THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 610
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W. A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Emily Boucher .Local Editor
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, March 2, 1949
PIONEER HOME FOR WOMEN
(Anchorage Daily Times)
The Territorial Senate got wound up recently on the
subject of a Pioneers Home for Women of Alaska. They
spent much of the day thumping on the heartstrings
with oral tributes to the women who have figured so
prominently in the early days of the Territory and of
the gratitude the Territory should show now that they
are aged and in need of assistance.
The Senators had before them a bill to appropriate
$100,000 for the construction of a home for aged wo
men. It would be merely a drop in the bucket for the
funds that would eventually be required to construct
any sort of a suitable home. And the operating funds for
maintaining and staffing the institution would be still
additional.
The Senators found a popular subject for oral trib
utes to womanhood but the practicality of the program:
is quite another thing.
There is probably nothing an aged person dreads
worse than the prospect of having to spend the last days
of life in a public institution of the sort the Senators are
talking about.
In the field of modern social work the institution for
aged persons is considered of very limited value. Only
those persons who need special care or supervision are l
likely subjects for that sort of home. All persons—men
or women—prefer to live by themselves and take carr
of themselves as long as they can.
The experience of the Territory with the Pioneers
Home for Men should be a lesson for the Legislators.
Most aged Alaskan men refuse to go to the Sitka home.
They prefer to take whatever old age benefits the Ter
ritory grants them and make their own way. With com
paratively few exceptions, only those men who need
medical care not otherwise available, or who want the
protection and supervision provided at a home, are will
ing to become inmates.
Welfare officials have found it necessary to “entice”
many old folks to the home. They are not inclined to go
willingly. During the past two years, when the welfare \
department had insufficient funds to meet even the nor- j
mal payments to the aged, many persons were com
pelled by economics to seek the shelter of the Pioneers
Home despite their personal wishes.
The practical point of view refutes the fine argu
ments presented in behalf of the aged women.
The economics of the p^niect make ?.t further un
sound. Institutions are costly to maintain and operate.
It is entirely probable that carp in private homes for the
lew women who need it would Cost far less, on a per
capita basis, than would institutional care.
Certainly the fine women who have figured in the
early development of Alaska would much prefer to en
joy their last days in their own homes, leading* their
own lives in their own way. *
The best display of gratitude on the part of Alaskr
would be in the form of ample appropriations to pay
whatever is considered reasonable old age assistance.
DISABILITY INSURANCE
(Christian Science Monitor)
Many legislatures will have a complex question given
them this winter in bills for compulsory disability or
cash sickness insurance. They will be told that this sys
tem has been adopted by Rhode Island, California, and
New Jersey.
It is not so likely they^will be informed that compul
sory health insurance had its origin in Germany in 1883
as disability insurance, and that medical care insurance
was a later development. Or that these two types of in
surance constitute the standard system of government
WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE ?
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health insurance abroad. Or that a number of advocates
of sompulsory health insurance have urged that since
this found much opposition in the United States, dis
ability insurance should be first enacted as a help tow
ard subsequently getting medical care insurance.
William Green, president of the American Federa
tion of Labor, in outlining the legislative program of
the AFL in 1941, declared:
Insurance for permanent and temporary disability
should be enacted immediately. We believe this should
be the first step toward a far-reaching national program
of health insurance,, which is our ultimate goal.
Much is to be said both for and against state disabil
ity insurance. Obviously, its widespread installation
would make much easier the enactment of government
medical care insurance, although this would not be in
evitable. In any case, something of the background and
implications of compulsory disability insurance may be,
useful.
CLOSE THE GAP
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
The most imperative need of humanity today is the
speeding up of the research and diffusion of knowledge
nmong the fields of mental hygiene and the sciences
that deal with the relations of man in society. So said
Dr. Charles Emory Winslow,, professor of public health
at Yale University, in an address at the Cooper Union
Forum in New York City.
No one wants to check the growth of the physical sci
ences, but the future of mankind will depend on the
be achieves in catching up with the develop
m-M in the nhvsical. cherrvc^l'^nd conventional medi
cal cci°nces. in the psychological and social sciences.
