THE 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 516.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY iotJCHER .Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943. at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, February 25, 194(»
LEGISLATION SPECIALS
This week there will be a mad rush of Senators and
Representatives of the four divisions of the Territory of
Alaska to Juneau, in answer to the call of Governor Er
nest Gruening for a special session of the Alaska Legis
lature.
There is much to do, according to various reports,
that was left undone, at the regular session in 1945, and
much of the legislation that was accomplished, died on
the veto chopping block, therefore we sincerely hope
that jokes ana personalities can be eliminated and that
the representatives oi the people do the job right, in fa
vor of the people, and the Territory of Alaska.
It can and must be done, in order to prove to our
selves at least, that we are worthy followers of the pio
neers who founded the last frontier on the North Amer
ican continent. It is well to keep in mind also that the
future of Alaska may hang in the balance, as the eyes
of the world are upon us. We may or may not agree on
Statehood, or the method of obtaining Statehood. Nev
ertheless, we must at least show to ourselves and the
Congress of the United States that we have the ability
and the right to govern ourselves.
This week will be your last chance to personally re
quest our senators and representatives to consider the
wishes of the people who voted them in, and to act un
selfishly and honestly in using the vote of the people.
Unless you tell him, your representative will have
only his own opinion and will act accordingly, whereas
if there are several opinions expressed, he will have
something more to go on.
Why not talk it over with your Senator and Repre
sentative.
ONE MAN S OPINION
(By WALTER KIERNAN)
Bob Hannegan is annoyed by rumors that Mr. Tru
man hopes to get out by 1949 and make a new start in
life. . . . The party is not accustomed to men who say,
“Oh, I wouldn’t think of taking more than one term.”
. . . It’s possible that harassed Harry would want to
quit. .. after all his previous experience was with white
shirts . . . not hair shirts. Mayor O’Dwyer of New York
has shown the president how a crisis should be handled.
If anyone disrupts normal life .. . complete the job. . . .
If tug boats were enemy cruisers they couldn’t tie up
the city any tighter or easier. . . . But the mayor fixed
that—he shut down the city. ... He acted with the same
presence of mind as the man who saw a runaway horse
headed for a plate glass window. Quick as a flash, the
man ran six blocks and told a glasier . . . Stand by for
further crises . . . they’re getting better all the time.
CANNED PREPAREDNESS
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
The reason why the United States had to start so
nearly at the beginning in the procurement of the multi
tude of instruments needed in World War II is fairly
evident. In the previous war we did not make a com
prehensive array of equipment; much of it would have
been obsolete had it been kept—and we had no facilities
for storing it over a period of years.
There were notable exceptions. In fact, they were
very notable, because they were a decisive factor in the
outcome of the war. We refer to the over-age destroy
ers, several million Springfield rifles, several thousand
75-mm. cannon and machine guns which were traded
CRVSTAL BOWtfS
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to England in the summer of 1940 when the U-boats
were severing her oceanic lifelines and the Dunkerque
evacuation had left the remnants of the British Army
virtually without weapons.
That experience proved, if anything could, that U u
age of weapons of war is a vital phase of national secur
ity. It indicated, too, that more advanced methods of
war equipment storage might pay even greater divi
dends in the future—not only in making this nation
ready for war on short notice, but in deterring would
be aggressors.
Army Ordnance is finding many of the answers to
the problems of indefinite storage of equipment. Some
material, of course can be packaged by more or less
conventional methods. But intricate equipment which
cannot be coated with grease and which would deterio
rate with atmospheric changes is being—literally—can
ned. Optical instruments, fire control apparatus and the
like are being sealed hermetically in containers so that
they can be put away and ignored until needed, like a
can of beans in a cellar pantry. In fact, Ordnance has
devised huge cans or drums of rust-free metal into
which large pieces of equipment can be put, the seams
welded, and the whole business stored in an open field,
thus eliminating even the expense of warehousing.
Some of these methods are expensive, but they elim
inate the greater expense of conventional storage and
periodic overhauling. And in the long run, considering
their potential value, they are a very cheap form of se
curity.
