TH i NOW S NIGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box GIG
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY B< >irCHER ............ .......... Edii
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome. Alaska, under the Art of March 3, 1379.
Monday, March 4, 1946
MAKE IT A TWO-WAY STREET
(Rocky, Mountain News)
Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge has acted “in kind.” A corre
spondent of the Russian news agency Tass asked for
credentials to look around Southern Korea, the zone we
occupy.
General Hodge said no, not until our correspondents
are accredited to Northern Korea, the Russian zone. It’s
about time, we think. The two-way rule should be ap
plied in other respects, and in our own country as well.
Why should we continue to be suckers in this whole
business? Why should be open up for observation ev-1
erything in sight in our country and the military areas!
where we operate, and then stand behind Russia’s iron
curtain and not see what goes on in their counrty, or
their military areas?
The recent Canadian spy episode, incidentally, is per- i
tinent.
If there is anything in reciprocity, brotherhood of
man, mutual confidence, and giving light, why con
tinue this one-way policy?
General Hodge is cracking down on it, is talking the
only language the Russians will understand.
In this connection, we quote below from a letter writ-j
ten by Ephraim Freedman. He has been for 20 years'
direction of the Bureau of Standards for R. H. Macy &
Co., New York. He writes:
i
‘The Nazis said that democracies are inherently
weak. What the Nazis did not proclaim was that the
strength of dictator-ruled countries lay in secretiveness.
“For years Japanese ports were closed to our ship
ping and travel in Japan was taboo for Americans ex
cept under close regulations. For years, Germany was
carrying on gigantic plans for war—and few outsiders
realized it. For years, entry into Russia has been ban
ned except to a handful of Americans, while travel
through Russia was, and still is, forbidden except under
closest surveillance.
“If any country in the world is permitted to prevent
the free travel of foreigners through its domain, what is
there to prevent another Pearl Harbor or another rape
of Poland, on an atomic bomb scale?
“We, a democracy, have opened our ports, our lab
oratories, our factories, our military institutions to rep
resentatives of other countries, only to find that the j
know-how of some of them gathered here was returned
in death-dealing packages.
“As a democracy, we should continue to permit free
travel and free dissemination of our knowledge of any
thing that will benefit mankind. But, is it too touch for •
us to expect, nay, to demand, that these things be recip
rocated in like fashion?
“The United States should refuse to grant to foreign
ers and to foreign agents any rights or privileges not!
granted to American citizens in foreign countries.”
Doesn’t that make sense?
I
ONE MAN S OPINION
(By Walter Kiernan)
Moscow’s position on the Canadian spy ring is very
clear. ... It w*as a plot by Prime Minister King to in
sult Russia . . . Moscow says: “No one was authorized
to obtain information which turned out to be of no
value to us.” ... If Jipimie Byrnes has any of his copies
of the Argentine spy ring report left he might ship
them to Moscow—It apparently worked much smooth
er. ... Mr. Byrnes has good reason to be angry with
Canada. He keeps saying, “Look at Argentina,’’ and
Canada keeps saying, “We’ve got a more important'
ICHOCKINO ON WOOD
story up here.” . . . But as I understand it now—An
apology from Canada for exposing the spy ring will set
everything straight. ... As Mr. Wallace said the other
day—We’ve got to convince Russia that our friendship
is genuine.
LOST WAGES
(Rocky Mountain News)
The General Motors strike goes on into its 95th day,
and we read that the United Auto Workers Union estim
ates that 175,000 idle auto workers have lost a total of
$106,220,000 in wages, due to this strike.
The union is demanding an increase of 19M> cents an
hour.
If our arithmetic is approximately correct, that
means that if the strike were settled today and the
workers returned immediately to their jobs, and they
got the 19 VL» cents increase, they would have to work
77 weeks of five days of eight hours each, plus four
days more, to get back what they have lost.
