THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISH.NO CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
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.
Monday, September 3, 1945
New7 Building Codes Mean Greater
Safety of Life and Property
With the expectancy of a large volume
of postwar building, city planning for
fire safe construction is also moving for
ward. Engineers of the National Board
of Fire Underwriters have actively co
operated in the preparation or revision
t>f building codes for seventy-seven mu
nicipalities, and for the States of Con
necticut and New Hampshire, during the
year just passed. This is one of the pub
lic services continuously rendered by the
fire insurance business..
Noteworthy is the fact that late in
.1944, Boston adopted a new building
code superseding one enacted in 1907. St.
Louis also modernized its code to replace
thirty-year-old standards. It permits
greater freedom of use of new and less
costly materials, provided they meet the
recommendations of the National Board |
of Fire Underwriters or other institu- ■
tions conducting research and establish- !
ing standards in this field.
Other cities showing activity toward
the adoption of new codes are Cleveland,
Kansas City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ^
Richmond and Syracuse. The United
States Chamber of Commerce is on rec
ord, advising cities to restudy their
building codes.
All this activity means greater safety
for life and property.
SOMEONE MUST BE RIGHT
We have been led to believe through
conversations with heads of the U. S. En
gineer Harbor Department that their
river dredge equipment was maintaining
a mean depth of nine feet throughout the
navigable course of the river and beyond
the end of the jetties in Nome harbor.
A recent article by the Second Divi
sion member of the Alaska Planning
Board states that the harbor dredging
equipment is inadequate and should be
replaced by large, more efficient equip
ment.
Either, or both, thoughts may be cor
rect in whole or in part, but the case is
nevertheless brought home by the fact
that a very few days ago, a small boat of
less than five foot draft was stuck on the
bar in the mouth of the river.
If the Harbor Department figures
read correctly at nine feet, and the ac
tual depth is about four and one-half
feet over the bar, then it is about time
for a twelve foot depth, perhaps insuring
a depth of half that figure.
As the statement, by the Planning
Board member, reads, the harbor should
be deepened. The jetties should be ex
tended and an ell extension on the east
jetty to make quiet water in the river
during stormy weather. If the foregoing
suggestion can be accomplished practic
ally, it will mean work for quite a num
ber of persons during the period when
labor will need a lift to tide over the re
conversion to normal employment.
GETTING THS BUGS OUT
1
By GEOROE 3 BENSON
fV*sid«nt of Harding Collcgo
Searcy. Arkansas
FREEDOM
Individual liberty !s one of the
teachings of Jesus. It goes hand
in-hand with personal responsi
bility. How can a man be held
responsible for his acts unless he
is free to determine how he shall
ac'? The understanding that cer
tain rights are everybody’s rights.
) and that no man can rightly de
I or ve another man of 4hem. is an
;dea for which ‘he world is in
debted to Christianity.
Compulsion in religion is older
than history. Every nation’s lore
i is colored with tales of forced
worship. In fact, the history of
Christianity is marred with a
shameful record of coercion. Just
the same, obedience to Christ is
voluntary or it is not obedience at
all. and (being an every-day
thing) Christianity lives and
grows best in surroundings of per
l sonal liberty.
A Moral Duty
Opposing dictatorship, resisting
infringement by a few upon the
liberties of many, is a reverent act
of fidelity to the source of all
freedom. No government is per
fect; no economic system is per
fect. For that matter, no church
is perfect. All are subject, more
or less, to leadership by imperfect
people. Nevertheless some prin
ciples are right and worthy of vig
orous defense.
Harry Emerson Fosdick said,
“One of the great hours in history
struck when mankind ran into the
idea that all the people should
unite in making laws, which then
all the people should obey. Behind
our pitifully fallible experiments
with representative government
stands the Ideal, worth everything
our fathers gave for it and all that
we can give—the democratic
state.” :
Godless Laws
One-man governments tradi
tionally become jealous of their
subjects’ loyalty to God: covetous
too, perhaps, of their free-will of
ferings, large or small. Rarely do
totalitarian states begin at the
church when they start cutting,
off people’s liberties. They get
around to it in the long-run how
ever. There are about enough ex
ceptions on record to prove the
rule.
Dictators usually start their
trespasses on freedom by presum
ing to say who shall engage in
trade. It is the natural way to
commence. Never do they find a
large class in commercial pursuits,
so they can begin grabbing power
without antagonizing a majority.
The next big strategy is to domin
ate the news. By this method a
dictator can make his people think
what he pleases.
Step At A Time
With buying and selling pinch
ed under government’s heel, one
emergency follows anothr, acci
dentally or by design; either way
serves the purpose. Consumers, the
class most hurt by government in
business, never learn the truth if
press and radio are under control.
WASHINGTON
IN W ARTIME
By JACK STINNETT
vvw DOPE ON
| MARIHUANA
WASHINGTON—Tucked aw
in the reports of the Treasury I
partment is something that
i causing new' creases in the brow
Treasury Enforcement Chief i
mer L. Irey: the traffic in ma
huana is increasing.
I Irey admitted that in 1944
became one of the serious pro
lems of his department. Seizur
were greater than in previo
years and there were positive i
dica'ions that the marihuana bus
ness is now big time, with wel
financed national and even inte
national gangs operating.
New York City, says Irey, is tl
focal point of the illicit traff
now and four major gangs pe<
dling marihuana have been broke
up there in the last year. Whei
previously Trasury agents too
over ounces of the smoke weei
they seized pounds last year.
Traffic in opium and its derivE
tives apparently has decline
some, says Irey, but heroin—on
of the most vicious of all drugs
has made its appearance again i
the United States for the firs
time in several years.
Treasury Enforcement official
are particularly perturbed abou
the spread of marihuana because
it so often leads to violence.
Selfish rulers snatch away com
forts and dole out confusion anc
suspicion, the chains of serfdom
Traditionally tyrants work this
way; it has happened all along
‘hrough history. After business is
confiscated and the news agencies
siezed, the people are poisoned
with malice, and malice destroys
living souls. Americans who value
their religious liberty have no
choice but to defend representa
tive government, free enterprise,
free speech and free press. They
can fight on the front line and
win, or wait to fight in the last
trench, and lose.
Nome Directory
ANVIL LODGE
No. 140 *
Meets First Thursday
each month
W. H. CAMERON, W. M.
NORVIN W. LEWIS, Secy.
NOME LODGE
A-5
Meets Third Friday
STANLEY R. MORGAN, N.G.
ROBERT BALDWIN. Secy.
HAGEN
JEWELER AND OPTICIAN
Court House Is Opposite Us
Phone Main 40
O. D. COCHRAN
Attorney At Law
Phone Main 121
Nome, Alaska
IRA D. ORTON
Attorney At Law
Room 1—Nevada Building
Nome. Alaska,
Seattle Office:
801 Lowman Building
Telephone EL. DM