THE NOME NUGGET i
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday fby The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.*
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUC'HEK . Editors
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR ,
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
_
Monday, September 29, 1947
I
i
The Omnipotent Payroll |
(Anchorage Times)'
IT HAS BEEN SAID that nothing endures so perm-i
anently as a political job and maybe that is one of the
lessons being learned today by Alaskans.
Reports from Juneau during the last several months
have disclosed the said plight of the Territorial treasury
as the result of the double-cross handed the people of;
Alaska by the last session of the legislature.
Numerous governmental activities have been cur
tailed but, unlike a business enterprise, the overhead j
has apparently been allowed to go on without change. |
The recent report indicated that something must hap-1
pen in the near future. The treasury has only $73,000,
to cover a $70,000 monthly payroll. What happens ini
another month? i
i
A business enterprise cuts down the overhead as
quickly as its income diminishes. But in government,
despite the diminishing income, there has been nary a
report of a cut in the overhead. Does government re
quire just as many clerks, secretaries, deputies, assist-j
ants, stenographers, typists, field workers, inspectors,
checkers, and others on the public payroll regardless of
the services rendered by the government?
It will be interesting to learn how the powers that
be find a way to perpetuate themselves and their co
horts in office in spite of it all.
The National Welfare Or John L. Lewis?
(The Denver Post)
PRESIDENT TRUMAN, who backed John L. Lewis
down in the coal mine contempt case early this spring,!
once more has shown the White House is not taking the
dictation of the shaggy-browed mine boss. Instead of
withdrawing the nomination of James Boyd as director
of the bureau of mines, as Lewis had bitterly demanded,
the President has stood by the appointment.
Boyd, former dean of the Colorado School of Mines,
has taken his oath of office under a recess appointment, i
the Senate having stalled approval of his earlier nomin
ation under the pressure of Lewis’ opposition. When
the Senate reconvenes in January it should show a cour-j
age of judgment equal to Mr. Truman’s.
The United Mine Workers Journal, in an editorial
said the President had “gone out of his way once again ‘
to antagonize the men who man American coal mines.” j
The newspaper said Lewis opposed Boyd because he
“knew nothing whatsoever about the coal industry.”
The U. M. W. objection to Dean Boyd, more than any-’
thing, reveals the personal resentment of Lewis that he j
was not permitted to dictate the filling of this office. We
do not believe Lewis can logically maintain Dean Boyd
is not more highly qualified for his office than his pre- ■
decessor, Dr. R. R. Sayers, who had returned to his for
mer position as medical director of the U. S. pubUcj
health service.
When the nation is faced with such necessities, it
would be utterest folly to yield to the personal politics'
of John L. Lewis. That is something for the Senate to,
consider when it takes up Director Boyd’s appointment
next winter.
A Timely Exposure
(Chicago Daily Tribune)
THE LATEST NEW DEAL SCANDAL came to pub
lic attention in a recent dispatch to The Tribune from
our correspondent in Tokyo, Mr. Walter Simmons. He
told about Edward C. Welsh, a civilian sent out by the j
war department to serve as the head of the anti-trust'
FIREMAN'S HOLIDAY
division of Gen. MacArthur’s economic section.
Who is Mr. Welsh? When the OPA was dissolved, he
was serving as deputy administrator in Washington.
Before that he was regional price administrator for the
OPA in Cleveland; before that he was with the tem
porary national economic committee set up by Mr.
Roosevelt to make propaganda against business under
the guise of investigating monopolies.
Bureaus and commissions occasionally die, but the
men who staff them generally turn up on another gov
ernment pay roll. Thus Mr. Welsh, having last his OPA
job, is now in Japan where he has been advocating an
anti-monopoly bill so extreme that it* is • calculated,
among other things, to pulverize Japanese industry. He
has been pressing Premier Tetsu Katayama to push
this measure through the Japanese diet, though the pre
mier was bitterly opposed to it as were also many of
Welsh’s American colleagues. Welsh had not consulted
them in drafting the bill and refused to permit Ameri
can reporters to see it.
