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 YEAH
W. A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
it Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Friday, October 6, 1950
OUR HIDDEN ENEMY—INFLATION
(By George S. Benson, President Harding College)
Some readers may have wondered from time to time
why I have so persistently warned of the danger of a
prolonged practice of deficit financing (operating on
borrowed money) by our Federal government. The rea
son is thai runaway inflation is disasterous, and if there
is a single economic law on which virtually all econo
mists can agree it is the one that says government deficit
spending inevitably brings on and feeds inflation.
In Asia, in the Orient and in Europe, I have had per
sonal contact with the havoc wrought by inflation. For
a number of years I’ve carried at $10,000 currency bill
in my waiiet. In 1935, when we left Hong Kong to re
turn to America, this Chinese money would have bought i
a very nice home anywhere in the Orient. Today the:
$10,000 bill would be just enough to pay for one slice of j
bread. j
Inflation can be as destructive as defeat in war. Lenin, >
the father of international communism, said “We must
force the United States to spend itself into destruction.” *
In opening the nationwide Crusade for Freedom with a
radio address last month, General Eisenhower pondered
the possibility that present Russian strategy may be cal
culated to force us into ruinous financial practices. Earl
Browder, the Communist, says in his new book that So-:
cialism is inevitable in the Unitetd States. He gives as;
the foremost reason “Government deficit financing.” j
In its full, runaway stage, inflation creates panic and
sometimes anarchy results; but in its first, insidious
stages it is not likely to generate alarm among the peo
ple. That's another reason I have frequently pointed out
the danger. Conditions which led to the French revolu
tion were set into motion by the Finance Ministry’s!
heavy deficit financing and resultant runaway inflation.
Hitler’s National Socialism took root in a post war Ger-,
many prostrated by currency inflation. '
People working to change our American way ot lile tOi
Socialism or any other form of regimenting government
gain headway by encouraging deficit spending, inflation,
constantly mountng national debt. Thomas Jefferson
viewed public debt as “the greatest danger to be fear
ed." He said, “We must make our choice between econ
omy and liberty of profusion and servitude.” Bernard!
Baruch recently spotlighted the danger. “What could,
make people more dependent on government,” he asked
a Senate committee, “than inflation?”
!
LASH YOURSELVES TO THE MAST, MATES ! i
EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 9
REDUCED RATES ON ALL ROUND-TRIP FARES
BOTH INTER-PORT IN ALASKA AND OUTSIDE
ECONOMY — Aboard The Alaska Line your fare
includes all meals/ first class berth and liberal
baggage allowance. You can take your car
along for surprisingly little. And low winter
round-trip fares mean an extra 20% saving!
COMFORT — Delicious meals coupled with atten
tive personal service and pleasant restful state
rooms make your trip a memorable one. Your
trip on The Alaska Line is an extra vacation
while you travel.
DEPENDABILITY — Every modern navigation aid
— including famous radar — plus veteran offi
cers and experienced crews assure you safe and
dependable service.
SEE YOUR ALASKA LINE AGENT TODAY
for full information
/ Low Winter round-trip rates return limit \
\ 120 days, but not later than May 15, 1951 /
SEWARDSEATTLE
ROUND TRIP
FIRST
CLASS A slow as
f