I HE 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 S16.00 A YEAR
W A. Boucher .v__Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Friday, February 9, 1951
/ ' « _ _._
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
The annual World Day of Prayer will be observed
this year at the Covenant Church and the Community
Methodist Church where special programs have been
planned for this evening.
The first regular annual observance of a World Day
of Prayer began in 1887, and was observed by the Pres
byterian women in the United States. It has grown
rapidly in the past 20 years and is now observed by
thousands in the United States as well as in 90 other
countries. The date is usually the first Friday of Lent.
DITCH THE BUM TAX LAWS
(Anchorage Daily Times)
The legislature would be rendering a service to Alas
kans by overhauling and revising the Territorial tax
system so that known inequities would be eliminated.
The tax program has been on the books for two years.
That is long enough for many glaring discrepancies to
become apparent.
It was enacted on a three-prong basis as the basic tax
program for the Territory. There was the Territorial in
come tax, the business license tax and the property tax.
The property tax was thrown out by the courts. Only
two of the three prongs are left. Inasmuch as the gov
ernor recommended no new taxes, it is assumed that
there is no plan to re-enact the property tax.
The two remaining prongs have proven to be rather j
thorny and the people are stuck with them. |
The Gross Tax on business is working a hardship on
Alaskans who live here compared to Outsiders who
come here.
The local businessman must pay one-quarter of one
per cent on his gross. But do the big contractors who
come from Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, San
Francisco and elsewhere? We have never heard of it.
It is the sub-contractor who gets the kick in the pants.!
In bidding to rthe plumbing, electrical, plastering, I
painting and other work on a project, he must compete
aganst the Outsider. If the Outsider can escape the tax,
the disadvantage to the local man is obvious.
The gross tax is not only unfair in the way it oper
ates, but it is unfair in principle. The fact that a business
has a large gross revenue is not an indication that it is
able to pay a tax.
The fuel dealer may sell furnace oil with a margin of
profit of one cent a gallon. He may collect 18 cents for
every gallon he delivers in order to get his one cent of
profit. If he delivers 100,000 gallons in a year his gross
revenue is $18,000 but his profit is only $1,000. If he has
to pay a gross tax of one-quarter of one per cent it comes
to $45, which is steep.
Meanwhile, a store may sell $100,000 in merchandise
with a 30 per cent margin the profit. The profit is sub
stantial but the tax is the same as that paid by the fuel
man.
Alaskans became well acquainted with the evils of
the gross tax when ft was levied on mining. The evils
were sufficient to lead to repeal of the law.
Why should the income and the business license taxes
be left unchanged while these glaring discrepancies are
known to exist?
The legislature could replace them both with a law
based on net income so that taxes would be collected
from sources able to pay. The law might well eliminate
the personal income tax which is fraught with head
aches and impossibilities. -
It is axiomatic that tax laws should encourage Alas
ka residence and investments, besides raising sufficient
revenue to operate the type of government the people
want. .
The present laws do not and should be ditched.
Lifting The Lid
At Juneau
(Continued from Page One)
Division would control the con
vention. We should worry about it
and we do.’
Rep. Stanley McCutcheon (D.
Anchorage) warned the move was
an attempt to undermine the dem
ocratic process of proportional
representation and would set a
precedent for procedures under
statehood.
Rep. Kay admonished: “This
will not end here, I warn you. If
the majority rams it down the
throats of the people of the Third
Division, I warn you the same in
terests will try to write it into
the Constitution.”
Kay suggested the First Divi
sion might find the shoe on the
other foot in the future if it gets
I big pulp mills and new popula
tion.
Rep. Doris Barnes (R.-‘Wrangell)
replied:
“We don’t feel we are robbing
anyone. We think we are making
it more equitable. I don’t forget I
i
was elected by the people of the j
First Division to come here to
represent their best inteersts.”
Actually, what the memorial
proposes is to eliminate nine del
egates-at-large which other Divi
sions feel the populous Third j
might be able to elect, and add
*bree of them to the First delega- j
tion, three to the Fourth, two to j
the Third and one to the Second..
Rep. Mike Stepovich (R.-Fair
banks) commented at one point:
“We’ve seen here what seven
can do. What do you suppose 16 1
or more could do, especially from !
the Third Division?”
Reps. C. Chester Carlson (D.
Cordova) and William Egan (D.
Valdez) introduced a bill in the
House yesterday to increase Alas
ka old-age pensions to $90 month
ly from the present $80.
Other new House bills included: ;
By Reps. W. W. Laws (R.-Nome)
and George P. Madsen (D.-Nome)
—a $50 bounty on wolverines.
By Rep. Wendell P. Kay (X).- !
Anchorage)—a bill to repeal the'
public employees retirement sys-1
tern so they can go under federal j
social security.
Kay said .133 Territorial em
ployees have so petitioned. His
bill would provide continuing
payments to persons retired, and
refunds to others.
