THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 610
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, undeh* the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, July 6, 1949
%
BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?
Recently the Common Council of the City of Nome,
passed an ordinance permitting saloons to remain open
until 1 a.m. weekdays and until 2 a.m., Sunday morning.
We wonder bv whose authority the saloons were al
lowed to remain open until 3 a.m., Tuesday morning,
July 5.
“GREAT WISDOM”
(By George S. Benson, President Harding College)
The other day a friend of mine sent me a copy of a
quotation, saying that he was putting a copy of same
into his scrapbook. He copied it from a Canadian publi- j
cation, under the title: “Great Wisdom.” The whole!
thing is so well put, and carries such good old fashioned i
logic, that T thought you might like to have it, too. The!
message of the whole piece packs a genuine wallop. I'll
let vou have it, as follows:
“There are a few great documents, which contain so
much wisdom that they can bear endless repeating.
Here is an example. ‘I place economy among the first
and most important virtues, and public debt as the
greatest of dangers to be feared. The preserve our inde
pendence, we must not let our rulers load us with per
petual debt.
“We must make our choice between economy and lib
erty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such j
debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our
necessities and in our comforts, in our labors and in our
amusements. If we can prevent the government from
wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
caring for them, they will be happy.
“The same prudence which in private life would for
bid our paying money for unexplained projects, forbids
it in the disposition of public money. We are endeavor
ing to reduce the government to the practice of rigid
economy to avoid burdening the people and arming the
Magistrate with a patronage of money which might be
used to corrupt the principles of our government.
“The man who wrote this was not some reactionary
believer in an old system of society. He was no enemy of
the masses of the workers. He was not a great capitalist,
trying to maintain special privilege, nor was he the heir
of a great fortune trying to preserve it. He was the first
of the great democrats of North America, a man whose
name is commemorated and revered by all believers in
human liberty.
His is a name permanently linked in history withi
the struggle against oppression. The words were writ-1
ten by Thomas Jefferson.” There you have it in full
force. The impact of this Jeffersonian wisdom is greatly
needed today. Crisis is before us in these times, in an
even more serious way than in Jefferson’s time.
Nowadays, nobody pays much attention to the na
tional debt. Oh, we think, it’s just some big figure that
the statisticians use. Besides, why bother about it, don’t
we owe it to ourselves? Jefferson has given us the ans
wers. We owe it to ourselves all right, that is it. We owe
it to ourselves to get our whole governmental budget in
a stable and balanced condition. Our two hundred fifty
BILLION dollar national debt represents obligations of
the government to the people.
With more deficit spending and public borrowing,
this debt would grow. Our whole national financial
structure would become more unhealthy and unstable.
Interest payments are already fantastic, with not much
attempt in proposed budgets to whittle down the prin
cipal. We cannot afford higher taxes. We must not be so
foolish as to indulge in deficit spending. The only way
out is to get our fiscal house in order by following the
advice laid down by Thomas Jefferson: practice econ
omy. The report of the Hoover Commission explains
how we could save between three and five billion dol
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lars a year without impairing government services and
without any wholesale firing of employees. Will we in
sist that our government follow the plan?
A PLEA FOR ARAB REFUGEES
The plight of 910,000 displaced Arabs arouses the con
cern of Mrs. Mark F. Etheridge, wife of the former U. S.
delegate to the United Nations Palestine Conciliation
Commission, who recently returned to the United States
after spending three months in Israel.
Mrs. Etheridge says that the displaced Arabs either
fled or were forced to leave Israel and that they are now
living in “the most squalid and horrible conditions,"
We have previously commented on the apparent lack
of interest in the plight of the Arabs, contrasting it with
the pleas of humanitarians seeking relief for the people
of Europe. If a keen distaste for human suffering
aroused Americans in connections with the unfortunate
people of Europe, one wonders why the suffering of the
Arabs does not secure some attention.
Mrs. Etheridge, however, gives an answer when she
calls attention to the small number of Arabs in this
country. Naturally, without political or other influence,
the suffering Arabs get little publicity and there is no
self-interest to stir the “sympathy” of vote-seeking poli
ticians.
