THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Ma n 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER . .Editors
$1.50 TER MONTH S16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1379.
Monday, March 1, 1948
Pressure On The South
(By Lawrence Martin)
IT IS ONE of democracy’s misfortunes that the more
explosive the issue the more need there is on discussing
it with calm dispassion—and the less hope there is of
achieving such an attitude.
One of the more violent of such issues—the racial mi
norities issue—has been brought to a ned head by Presi
dent Truman. It may be wondered why the President
chose this particular time to bring up the race question.
The answer seems pretty simple; he has been looking at
the polls and it appears that the minority vote may be
the deciding edge in a close election. By offering his j
program now, nine months before the election, the Pres-1
ident gets himself on the record and still leaves time to
mend relations with the southerners whom he’s offend
ed. Nor do we doubt that the southerners will simmer
down. They have been talking angrily of “seceding”,
from the Truman party; and there has been discussion
of an elaborate plan for nominating their own candidate
and using his electoral votes as bludgeon to beat the
President into line on the race issue. Such talk is peri
odic and it will probably end as talk and nothing more.
When that important November day arrives, they’ll be
at the polls voting Democratic like their pappies.
Both Democrats and Republicans will seek to avoid
a filibuster in this important session of Congress. They;
also want to wind the session up early, in time for the I
political conventions. For these reasons it may be doubt
ed that any of the President’s civil rights program—at
least, the portions affecting the status of the Negro—
will be reported out of committee this session.
Meanwhile, the time-hontfred arguments which the
south uses to defend segregation are being shouted. A
masked leader of the Ku Klux Klan cries, “May we re
dedicate ourselves to the protection of white woman
hood!” Fires of bigotry are being heaped higher, blinding
the south to truths of their most demanding problem.
That is the tragic dilemma posed by the minorities
question in the south—what can be done to speed the
arrival of interracial justice in the south without revers
ing progress by stirring up the passions of bigotry?
White southerners believe that we in the north do not
understand their problem. Perhaps we don’t. Perhaps
the southern whites themselves don’t, either.
One thing that is necessary in this most dangerous
area of human relations is not to try to go too far too
fast. The north cannot, even if it were politically feasi
ble, impose absolute and final decisions on the south,
for the very reason that there are no such solutions.
There cannot be any real settlement of the race prob
lem in the south which is not in accord with the progres
sive thinking of the gerater number of southern citizens.
We cannot ram our ideas dow ntheir throats.
What we can do, however, is to exert steady pressure
in the right direction, all the while working to strength
en democracy in our own section of the country.
Part of that pressure is the gradual advancement of
such programs as the President’s. Even if a civil rights
bill is politically impossible to achieve in the months
ahead it may have a positive beneficial effect. Just as
the threat of anti-lynch legisation has been a factor in
reducing this national shame, other proposals may have
a similar therapeutic result.
A China Plan, Maybe
(By Jack Foster)
AFTER MANY MONTHS of Congressional and pub
lic pressure the state department has proposed large
scale American aid to China.
The estimated figure for the 15-month period begin
IMAGINARY OR NOT, IT’S FRIGHTENING
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ning this April is 570 million* dollars That approximates
for the period the sum suggested by advocates of China
aid, and is almost double the amount discussed by Sec
retary Marshall last November.
At first glance, therefore, it appears that the fight the
nawspapers have been waging for a positive American
policy has been won. But it the strange do-nothing strat-;
egy of the state department, which has amounted to a
devastating negative policy undermining the Chinese
government during the past year, basically changed?
We are not so sure. We are waiting to see more of the
evidence. That 570 million dollars is a blind figure
which does not yet “represent an official request ap
proved by the President,” according to the state depart
ment’s letter to the Senate foreign relations committee.
No breakdown has been given and no details. In short it
is' not yet a program, good or bad.
There is no indication that the suggested figure is to
be part of a long-term approach—similar to the four and
a quarter years which Secretary Marshall considers so
essential for the European recovery plan.
Most China aid advocates consider three years as the
absolute minimum for any constructive program. Sim
ply to throw 570 million dollars into China for 15
months and then stop might well result in the rathole
operation which some of China’s critics want.
