THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Rox 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, May 15, 1946
A SANE FORMULA
6*$TRIKES do not pay and should be avoided if it is
humanly possible to avoid them.”
If that statement came from the National Asso
ciation of Manufacturers or the United States Cham
ber of Commerce there would be nothing surprising
about it.
But it is contained in an article which Daniel J.
Tobin contributed to the International Teamster, offi
cial magazine of the International Brotherhood of Team
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, of
which he is general president.
“I am satisfied that many of the strikes that have
taken place in recent months might have been avoided
by careful management of the affairs of the unions
involved, and by the leaders of the unions exemplifying
their leadership by proving that they have the courage
to disagree with their members when they believed
their members were going too far or asking too much,”
writes Mr. Tobin “Or when they believed—as their
judgement should have led them to believe—that even
though they were right, it would be better for all con
cerned to pursue the doctrine of compromise.
“In other words, as leaders of our unions, we
cannot expect to get everything that the members be
lieve they should have* Very often we have to take a
step backward, which perhaps is the wisest thing to
do when conditions warrant such action. A general
who refuses to retreat in the face of destruction is a
very poor general.”
Mr. Tobin’s utterance calls to mind the speech made
last month by Dave Beck, one of his union’s internat
ional vice presidents, at the 10th Western Conference
of Teamsters, in which he said:
“We want men directing our organizations who
can accept and who will measure up to the great re
sponsibilities of leadership, for leadership is a tremen
dous public trust as well as a tremendous power. If
strong, militant labor leadership is controlled by reason
and intelligence, it can speed the entire process of our
country’s reconversion, it can accelerate community
progress. If it is not ruled by intelligence and reason,
it can become a terribly destructive force ... We con
sider the strike to be a weapon of last resort.”
Such declarations of policy are especially signif
icant in the light of the announcement that the Team
sters* Union is joining in the formation of a maritime
division of the American Federation of Labor.
If such an intelligent formula were applied to
waterfront labor disputes we might avoid many of the
strikes which from time to time have paralyzed our
waterborne commerce and jeopardized the whole fut
ure of the American Merchant marine.
Seattle Post Intelligencer)
ONE MAN’S OPINION
By Walter Kiernan
Our federal reserve chief says the cost of living is
going up another 10 per cent. Soon we will be at the
carefree levels of 1929 and ready for another crash.
But the Democrats have their explanation ready . . .
i CUV FEET OR JUST DIRTY ?
- ... _
I
blame Hoover.
Society will not again be caught with busted brokers
in the blue book. The N. Y. social register has been cut
from 27,000 names to 500 . . . each one guaranteed
pure uranium.
Cafe society has been asked to do something for these
newly displaced persons . . . Newport huts or something
of the sort.
But at least we are all riding in New York. Phillip
Murray ruled that the way to win friends and influence
people was to keep them off their callouses.
Mike Quill threatened to tie up New York tighter than
a tea bag but the string broke.
Mr. Quill learned that leather tonsils do not an ar
gument make and that seven and one-half million peo
ple can draw more aces than 4,000 if the deck is
straight.
Enroute to UNO Hall (delayed at Yankee Stadium)
—The $10 seats for the Louis-Conn fight are within
easy radar distance of the ring.
And spectators who can’t see Louis and Conn can
look over their shoulders and watch Gromyko and Ala
flex their tonsils.
Hunter College is three miles from Yankee Stadium
. . . .but wait till you look at your tickets.
But this is the first break that’s been given a two
headed boy. He can watch two world’s heavyweight
fights for the price of two. The UNO in for free and
Mike Jacobs is getting the price of two.
Uncle Mike based his $100 ringside price on the fact
that Louis is four years older and fight fans are four
years riper.
He figured if the Democrats can get $100 a plate
for a Jackson day dinner, a Jacobs smorgasbord is
worth as much.
Prelims now getting underway . . . Ala and his man
ager, Jimmie Byrnes, have just stepped into the ring.
I
i - -■ ■ — -■ ■ ■' — — - — -- ■ — -
Resident ef Harding College
Searcy. ArkanMi
-. i i ~ ;
A
—
Saddles
Casper, Wyo., boasts a saddle
maker who has been at the busi
ness for forty years in that city.
He knows his trade, a fact not
hard to prove. You see there are
a great many people in his state
who know a good saddle when
they see one and a saddle maker
i a_
has to be good to stay in busi
ness long in Wyoming. Not many
days ago 1 dropped into his shop
and got introduced.
I was a prospective customer.
We need a couple of good cad
dies at Harding College stable
and had shopped close to home
with no success. To my astonish
ment the Casper saddler was no
better able to supply our needs
j than those in Memphis or Little
Rock. He was able however, to
give me some facts I had not*
learned before from any of the
saddle stores visited earlier.
Saddle Trees Scarce
A good saddle is built on a
wooden frame called a tree,
much as a shoe is built on a
wooden last, except that the tree
is built into the saddle and be
comes a permanent part of it.
Saddle trees are made by men ^
of a highly specialized craft.
Trees have to be shaped rig!*,
no bulkier and no heavier than
strength and design require. Men
able to do such things with wood
are by no means common. ^
During the war Uncle Sam
needed skillful saddle-tree men
in the construction of gliders.
“The government employed most
of them at about $160 a week,”
the saddler declared Good sad
dles. not being made any more,
might have skyrocketed in price
but the Office of Price Admin
istration fixed a ceiling to stop it.
Stocks of new saddles soon were
bought up by users at ceiling
prices.
But The War Is Over
Now the glider business is
slack. Wonders have been done
with gliders and they are not be
ing forgotten, but fewer are be
ing built. Unemployed saddle-tree^
men would like to start building
saddle trees again — there’s quite
a demand. Living costs have butft
up, however, and they think th#r
ought to have $120 a week. That’s
$6,000 a year and 25 percent un
der their defense-plant scale of
pay.
Saddle manufacturers, like the
one in Casper, want trees be
cause — no trees, no saddles.
They are willing to pay tree build^
ers $120 a week and wouldn’t
kick a bit if saddles might be
sold at prices they would easily
bring. I guess there thousand?
of customers besides me who are
ready to pay more for a saddle
than it would have cost in the
months immediately before the *
war.
Ceiling Lingers On
“If today I engaged a good tree
builder,” said the Wyoming sad
dler, “paid him $120 a week in
return for his best services and
most competent work, and then
sold the total product at ceilijUg
prices, it would pay about three
fourths of the wages of the man
who made the tree.” Obviously
it is out of belance. Craftsmen,
manufacture 's, dealers and user^
rre all waiting for ceilings to lilt.
'he sadn'2 business is rot large
when you contrast it to auto
mobiles and raihoads, but it is no
isolated case. Many small busi
ness men are smothering for sales
that are tied up by O. P. A. Small
plants, employing less than 1.00')
men, provide jobs for 78 per ,:ent
of industrial workers. Carried too
far, this price policy can bring
panic and poverty. Liquidating*
some war-year bureaus would help
balance the national budget and
help clear the way for new and
much needed production.
Hospital Notes
Jerry Thompson, son of MrT
aud Mrs. J. W. Thompson, was
admitted to the hospital Monday
for an appendectomy.
Cara Agapuk of Shishmaref is
a patient in the hospital.