore,
insofar as the Russian submarine fleet means any-1
thing at all from a strategic point of view, it can be j
largly discounted until, and if, the Russian armyi
has occupied Western Europe, Greece and Turkev.'
In the air, the quality of the allied air forces is,
from all accounts, very greatly superior to that of
Russia. It is practically certain that at this time the
only stocks of atomic bombs which matter are in
the U.S.A. Russia is less vulnerable to atom bomb
attack than are Britain and the U.S.A., but the
Russian oil fields and Russian heavy industry in
Western Siberia could be badly damaged by such
attacks. On the other hand we could not use atom
bombs on territory captured by the Russians. The
use of the atom bomb in a war with Russia would
be idiotic and ineffective if it was our intention
to attack Russia, because it would merely cement
people and party together, but as no one in their
senses supposes that the Western Powers would
ever start a war against Russia, that argument is
irrelevant. Incidentally, I must here point out that
the strictly and military (and in a sense quite sound)
argument that the best method of defence is offence,
no longer means anything in the realm of practical
politics for Western democratic Powers. Where the
mass of the people through genuine parliamentary
institueions have the last word on foreign policy,
there is no possibility of a preventive war—except
in the political field. Such nations must wait to be
attacked and it is even difficult for the democratic
nations to make adequate preparations in case
| WHO'S THE LUCKY MAN ?
they are attacked!
From that diversionary observation return with
me to the analysis of the first two big questions we
are considering. Although, as have pointed out, the
Russian military position is at this moment superior
in material to that of the Western Powers, that is j
not the whole story.
We must also consider the state of public opinion
on each side. The people do not want war either j
here (forgive the obvious which I mention in order
to include the less obvious) or in Russia. I do not
believe that the Politbureau would find it easy to
convince the Russian masses that their security de
manded an invasion of Western Europe. The only
possible story would be that it is "now or never"
because the West is growing stronger and will in
due course attack Russia. The first part of this story
would be true.
Suppose, however, that the Russians either
through design or sheer ineptiude did start up an
attack of a military character. It is arguable that,
even with our present small military resources in
the West backed by what America could send, we
could hold the line of the Rhine, whilst we were
building up our strength. I
In that case what of Germany? Obviously the Ger-!
mans would become the greatest resistance move
ment in history and re-enact the role they played
towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The Rus
sians know what their partisans did on the long!
German lines of communications from the Elbe to1
the Volga, and the Germans supported by air from
the West would be a fearful problem on the Rus
sian lines of communication. The Western allies
could control the sea routes of the world and the
eventual defeat of the Russians would be assured, j
All these considerations are of course know to the
Russian leaders who, in my opinion, have been|
pinning their hopes on the economic collapse of j
the West and the consequent rise to power of West-!
ern Communist parties. These in brief are the rea
sons why I believe that when all factors are con
sidered we are not in immediate danger of a mili
tary war.
This means we have time ,not much time ,but per
haps two years, in which to extricate ourselves and
the Russians from a situation which is very likely
to lead to war if it continues to deteriorate. In this
precious time one thing is certain—whether we
like it or not—and that is a great strengthening of
the American armed forces .The second event which
may take place during this time of uneasy respite
is not so certain, but if it can be achieved it will be
a better guarantee of peace than any number of
American bombers, and that is the revival of Brit
ain in an increasingly United Europe. In the noble
act of ERP. (European Recovery Programme) the
people of the United States have given Britain and
, Europe the tools with which to do the job.
Nome Scouts Make
Good Grades At
Air Scout Show
By Brownie Whaley
The Boy Scouts of Troop 666 are
back home again after ten glor
ious days spent at Elmendorf
Field. Nome’s group returned yes
terday with the exception of
Chucky Wheeler who remained
in Fairbanks.
Boys from Point Barrow, Fort
Yukon, Fairbanks, Anchorage,
Sitka, Palmer, Cordova, and Was
illa, a total of 91, were guests of
the 57th Fighter Group and were
met in Anchorage by Mayor C. Z.
Loussac; Col. Thomas Mosles,
commanding officer of Fort Rich
ardson; representatives from two
major networks; Hal Gribble, An
chorage Ssout executive, Capt.
James O’Brien, Project officer,
and Col. M. D. Magoffin, com
manding officer of the 57th.
The boys were assigned to their
own quarters and divided into
groups, each with a fighter pilot
in charge.
They attended lectures and saw
movies on radar, and working of
several types of aircraft and were
then taken out to see the real
thing in operation.
The boys spent half a day with
the 10th Rescue where they were
told about the equipment and
training.
On their stop in Fairbanks the
boys were guests of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce where
Herbert Kagoona won a $5.00 cash
prize.
In Anchorage the boys were
guests at a banquet with the
Chamber of Commerce and the
Anchorage Rotary Club as hosts.
During the course the boys were
asked if any of them were inter
ested in becoming pursuit pilots
and many hands were raised.
Brownie Whaley stated that he
enjoyed the link trainer best of
all. The boys were all given the
opportunity for a couple of hours
in this initia^on grounded plane
equipped with all the instruments.
Clarence Willoya thought the
food was wonderful and stated
he enjoyed the jet planes and
the jet plane show the best.
When final examinations were
given, Chuck Wheeler was in the
group having the highest grades,
Brownie Whaley in the second
group.
Lawrence Okpealjuk 'had tfhe
honor of being the bugler for the
encampment for four days.
The boys all expressed appre
ciation for the opportunity of mak
ing the trip and wonderful time
they had and are looking forward
to next year when it is planned
that the 57th Fighter Group plan
to have another encampment for
Air Scouts. -
MR. AND MRS. B. G. BAKER
GO TO CANDLE TUESDAY
Tomorrow morning, Mr. and
Mrs. B. G. Baker will depart for
their new home in Candle where
Mr. Baker will manage the store
for the Arctic Circle Exploration
Co.
The Bakers have lived in Nome
since 1937 when Mr. Baker ar
rived to manage the meat depart
ment for Polet’s store and has
been very active in community
affairs. Most outstanding has been
his work with the Boy Scouts
who owe the development of the
local troop 666 to his persistent
efforts.
Walter Dowd has taken over
the troop which will soon be
making plans for summer camp.