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.
Friday, September 13, 1946 i
THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION
GENERAL MacARTHUR’S report on the first year
of Japanese occupation gives the American people
the complete satisfaction and great comfort of knowing
the capacity of Japan to make war is now totally and
permanently destroyed.
This was the primary purpose of the ocupation,
of course, aid it was necessary, despite the overwhelm
ing military defeat of Japan.
While there has never been a more crushing de
feat than that achieved by the American armed forces
against the Japanese military establishment, the end
of the war found Japan with nearly seven million men
still under arms and an industrial establishment only
partially and temporarily incapacitated.
The tasks of demobilization and industrial liquid
ation had to be performed if Japan was not to remain as
a potential and ultimately formidable enemy, and only
a vigilant occupation rigorously conducted could per
form them.
General MacArthur was given the responsibility
for the performance of these essential and vital tasks,
and the virtual completion of his mission within the
span of a single year is not only full vindication of the
trust reposed in him by the American people but is per
haps the most brilliant and amazing administrative
achievement in the history of the world.
The American people would be of short memories
and dull minds if they did not understand the gigantic
proportions of the task General MacArthur has per
formed, in the face of unimaginable difficulties and
grave hazards—and of both hidden harassments andi
open obstruction.
Japan was one of the greatest military powers in
all history at the start of the Pacific war, and it was
certainly the most evil of all powers in human exper
ience.
When we reflect upon these facts, and then real
ize that today Japan is incapable of putting a single
soldier in the field or a single fighting ship upon the
sea or a single combat plane in the air, we grasp the ut
ter finality of the Japanese defeat.
It was surely the military defeat of Japan that;
broke the vast and evil power of the Japanese nation.
But it remained for the subsequent occupation to
banish the ominous seeds of this great evil from the
Pacific world.
And General MacArthur, who had the military
genius to accomplish defeat of Japan, has now proved
the master administrator of our victory and guarantor
of our peace.
/These are certainly matters of great satisfaction
and comfort to the American people.
But there is an additional matter of great moral
gratification to the American people.
As General MacArthur reports, now and forever.
* But Japan has not been destroyed as a nation and
the Japanese people have not been treated ruthlessly or
vindictively.
The year of American ocupation ends with the
Japanese people participating in their own government
for the very first time in their history, and enjoying
rights and liberties they have never known before, and
having access to freedoms and opportunities and dig
nity and prosperity always beyond their dreams
throughout the long ages of their national existence.
The American defeat of Japan has been a pure
and unmitigated blessing to the Japanese people—and
if the American concept of the responsibilities of vie
A BREADLINE TO END ALL BREADLINES_|
tory thus exemplified is a new thing in world experi
ence, it must be accounted an infinitely and magnifi
cently good thing.
There has been more of the true spirit and moral
purpose of real peace-making in the American occupa
tion of Japan than in all the international peace confer
ences ever held—including the abortive effort now
withering on the vine in Paris.
600 PUPIL SCHO()L
OPENS IN SITKA
THE ALASKA NATIVE SERVICE will have a larger
budget than ever before. For educational pur
poses, for medical relief and for the reindeer service,!
$3,429,008 is provided. That sum includes $345,000
for the operation of the Sitka installation.
All the Navy installations on Japonski Island—
constructed at a cost of around $50,000,000—has been
transferred, without charge, to the Alaska Native Ser
vice under terms of an act of Congress, together with
Army installations on nearby islands. There is pro
vided $1,319,700 for the construction of the sanatorium
and for such work as will be needed in converting build
ings for the 600-pupil boarding school—the largest in
Alaska—which is being established at Sitka. Forty j
thousand dollars was also allowed for the construction
of a school at Savoonga on St. Lawnence Island to re
place the one destroyed by fire.
In view of this 600 pupil school at Sitka, GI’s are
asked to make known their desires as to vocational
training they would like. The school is planning to
give the Alaska native, first class training in the work
of his own choosing. With such facilities available
there is now a chance for the Eskimo to become as skill
ed as he chooses to become, and to possibly get into bus
iness for himself in some trade or profession.
As a service to veterans in this
area. THE NOME NUGGET will
publish a column of the questions
most frequently asked contact men
of the Veterans Administration
in this area.
For more detailed information
veterans should contact or write
to the nearest VA contact unit at
Rooms 46 and 47, Post Office
building. Anchorage, Alaska.
• •
• e
Q. Are insurance benefits
received by the parent con
sidered income in determin
ing eligibility for compen
sation?
A. In determining depend
ency, amounts received by
the mother or father from
any insurance under the
War Risk Insurance Act
or the World War Veterans
Act of 1924 as amended,
tor the National Sei
Life Insurance Act as
ended will be disregar
Q. Can I obtain a loa
purchase a business if 1
employed I wish to \
chase a small grocery s
which I will manage
would like to continue
my present job until I
assured of a satisfactory
come.
A. You are eligible fo
loan guaranty if you p
to conduct the busin
yourself, either on a fi
time or part-time basis.
Q. If I have obtainec
guaranteed loan to pun
ase a farm, am I still e
gible to receive the se
employment veteran’s ]
adjustment allowance?
A. Yes. You mav obtc
a monthly allowance, c
pending on the length
your military service, up
a maximum of ten and tv
fifths months. The pa;
ments guarantee to the fa
mer a minimum net incon
of $100 a month during tl
'period of his enlistment.
Q. What is the time lim:
for applying for educatior.
al benefits under the G
bill?
A. Education may not ex
tend beyond nine vears af
ter the termination o
World War II or your date
of discharge, whichever is
later. You must starl
your education not later
than four years after either
the termination of World
War II or your date of dis
charge.
Q. If I obtain a realestate
loan to purchase a farm
and it is guaranteed by the
VA, may I also obtain a
VA guarantee on a loan to
purchase machinery, live
stock, seed and other farm
equipment?
A. Yes you may obtain a
combination of realestate
and non-realestate loans.
However, the percentage
of the guarantee maximum
used by a veteran in ob
taining one type of loan
reduces by that percentage
his entitlement to guaran
tee on another type loan.
For example, if a veteran
obtained a farm real estate
loan guarantee of $2,000,
his non-realestate guaran
tee maximum would be
$1,000.
Mother Goose was born Eliza
beth Foster in 1665 in England
and only went down in history
because an irate son-in-law se
cretly put her verses in print to
ridicule her.