Rep. C. A. Pollard (D.-Palmer)
introduced a memorial to Territo
rial officials asking enlargement
of Kasilof airfield.
Friday* February 9* 1951
JiUNEAiU, (JP)— A controversy
memorial calling for a Republic of
Alaska remained as a top issue
today for the House of Represen
tatives of the Territorial Legisla
ture.
After two hours of oratory and
parliamentary wrangling yester
day, a final decision was stalled
| off by the leader of the Third Di
vision Democratci delegation.
The seven Third Division legis
lators who sponsored the memori
al conceded they were licked on
the “right of secession” issue, but
sought to salvage the memorial as
a straight-out appeal to Congress
for Statehood. |
However, a critical majority |
stood firm against any amend
ments, refusing to compromise
and insisting the memorial should
be killed as dead as a duck so that
even its number wouldn’t linger
as a reminder.
They insisted a whole new me
morial should he drafted on
statehood.
Rep. Stanley McCutcheon (D.
Anchorage) blocked a decision
yesterday hy voting against his
own proposed amendment to elim
inate the “Republic of Alaska”
section. ' ,
That gave him the privilege of
moving for reconsideration today.
The vote against a similar
amendment previously had been
13-10. |
McCutcheon’s second attempt
altered only four words from the
previously defeated amendment.
Third Division Democrats said
in their arguments they were not
actually sponsoring any secession
move if statehood is denied, but;
Rep. Wendell P. Kay, (D.-Anchor
age) said the purpose was to
“shock the people of the United
States” in realization of statehood j
rights.
Rep. C. Chester Carlson (D.
Cordova) added it “takes strong
English to wake up those babies j
back there.”
The controversial language in j
the memorial to Congress and
Trygve Lie, secretary-general of
the United Nations, is that if state- j
hood fails then “we demand the !
instant right to declare our abso- j
lute independence of and from the j
Government of the United States
and to form ourselves into a free
society of free men to be forever
called the Republic of Alaska.”
After the first defeat in an at
SPLENDID I SPLENDID I
*
<
*
'
I
Mrs. Earl Coullhard who? has
been a resident of the community
for several years is leaving this
week-end for Anchorage where
she plans to make her home if she
can find a suitable place to live.
tempt to amend the memorial and
taxe the sting out, sponsors tried
to withdraw the memorial, but
the majority, determined to kill it,
refused the withdrawal right.
After postponing a final deci
sion on the memorial, the House
passed one bill and two memori
als. The lower chamber approved
22-2 Carlson’s bill for a dollar-an
hour minimum wage law and a
40-hour maximum week unless
overtime* is is paid.
The Senate earlier in the day
passed a similar wage bill with
out the work week provision.
The 'House also approved unan
imously a joint resolution by Sen.
Elton Eng strom (R.-Juneau)
against any Japanese peace treaty
without a guarantee to keep Ja
panese fishermen from North
American waters. Also passed was
a Senate joint memorial by Sen.
Ed Anderson (D.-Nome) asking re
activation of Marks Field at
Nome.
A bill to enable independent
school districts to enact not more
than a 2 per cent sales tax if ap
proved by 55 per cent of the vote
in a popular referendum was in
troduced in the Senate yesterday.
Sen. Gunnard M. Engebreth (R.
Anchorage) the sponsor, said it
was designed for Anchorage,
where a city sales tax is unfeasi
ble because most of the popula
tion is outside the city but includ
ed in the school district:
He said Anchorage never voted
a sales tax because of the fear
that merchants would move out
side the city limits.
Rep. Jack Scevenius (D.-An
chorage) also introduced a House
bill yesterday proposing a $150,
000 appropriation for the Territo
rial department of health to aid
community health projects.
JUNEAU, (/P)—Alaska’s Legisla
ture’s “Battle Hymn of Republic”
faded quietly into swan song to^
day.
House majority that tired of
wrangling over memorial on
rights of secession yielded at noon
and allowed Third Division spon
sors of highly controversial me
morial to withdraw it.
First they again beat by 13-11
vote an attempt by Third Division
to modify it into simple statehood
memorial.
Then Wendell Kay moved the
sponsors be allowed to withdraw
it, which opponents blocked yes
terday. Finally George Miscovich
took the floor and said “We’ve
done a lot of wrangling over a
two-bit memorial. To end this so
we can get down to business I ask
for unanimous consent to allow its
withdrawal.” The House gave its
approval, thereby ending the
warmest factional clash of the ses
sion.
A telegram was received here
from Senator Percy Ipalook that
"The Senate passed a bill with
Huntley of Palmer and Ipalook
of Wales voting against it .result
ing that liquor dealers outside in
corporated towns may be issued
licenses annually without a ma
jority voters approval as now re
quired." ‘
No further information was re
ceived. however this would effect
every village in the Second Divi
sion, which has by majority vote
turned down applications for li
quor dealers in their villages and
many of which are now "bone
dry."