THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 61K j
S1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffir*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Friday, January 31,1947
Alaska Development Board —
Honest Constructive Project!
IT SEEMS TO US that the goose which has laid a
golden egg for the people of the Territory of Alaska is
about to be cooked.
Wednesday, in the Senate of the Territorial Legisla
ture, Senators O. D. Cochrane and Joe Green introduced
a bill abolishing the Alaska Development Board.
If the life or death of the Board depended solely upon
the amount of saving during 1946 of millions of dollars
for increases in freight rates denied the steamship com
panies, there would seem no alternative but to continue
to support the noble effort.
In addition to the foregoing rate savings, there are
numerous projects which the Board has in progress:;
the lumber industry: pulp-wood and paper processing;1
and many others in which the Board is spending con
siderable time and very little money in an endeavor to
develop the economy of the Territory.
We may be wrong, but, we firmly believe, that there
has been no single group in the Territory of Alaska,
which has done more for development and economy
than this same Alaska Development Board.
The Board, in spite of personalities, has carried its
burden to the nth degree against hindrances placed in
the way by those who would crucify, for personal rea
sons, its various members; but who cannot and have not
offered a word of assistance or constructive criticism.
If you the voters and citizens of Alaska agree with
the foregoing, it is up to you, and me, to let the delegates
to the Legislature, from your division, know that you
wish the board to continue the good work, and have the;
delegates support and assist the board’s efforts.
—
Shackles Of Language
(The Denver Post)
FOR MANY YEARS the Japanese government claim
ed its people were 99.6 per cent literate, a rate second
only to the Dutch. But Allied investigation has revealed,
to the surprise of the Japanese themselves, that the
masses with a compulsory six-year education know only
one-fourth of the vocabulary needed for newspaper lit
eracy.
The Japanese language is an intricate combination of
picture signs, or characters, with a phonetic alphabet.
To read a newspaper 2,500 characters are a minimum
requirement while the average sixth-grade graduate,
was found to know only 600.
Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, John Ashmead, Jr.,
a former naval officer, reports that in informal tests
only one out of ten Tokyo citizens could read even the |
names of the Japanese war criminals. Ashmead voices
the sentiments of many high occupation officers when
he urges that the Japanese be required to drop their
characters and confine the written language to a pho
netic alphabet.
Says Ashmead: “Tests carried out by the Japanese
themselves on 50,000 primary school students show
that two weeks of studying Japanese written in a phon
etic alphabet (in this case English letters, though one of
the Japanese alphabets in common use would have
given the same results) brought them to a level of liter
acy achieved only after six years of studying Japanese
as it is now written.”
It is highly probable that many of the Allied efforts
to democratize, the Japanese are being wasted simply
because the Japanese do not fully understand what they
read in their newly liberated newspapers. Likewise the
attempts to modernize Japanese farming methods to in
crease the yield, to step up production of peacetime
goods and other efforts to get the Japanese back on their
feet are bound to bog down—not because of Oriental
backwardness but due to the inability of the Japanese
to comprehend what is going on.
A modernized Japanese language, it is obvious, will
help us to get out of Japan more quickly if it helps speed
that nation’s rehabilitation and democratization. Inas
much as we have accepted the task of revolutionizing
Japan’s entire outlook, a streamlining of its cumber
some, medieval written language would seem to be a
basic necessity. It is a reform that long has been advo
cated by Japanese scholars, and opposed by the nation
alists.
The Case Of Li Yun-shun
THE SORRY STATE of China’s internal affairs to-;
day is illustrated no better than by the story of Li Yun
shun, delegate to the recent national assembly at Nan
king.
For some unexplained reason, press dispatches say,
Li did not attend the sessions. Thus it was with some
surprise that he read in the newspapers he had been
killed in an airliner crash that took forty-two lives.
Li’s inquiry revealed that an unidentified Chinese
had forged Li’s papers as a delegate, had attended all!
sessions, had voted on various questions, and finally,!
had died in the crash.
