THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 6i«
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W. A. Boucher . .Owner-Publisher
Emily Boucher .Local Editor
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, February 28, 1949
TRUE SECURITY
(New World News Service)
The Western Democracies are rallying around the
North Atlantic Alliance to defend themselves against
Moscow’s threat of world conquest. Nations, big and|
small, seek security fearing that they too will be gob
bled up by communism. Powerful pressure has been
applied by the Soviet Union to prevent any pact. Nor
way has been sent threatening notes. Sweden, Den
mark, and Finland may soon be forced to choose be
tween allegiance to the East or West.
Perhaps the most courageous stand taken by any of
these nations so far is that of Finland, buffer state be
tween Soviet Russia and Scandinavia. In the shadow of
the Iron Curtain, drained by gigantic reparations pay
ments to Russia, and hamstrung by Red Army bases in
side her borders, she has found a new determination to
live democracy no matter what the cost.
Last year Hertta Kuusinen, cabinet minister and :
communism’s number 2 woman, said, “Finland must go1
the same way as Czechoslovakia.’’ Yet the reverse has!
happened. In the last elections the communists lost 20
per cent of their seats in Parliament. A Social Democ"atj
Government was formed with sound democracy as its
objective. It has had bitter opposition from the leftist'
forces. Nevertheless, prices are lower and taxes are'
lighter than a year ago. Like leaven in a lump of dough
a new spirit has spread throughout the-land.
Recently the Trades Union Congress of Finland and!
the Government agreed on a 51per cent increase to be
given in wages should there be as much as 5 per cent
rise in the cost of living. So far there has been no need I
for an increase. The situation is unrecognizable from1
last year. *
A year ago under Finnish leadership and initiative
a Moral Re-Armament drama of teamwork in industry]
was translated into Finnish. Labor and management
leaders saw this play, “The Forgotten Factor” and at
their request it was given for more than fifty vital in
dustries in the country. Sixty per cent of Parliament ;
and 6 Cabinet Ministers saw the play. The Speaker of1
Parliament said, “It shows us what the world would be
like if morally sound people would lead it. This spiri"
of teamwork which begins in ourselves must go to our
homes, our communities and into our parliamentary
work.”
A communist Member of Parliament said, “If that
idea, that human nature can be changed is true, it is
one of the most important things in the world. I don’t
yet believe it is possible .. . but. .. still.”
Commenting on the fact that the play gives a con
crete answer as well as showing the problems of the
world, the speaker of Parliament said, “ ... it shows
us what the world would be like if morally sound peo
ple would lead it. This spirit of teamwork which begins
In ourselves must go to our homes, our communities
and into our parliamentary work.”
While other nations are planning a program of po
litical, economic, and military preparedness, Finland is
staking her first security on ideological preparedness.
The former types of preparedness are essential, but a
nation without an ideology is no match for a nation
with an ideology.
MULTIPURPOSE FOOD FOR ARCTIC SCHOOL
Miss Christine Heller, Nutrition Consultant will
spend the next two months using multipurpose food in
six Arctic schools.
Multipurpose food, a concentrate high in protein,
minerals and vitamins, was developed during the war
INJURED INNOCENCE
and used extensively in the war-torn countries of Eu
rope. It is usually added to milk, soups and cooked
foods. One thousand pounds of the powdered concen
trate have been donated for the project by Meals for
Milllions, a non-profit organization with headquarters
at Pasadena, California.
. Sponsored by the Alaska Native Service, the Tuber
culosis Control Division and the Nutrition Unit of the
Alaska Departmenet of Health, the project will supple
ment the regular school lunches at Tetlin, Tanacross,
Allakaket, Shungnak, Akiak and Akiakchuk, and will
continue until the end of the present school year.
Miss Heller will also make a field visit to Fort Yukon
and Arctic Village to study food resources.
OSLO-MOSCOW TREATY WOULDN’T STOP REDS
(Seattle Times) j
Plucky Norway is in a tight spot. She is asked to
choose between a security pact with other western peo
ples of her own democratic faith and a non-aggression
pact with the Soviets, with whom she has the misfor
tune to possess a common frontier.
