THE NO M E NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday bv The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska f
Telephone: Main 125 P O. Bov 61^
W. A. and EMILY BOUC'HEK Ed ’ >r»
S1.5C PER MONTH S16.00 A YEAH
Entered as secon 4 class matterdOetober 14. ’943. :r he postuffio*
at N<-me. Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Monday, May 24, 1948
RAILROAD TO ALASKA IS NEEDED AT ONCE
AT SOME time in the very near future conqreis
will begin considering an omunbus aooropria
tion bill to finance the strengthening of our contin
ental defense system..
This measure should provide an adequate sum—
200 million dollars at least—for the construction
of a railroad northward throuqh Canada to Alaska.
And it is up to the members of Washington's con
gressional delegation to see that it does.
There is general agreement that such a railroad
is absolutely essential to the successful defense
of Alaska—and everyone recognizes that Alaska
would be one of the first objects of an enemy at
tack in case of war and that its fall would jeopard
ize the security of the entire North American contin
ent.
As early as 1942 ,The Post-Intelligencer published
the statements of the surveyor general and the min
ister of public works of British Columbia that the Al
aska military highway, which had just been com
pleted, was incapable of supplying more than one
division of troops in Alaska, even when utilied to its
maximum capacity.
The United States governmest reached the same
conclusion , as was made evident by the fact that,
as soon as the Japanese attacked the Aleutians, ne
cessitating the transfer of a large force to AJasa, it
began to make arrangements for the construction
of a railroad across Canada.
The army engineers made a survey for such a rail
road, extending from Prince George, B.C., to Alaska.
It was a remarkable feat. They showed how a 1,400
mile road could be built without a single grade in
excess of 1.5 per cent (which means a rise or fall of
1 1-2 feet in 100 feet), with 600 miles which would
never deviate more than 10 miles from a straight
link
The survey was completed early in 1943 and the
army went so far as to give letters of intent to a
number of contractors (the Puget Sound Bridge and
Dredging Company among them) for bridges, cul
verts and special track work. But then the Japan
ese were driven out of Kiska and Attu, eliminating
the need for large forces in Alaska, and the war de
partment announced that the plan for the railroad
had been put aside for the moment.
Recent internatiosal developments, however, will
make it clear that the railroad is now more urgent
ly needed than ever before—the most recent of
these developments being that radio commentator's
announcement that a two-track railroad from Mos
cow to the Bering Sea has just been completed. It
has become apparent that we must maistain far
more than a division of troops in Alaska for an in
definite time to come—and the only practicable way
of keeping them supplied is by rail.
Shipping to and from Alaska has been subject
to many interruptions that we cannot depend on it
when our national security is at stake. Air transpor
tation is available—but a single train, with a crew
of five men, can carry as much freight as 80 of our
largest cargo planes. And it would take 200 truck
drivers to haul a trainload of cargo over the mili
tary highway even if the road's capacity were not
limited.
While it is a military necessity which calls for the
immediate construction of the railroad, it must be
remembered that the project would be of incalcul
able value to the peacetime economy of the whole
Pacific Northwest. The road would tap the Peace
River country in British Columbia, which contains
MOLOTOV COCKTAIL .
the richest anthracite deposits on the North Ameri
can continent as well as a vast and largely unde
veloped agricultural region \tath the longest grow
ing season and the greatest grain yield per acre in
this part of the Western Hemisphere. If tariff barriers
are removed the day may come when this region
will be one of the major sources of fuel and food for
the Pacific Northwest.
At present there is no traffic potential to justify
the existence of a railroad north of Sifton Pass, ex
cept for military purposes. But as Alaska develops
the traffic potential will grow—and nothing would
speed the development of Alaska to such a degree
as the railroad.
BIG STEEL SHOWS THE WAY
(The New York Times)
DENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS, President of the United
States Steel Corporation, has announced a policy
move by that company which contains far-reaching
implications in terms of the stability of the Ameri
can economy. Big Steel, faced with the choice of
granting a third round of wage iscreases to its work
ers or reducing prices, has elected to adopt the latter
course. As of May J it introduced a new schedule
of prices, the effect of which, according to Mr. Fair
less, will be to reduce the steel consumers' bill by
about $25,000,000. The cost to Big Steel will be rough
ly equivalent to that represented by a general wage
increase of 5 cents an hour.