Whatever the amount and however long the period
covered, China has grown so weak that now only the
greatest skill in apportioning and controlling aid can
get results. Too much of the aid China has received from
America since V-J. Day has been wasted.
Chiang Kai-Shek will welcome effective controls pro
vided the object is to strengthen instead of weaken the
Chinese government, and provided American represen
tatives show the same courtesy and understanding an
American President would expect if the roles were re
versed. So the method is as important as the amount.
Assuming that the state department will yet develop
a constrictive long-tern plan, and that an informed
friend of China of the caliber of Lt. Gen. Albert C. Wed
emeyer will be named to co-operate with the generalis
simo to get the best results, there is still another imper
ative consideration.
Unlike the Western European situation, where the
present need is economic and financial, in China as in
Greece the immediate key is military.
The most glaring omission in the state department
letter to the Senate committee is the lack of any refer
ence to military supplies. With the Red rebels already
in possession of nine-tenths of Manchuria and threaten
| ing the whole of North China, this oversight could not
' be unintentional.
As General Chennault reported in his remarkable dis
patch from Shanghai, Chiang’s troops must have Ameri
can ammunition and materials, and above all American
instructors for ground and air forces. .
Unless the Administration’s plan for China aid, when
there is a genuine plan, includes this, it will be grossly
inadequate.
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FAIRY TALES FOK
GROWN-UPS
Ever hear of grown-ups be
lieving in fairy tales? Well, per
haps not Cinderella or Jack and
the Beanstalk. But when it comes
to the economic “facts of life,” it
is amazing what some folks will
accept instead of facts. One tale of
economic nonsense, usually goin ;
the rounds, has it that industry is
rolling in money and making ex
orbitnat profits. Usually, industry
(erstwhile known as “big busi
ness4 and “bloated capitalists”) is
the villian. Everything the villian
does is bad, perforce. Just like
that.
These uncalled-for profits are
literallly squeezed out of the con
sumers and the workers, and piled
up somewhere by the “soulless
corporation,” like so much gold
guarded by a fire-breathing drag
on. We could go on. But see what 1
mean? It is high time somebody
got a true-to-life story started that
shows what our system of free in
vestment and free enterprise has
done for, the people of this coun
try.
How Much Profit?
National polls, not too long ago,
found workers thinking generally
that business makes from 25 to 50
per cent profit. Surveys among
labor union members have found
the workers thinking that 10 per
cent profit on sales would be
about right. Even a government
booklet prepared for veterans
says “A business . . . should make
at least 10 per cent profit clear.”
Well, fairy tales to the contrary,
one statistician shows that actual
ly business makes on the average
only 2.9 per cent profit on sales
volume.
Some businesses make less, and
some make more. In 17 years of
sales, the Republic Steel Corpora
tion has made 2 per cent on the
company’s sales to customers.
General Electric has figured its
average for 30 years at only 8.9'
per cent. You see, it just so hap
pens that industry gets far less
than the 10 per cent that every
body seems to think would be fair.
Perhaps Too Low?
Some people miss it by looking
at the total amount of profits in
dollars and cents. Today this is a
very large figure, like everything:
wages, taxes, grocery bills. But ac
tually, the profit record for 20
leading manufacturing industries,
covering most of the plants in the
country, shows a decrease in 1947
as compared with 1939. The profit
margin, after taxes, dropped from
4.4 per cent of sales in 1939 to 3.1
per cent for the first half of 1947.
But wait a minute! We have
been taking a lot for granted. No
body has shown, fairy tale fash
ion, why it would be so bad if in
dustry were making a better pro
fit, much higher than 3.1 per cent?
There’s a false bogeyman, indeed.
! Actually, nothing would be bad
about it. It is good for the welfare
of the nation, for the consumer,
for the worker, for everybody—if
industry makes a good profit.
Best Incentive
! Only if industry makes a fair
profit, can we expect plant expan
t sion and more jobs. Republic
Steel, already mentioned, divided
each dollar that it had for owners
and for workers in 1946. The
1 workers got 91 cents. The owners
got 4 cents in dividends, and 5
cents was plowed back into the
business. Without profit, a busi
ness would have nothing with