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 18, 1945
1CKES’ ACRES
To paraphrase one of our noted com
edians, “I’ve got a million of ’em,” would
certainly suit our “good and kind” friend
“Mister” Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of
the Department of the Interior, “to a
tee.”
What could be the reason for his tak
ing out of circulation, several million
acres of Alaska, which for many years
past, has been prospected and home
steaded by white men and women.
Are we to understand that the mere
whim or fancy of the “big mogul” can
be accomplished?
It now seems entirely likely, that the
white man will have to fight for “equal
rights,” but first it will be necessary to
find out just what “equal rights” means.
At present we are at a loss to know.
If a man has staked some ground, or
homesteaded a piece of land, in Alaska,
he should have the right to continue
ownership under the general coverage of
the law, and not be forced to give it up
because a “dictator” in a democratic
garb chooses to annihilate his interests.
He who thinks all he says, may be wise, but
he who says all he thinks, is foolish.
LOOK WHO’S TALKING
(Cincinnati Enquirer) ^
It is either amusing or infuriating, de
panding upon what mood you happen to
be in, to read John L. Lewis discoursing
on how everybody else is wrong and he
is right. The dictator of mine labor is au
thor of some observations ‘in Collier’s
magazine on the present state of labor
and the union.
If other labor groups followed the
i principles of his mine workers, Lewis
| says, everything would be lovely. He
mentions “elimination of recketeering,
full financial statements, tiie right of
! union members to a free ballot, and pro
| tection for the individual against abuse
of power by officials.”
For the benefit of those who may have
come in late, perhaps we should explain
that the districts of the United Mine
Workers are so organized that many of
them cannot even elect their own offi
cials—Lewis himself appoints the Chair
men and, of course, the treasurers—and
the last member of the union who dared
question this setup at the UMW conven
tion here had his meeting disrupted by
Lewis henchmen and was beaten up by a
strong-arm squad and finally, as we re
call, was expelled from the union. This
one illustration, we think, about covers
all of the points Lewis enumerated in the
paragraph above.
Lewis also blames the government and
other labor groups for labor strife. It is
Lewis, of course, who has divided every
labor movement he has been a member
of up to the present. It is Lewis, with the j
UMW votes in his pocket who caused the !
most serious war production stoppages.
It is Lewis who—oh, why go on?
4*01V COW »
J Ml f
' By 080R0E 3.BEN90K
BtdJml of Harding CoDega
Searcy. Arkansas
ECONOMIC SECURITY
t
Back in 1865 senators and rep
resentatives in the Congress of the
United States began drawing
$5,000 a year; $100 a week. That
was good pay 80 years ago but a
first-class welder can do better
now. Congressman have had two
raises in salary since then. The
Iasi one was 20 years ago when
they started earning $10,000 a
year which was, at the time, a
comfortable living for them.
A great many executives in pri
vate enterprise earn more money
than senators although, they do not
claim superior ability. Why do our
legislators not earn more? Because
their salaries are fixed by law and
they themselves are the gentlemen
who make the laws. They could
vote themselves a raise in pay but
there is always reluctance to in
troduce such a bill.
Throughout Government
There are politics in it, of
course. Revenue measures never
are popular. Congressmen who
vote for a dip out of Mr. Taxpay
er’s pocket come to regret it on
election day sometimes, even
when the expenditure was a wise
one. That’s exactly why employees
in the Post Office Department
haven’t had a boost in pay since
the congressmen did, a matter of
20 years ago.
Wage rates in private industry
have advanced from 42c to $1 an
hour in the last 20 years. They
have more than duobled. Informed
authorities say that living costs
have gone up 30% or more during
that time. Doubled pay for work
ers in private industry offsets the
living costs that are about 1-3
higher, but what above govern
ment people from mail clerks to
senators?
Ask For Consideration
One fo the biggest newspapers
in my state published an adver
tisement recently, calling the at
tention of the people of Arkansas
to the unhappy plight of the postal
employees who serve them. The
display advertisement was bought
and paid for by the postal work
ers themselves. In a diplomatic
way they are asking their neigh
%
bors to help them ask Congress
for better wages.
I want to see the postal people
earning more money. I favor the
passage of curren ly proposed leg
isla ion to boost the pay of sen
ators and representatives 25% or
Burma Pilots
Snatch Wounded
Out Of Jungle
AP Newsfeatures
IMPHAL, India—British-Indian
ground forces and American air
men have devised a system for
snatching gliders loaded with
wounded out of the Burma jun
gles. Now instead of being carried
nainfully out of the jungle,
wounded troops are brought back
to base hospitals inside of an hour.
The trick was made possible by
gliders left over from the opera
tion last spring in which the late
Gen. Wingate’s soldiers were land
ed in central Burma.
Landing strips in the jungle are
rarely available, so airplanes can
not land. However, American
transport planes pull gliders over
cleared spaces where the wounded
have been assembled. The gliders
are then cut loose and landed in
cleared space. While the airplane
circles overhead the wounded are
hurriedly placed in the glider, their
stretchers strapped down tightly.
Then a tow rope with a loop is
held up so that the airplane can
hook on to it on a low pass.
Part of the jar of the snatch
takeoff is absorbed in the tow
rope, but by no means all. The
first snap gives the patients quite
a jar. From then on, however, the
ride back to base where the glider
is again landed, is smooth.
The American pilots in good
weather make two trips or more
daily to this central Burma front.
During peak periods they have
evacuated as many as 70 casualties
in a day.
better. I hope to see the day when
a self-respecting poor man can af
ford to represent his state in cost
ly and wealthy Washington. These
are details however. It is wrong
in principle that government em
ployees wait 20 years for a raise.
Dangerous Bureaucracy
The important thing is that ev
ery workman Who quits a job in
private industry to enter govern
men employ gets his wage scale
frozen. He may get a raise in pay
but that’s temporary. Whoever
works at that job a generation
from now will probably be earn
ing the same amount and spending
a lot more to live. Remember that
the laborer of today is earning
senatorial pay for 1865.
These facts are understood well
by men of industry and leaders in
labor movements. It is encourag
ing to observe how the Labor
Management Charter, signed in
Washington last March by laoor
| union executives and prom nent
men of business, deals with the
| subject. In brief it states: Private
e-'tomr’se is the necessary foun
dation for the welfare of labor as
well as management.