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, June 3, 1946
PROGRESS IN JAPAN
^ UCCESS OF THE American occupation of Japan
exceeds expectations.
Almost all officials and correspondents who have
had a chance to compare at first hand the situations
in Germany and Japan comment more favorably on our
achievements in Japan. The fact that there is unified
command in Tokyo, contrasted with the four-way split
in Berlin, is not the only reason, but certainly it is a
major factor.
The Allied Far Eastern Commission has just re
turned to Washington from its trip of investigation.
Though its formal report is not completed, its general
reaction is indicated by this statement: “The commis
sion has been impressed with the statesmanship of the
supreme commander, General MacArthur, and his
staff.”
The latest report by MacArthur’s headquarters
finds the Japanese people’s response to the demilitariz
ation and democratization program encouraging.
That program goes beyond the more obvious
moves, such as disarmament, arrest of criminals, dis
solution of the secret societies, elimination of the Ges-|
tapo-type police system, break-up of the Ziabatsu mon-j
opolies and withdrawal of state support from Shinto.;
The program also is trying to stir a democratic spirit!
among the people, from the bottom upward.
As a result, the Jap press, radio and schools are de
veloping more freedom. Labor unions are function
ing. Women’s movement is attacking the traditional
discriminations. Youth organizations, especially am
ong the liberal students, are flourishing.
But it.would be calamitous for us to mistake these
faint beginnings for anything more than that. We
must be able to recognize and encourage this change
without forgetting that it is a very slow process, at
best.
A SHAMEFUL BETRAYAL
IF THE United States government does less than its
utmost to prevent the planned murder of General
Draja Mihailovic by Tito’s Communists, it will have
committed an act of betrayal that the American people
will remember forever.
General Mihailovic, as war minister of Yugoslavia,
valiantly resisted the advance of the German armies
across his country.
When the hopeless fight was lost, he refused to
give up but organized the brilliant end tremendously
effective underground army, which harried the Ger
mans so boldly and effectively that many divisions of
Nazi troops were kept from other fronts.
Among the feats for which Americans are and
should be most grateful to him was his rescue of some
500 American airmen forced down in Yugoslavia in
raids on Romanian and Bulgarian oil fields.
So highly did the American government value
the bravery and military effectiveness of Mihailovic’s
patriot army that American missions were secretly
sent into Yugoslavia to cooperate with it.
General Mihailovic was our friend and ally.
But when Soviet Russia set about infiltrating and
undermining Yugoslavia, the United States government
withdrew its support from Mihailovic and gave it to
the Communist puppet, Tito.
WftLL TUKMiMa OVR AM ot© V.*A*
- - -— -■-————
Now Tito’s relentless agents have hunted Mihail
ovic down and Tito’s spokesmen have announced, be
fore any trial has been held, that he “certainly will be
shot.”
Mihailovic’s only defense is that he resisted Com
munist Russia in defense of his own country’s freedom.
In abandoning him to support the despoilers of
his country’s freedom, the American government com
mitted a sufficiently shameful act of betrayal.
If it now permits him to be murdered by his Com
munist enemies, the shame will be eternal.
(Rocky Mountain News)
FOOD WASTE ALSO CRIMINAL
A LTHOUGH ESTIMATES of food wastes in Amer
ica are between twenty and twenty-five per cent of
all foods produced in the country.
There are some few, who would seem to enjoy
wasting food and keeping it from some other person or
persons who might possibly be in need of such food
at a later date.
It would seem that these few, whomsoever they
might be, wish to raise the average considerably higher
with their wanton killing of young ptarmigan, just
beginning to flock, and leaving them alongside the
roads, blown to bits by shotgun.
This wanton killing of these young birds, that are
not old enough to be killed lawfully,, as the season
does not open until fall, are too small to take care of
themselves, and therefore the law must protect them.
If this dastardly killing of these young ptarmigan
continues, something drastic must be done, and we are
sure, will be done, to put a stop to the practice.
M
K
I
The Third TT
For a short while before my
first day at school, and for several
weeks after, I heard a great deal
of conversation about the three
R’s of education. My elders seem
ed to expect me to think it was
very funny that the three R’s
should stand for reading, writing
and arithmetic. It left an impres
sion, to say the least. I still know
that education includes some ver
•
iety.
One of the things about mod
ern education that dismays me is
the fact that students don’t pur
sue the three R’s long enough.
They are at liberty too early to
ignore one of them — the last
one. Figures are dry at first and
a lot of youngsters drop mathe
matics. High school freshmen
have learned to say “It’s ouly a
waste of time to study, things yov
don’t like and will never use.”
Ignorance is Cosily
“What you don’t know doesn’t 1
hurt you,” is rubbish. Certainly
what you don’s know’ does not do
you any good. Truly an actor may
j draw a fabulous salary for years
1 and die in debt. Tales are told of
! artists and musicians who can’t
j balance their check stubs. Their
j ignorance of math did not make
: them better artists. It would be
i like saying liquor made Poe a
poet, or that harems make great
kings. .
i A national poll might show tMTat
: millions of Americans don’t know
i what it means to balance the bud
i get. It wouldn’t be surprising^
j most of us don’t even have a per
j sonal budget, we libe so easily and
! well. But our national budget
! needs to be balanced. People
j who try to laugh that off don’t
know w’hat it means, or worse yet,
would welcome national bank
ruptcy as a stepping stone to revo
lution.
Whal Does it Mean?
Balancing a budget, whether it
is a family budget or a national
budget, means keeping a safe re
lation between income and outgo.
The inevitable result of spending
more than we get is debt, bank
ruptcy and loss of credit. That’s
just another way of saying “loss
of our good name and the re-4
spect of our neighbors.” When
we stop paying our debts and
start breaking our promises, that’s
loss of credit. ^
Uncle Sam is on his way to that
social level. He has not reached
it yet, but when he does it will
be too late to save him. Now is
the time to balance the national
budget. Iwas never so proud of
my home state as when the entire
Arkansas delegation in Congress^
senators and representatives, went
on record last month as favoring
a balanced national budget. That’s
practical statesmanship.
Read These Truths
“A balanced federal budget can
, be accomplished in the next fis
I cal year if Congress will meet its^
| full responsibility and adopt a
program of economy. By consider
ing each appropriation bill in the
light of its effect on total neces
sary expenditures, we can hold
the cost of government within the
annual revenues collected.
The time to begin is now.” So
said the statement.
Habitually spending money we
do not have can’t help but lead
this nation to collapse, and noth
ing worse could happen to tl^p
world’s economic welfare. Think
of the war functions now idling
along; the men whose energies
might be transferred to the credit
column. In every locality there is
uncounted waste that should be
and can be transformed into a
bit of thrift.
SEATTLE, June 3, —(/P>—‘To dis
cuss improvements desired by
cal interests of Douglas and Jun
eau, for the harbors of these two
Alaska cities, public hearings have
been set for June 26, from 1:00 to
4:00 p.m., in the two cities, Col.
Conrad Hardy, District Engineer
announced today.
He said the U. S. Engineers will
hold the hearings following a res
olution adopted by the House %f
Representatives Committee on
Rivers and Harbors, directing the
army engineers to review previous
i reports.