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.
Wednesday, March 20, 1946
SUDDENLY IT’S SPRING—
AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER
(By Nathan Oatis)
NEW YORK—Spring will be a litlte late this year in
the eastern part of the United States.
In most of the country, it will come around on March
20, but in the eastern standard time zone that will be
the day before spring.
Of course, it might as well be spring—the season is
just around the corner. It will be along on March 21.
In fact, they’ll tell you up at Hayden Planetarium,
spring busts out all over at the same time.It’s just the
clocks that read differently from place to place, ex
plains Associate Curator Robert R. Coles.
Spring comes when the sun is at the vernal equinox
—standing over the equator on its way north. When
this happens, it’s March 20 in most of the United States
—6:33 p.m. in Nome, 9:33 p.m. in San Francisco, 10:33
p.m. in Denver and 11:33 p.m. in Chicago—but it’s
March 21 at 12:33 a.m. in the east.
The season arrives first, by local time, just east of the
international date line, which plays around with the
180th meridian in mid-Pacific. It will be spring at 6:33
p.m. March 20 on Midway.
In the southern hemisphere, it isn’t the spring thatj
comes with the vernal equinox—it’s the fall. This will
happen in Buenos Aires at 1:33 p.m. March 21.
An equinox—from Latin for “equal night”— is called!
so because nights and days then are theoretically of the i
same length, but for technical reasons, Coles says, this i
is never quite so.
In New York, for example, sunrise, when the sun first j
cuts the horizon, on March 21 will be at 6:01 a.m. and
sunset at 6:07 p.m.
“Of course,” adds Coles, “that is for the true horizon:
—which nobody ever sees in New York.”
“STRIKES—LAST RESORT”
(By Bruce A. Gustin)
The railroad strike has been postponed until further
notice. As soon as President Truman named an emer
gency fact-finding panel to consider the issues in dis
pute between the brotherhoods of locomotive engineers
and railway trainmen and the railroads, union officials
announced postponement of the threatened walkout. As
a matter of fact, there never was any intention of start
ing the strike scheduled. But it was necessary, under
the railway labor act, to call the strike to bring into op
eration the mediation procedure provided by the law.
The law puts no compulsion upon the brotherhoods
and the railroads to accept the recommendations which
the President’s emergency board will make. But com
mon sense and a consideration for the interests of all
parties concerned require that. In strikes, as well as in
wars, even the winners are losers.
In a recent issue of its publication, “Labor’s Monthly
Survey,” the American Federation of Labor took the
sound position that “a strike should be the last resort.”
Looking at the matter solely from the standpoint of cost
of a strike to the workers, it said:
“Suppose the workers are earning an average wage
of $1 per hour. The company offers a wage increase of
12 cents but the union turns down the offer because
they think a government board may give them more.
They go out on strike and stay out for eight weeks.
Each worker loses an average of $358. At the end of
that time the government board awards 18 cents, 6
cents more than the company offered. The company ac
cepts the award, but it will take the workers nearly
three years work before this extra 6 cents will amount
WHAT A BREAK !
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to enough to repay their loss. If the extra 6 cents breaks
a price ceiling, workers may take losses they never re
gain.”
Sooner or later every industrial dispute is settled.
Settlement without any stoppage of work unquestion
ably is best for everybody—the general public, the
workers and the employer.
BALANCED BUDGET
The Wyoming Taxpayers association was quick to re
spond to the appeal of a bipartisan group of members
of both houses of congress in a campaign for a balanced
federal budget in 1947. Within twenty-four hours after
citizen backing of this economy move was asked, letters
were sent ot each member of the congressional bloc as
suring them of the support of Wyoming taxpayers.
‘‘Of course the federal budget can be balanced,” said
Erie H. Reid, spokesman for the Wyoming association.
‘‘And it should be balanced, NOW. You know as well
as we here in Wyoming that we’ve had too many years
of soft living off the federal purse. No other govern
mental unit in the land—state, city or county—operates
on the basis that it can continue to spend more than it
takes in, year after year. It’s time now to put the federal
government on a balanced budget basis also, and keep
it there.” That is what taxpayers all over the nation are
thinking.