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HAWAII AT BAT, ALASKA
ON DECK IN BIG
STATEHOOD GAME
WASHINGTON — Your capital
j in peaceitme:
Prediction: Maybe this year,!
certainly next, Hawaii will be on
the way to becoming the 49th
state. The chief argument against
it is the mixed population of the
islands. This same argument was
put forward 34 years ago when ,
(the last two states—Arizona and
■ New Mexico—were brought in.
! Alaska will have to wait a while,
maybe quite a while.
President Truman didn’t equiv
ocate in his long state-of-the
union message when he suggested
for Hawaii “prompt favorable ac
tion’* on her statehood applica
tion. As for Alaska, he merely
suggested that it be granted state
hood as soon as it is certain that
her people desire it.
These aren’t partisan political
issues. The President spoke on the
basis of reports from both areas.
* * *
So far as I know, it was first
pointed out in this column that
the area selected for the United
Nations headquarters in the
United States would find itself
with headaches that would make
most of the bidders that were
passed over glad they hadn’t been
selected.
It certainly has happened. The
protests of the New York-Connec
ticut residents in the area given
preliminary approval were so vig
orous they even reached London,
where the UNO was deciding up
on a permanent location.
Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg Re
publican of Michigan, has a pretty
loud voice in the Senate on all
UN matters. He is the recognized
I
, leader of the Republicans on
United Nations affairs. His sug
gestion that “a comfortable college
campus” would be adequate for
I UN headquarters rather than the
42 square miles of millionaire-es
tate land suggested by the site
committee took quite a hold in the
Senate.
It may be assumed that the Sen
ators were thinking on this purely
in terms of the interests of their
states. There are a few states that
wouldn’t like to have the world
capitals within their borders, but
fewer still that would like to give
up 42 square miles of choice tax
paying land owned by some of
their “most influential citizens’*'
just for that historical privilege.
In spite of protests, though, the
UNO general assembly finally
voted to set up headquarters in
Fairfield County, Connecticut, and
Westchester County, New York.
* * *
Political observers here are
await:ng the answer to one $64
question: How far will Old Cur
mudgeon Harold L. Ickes go in
fighting President Truman now
that he has left the cabinet?
In spite of his 15 years in na
tional government <13 of them in
the cabinet, Ickes never has been
identified as a true ‘‘New Dealer’''
nor is he considered a friend of
the conservatives.
It has been predicted ma
times that Ickes will go with Sid
ney Hillman’s CIO Political Ac
tion Committee. If so, the color of
PAC will be changing a bit.
The truth is that Ickes is a mid
dle-of-the-roader. probably the
most outspoken individualist in
the political picture. He doesn’t
speak for anybody but Ickes. Al
i though he did fight for President
Pioosevelt through three terms, he
was never hand-in-glove with any
of the White House groups.
In spite of the fact that he wenlj
out like a lion, many observers
here think that Ickes may become
a political lamb, possibly even a
“forgotten man’’ by the time the
1948 elections roll around.
. *
QUONSET QUANDARY STILL
FRETS VETS WHO HAVE NONE
.
WASHINGTON—Incidental in
formation.
! One reason homeless veterans
I
didn’t get in on the first sale of
5,000 quonset huts declared sur
plus by the Navy was that half of
them went to the Veterans Admin^
istration for use at overcrowded
hospital centers. The rest went
mostly to government agencies.
Surplus property agencies have
received numerous letters and
calls from housing desperate vet
erans seeking to buy the huts for
conversion to "homoja” houses.
“Homoja” houses (named by tak
ing the first two letters of each of
| the names of Admirals Horne,
i Moreel and Jacobs) were a war
time necessity invention of the
Bureau of Yards and Docks. Quoim
sets were partitioned and eacn
half converted to a dwelling with
two tiny bedrooms, a small wash
room and a big living room with
a kitchen at one end.
Whether veterans can get in on
the next batch of surplus quonsets
still is undetermined. The huts
will go at somewhere around
1 $1,200 each before reconversion.
More than half a million de
pendents of naval personnel are
now receiving family - allowance
benefits.