The premier eventually turned to Gen. MacArthur
who replied that the Americans had no intention of de
stroying the Japanese economy. In consequence, the
bill has now been watered down.
Mr. Simmons’ exposure of the pernicious activities
of this bureaucrat was timely. Just as Welsh turned up
in Japan after his activities in America had been repu
diated, so other New Dealers are turning up in Greece
to fatten on the misery they create. They must think
that when they have broken down civilization in the
countries under American control, they can com? home
to repeat the process here.
The cure for this disease is the ousting next year of
the New Deal occupant of the White House who is re
sponsible for the appointments. Meanwhile much can
be accomplished by such a thorough exposure of these
people as Mr. Simmons provided. It may be too much
to expect the antr-American administration in Wash
ington to throw them out but exposure will serve, at
least as a check upon their worst excesses.
Bad Timing
This country has more than enough “public relations
advisers.” But we can’t help feeling that the services of
a good one might have been useful to the American
Meat Institute, a packers’ organization, whice chose to
give a dinner in Chicago at which 1875 guests were
served three-inch-thick, four-pound, AA-grade tender
loin steaks.
Insurance
The United States had better keep its premiums paid
up on the policy called national defense. There are too
many bonfires in the world today. Somebody’s house
may burn down, and it’s up to us to keep the water
bucket handy.”—Gen. George G. Kenney, chief of U. S.
Strategic Air Command.
Thai’s That
By BRUCE GUSTIN
French opposition to increased
German industrial production is
shortsighted. Germany plainly is
the key to European recovery
such as is sought under the Mar
shall plan. As stated in the United
States directive, ordering General
Clay to assist in developing a bal
anced foreign trade in the Ameri
can zone of Germany, an ‘ orderly
and prosperous Europe requires
the economic contributions of a
stable and productive Germany.’’
Too many American dollars
have been wasted on European
“relief” when they should have
been spent for rehabilitation. “We
have been giving Europe a dole on
the theory that Europe would be
able to come back on its own,”
Congressman Hill of Colorado
says: “There has been little recon
struction of rebuilding of indus
try. Europe is not much more self
sufficient today than it was two
years ago. Our money has merely
tided them along.” The idea of
the Marshall plan is to get Europe
off the dole and to insure that fu
ture American aid will help the
participating countries to make
themselves self-supporting.
American foreign trade can be
inflated easily enough by a policy
of “loaning” or giving American
dollars or gold to foreign coun
tries. So long as we finance tneir
purchases of American products,
they can buy large quantities of
goods from us. But there is no
profit for us in that kind of for
eign trade.
Senator Johnson of Colorado
talked sense when he said that it
is “an impossible task” for the
United States to support the whole
world and that we cannot “pave
the globe with dollars.” One thing
that should not be forgotten is that
the United States now has the big
gest national debt of any nation on
earth. American taxpayers are not
allowed to forget that. They are
being soaked 5 billion dollars a
year just for interest on that debt.
British Foreign Secretary Bevin
is right on one point. There will be
no lasting settlement of Europe’s
economic difficulties if continental
recovery is to depend on never
ending United States loans. These
“loans,” which really are hand
outs, as they never will be repaid,
are not going to be “never-end
ing.” The action of American tax
payers to Bevin’s suggestion for
“redistribution" of Unitdd States
gold should convince the British
Labor government that its “gimme,
gimme” game is about played out.
By this time the British people
should realize that no Socialist
magic on the part of their Labor
government is going to get them
out of the hole in which they now
are. Increased production is their
only road to salvation. And that
can be achieved only through
work and not through nationaliza
tion of industries. Most critical of
all British shortages is coal. Yet
thousands of coal miners have
been srtiking. When the mines
were nationalized the work week
was cut to five days. That obvi
ously was too short when the
need for increased coal production
was so acute. But when the gov
ernment tried to get the miners
to work a little longer many of
them rebelled.
Lord Beaverbrook, one of the
leading British publishers, say the
basic economic mess is the 3-and
three-fourths-billion-dollar Amer
ican loan. “It provided easy money
for Britain,” he argues. “It de
stroyed our prospect of recon
structing our economy on sound
lines.” He doesn’t blame the