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 $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
•t Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, August 3, 1949
SHOULD WE SELECT IMMIGRANTS?
(By Hugo S. Sims)
There has been an insistent demand in this country
that the United States open its doors to the displaced
persons of Europe and Congress sometime ago provided
for the admission of 205,000 persons.
Josephine Ripley, a staff writer for The Christian
Science Monitor is back in this country after a trip to
Europe to observe the way displaced persons are being
handled. She reports that Canada, Australia, Belgium,
Great Britain and other countries have missions at the
various displaced persons camps in Italy, Germany and
Austria. They carefully select the type of immigrant
that will meet the national need. The United States,
however, has no such program and the matter of pick
ing and choosing immigrants is left largely to voluntary
agencies.
The legislation passed by Congress has been de
nounced by representatives of various races and reli
gions as discriminatory. Even President Truman de
clared that it was discriminatory against Jews and Ro
man Catholics. The correspondent, however, says that
“this does not show in immigration shipping lists.” On
the ship on' which she returned were 329 Roman Cath
olics, 268 Jews, 168 Protestants, 81 Orthodox, 74 Greek
Catholics, 1 Evangelical, 5 Lutherans, two Greek Or
thodox, two Aventists and one Mennonite.
The majority of shipping lists, she says, “show a sim
ilar religious and racial makeup, with little variation.”
Miss Ripley points out that the requirement that immi
grants have specific job assurances has little meaning
because there is nothing binding about the contracts.
Neither the prospective employer nor the displaced per
son is under legal obligation and either, or both, may
change their minds. The requirement for “farm labor”
is being liberally interpreted.
Speaking about the quality of the immigrants, the
Monitor’s correspondent says that there are many fine
prospective Americans among all races and religions
but that there are others who are simply out “to make
a lot of money.” She concludes that “ the United States
is letting itself in for a very raw deal on quality” and
advocates that a more workab.e program should be
evolved to select the individuals to come to this coun
try.
POVERTY AND PROSPERITY
The United States has just passed through a period
of relative prosperity. New York City, the great metrop
olis of the nation, is generally supposed to be some
thing of an economic bellwether of the nation.
With these introducetory remarks, we call attention
to the fact that one out of every nine children in New
York received assistance last year from the City’s De
partment of Welfare. A total of 132,500 children, live in
their homes, according to The New York Times, and re
ceive grants from the City enabling the parents or
other relatives to hold the homes together.
The City of New York is certainly to be commended
for providing $28,200,000 out of the $69,800,000 neces
sary to care for the children, but the fact that more than
eleven per cent of the children in a great American city
have to depend upon public funds for proper living con
ditions is somewhat amazing.
FACTS AS TO EMPLOYMENT
The prediction is freely made that the number of un
employed will rise to five million if nothing is done to
boost employment. The estimate is based on the fact
that, in May, there were 3,289,000 unemployed.
This fact is important but one should not overlook the
employment of 58,694,000 persons in the same month.
This is a larger number than in any previous month of
Former Alaskan In
Barex Expedition
Commander John Backland,
U. S. N. R., who has spent the ma
jor portion of his life in Kotzebue,
Wainwright and other towns on
the northwest coast of Alaska has
been recalled to active duty by
the Navy for four months to eval
uate and advise on the ice condi
tions in and around Point Barrow,
Barter Island and other waters
through which the Navy’s Point
Barrow Resupply Expedition will
pass.
Commander Backland has been
assigned duties with the expedi
tion to resupply Alaskan installa
tions every year since the expedi
tion was begun in 1944. He was in
command of the first expedition
which consisted of two suppl;
ships and which made its way
without the aid of ice breakers.
He gained the name of “Ice Man”
in naval circles because of his far
north Alaskan home and his long
experience with ice conditions.
Before he joined the navy in
April, 1941, Commander Backland
'
operated a commercial shipping
line from the northern coast of
Alaska to points south, which his
father, one of Alaska’s famous pio- |
neers, started in 1906.
During the war Commander
Backland served in Greenland as
commanding officer of the U.S.S.
Bouicioin, a hydrographic ship,
and also spent several months in ]
the south and central Pacific.
NOME DRUG STORE
CHANGES OWNERSHIP
The Nome Drug Company,
which for the past three and a 1
half years has been operated by
Gladys Seeds and Boyd C. Har
wood as partners, has undergone
a change in management. Mrs. I
Gladys Seeds has sold her one- ^
half in4erest in the partnership to'
Mr. Harwood, who will continue I
the operation of the business.
