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. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
•t Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, October 31, 1949
“WHO CARES ABOUT PROFITS?”
(By Dr. Alfred P. Haake)
The obvious answer to the question, “Who cares
about profits?” is “the people who get them.” And im
mediately the cynics get ready to laugh. At this point
the so-called “liberals,” “modern humanitarians” and
“social-equalizers” would stop. They would do away
with profits. For example, a widely-known preacher,
who married a rich wife and enjoys luxurious living
from her profits, states publicly that we ought to do
away with the profit motive. And all the brood of Karl
Marx, including the allied “front” organizations, are
likely to denounce profits.
If profits were of importance to the rank and file of
people, instead of merely to the rich, there might be
more careful thought given to profits. We might even
take action to protect them. So, let’s ask ourselves the
Question, “Who ought to care about profits?”
There are 428 larger corporations which report names
of stockholders. There and hundreds of thousands of
other corporations which do not report, the ownership
of their companies, but it is likely that these smaller
corporations which do not report, have even more “little
people” among their stockholders, than do the big ones.
So the figures of the 428 which report their ownership
can be taken as a conservative sample of the truth.
The dividends of these 428 corporations are divided
among about 13 million stockholders. Two dollars out
of every three dollars of the dividends go to stockhold
ers who have less than $100 a week income. What is
even more significant, these stockholders are able to re
tain about 83', of their dividends, after paying their in
come taxes.
Now, let’s look at the “rich” people who are also
stockholders. They get less than one-third of all the divi
dends paid out, and the Federal Government promptly
takes nearly all of those dividends after they are paid.
Whereas the people with incomes of less than $100 a
week receive two-thirds of all the dividends and are
able to keep 83', of what they get, after paying their
income taxes,—these awful “rich” people get less than
one-third of the dividends to begin with, upon which
they are taxed about 80', . This means that after income
tuxes the “rich” have left for themselves an amount
equal onyl to 4', of all corporation dividends.
So it looks as though a great mass of people who have
invested savings in corporations, get about two-thirds
of all the dividends and keep nearly all of what they get,
to use fo rthemselves. These people should care about
profits.
Add to them the 70 million people who have savings
accounts, 78 million people who hold insurance policies,
with funds invested in turn in savings of one kind and
another. And we have well over a hundred million peo
ple, even allowing for duplications, who get part of their
income out of profits which pay return on savings and
investments. All of these people ought to care about
profits.
But, among the hundred million people, the majority
are wage earners, the ver,y people who are told that
profits are bad and ought to be stopped A great many
of them are directly interested in the dividends that
come to them out of profits. But all of them are interest
ed for another reason.
The tools and machinery which make labor produc
tive and make possible the enormously higher standard
of living for all people in the United States, have come
to us originally out of profits. Destroy profits and we de
stroy incentive to saving, to investing, we reduce the
number and quality of tools and machinery with which
labor produces enough for its high standard of living.
We would destroy the very source from which churches
and schools and all that we call civilization, have
jr<;r *. «■.r? i
Fisheries Commit
tee Held Hearing
Hear Saturday
(Continued from Page One)
lot of money is appropriated for
Alaska the most of it does not stay
l in Alaska and much of it never
even reaches Alaska, being spent
in the States.
Air Transportation and CAB
John McNees asked the commit
for a reason why the CAB allows
j a rate of 8 and 10 cents per pound
j for freight to Fairbanks but main
tains a 14 and 16 cent rate from
Nome to Anchorage. He offered
the reason to be that there was no
competition on the Anchorage
route and urged that bush pilots
be allowed to compete in all routes
to keep prices at a normal level.
He stated that without compe
tition freight rate to Kotzebue
from Nome has been 15c a pound,
however starting today the rate is
reduced to 5c a pound.
Delegate Bartlett responded that
he had appealed to the CAB many
times favoring routes for bush pi
lots but has never met with any
I success or has the board acted on
his suggestions. He stated that he
j had urged time and time again for
1 the board to come to Ala.'k a a no
1 see conditions tor themselves.
; Mr. McNees stated that where
■ northern Alaska is dependent on
; air freight for eight months out
of the year '.he Seattle-Nom * rate
of 123c could be cut if competition
was allowed to enter in by CAB.
Roads
Chester Milligan calle 1 alien
tion to the fact tnat five dredges
operate in the Coune l area with
15 or 20 years work ahead of
them. Last year h° stated that he
was compelled to pay $10 freight
per barrel for oil because of the
lack of a road to tha*. area. He
urged that the six miles left on the
Nome-Solomon-Council road be
completed as soon as possible.