Mrs. Etheridge concludes that the admission of Israel
to the United Nations, before'it agreed to take back the
Arab refugees, was “very unfortunate.” She points to
the United Nations resolution which directed the Jews
to take the Arabs back but says that, so far, the Israel
ites have refused to take back a single Arab.
WORK RARELY KILLS
Every once in a while, we hear somebody comment
upon the fact that somebody “worked himself to death."
As a matter of fact, few, if any, individuals have ever
worked themselves to death. People get physically tired,
not by the exercise or exertion involved, but rather
through a lack of interest in what they are doing. An
example in point, is the case of the little boy, too^tired
to hoe his mother’s garden, but not too tired to play a
game of baseball.
Anyone, interested in what he or she is doing, forgets
fatigue. Of course, the thing can be overdone, but this
is very rare.
AS YOU WERE—A government official suggested
the destruction of a big pile of old, unimportant and rag
ged records to make room for current filing. The written
proposal was submitted, and referred from one, office
and one official to another, in the usual routine, until
quite a new file had been built up on it.
Finally a dozen or more officials had approved de
stroying the old papers and at last the order came to dis
pose of them as salvage. But the final authority had
added this note: “Provided that copies are made'of all
papers destroyed.”
Alaska Property
Tax Returns
Due This Month
§
The Alaska Property Tax .
requires that whoever has real a
personal properties situate i ->i
side municipal districts shall m;i
a return in duplicate to the oft
! of the Territorial Property T
Assessor at Nome before July 15
j or as early afterwards as ma I
conditions permit. Return : >ri
are not being mailed to knov
property holders, and can also
i obtained from postmasters a* ;
established post offices in the St
ond Division. Real property a
personal property at their lull ui
’ true value have to be shown sen:
ately on the returns, $200.00 wm
of personal property being v
: empt. The full and true value
defined in the Act means •*: i
I value at which the property v\ >u
generally be taken in payment
a just debt from a solvent debtor
Although self assessment w
have to be the rule for the ‘in
being, it is understood that even
ually all properties in this Divisir
' will be officially assessed and co
rections made where warranatei
As a guide for making the n
turns, the following information
available. On mining claims. :h
flat $500.00 per 20 acres vain it.o
does not apply to mining gn>und
having large scale Assets thereoi
■uch as dredges or draglines, no
deteriorated and only temporaril.
out of commission due to curtail
ment of mining for reasons o
manpower or materials shortages
Only on non-operating patentee
mining grounds on which the im
provements originally requires
for patent have become useless
! through deterioration, removal, or
otherwise, would this $500.1)0 per
20 acres claim be applicable. But
the valuation of unimproved nun
producing unpatented mining
claims is clearly fixed at $500.00
per 20 acres of such claims, frac
j lions being figured accordingly.
However, if the surface of any
1 such claims has improvements for
i other purposes, such mprove
I rr.ents will have to be valued for
! what they are worth. Actual as
sessment of operating mines
should consider all applicable fac
tors, such as penstocks, pumping
units, ditches and piping, dirt
moving equipment, thawing equip
ment, drills and mining machinery
proper, auxiliary buildings and
machinery, rolling equipment, liv
ing quarters, etc., to arrive a: a
fair negotiated valuation. If the
property is owned, occupied or
' claimed by two or more persons,
the assessment 'return would have
1 to be made in the names of the
>\vners, occupiers or claimants
jointly, unless it happens to be a
bona fide company operating un
I der a known firm name, in which
l case the name of the company suf
, fices.
Properties and lands of the
! United States or the Territory or
of municipalities also properties
. used exclusively for educational,
religious or charitable purposes
are 'exempted of course, except
that when such lands or properties
happen to be under lease to ind *
j viduals for commercial purposes.
, the tenant or tenants would be
subject’to assessment within the
•-’Cope of the Act.
Properties of new industries,
that is industries new to Alaska
not in existence at the date of the
| passage of this Act, are under cer
' tain conditions partially exempt,
j uch exemption amounting to onc
• half of the tax otherwise due. This
J applies to properties outside as
i well as within municipnliUes. .