In announcing this action by the nation's largest
steel producer, its president declared that the pro
posed price reductions will, so far as possible, "be
made applicable to steel products which have a
more or less direct bearing upon the cost of living."
This, he said, would include items bought directly
by consumers in the fprm in which they are manu
factured by the Steel Corporation and its subsidi
aries — nails, wire fence, fesce posts, barbed wire
and side sheets for buildings. In addition, it would
be applicable to a number of products that are con
verted by Big Steel's customers into articles of every
day use by homeowners—articles such as tin plate
for the manufacture of cans, cold rolled strip and
sheets for automobiles, stainless steel for refriger
ators, washing machines, stoves, etc.
In deciding to reduce prices at this time instead
of granting the '‘substantial" wage increase sought
by the CIO Steelworers, the Steel Corporation has,
it is to be hoped, pointed the way to a return by
| industry generally to the bjisic principle which has
! made mass production so successful in this country.
That is the principle that the most effective way
to generalie the increased purchasing power which
it creates is not by raising the wages of a few bu*
by reducing prices, and thereby raising the living
standards of the many.
•UNION BASED ON
CHRISTIANITY
(British Religious Leaders Call
To Europe)
There is no salvation for man
kind except by a return to the
sense of duty owed by every hu
man being to his Got! and to his
■ fellow man. This was the message
given by Lord flalifax, the chair
man, and reiterated by succeed
ing speakers at a mee.ing held
in the Albert Hall, London, on
April 26, to rally Christians to
] action in the present European
1 cri is. The meeting was organized
by Christian Action (Oxford).
Supporting the chairman of thp
platform were the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Cardinal Arch
bishop of Westminster, and the
Moderator of the Free Church
Council, and the speakers were
Sir Stafford Cripps, Miss Florence
, Hancock, chairman of the Trades
| Union Congress, Mr. Richard Sul
livan, K.C., chairman if the Catho
lic Social Guild, and representa
tives from Germany, Italy, Hol
land, Sweden, France, and Bel
gium.
The Prime Minister, in a mes
sage to Lord Halifax, said.” “There
is no more urgent need today than
the reaffirmation of the absolute
moral values on which our Chris
tian civilization is based.” Mr.
Churchill also sent a message sug
gesting that the unification of
Europe assuredly offered immense
material advantages and might
also be the main road to peace
and the future of the world. “All
these hopes will come to naught
unless the structure of the new
Europe is built firmly upon mor
al and spiritual foundations,” he
wrote.
New Standards
Lord Halifax, opening the meet
ing, said he thought they were all
convinced that the present dis
order of the world was due to
its attempt to live by new stand
ards totally different from those
of Christianity. Besides being a
great fountain of strength for the
personal life, Christianity was al
so a great social code, teaching
men and women everywhere how
to live together in mutual res
pect and ordered freedom.
In the field of everyday af
fairs it stood for honesty, truth,
justice, fair play^ tolerance, res
?ec for the individual, for all,
:n short, on which human life
depended, just a sit was the ab
sence of these very things in in
ternational life today which was
making the world restless, weary,
and disturbed. We all had to
acknowledge our share in that
great failure of the world to hold
on to the things that truly made
for its health and well-being.
Many of us had hoped that the
war would have brought the great
redeeming compensation of deep
spiritual revival, but he did not
think it had. The statesmen of
the nations, and of others with
whom we were working closely
in defense of everything which
was vital to the good life, whether
of individuals or nations, were do
ing their best.
But the vital spring that must
support their efforts was the deep
spiritual conviction among their
peoples that there was no sal
vation for mankind except by a
return to the sense of duty, owed
by every human being to his
God and to his fellow men.
The Challenge
Our way of life was today chal
lenged by forces that would fight
with every weapon at their com
mand. The creed of those forces
was to them a religion, and they
worked for the conversion of the
world with an intensity and un
tiring pertinacity that few relig