VALUABLE BEQUEST
Measured in money, the bequest made to the Denver
public library in the will of the late Mike Stancheff,
Bulgarian immigrant and former railroad section work
er, isn’t much. It is only $139.33. But actually, the li
brary never received a greater or more valuable gift.
It was all Stancheff had—the total of his railroad re
tirement benefits—and it was given in appreciation of
the privileges he had enjoyed there, especially in read
ing books on Abraham Lincoln. Appropriately, the be
quest is being used to buy Lincoln books.
Immigrants to the United States often have a greater
appreciation and better understanding of what a priv
ilege it is to be an American citizen and live in the
United States than native-born Americans have. Too
many people born in the United States take for granted
| the liberties and opportunities they enjoy. They don’t
know how fortunate they are.
UNCLE SAM S
WORLD FINANCE
<By Charles Molony)
WASHINGTON — Uncle Sam
may bring a $14,425,000,000 stack
of chips to the postwar interna
j tional finance and trade game
table if President Truman’s pro
posals all go through.
The way the chips would be
checked out, on the basis of the
administration’s newly-announced
“international economic program,”
shapes up like this:
Loans by Export-Import Bank,
$4,750,000,000: British Loan-Credit
by U. S. Treasury, $3,750,000,000
(not counting $650,000,000 more in
settlement of lend-lease); subscrip
tion to International Bank, $3,
175.000. 000; and subscription to
International Monetary Fund, $2,
750.000. 000.
Actually. Uncle Sam already
has comniitted $9,425,000,000 of
this. President Truman's new pro
posals would add $5,000,000,000—
$1,250,000,000 more to the Export
Import Bank's present $3,500,000,
000, and the $3,750,000,000 for
Britain.
The proposed $14,425,000,000
may seem dwarfed by the $46,
000,000,000 Uncle Sam actually
put out in lend-lease during the
war. (He got back $6,000,000,000 in
reverse lend-lease).
It’s even a little less than the
$14,791,340,000 grand total of
debts due this counrty from for
eign nations at the start of this
fiscal year as a result of World
War I. (Unpaid principal, how
ever, is listed by the Treasury as
$11,230,804,000).
But it still would be the biggest
stack at the present postwar in
ternational table, though govern
ment financial experts say Uncle
Sam's chips won't all get put into
play at any one time.
For instance they point out that
while the Export-Import Bank haslf
been given $3,500,000,000 to lend
it had allowed only $1,600,000,000
in credits at the start of this year.
Only $252,000,000 of this had ac
tually been drawn upon by the
borrowing foreign nations.
Too, the various funds would be
checked out over a period of years
rather than all at once. The ad
ministration’s Monetary Advisory
Council says repayments of prin
cipal and interest would come
back in time at the rate of $1,000,
000,000 a year.
The $14,425,000,000 would be
strictly a government commitment
of public funds. But the Interna
tional Bank, the council says, will
get the bulk of its lending funds
from private investors, “particu
larly in the United States.”
The war has put a veil of un
certainty over the extent of cur
rent American private investment
in foreign lands.
In 1940, however, the Commerce
Department says Americans had
$7,000,000,000 invested directly in
overseas countries, and got back
an income of $450,000,000. Most of
the investment was in foreign sub
sidiaries and branches of Ameri
! can firms.
Department officials predict pri
| vate investments abroad during
the postwar period will get up to
$8,000,000,000 to $10,000,000,000.
Not all the money that goes
overseas from this country is in
vestment or loan capital.
During 1945 Americans — and
foreigners residing in ihe U. S.—
sent more than $300,000,000 in
cash to friends and relatives
abroad.
The Commerce Department says
$144,000,000 was sent in prewar
1939.
Private institutions such as the
Red Cross and various private
war relief organizations sent $200,
000,000 abroad in 1945, but some
went for administrative expenses
and not all the rest was in cash
form.
Money spent by tourists abroad
is another thing. The Commerce
i Department says that even in 1945
j tourists spent $400,000,000. It says
j it expects this figure to reach $1,
500.000.000 a year within 10,