Richard Lee added to Mr. Milli
gan’s statement that although he
was closer than the other dredge
operator that roads were most im
portant to the development; of Sec
ond Division and he urged that
the recently surveyed road from
Nome to Solomon be worked on as
soon as possible as a more feasible
and more permanent project, also
a road which could be used the
year round.
Bush Pilots
Gene Joiner, bush pilot from the
Kotzebue area stated that his busi
ness has been freighting to areas
where there aer no roads and the
CAB has ordered him to stop. He
has refused to leave industry on a
limb and is serving the operators
in defiance of the CAB order, he
states he will be backed financial
ly by the operators if the CAB in
sist on enforcing “regulations of
oppression which force good citi
zens to break the law.” He stated
that because of rulings against
bush pilots some mine operators
have been forced to buy their own
planes in order to keep operating.
Delegate Bartlett stated that the
condition with the CAB and bush
sprung.
So, in the last analysis, the group that ought to care
most about profits, and insist on decent protection of
profits, and the encouragement of savings, are the work
ers themselves. Their jobs depend on profits.
; BUYING INDIAN NEWSPAPERS
We see by a dispatch from New Delhi, India, that an
American syndicate is seeking to buy newspapers in
principal Indian cities.
The new State of India would do well to prohibit an
American syndicate from controlling any of its import
ant newspapers. In fact, in view of the role that news
papers play in dissenminating information and buiding
public opinion, every nation should see ot it that the
larger newspapers are controlled by loyal citizens.
The business of a newspaper is to print the news, to
gether with such comment as the laws of the land per
mit. It is not to “promote business relationships” be
tween nations or to undertake propaganda for any for
eign interest.
“DO I MAKE YOU NERVOUS?”
i I III 1*1
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pilots exists all over the Territory.
It was also stated that in many
oi the recent bush pilot cases be
fore CAB the pilot’s license is all
right and their ships are all right
but the CAB finds fault with the
size of the ships.
Sport Fishing
Binks Seiffert stated that live
years ago sport fishermen could
go to Pilgrim River -and other
spots in this area and get plently
of fish. Today there is no fish he
stated because of lax enforcement
of fishing regulations. Nets and
seines have destroyed the fish.
C. L. Anderson, Territorial fish
eries head responded that the Ter
ritory to date has no funds and
the Fish and Wildlife haven’t
enough personnel for enforcement.
Commercial Fishing
G. R. Jackson explained to the
committee the work done in too
early spring and late fall in sur
veying ering Sea for commerc’al
fishing and stated that it was in
complete. He urged that a survey
be completed.
Delegate Bartlett responded that
there is no doubt in the minds of
the committee of the importance
of this area in fishing and that
the Navy has found evidence of
much fish in Barrow. He was sure
that the survey would be complet
ed.
Alaska Development Corp.
In response to a query by Paul
Mandeville on the proposed legis
lation called Alaska Development
Corp, Delegate Bartlett stated that
“continuous control and domina
wculd undoubtedly result in being
detrimental to the country.” He
stated that he doubted if the bill
would be introduced but that a
new bill may be introduced with
a “liberalized RFC regulations’’
allowing for more individual in
vestment.
Gold
Hilky Robinson expressed the
necessity of free nrvarketing of gold
and explained the handicaps now
in the gold mining industry. This
method he explained would aid
greatly without upsetting the
economy of the country.
C. F. Yenney urged aid lor bel
ter mining and more roads. He
also praised the ANS for handling
of personnel, medical attention
and supplies for their co-operative
stores.
Tin
Grant Jackson urged the renewal
of mail subsidies for coastwise
vessels in order to make it possi
ble for coastwise shipping to exist.
He stated that these small vessels
w-ere vital to northern mining and
in particular to the two tin mines
which operated this past summer.
Ore must be transported by water
as air freight would be prohibi
tive. He stated that, this season
alone 100 tons of ore were shipped
and that the quantity would in
crease as the U. S. Tin Corp plan
ned to work on a year round basis
starting next year.
55 tons of tin were shipped to
Texas for refining and 45 tons to
Tacoma.
U.S. Commissioner's Court
Wilson Shoogukwruk was held
to answer to the grand jury for
larceny from a person.
Jacob Smith was given 15 days
for giving intoxicating liquor to
a minor.
Rudolph Koanuk brought in
from Deering on a charge of being
insane and at large.
An inquest will be held today
in the death of Knute Solvik, ARC
employee who died last night in
the hospital.
An autopsy will be made to de
termine if he died from injuries
sustained in a fight reported to
have occurred last week.