There can be no doubt as. to where Norway’s sympa
thies lie. Liberty and independence are inherent in her
history, her institutions and the character of her people.
She has not always enjoyed full national freedom, but
the democratic spirit has burned fiercely there for cen
turies, and was never daunted, even during the dark
years of Nazi occupation.
Norway, of course, has no thought whatever of ag
gression against Russia. Neither have the western pow
ers that propose the North Atlantic Securitv Pact. A
non-aggression agreement with Russia would be an idle
instrument to begin with. Moreover, a non-aggression
pact to which Russia became a signatory would be
meaningless in any case. Russia pays but little attention
to pacts of any kind. The Soviet government has not
| needed to employ military aggression as such to envoi
op, infiltrate and finally absorb within its own orbit the
little nations it has forced behind the iron curtain.
But Russia has failed so far in Italy, France and
Greece. Unlike these, Norway’s borders join Russia’s.
But the blandishments of communism have not made
much headway there. A communist coup-d’etat would
not be as easy to accomplish at Oslo as it was at Prague.
Norway has nothing to gain by entering into any
agreement with Russia. Her place is with the peoples of
the western world, whose tradition of freedom she
shares and to whom she gave such an inspiring exam
ple of courage and fortitude during World War II. It is
inconceivable that the same spirit should not prevail
during her present diplomatic crisis.
It’s not so much who we elect to lead but how we
elect to live that counts. . . . Christianity must move
from the realm of pious platitudes into the arena of
practical politics. . . . Where material standards rule,
moral standards slide.
i
International News
At A Glance —
• Confined from Page One)
ment. Some called it treason.
French police arrested three
pro-communist newsmen and a
defense plant draftsman and ac
cused them of prying into defense
secrets.
The Rev Yanko Ivanov, head
of the Methodist church in Bul
garia and one of 15 Protestant
clergymen on trial for treason,
spying and black market dealings,
concluded seven hours of self de
nunciation in Sofia. He asserted
he had spied for years for the Bri
tish and Americans.
The Bulgaina Baptist church
head, Nikola Naumov opened the
trial yesterday with a similar con
fession. He denounced himself too
and said “the time of communism
has come, a new world is being
created.
Secretary of state Dean Ache
son indicated most major issues
of the proposed North Atlantic
Security treaty have been ironed
out and that the accord probably
will get its final polishing within
two weeks. The U. S. then will
start a new program calling for
about $1,000,000,000 military aid
to Britain, France and the low
countries, plus a plan to authorize
the transfer of up to $2,000,000,
000 “surplus” military supplies to
the European members of the
pact.
Russia demanded in a stiff note
that U. S. occupation authorities
in Germany and Austria cancel
an order to close Soviet repatria
tion missions March 1. The Rus
sians want to get out about 100,
000 people, mostly Ukrainians,
Estonians and Lithuanians who
care for no part of life under
communism.
Observers in Nanking were re
ported convinced that the shoot
ing war in China is over. Millions
of troops still were lined up but
moves toward peace have gone so
far that neither the communists
nor nationalists are likely to re
vive the fighting.
Monday. February 28, 1949
The F.ench government, busily ^
waging a drive to purge commun
ist elements, said today a com
munist army major has confessed
turning army documents over to a
“foreign military attache.”
The interior ministry said the
officer—identified only, as a "Ma.
jor Teulery”—was on active serv
ice w'th the French army and had
admitted handing over “numerous
documents which he had been
able to collect in his jobs in the
offices of the ministry of muni
tions and national defense.
The attache was not identified,
nor was the country he represents
named. The major was identified
as stockholder in the communist
weekly, France d’Abord whose
business manager was arrested
Friday.
Many Frenchmen wond ered
nervously how far France would
go in the purge, as the campaign A
against communists on the parlia
mentary front continued .
France’s communists are accus
ed of inciting labor unrest and de
claring that “France will never
fight the Soviet Union” but that
Frenchmen should welcome the
Soviet army if it moved into
France.
Elsewhere in Europe the Rus
sians were running into opposi
tion.
Denmark appeared lined up
firmly with the west in the cold^
war and there were indications
Sweden, too, is leaning in that di