In matters of domestic statecraft, China still is not
far advanced beyond the day \^hen a political prisoner,
condemned to death, could buy his freedom. It was not!
uncommon then for a doomed man to bribe the guards
and get some desperate coolie to die in his place by pay
ing the coolie enough to keep his family in rice. 1
- ,
WONDERLAND j
fAlUN*
coMODuy
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(ONSWffi(2
THAT’S THAT By BRUCE GUSTIN
A__
The London truckers’ strike be-1
came a rebellion. Thousands of
other union workers walked out in
protest against the use of troops to
distribute food supplies. That con
fronts the British labor govern
ment with the most serious crisis
it has faced. Its own supporters
turned against it. But the chal
lenge to its authority was one the
government cannot ignore and
survive.
Sympathetic strikes against the
use of troops to distribute essen
tial food supplies in London are
strikes against the government.
The strikers put themselves in the
position of saying that the govern
ment must not do a thing to pre
vent other strikers from starving
the great mass of people into put
ting pressure on the food distribu
.
tors to submit to the demands
made upon them. The vital ques
tion is which is the more powerful
—the government or the labor un
ion. And there can be only one
answer to that.
Attorney General Clark did not
exaggerate one bit when he argued
to the United States Supreme
Court that the policy pursued by
John L. Lewis in the coal strike
was an “insult to the bnited1
States” and an invitation to “mob
rule.” He was on sound ground in
contending that “governmeni has
the authority and the power to de
fend itself against destruction
from within, as it has the duty to
defend the country from destruc
tion from without.” The real ques
tion in this case, is whether any or
ganized group is more powerful
me government of the United
0 tales.
a resident Green of the Ameri
can reaeration of Labor is using
excellent judgment in urging un
ions in that organization to with
uiaw portal pay suits they have
n%id. He says the court actions are
• untimely and unwarranted” and
"inconsistent with the mutual
1 ignis and responsibilities estab
11 sued by employers and unions
uirough private contract in a free
society.” The fact of the matter is
mat these portal pay suits are at
tempts to sandbag employers into
paying overtime that neither they
nor their employees thought had
oeen earned.
National defense now is the Di
gest item in the federal budget,
inis year it is costing about 14
oiilion dolalrs. President Truman
has estimated it at 11 and one-half
bniions for the next fiscal year.
That is a lot of money. But in the
present unsettled state of affairs
internationally, ordinary prudence
dictates that the United States
must be adequately prepared
against any emergency. A strong
navy, air force and army consti
tute the best insurance policy
against war that this nation can
carry until we know the United
Nations plan is going to work out
as hoped. Preparedness is one
peacetime policy this country never
has tried.
The Ford Motor Company evi
dently had at least two things in
mind in announcing the first price
cuts made by any car maker since
the war. It must expect to have
more cars to sell, as it is increased
volume of production reducing the
cost per car which makes price re
ductions feasible. And then cutting
prices evidently is designed to
block CIO demands for another
wage increase. The Ford price cut
also indicates competition is devel
oping again in the automobile in
dustry.
Speaker Martin of the lower
House of Congress charged there is
a shortage of $121,000 in the ac
counts of the office of sergeant-at
arms. This office operated a
“bank” for the convenience of
Congressmen. But it must have
been run in a very slipshod fash
ion to get into such a mess. Isn't
this unofficial “bank” bonded ade
quately to insure against loss?
Why isn’t it audited and examined
regularly the same as regular
banks? In some quarters, it has
been intimated that the shorr«r£e
extended back over a period of
several years.
FIRE DESTROYS EBERHART
ANCHORAGE HOME
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Eberhart,
who wintered in Nome last year
had the misfortune of losing their
new home in Anchorage, which
was just completed. Fire of un
known origin completely destroyed
the two-story house before the fire
department arrived. It will be re
membered that Mrs. Eberhart had
a dress shop on Steadman ave. last
y«ar. She now has a shop in An
chorage. Mr. Eberhart was badly
burned about the face, and Mrs.
Eberhart suffered slight burns.
"NOME HIT PARADE"
INAUGURATED AT WXLN
WXLN is beginning a new fea
ture—The Nome Hit Parade. It is
requested that all radio fans sub
mit their favorite tune. Every Fri
day at 9:30 p.m., the ten most
popular tunes will be broadcast.
The song with the greatest popu
lar vote will be the Nome Hit Song
of the week.
Write to WXLN on phone Army
161. Come on let’s make this inter
esting. Submit your favorite song.