THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING GO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 p. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .. Editors
$1.50 PER MONTH S16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act o^ March 3. 1879
Wednesday, March 17, 1948
Impatient?
(Rotary International)
VERY OFTEN people become impatient with the
slow progress of the United Nations in settling the
thorny issues thrown to it for solution. “They” should
get on with it, is the sentiment, “they” being the govern
ments which are members of the United Nations.
Today the impatient are confronted with a challenge
from the United Nations in the shape of the Appeal for
, Children, now in full swing in some countries and soon
' to be heard in nearly every country of the world. The
| people of the world are invited to show their baffled
governments how to solve a truly desperate problem;
the hunger, the sickness, the misery of more than a hun
dred million children. The impatient along with every
one else are being asked to give one day’s income to save
a generation of innocent victims.
, To each one of us this Appeal comes as a test of will
ingness to face up to a world problem, and of ability to
“get on with it.” Success of the Appeal will show most
« eloquently that the United Nations lives in the hearts
t of men.
i _ i
i I
; Token China Aid Is Not Enough
(Rocky Mountain News)
THE STATE DEPARTMENT under pressure has
changed its no-aid-to-China policy.
But unless it is prepared to go much further and
faster in getting help to China, there is little prospect
j that the new policy will be more than a cruelly decep
tive gesture.
Secretary Marshall now says the Communist arm
’ ies may take the rest of Manchuria and North China;
and that this soon would make our position in Korea
untenable and our position in Japan insecure. So
there is no longer any official question that American
security interests are involved.
[■ He now urges 570 million dollars in the next fiscal
year for non-military aid, and point out that supply
ing these civilian goods will release Chinese funds for
purchase here of other essentials. That is, military
materials.
f The state department says army supplies are going
forward; that some were loaded on Chinese ships at
. Saipan last week, that 150 transport planes are being
| readied for delivery, that low-cost contracts for sur
plus ammunition from the Marianas and Hawaii were
‘‘ signed last month and will be filled rapidly.
Finally Secretary Marshall emphasizes the lack of
}• training of Chinese nationalist troops and the inabil
j* ity of their officers to get maximum results without
; expert military advice—such as he gave to little avail
jj when in China in 1946.
So in theory Washington favors the sending of mil
itary supplies and American military advisers, which
such experts as Generals Wedemeyer and Chennault
consider absolutely imperative to enable Chiang Kai
' Shek to halt the Red advance.
The many Congressional and other friends of China
aid are now relieved of the time-consuming task of
>, proving the obvious wisdom of this policy. They now
can concentrate on getting it applied effectively.
k - As for munitions, the contracts already made are
E/mere tokens. Far larger amounts are required, plus
f the men and the ships to guarantee quick delivery.
} Planes are of little use without spare parts and mili
[ tary equipment.
In the case of military advisers—the most desper
| ate need of all—we suggest that the American mili
| tary mission now cooling its heels in China be assign
*
\
0
THEY LAUGHED WHEN HE SAT DOWN TO THE PIANO
i
ed to that duty at once.
Washington implies that the Nanking government
does not want such advisers, but Nanking indicates
that it does. This absurdly costly confusion could be
clarified within a few hours if Washington would lift
its reported order to its military mission to refrain
from advisory activities.
The Chinese government certainly shares with
Washington the blame for the impasse which has so
long paralyzed effective co-operation for mutual ben
efits. But that is all the more reason for both parties
now, in view of the vastly greater Communist mili
tary threat, to forget old feuds and face-saving man
euvers and to work together.
ERP And Inflation
(By Lawrence Martin)
CRITICS OF THE EUROPEAN recovery program
—the Marshall plan—say that it will set in motion a
new inflation spiral in this country. In the past few
days, they have been warning that the present down
ward trend in the cost of living will be abruptly re
versed if Congress authorizes aid on a scale likely to
draw deeply for export to Europe on already short,
supplies of steel, fertilizer, petroleum products and
other commodities.
There is no denying that everything that is taken
out of an existing shortage and set abroad makes the
shortage worse and tends to boost prices here. But a
look at our foreign trade picture will reveal that, in
stead of being inflationary, aid to Europe will gradu
ally and steadily lighten inflationary pressure on our
economy. Here are the essential facts:
In the third quarter of 1947, our exports to Europe
were only 36 per cent of our total, as compared with
41 per cent in the same quarter of 1946, and 52 per
cent in 1945.
But our total exports in 1947 were very much
greater. The reason is that foreign trade with South
America, for example, expanded tremendously.
Whereas it amounted to 432 million dollars per quar
ter in the 1936-38 period, in the last quarter of 1947
it was 2,200 million dollars.
The reason for that is simply that South America
had to draw on us for commodities formerly bought
from Europe, but not unavailable there. If Europe
i had been producing for export, South America would
have purchased there, instead of helping to make our
shortages shorter, and our domestic infaltion worse.
Putting Europe back into production for export is
therefore the most effective export control we can de
vise, short of an arbitrary set of governmental con
trols. In other words, aid to Europe, resulting in in
creased production there, will lift the pressure of de
mand from us, instead of making it worse.
V LOOKING
1 AHEAD
fn GEORGE 1 BENSON
^ Prutdat--Htrdhf MUft
J St a rtf, Arttatm ^
WHAT'S THE SECRET
What makes American living
the best living known? What
makes the American standard of
living so much higher than that of
other nations? Our country is in
no favored position as to raw ma
terials, geography, population, cli
mate, or the other factors usually
thought of as making up a nation’s
economy. In fact, we have less of
the world’s territory, fewer peo
ple, and not as many natural re
sources as some other nations.
All these things you will find in
the almanacs. Looking further and
with a little more discrimination,
you will find that America docs
much, much more with what it
does have. What I mean is that
America produces. The figures
will tell you that our “industrial
and agricultural output” is great.
This does not mean that Ameri
cans work any harder than any
body else. Actually, they do not
have to work as hard as workers
in other countries.
Method Thai Works
Then where’s the difference?
What’s the secret? It is the system
that makes the difference. Our
high standard of living, our good
living, is the pay-off of this sys
tem. This is where we reap the
benefits of the right system, a sys
tem that really works. Once in
awhile, maybe, we have a shortage
or an inequity. Maybe we lack
production here, or • there. But
right away, enterprise goes to
work to meet that demand.
With no interference from a dic
tator-state, the system takes care
of little dislocations and progress
keeps going. Our standard of good
living continues to rise. Only in
this way may all the people reap
the rewards of their inventiveness
and their enterprise. You see, the
fellow who invents a light bulb or
a self-starter is not the only one to
profit. The fellow who uses them
profits most.
Trial And Error
This system would bog down
under heavy-handed stateism. Let
the government step in to manage,
and you have a dozen ways the
system can go haywire. Demand
no longer becomes the basis for
production. Profit is penalized,
and nobody gets the benefits of
enterprise. People lose initiative
and inventiveness, and everybody
suffers. This has been America’s
experience, wherever she has tried
“stateism.”
This has been the experience of
other nations that have experi
mented, too. The Associated Press
reported the other day that the di
rector of Moscow’s largest depart
ment store had denounced Russian.
production as shoddy in quality
and low in quantity. According to
the director of the store, the Rus
sian consumer found little to his
liking in what merchandise there
was for sale.
Hold Fasti
Notwithstanding large funds
spent by the Russian state on put
ting electric vacuum cleaners and
refrigerators into production, it
was reported that these thinsg
were not being produced any
where. One factory made 300
manually-operated washing ma
chines. They sold quickly, but no
more were made despite heavy de
mand. The report said a good po
tato peeling machine exists and
demand is heavy, but it is not in