It will be remembered by Nome I
residents that Mrs. Seeds took
over the management of the Nome
Drug Company through the gener
osity of a former employer, Frank
Dunham of the Red Cross Drug
Store at Fairbanks. Mrs. Seeds
formed a partnership with Mr.
Harwood and they jointly have
4
the current year and larger
in May, 1948.
We do not intimate that >
ture unemployed but one m
facts in connection with the
iGold Price Boost
Has Slim Change
(Wrangell Sentinel)
Alaska miners’ hopes for a boost
I in the price of gold as a stimulus
to the gold mining industry in the
territory isn’t very bright. Reports
from Washington indicate gold is
, going to remain pegged at $35 an
ounce. Any raise in the price of
gold would devalue the American
dollar, according to the financial
experts, and this isn’t looked upon
with favor at this time, the good
old American buck as it is, being
about the most important thing in
: the world at the moment. The last
I •
Legislature in a memorial sug
gested that a bonus of $15 an
ounce on all gold mined in Alaska
be paid in an effort to bolster the 1
industry, which has been bogged ^
down by high costs in the Terri
tory. . ,
—
If the proposal which has been
made to Territorial banks to han
dle general fund Territorial war
rants at face value, pending re
ceipt of tax revenues to clear j
them, is finally agreed upon school
districts and other creditors of the :
Territory may soon be getting
their money. Of the about a mil
lion and a quarter in unpaid bills,
biggest item is refunds to school
districts. Territorial Treasu rer
Henry Roden, who has been nego
tiating with the banks, reports
most of them appear to be agree
able. Under the plan, the banks1
would take the warrants at full
value and hold them until the J
Treasurer received enough tax re
ceipts to clear them. Request!
would then be made to the next
Legislature to allow the banks six
per cent interest for the service.
The proposal concerns only gener
al fund warrants. There is money
to meet special or ear-marked
fund warrants. Fact is that if the
Territory could use its special ;
funds for general purposes it \
could pay its bills and have a mil- 1
lion or so on hand.
conducted the popular establish
ment.
Mrs. Seeds at the present time
has not announced her plans for
the future.
than the number employed
ve know the number of fu
ight as well stick to the
issue.
I
TOUR DE FARCE .
r
HHE$T HP
nw* ,
Failure to Register
Subj ect to Penally
■—
Calling attention to the fact that
failure to register is a violation of
law and makes the delinquent lia
ble to penalty, John L. McCor
mick, Alaska TerritoriaJ Director
of Selective Service, today out
lined registration requirements
under the Selective Service Act of
1948, which he said he believed
were not thoroughly understood
by all of the general public.
“The obligation to register,” Mr.
McCormick said, “is a continuing
obligation and must be fulfilled
regardless of whether men are be
ing inducted into the armed forces
under the Selective Service Act.
The obligation to register is im
posed by the Act on every male,
citizen or resident, in the United
States between the ages of 18 and
26, with only the general excep
tions of members of the armed
forces on active duty and certain
aliens.”
The young man who becomes
18 is required to register at a local
board office within five days of
the date of his eighteenth birth
day, McCormick explained, but if
he happens to be away from home
he need no! return; he may regis
ter at the learest local board con
venient to him and the record will
be sent to the local board having
jurisdiction, even though it is in
another State. After he registers,
it is mandatory that a registrant
keep his local board Informed of
any charige in his address or
change in status, the director
pointed out. This applies after he
becomes 26 as well as before.
Questioned concerning the man
who did not register during the
designated registration days—Au
gust 30 to September 18, 19*3—
because he was then on active
duty in the armed forces, Mr. Mc
Cormick explained that he is re
quired to register within 30 days
of the time he was separated from
the armed forces.
"Any person who changes from
a status which did not require his
registration to a status which does
require it must register promptly
to be within the law,” Mr. McCor
mick said, adding that those who
were out of the country on the
registration days must register
within five days following the date
they re-enter the United States,
which includes Alaska, Hawaii,
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Is
lands.
Mr. McCormick said that non
citizens entering the United States
for the first time are required to
register at a local board within six
months following the date of their
entry.
The maximum penalty for vio
lation of any of the provisions of
the Selective Service Act of 1948,
Mr. McCormick pointed out, is
five years in prison or a fine of
$10,000 or both.
Polio Shows
Sharp Increase
'Continued from Page One)
diana, Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin. The 1,123 cases in
Texas did not include the number
stricken in the last week of July.
New York State reported 539
cases, with 424 in the New York
City metropolitan area, the larg
est number of cases in any big
city. California reported 794
cases; and Oklahoma 498.
The national foundation fur in
fantile paralysis has advanced
$3,551,365 to its 40 chapters up to
Aug. 1 this year, twice as much
as granted in a similar period in
1948.