THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
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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.
Wednesday, June 19. 1946
e ' 7 #
THE MARITIME CONFERENCE
rr WOULD be difficult indeed to overemphasize the
importance to the United States and to all the world
of the conference on maritime affairs which began in
Seattle last week.
While the conference is under the auspices of the
International Labor Office, it is in no sense a “labor
convention.” The decisions are more vitally impor
tant to American capital and indeed to our whole
country than to any single labor group.
Briefly, the primary objective of the conference
is to arrive at minimum standards of working condi
tions and pay for the seafaring men of all nations.
How important this is to the United States both
'economically and in our relations with other countries
is graphically illustrated in the history of our merchant
marine during the last third of a century.
During World War I the United States flung a
“bridge across the Atlantic” that swiftly brought Ger
many to her knees and this country emerged as the
leading maritime nation of the world.
How quickly we lost that position as ships were
laid up to rust and rot in dead-end anchorages and the
world’s commerce went to other nations! The ink on the
peace treaty wras hardly dry before we became a fifth
rate nation on the high seas.
Our shipping enterprises, with their highly skilled,
well-paid workmen, simply could not operate econ
omically in competition with foreign ships manned by
cheap labor, much of it from “exploited” lands. By
means of government subsidies we managed to keep
some ships operating under the American flag. But
like every other arrangement of this kind it was sub
ject to the vagaries of politics and was never a satis
factory means of holding up our end in the world
struggle for trade.
Again we have ended a world war with more
ships than any nation ever possessed in the history
of mankind. The United States alone could carry
all the deep sea shipping of the globe. Are we again
to lose our rightful position as a leading carrier be
cause we pay decent wages and man our ships with
free American citizens?
It can be well imagined that other maritime na
tions will not lightly surrender the advantage that their
cheap labor gives them in the forthcoming trade com
petition with the world’s richest country. Even Great
Britain, with her labor government, has not shown
mny disposition to allow abstract yearnings for the more
abundant life to interfere with the stern necessities of
empire.
It is unfortunate that Russia, which has become
a great maritime nation, has chosen to have no part
in the conference. For no matter what agreement is
reached in Seattle toward better standards of pay and
working conditions for seamen, the Soviet empire can
and undoubtedly will ignore it. And there is no!
Treason to believe that she will not use her own exploit
ed labor to enhance the glory of the Communist para
dise at the expense of the “capitalistic’# nations.
There is growing evidence that the day of slave
labor is near its end. Even the backward lands of
Asia, once a never-failing source of coolie labor, are
showing a restless tendency to toss the “white man’s
burden” overboard.
It might well behove the nations represented at
the Seattle conference to make a virtue of a necessity
and take the lead in raising workers’ standards every
*****
S&k'cfS J
m
where.
Thus they will speed the day when equal standards
of living will prevail throughout the world and nations
will trade with mutual advantage to all their citizens.
MOLOTOV REFUTED
AS IF AMERICAN patience with Russia had not
already been worn thin enough, Foreign Minister
Molotov continues to supply fresh reasons for suspi
cion of Moscow’s aims. Secretary of State Byrnes
has replied effectively to Molotov’s declaration that
the United States and Great Britain formed a bloc at
Paris “to impose their will upon the Soviet Union” and
that advocates of imperialism in the West “are insti
gating new and aggressive wars.”
The truth is, of course, that all Washington and
London are striving for is to prevent aggression by
Russia, and to prevent a war by the forces of com
munism to control the world.
Merely to read Molotov’s statement is to realize
how silly it is. Every fact developed since the nations
went about the business of organizing the peace points
in an exactly opposite direction. From the very be
ginning, including the San Francisco conference, it
is the Soviet which has been seeking to impose its will
upon somebody else. Time after time America and
England have given ground to Stalin so that the hope
of the world for security might not be destroyed, pre
cisely as Britain gave in to Hitler in the years preced
ing World War II.
If at the end, this country and Great Britain stood
together on important points it was because that was
the only means of keeping Russia from running away
with everything in sight — territory, economic power
and domination of smaller states whose freedom the
Big Three had pledged themselves to maintain. If
Mr. Molotov wants some factual evidence on what
other peoples think of his country’s course, he need but
read the minutes of the Security Council of the Uni
ted Nations. There he will find that invariably the
Soviet found no support for its position except from its
settelite government in Poland. Or does he feel that
everybody is out of step but Russia?
(Anchorage Daily Times)
THE COST of World War II was more than four times
the cost of World War I, it is estimated.
World War II costs up to last summer borne by
the various treasuries of the world were placed roughly
at $680 billion. These figures represent direct costs
only and do not take in value of human life, loss of pro
duction, property losses, cost of war relief and neutrals’
losses. (/P)
EVERYBODY HAS LOTS OF
MONEY — IT SAYS HERE
By Alexander R. George
<For Jack Stinnett*
WASHINGTON — Many people
like to carry around a lot
more money than they need. That
tendency, comb nod with a sub
stantial increase in income for
millions of Americans during the
war, is one reason why the vol
ume of U. S. currency in circula
tion has soared to all-time peaks.
On Nov. 30 there was a total of
$28,184,530,000 of currency in cir
culation, an average of about $201
for every person in the United
States. That was more than three
times the $8,732,000,000 in circula
tion five years ago and five times
the $5,698,000,000 figure of 25
years ago.
AS A RESULT of the war pro
duction boom, several million
families who had been on sub
sistence levels or even below, re
ceived adequate incomes for The
first time in their lives. They
naturally increased their money
holdings.
Another reason for the increase
i in currency, of course, is that The
level of business activity has been
so much higher than before. ?!
has been necessary all along the
line to have more currency to
carry on business transactions.
Still another reason is that bank
ing has not always been con
venient for many people either
because of odd working hours or
because of lack of nearby banking,
facilities. Black market operations
and attempts at income tax eva
sions also boosted the amount of
money in circulation
At the same time that people
were carrying around more
money in their pockets, checking
and savings accounts increased
tremendously. Checking accounts
owned by non-bank investors
amounted to 31 billion dollars at
the end of 1939. By June. 1945,
they had risen to 73 billion dol
lars. Investment in commercial
bank savings accounts increased
from $15 billion in December#
1939, to $27 billion in June, 1945
all of the increase having taken
place since the latter part of 1942.
However, the biggest amount of
liquid assets held by investors is i
in federal securities such as the
various defense, war and victory
bonds. The total volume of these
securities outstanding increased
from $47 billion dollars at the end
of 1939 to 257 billion dollars last
June 30. Individuals owned 59
billion dollars of that amount.
» w w
r E most colossal monetary fig
ure of all is the 833 billion
dollars spent during the five-year
period—July 1, 1940 to June 30,
1945. Of this eight-tenths of a
trillion dollars, federal govern
ment spending accounted for 323
billion dollars. Some $290 billion
of this was directly for national
defense and for war.
Tax receipts brought in to the
federal government 133 billion
dollars. The government’s
share of total spending in this war
reached a peak of almost 50 per
oent in the fiscal year 1945 when
the government accounted for 100
billion dollars out of 211 billion
mbs