Which ought to prove something. This seems to offer
substantial evidence that some machinery should be
developed whereby wage disputes can be settled by
bargaining, mediation and arbitration, while the work
ers keep on their jobs and on the payroll.
AH, FALLING PRICES!
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
Believe it or not, the price of something is going
down. And one of the essentials of life, at that. The
House has passed and sent# to the Senate a bill to reduce
the rate for first-class local mail from three cents to two
cents an ounce.
In such matters as this, the Postoffice Department is
a great comfort. Right in the middle of a period of soar
ing prices, and of prices that would soar if the OPA gave
them a chance, we find a chance to get something for
less than we have been paying.
To be sure, the three-cent rate was a revenue mea
sure, which no cost accountant would try to justify. So
what the House voted for overwhelmingly is really tax
reduction. But the fact remains that something we all
buy frequently is actually going to cost less than it has
been costing.
i LOOKING 1
I AHEAD
Tm GEORGE HENSON
^ PmHtat—JUriltf Mkft'
§ *"+**—_ _
WITH THANKS
Free schools are still free insti- j
tutions in the United States,
thanks to the bravery of ten Con
gressmen, five Democrats and five
Republicans. Jointly, last Decem
ber 12, they broke up a piece of
law-making strategy that might
have wrecked American freedom
completely. Thus ended Round 5
of a long and costly fight to top
our public schools with a bureau
cratic boss in Washington.
The House Committee on Edu
cation, by a ten-to-nine vote, re
jected the famous bill to provide
federal aid (?) to education. The
threat of collectivism to American
liberty was greater at no time
during World War II than it is
now. and all people who appreci
ate the privileges our pioneer
grandfathers won with flintlock
rifles, may be thankful to a sane
Congress.
Many Good Reasons
What happened that day made
the best news of the week but,
important as it was, did not eclipse
the brilliant tidings of the previ
ous week when President Truman
signed a bill *to place a group of
govrenment corporations under
control of Congress. These highly
privileged, wild entities had been
foraging without restraint in rich
fields of industry for varying
numbers of years.
The Chief Executive compli
mented Congress for roping and
branding these freebooters, as
well he might. Indeed the 79th
Congress deserves a great deal of
commendation. One of its most
notable achievements of the First
Session was that exhaustive job
by the Manasco Committee, X
raying the so-called Full Employ
ment Bill. It deserved to be diag
nosed thoroughly, and it was.
1
Toothless Enactment
Several well informed Wash
ington observers are predicting
that a dehorned and fangless ver
sion of the Full Employment Bill
will pass—into oblivion. As orig
inally written, it was a viper, a
sort of two-edged Townsend plan
of pensions with an appended
government corporations under
ready, gainly employment to ev
erybody out of jails and hospitals,
drunk or sober, on borrowed gov
ernment money.
Addressing a few belated trav
elers in a highway hamburger em
porium recently, a red-nosed
tramp declared: “There’s plenty
of everything in the world for ev
reybody to live easy, if greedy
guys would quit grabbing every
thing and holding us up for our
share.” I submit that as a paral
lel to the philosophy of the Full
Employment Bill. It is simply not
true. Good living depends on
work.
Wealth and Plenty
I wish every American could
live on a farm long enough to
learn how plenty depends on pro
duction. The more of anything
people produce, the more of it
they have. There’s a difference
between abundance and prosper
ity; production is only one ingre
dient. Idleness and scarcity lead
directly to poverty and want. It is
true of a man. It is true of a na
tion.
Prosperous, productive people
can afford to yield their sub
stance freely to help genuinely
unfortunate folk who are in need.
On the other hand it is not a
kindness to quench any man’s de
sire to make his own living and
build his own success. Doing such
things for people is unfair to
them. We should be proud of our
70th Congress for holding that
everlasting truth in mind.
I The national capital was moved
to Princeton in 1783 because of a
mutiny of troops which menaced
Congress at Philadelphia.