Dr. Winslow urges that efforts be made to close the
gap in the progress of these other sciences before it is
too late. For if the atomic bomb were to be released as a
method of indiscriminate warfare, there could be no
public health or private health. Such indiscriminate use
of the destructive power of the atomic bomb in warfare
would tend to destroy modem civilization and send
men back to the caves.
But if atomic energy is properly controlled and pub
lic and national consciences are built up to a proper
level to cope with such problems, atomic power could
become a boon of first importance to civilization.
MALAYS WOrfSHIP AT POLICE STATION
SINGAPORE, (/P)—A police station has become a
“kramat,” a holy place of worship for the Malays of
Singapore. Their shrine had been located some 100
yards from the Harbor Division Police Station and hun
dreds of pigeons would hover above the grave.
Then one night a pqlice sergeant dreamed that a
beautiful lady came to him and said her grave had been
moved to the tower of the nearby police station. When
morning came the pigeons had deserted the grave and
were flying about the tower. And now the Mohamme
don Malays of the area visit the police station to pray
for favors.
LIFTING THE LID
ATJUNEAU
fContined from Page One)
areas.
It also provides equal apportion
ment between Divisions of all mo
tor fuel tax receipts, with marine
alio ments chargeable against the
total due any Division. This
would mean that the First and
Third Divisions would get most
marine fuel tax receipts, but less
for highways and airports.
The four votes against the bill
were cast by Reps. Glen D. Frank
lin, Fourth Division Democrat;
George Miscovich, Fourth Divi
sion Republican; Marcus Jensen,
First Division Democrat, and
Frank G. Johnson, First Division
Republican.
Carlson, co-sponsor of the bill,
argued that such towns as Cor
dova desperately need harbor fa
cility improvements.
The municipalities sales tax
measure precipitated a two-hour
debate during which a series of
amendments were proposed in an
at empt to gain exemption for
non-residents who buy in towns.
The only amendment approved
would require approval of 55 per
cent in a referendum instead of a
bare majority.
Proponents argued that it
would allow only towns to settle
their own policy. Oppon e n t s
charged it was an entering wedge
for an “objectionable sales tax.”
The bill was introduced by Rep.
Doris M. Barnes, First Division
Republican.
The five “no” votes were by
Reps. Abel Anderson, First Divi
sion Democrat; Frank G. Johnson,
First Division Republican, and
three Third Division Democrats,
C. <Red( Carlson, Jack Conright
and Clarence T. Keating.
Wednesday, March 2, 1949
JUNEAU., </Pl—The Territorial
House voted 13-6 yesterday to
amend the liquor law to allow
lodges and established clubs to
build quarters less than 200 feet
from churches or schools.
The bill was sponsored for the
benefit of the Ketchikan Eagles’
lodge, which invested $30,000 and
prepared to build on a site less '
than 200 feet in a direct line from
such structures.
On the basis of previous court
rulings it was all right, but it was
blocked by a recent “straight line”
court ruling.
The so-called “portal to portal”
bill proposed measuring the 200
fart by a pedestrian route, but the
House amended it to insist on a
straight 200 feet for open bars or
liquor stores, but exempted lodges
and established clubs entirely.
The bill brought nearly two hours
of debate, with the Eskimo mis
sionary Rep. Percy Ipalook, lead
ing with a dramatic plea against
[any modification.
The Senate killed Sen. Steve
McCutcheon’s “shoestring busi
ness’* bill which would have pro
hibited operation by a business
which couldn’t guarantee at least
one week’s payroll in advance.
The Senate passed Rep. Frank
Angerman’s House approved bill
to limit bus standees on long
trips, but amended it to allow the
number of standing passengers to
equal one-quarter of the seated
total. Vote was 14-2.
House votes against the liquor
license modification bill were by
Reps. Doris M. Barnes, Essie R.
Dale, Andrew Hope, Frank L.
Johnson, Ipalook and C. A. Pol
lard.
The Senate passed unanimously^
a strict child labor bill with a 7:00
p.m., work deadline for those un
* 16- which Sen. William Munz