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. 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.
Monday, October 28, 1946
Voting Paper Millions !
(The Rocky Mountain News)
The reparations commissions at the Paris Peace Con
ference agreed to recommend a total war bill of $1,350,
000,000 against the former enemy states of Italy, Fin
land, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
This may impress many Americans as just one of
those things, since we get none of the money, if it could
be termed that. It is apparent there has been no recog
nized relationship between assessments and ability to
pay, whether in cash, goods or services.
All of the commission’s decisions have been reached
by log-rolling and appeasement, with Russia and her
satellites on the receiving end of most of the millions
voted. However, unless we are on guard, the United
States may find itself footing a substantial part of this
fantastic war bill.
Italy is expected to pay Russia, Yugoslavia, Greece
and Ethiopia a total of 325 million dollars at some future
time. Russia is listed to get 100 million dollars of that
amount, and such a tough creditor is not easily to be de- j
nied, unless the claim is to be used as a lever to force
Italy into the Soviet orbit.
The Italians today are subsisting on American char
ity and credit, and borrowing our money to rebuild their
industry. It will be some years, at least, before their j
economy will be on a self-sustaining basis. Directly, or
indirectly, money we send to Italy is likely to be divert
ed to Russia.
Finland, against which the Soviet Union has received
a tentative award of 300 million dollars, even now is ex
ploring the possibilities of an American loan to retire;
that obligation. Finnish credit here is better than that of
some nations, for the Finns kept faith with their World
War I loan.
But there is a limit to any nation’s resources. Can
Finland, impoverished by war and enemy occupation, |
pay Russia, and then pay us, and at the same time live
with Russia on Russia’s terms?
To their credit, the American representatives on the1
various reparations commissions worked to hold the
awards within the realm of reality and reason. Gener-,
ally, though, they were outvoted by the totalitarians 1
who may see political rather than economic advantages
in the promissory notes they expect to get signed at
pistol point.
But somewhere along the line we should have it u*~
derstood that we aren’t paying for any of these dead
horses.
Labor’s Real Danger
(Rocky Mountain News)
Warnings of danger to the cause of labor fill the au
tumn air. They come from men, calling themselves lead
ers of labor, who denounce those they term the enemies
»of workers.
Two speeches in the last few days were typical.
Joseph A. Padway, chief AFL atorney, charged that
a “subtle propaganda” is seeking to abolish the right to
strike and would destroy the labor movement by mak
ing unions responsible for their members’ actions. Any
law requiring men to stay at work against their will
“for 30 days or even 30 minutes,” he said, would be in
voluntary servitude and violate the Constitution.
Philip Murray, CIO president, asserted that “a well
wganized and goal-conscious group of employers” sees
the next Congress “as the ideal forum for permanent re
pression of the labor movement.” The objective, he said,
was to “degrade wages and lower living standards.” He
called on labor to “answer with all its strength the chal
lenge of those who have vowed that labor organizations
have no place in American life.”
We think the gentlemen are talking bunk.
Labor’s real danger is within the labor movement.
It does not come from those employers, few in num
ber and small in influence, who would deny the obvious
fact that strong, vigorous, responsible labor organiza
tions and steadily rising living standards are essential
to American life.
It comes from abuses of labor’s power that are out
raging public opinion and alienating public sympathy
and support. It comes from a labor leadership, as blind
and stiff-necked as yesterday’s princes of privilege on
the side of capital, which refuses to recognize the equal
ly obvious fact that responsibility must go with power.
iNb law can be passed, and to our knowledge none has
been proposed, which would compel individuals to stay
at work against their will. But this does not mean that
a group of individuals has a sacred right to do what has
been done at Pittsburgh, where the concerted action of
3500 power strikers imposed weeks of untold loss, hard
ship and danger on a community of one and one-half
million people.
Writing sound labor legislation is, we agree, a diffi
cult and delicate task. But we think the next Congress
should, and will, undertake that task. Labor leaders, if
they are wise, would acknowledge the need and offer
their help in shaping fair and effective measures.
Instead, they are fighting windmills and preaching
unwielding opposition to any legislation. By so doing,
they are encouraging the membership of unions to ex
cesses and abuses. And they are creating a real danger
that repressive laws may be enacted.
I
One Man’s Opinion j
(By Walter Kiernan)
Cold weather hit us so suddenly that even the pigeons
were flapping their wings together to keep warm. . . An
old lady said to one pigeon—“You poor little bird—I’d
like to take you home and give you a nice warm room.”
