THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .Editors
S1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, May 10, 1948.
WHY UNDERSTAND THEM ?
(Christian Science Monitor)
We have seen several complaints in the press
lately from people v/ho are "fed up" with being
asked to ‘'understand the Russians." One of these
complaints explodes with indignation at James P.
Warburg's speech urging Americans "to discover
what fears are the mainsprings of Soviet aggress
ion." Let's stop exhorting and have a little forthright
action against aggression demands this critic. ,
We are heartily in favor of some forthright action
—by Congress, for instance, on ERP, But are acute
ly aware that certain types of forthright action—
dropping an atomic bomb on Moscow, for instance
—would leave the basic issue untouched.
We have recently fought a colossal and hideous,
war. One cause of this war was the fact that the
democracies (1) failed to understand the German
fears, aspirations, and delusions which led that coun
try to acept National Socialism, and (2) failed to
take the forthright action necessary to restrain Nazi
aggression thereafter.
Through this war, which all but wrecked a good
part of the world, Nazi Germany as an aggressive
war machine was defeated. But postwar experience
has shown that all the elements of thinking which
produced Naziism and could in time produce a new j
war machine are still present in Germany. Attempts I
to "re-educate" the Germans have produced piti
fully poor results, partly because the victors have
lacked a fundamental understanding of why Ger
man thinking is distorted in this way.
With so grim a lesson in mind, the democracies
need to learn that crucially important though re
sistance to Russia may be, this does not relieve the
individual from trying to understand why mis
guided people turn to Communism.
I
DISILLUSIONMENT
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
The American Museum of Natural History has dis
turbing news to report. A group of scientists asso
ciated with this institution have just returned from
a five-month assignment in Panama, where they
have been studying the habits of ants, and what
they said shatters an illusion of long standing.
Somebody has been telling those ants about the
40-hour week and time off for every holiday It seems
they dont work so hard, after all. According to these
scientists, 40 per cent of the ants spend their time
lolling around their nests all day long, 40 per cent
are pretty good workers, and the rest just work once
in a while. Why, ants really aren't much better than
people, and thus another theory goes up in smoke.
What we are breathlessly waiting for now is a
report on beavers. How many beavers, do you sup
pose, are really eager? And just how eager?
CRUMBS OF GOOD FAITH
The United Nations is not just debates at Lake
Success; it is milk and a bit of horsemeat in a Rom
anian village.
For some time the International Children's Emer
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gency fund of the UN has been furnishing 3 1-2 cents
a day per child towards a supplementary meal for
something less than 4,000,000 semi-starved European
children. Pitifully inadequate as this is to meet the
almost unimaginable demand, the program has been
carried out with admirable cooperation from the
governments of the countries—on both sides of the
iron curtain—where it has operated
But while the humanitarian purpose is uppermost,
the words of the executive director of UNICEF sug
gests a further value:
The containers carrying the United Nations emb
lem which have now become familiar in even re
mote European villages hold more than milk. They
stand for the United Nations and the principle of
international cooperation.
The whole program is threatened unless there is
a vast response to the UN Appeal for Children. Here
is q clear case where giving strengthens the right
eous cause of the giver—as well as the hungry
child who finds that he lives in a world that cares
after all.
» _ .
BRITAIN'S PRESS
(Washington Post)
British newspapers, from which in no small de
gree our own tradition of the freedom of the press
was inherited, are currently the subject of a Royal
Commission study. The commission is making an in
quiry into the conentration of ownership and editor
ial standards of Britain's newspapers. The very first
question posed by the commission is the all-embrac
ive one, "In what does freedom of the press consist?"
To this, the Guild of British Newspaper Editors res
ponded that "freedom of the press consists in the ab
sence of external restrictions or interference with the
legitimate function of the press."
It is vastly important that a commission of this
sort be quite independent of the government. The
conditions that need correction in the press are rem
ediable only in minor measure through govem
mentel action. There is indubitable need in Britain,
as here, to assess the performance* of the press in
terms of its responsibility to the society that grants
its freedom. But the essence of that freedom is and
must remain—to define it even more narrowly thgn
the Guild of British Newspaper Editors-—absence
of governmental restrictions of interference. For the
prime function of a free press is to serve as a checl
upon governmental authority.
'LOOKING
f AHEAD
a GEORGE S. BENSON
k Prttl4c*t—H»r4iut Ctlltft
B Startf. Jkrktmnt
REIGN OF BUREAUS
“Bureaucracy is a mossed-over
but not outmoded term. Its pop
ularity may have faded lately
because politicians seem to use
the term less and less. I fear that
all too many folks have assumed
that government by bureaucracy
is here to stay, that no matter
what brand of national admin
istration you have, the emphasis
will still be on Washington. Yet,
to welcome an increasing reign
of bureaucrats is to invite totali
tarianism.
The battle against political en
croachments upon the l:ves of our
people still can b' won. When
the facts are carried straight to
the bar public opinion. I be
lieve informed Americans will re
pudiate this reign of bureaucrats.
For a generation, the scope of
government’s power has extended
outward from the federal center
People are tired of abuses that
come in the wake of bureaucracy.
Beyond the Law
\\ Do you realize that some 1,200
federal bureaus now exist to dom
inate, control, and restrain every
manner of human activity? Back
i of these bureaus eleven govern
ment agencies function as cor
porations and 44 actually exist
as corporations. The majority of
these have little constitutional jus
tification. Compliance with con
stitutional law is not important
to these bureaus and agencies.
Neither is the spirit of individ
ual enterprise, which is so much
a part of American tradition.
These agencies feel they are
i beyond the law and the spirit of
the constitution. While compet
ing with the private enterprise
of citizens, these federal corpor
ations indulge in wasteful, ex
travagant, and corrupt practices.
A screen of bureaucratic confus
I ion, with the help of garbled re
I cords and false accounting me
thods, hides them from full pub
lic view. These methods resemble
those of the monarchs of old!
No Rent, No Taxes
i
Federal corporations that com
pete with the enterprises of pri
vate citizens have rare advant
ages. They pay no rent, and de
cline to refer to this in their
bookkeeping. They are simply
“operating” government property.
They pay no taxes, like the cor
porations with which they com
pete. They are “the government,”
and their purpose is to consume
taxes. Tax money is grist for their
mills.
I
The capital these federal agen
cies use is therefore taken from
the people In the form of taxes.
This tax money is put up by folks
like you and me, who think it
is being used to defray the right
and proper costs of authorized
forms of government. Instead,
much of our federal revenue is
turned into overhead and “cap
ital” for bureaus and corporations
that do their best to expand and
encompass all about them.
Halt the March
Despite having no taxes to pay,
and no rent, federal corporations
are estimated by one source as
having used up $5,500,000,000
more than they earned in the year
ended last June. Moreover, they
have a free rein on costs. Losses
added to well-hidden costs are