He said “I don’e know how to thank you lady, I’m only
a pigeon.” . . . She said, “Why I didn’t know pigeons
could talk!” He said, “Lady—when anybody offers you a
room these days you talk if you never talked before!”
. . . It’s so cold fielders for the World Series are having
their gloves lined with rock wool. . . . This will be the
only Series ever played in which ushers went through
the stands at the seventh inning chipping the ice off the
customers. . . . It’s cold at Nuernberg, too—several
prominent Nazis are in danger of getting sore throats
from chilly ropes. . . . Russian judges dissented on free
ing three of the Nazis—the feeling was that if they were
not guilty at least they were handy.
' *
By GEORGE S BENSON
Resident of Harding College
Searcy. Arkansas
EXPERIMENT i
Nationalization of industry is
the big issue in England. The La
bor government, elected last year
on a nationalization platform, is
proceeding to carry out the pro
gram as rapidly as possible.
Some sectors of American
thought are advocating the same
measures for our country. For this
reason it is my belief that many
readers of this column will find
interest in the progress of this so
cialistic program in England.
First step was nationalization of
the Bank of England upon which
the government has long relied
for more or less of its own financ
ing, particularly has it obtained
large short-*term loans for years.
The bank’s stock belonged to pri
____
vate individuals and had been
paying about 3 per cent interest.
The government did not evaluate
the bank, but simply took over all
the stock, giving to all the former
owners bonds equal to the market
value of the stock and bearing in
terest at 3 per cent. The invalu
able hidden* assets which invari
ably accrue to such an institution
went to the government without
remuneration to the former stock
holders.
Danger Present
The Bank of England also was
given power to require other
banks of the country to accept
such banking policies as it might
decide to issue. Some experienced
bankers fear that the day may
come when the government fc
cause of cxicriji v c uwiic-t uuu^
ing, will advocate unsound ban
ing policies which would rea
badly upon the financial .»fntu
the United Kingdom. Policies a
; ready adopted by the bank ha'
led to discontinuing interest fo
merly paid on deposits and sa
ings accounts.
Industries father than coa
mining already nationalized ar
which was discussed in an earli<
column) slated for nationalizatia
by the labor government are: f
Transportation, including rail
roads, transport buses, street car
canal barges, and coastal ship
ping, (2) Utilities, including pix
duction and distribution of ele<
trie power and the operation c
water systems throughout th
Kingdom, (3) The iron and ste<
industry, and (4) Civil aviation.
Complications In Steal
Electric utilities in England ar
numerous and they are operate'
largely on a community bash
However, the cost is said to var,
from one cent per unit to twent;
cents per unit. This is offered a
a major reason for the propose*
nationalization. But perhaps th
most complex problems for na
tionalization are presented by th
iron and steel industry.
This is a highly skilled indus
try, requiring skills and know-hov
to be found only in the presen
management of the industry
Many important but closely re
lated industries in manufacturing
from needles to locomotives
would be affected. One govern
ment economist told me that th<
government would take over pro
duction of steel and iron up tc
the point where the metal was al
lowed to cool, regardless of th«
form in which that might be
However, another economist stat
ed that this policy would draw th«
line of democracy for nationalized
industry right through the center
of some plants, which were accus
tomed to using a continuous pro
cess until metals were actually
shaped into materials for sale.
Some observers in England
think difficulties will be so great
that the government finally will
give up the scheme of nationaliz
ing the iron and steel industries.
In fact, the government has re
cently indicated the scheme would
be postponed at least four years.
One steel operator with whom we
lunched ventured that production
per man hour would certainly go
down when and if the government
took over. One of his reasons was
that the employees would then be
at points entirely too far removed
from the source of authority. He
also affirmed that in his opinion
workers did not like the idea of
nationalization.
Prehistoric Animal
In Killer Whale
SEATTLE, (/P)—Expert opinion
today labeled Alaska’s “prehistor
ic animal” a killer whale which
they described as “hale and hear
ty” until a few days before it
washed ashore in Cook Inlet.
Prof. Trevor Kincaid of the
University of Washington, an ex
pert on marine life, looked at pic
tures of the animal and said: “It
couldn’t be anything else.”
Earlier at Anchorage, anthro
pologist Ivar Skagland said pic
tures of the spine bones resemble
those of a whale or dolphin. He
flew to Homer, where the carcass
washed up, to study the carcass
| over the week end.