THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P- ®ox 818
$ 1.50 PER MONTH S16.00 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, November 28, 1945
ALASKANS HELPED
(Alaska Daily Empire)
America's indebtedness due to war is big enough,
but it would have been a great deal larger if it wasn’t
for the high income tax which Americans shouldered
on a pay-as-you-go-basis. Alaskans will be interested
to know that on a per captia basis, Alaska ranks four
teenth in the list of all States and Territories in income
tax payments for last year. Alaskans on the average
paid $323 each for the year, according to figures printed
in a recent Congressional Record.
So—even if some Congressmen, such as Rep. Jed
Johnson of Oklahoma, are in favor of knocking out Fed
eral aid to Alaska because they claim Alaskans aren’t
doing enough for themselves, Alaskans haven t been
letting the Federal government down.
Oklahoma, from whence hails the critical Congress
man, is far below Alaska in per capita income tax pay
ments—number 34 on the list. Alaska ranks ahead of
such States as Missouri, Rhode Island, Oregon, the Da
kotas, Mississippi and others. i
In all the Federal government’s income tax took|
about 20 million dollars out of Alaska last year.
---—
JOBS AND JOB INSURANCE
(New York Times)
M. P. Catherwood, New York State Commerce Com
missioner, has just reported to Governor Dewey that
there are more than 200,000 jobs available in this State
at a time when 175,000 persons are receiving unemploy
ment insurance. There can be little dispute with Mr.
Catherwood’s conclusion that this “constitutes an un
fortunate and dangerous inconsistency. Should this
condition become further aggravated it could seriously
impair the reconversion effort of the State.
This situation has arisen in part because of the reluc
tance of many workers to accept jobs which pay less
than their wartime incomes. Many persons have worked;
under abnormal wartime conditions for so long that:
they have come to regard as their normal income the,
higher earnings offered as an incentive to induce work
ers to shift to war plants. This same kind of thinking un
derlies the demands by a number of unions for a 30 per |
cent increase in basic wage rates.
The New York survey shows that the average hourly;
wage is 80 cents for these unfilled jobs. Although this
amount is lower than the $1.04 an hour paid in manu
facturing industries when the war terminated, it is sub
stantially above the pre-war rate of about 62 cents an
hour. Thus it is not accurate to infer, as is sometimes
done, that it is merely their pre-war level of earnings
that many workers are reluctant to accept.
Undoubtedly another factor contributing to the anom
aly of serious labor shortages while many people are
receiving unemployment insurance is found in the high
level of such payments. Why work for $32 a week, some
of them are doubtless asking themselves, when you can
get $21 for a long time by not working? Theoretically,
of course, unemployment insurance is only to be paid
when the applicant cannot obtain satisfactory employ
ment. If the present situation continues, it is clear that
the system must be tightened up considerably or we
will be supporting in idleness for months at a time, a
large number of persons who are perfectly able to work.
RUSH THE DEFENSES!
(Daily Alaska Empire)
In spite of the fact that there was a time when it
seemed important to form in Alaska a Territorial Guard
organization to aid in meeting what was an impending
invasion by the Japs—it seems foolish at this time to
spend the Territory’s money for this purpose when it is
said to be needed so sorely for other governmental pur
suits more suited to a post-war living.
But from where we sit it looks as if that whispered
about special session of the Legislature slated for t eb
ruary, if it is called by the Governor, is going to> be
needed to appropriate more money for the Alaska ter
ritorial Guard, tne civilian army of volunteers, once re
ferred to as Governor Gruening’s Guerrillas, because
he is commander-in-chief.
While some legislators didn’t think that any more
funds should be appropriated this year, now that the
regular U. S. Army and the Navy and Coast Guard and
Marines had things pretty well in hand, some horse
trading resulted in an appropriation of $49,200.
However, the commander-in-chief is eating into that
fund quite recklessly.
A “bargain” was found in some surplus property.
Five, or perhaps more “quonset huts,” the barn roofs
which have become a famiiiar sight in Alaska during
the war, were located near or at Nome and purchased
by the commander for the insignificant sum of $.538.
But that was only the beginning.
Bills approved by the Governor’s Office for nails,
tools, screws, drayage, freight and labor on the $533 in
vestment have obligated the Territorial Treasury for
$19,095, and the $538 “bargain” has skyrocketed to a
$19,633 blunder—a tidy sum.
However, this includes only the bills up to October
15, and there will be more coming.
While the rest of the nation attempts reconversion
from war to peace, Alaska rushes the defenses full
speed ahead.
APT HON. PUPIL
(Anchorage Times)
Everybody seems to be wondering why Emperor Hi
rohit.o, until recently the inviolate, untouchable son of
heaven, bowed and tipped his high hat to a group of
newspapermen as he was returning from his call on
General MacArthur.
The explanation seems simple to us. Hirohito is smart
enough to have learned quickly an important lesson in
western life and culture, as taught by Hollywood’s
movie stars. If you want the people to keep on thinking
you’re something divine and out of this world, always
stay on the good side of the press.
She used to be the kind of a girl whom people looked
up to but now she’s the type they look around at.
—Houghton Line
_ the FIRST SPtIT
■^muMinwrn-rmm r i him ii iii wi i
HOLLYWOOD
STAR-LITES
By CHUCK COCHARD
HOLLYWOOD — Hollywood is
known as the "biggest” city in
America without a railroad sta
tion!
But it's not completely true—
■ from Hollywood you can take a
! "train” to any city in the world.
. . . You can even take a ride on
the subway—a short one though.
There are Train Sheds in Hoi-1
lywood, with American stream
line trains in ’em, with European
trains, Chinese trains, trains of the
early days on the American prair
ies—almost any sort of train in
the world.
The only trouble is that the;.*
don’t go any place, except a few
few feet down the track on one
9
of the studio lots.
When Bette Davis takes a jour
ney by rail in a picture—she has
started enough to carry her around
the world if she had completed
the trips—the train pulls a few
feet and stops . . . Then the scene
i goes inside on a sound stage.
When John Garfield hops the
rods of a freight car, he, too only
rides a few feet . . . And when
when Charles Boyer or Clark
Gable has a little flirtation inside
a railway coach for a picture
scene, usually the car is standing
still and the scenery is skimming
past on a large glass movie screen
outside the window . . . This mov
ing scene is being projected by a
movie camera on this screen—a
scene taken from the window of a'
fast train of the countryside as it
moved along.
When Sonja Henie boards a
train high in the Alps with her
skates slung over her shoulder,
the train is thousands of miles
from the Alps and the snow is
likely to be just gypsum on a
sound stage floor.
That’s the way the stars travel
. . . Getting reservations is easy
. . . Getting where you are sup
posed to be is something else yet
again.
You may ask “why is it that the
movies shoot the scenes on a
sound stage instead of on a mov
ing train or in a railroad depot”—
then they would not be fooling
the public . . . The answer is quite
simple my dear movie-goers—first
of all, it would be impossible to
get all the lights and sound equip
ment in a public place without
tie-ing up everything else—sec
ond, there would be so much out
side noise that you wouldn’t be
able to hear a word the stars say
in the picture—for the new re
cording equipment picks up a pin
drop at thirty feet. *
However, Hollywood hasn’t %
railroad station—and the only sta
tion is the Los Angeles Union Sta
tion some 15 or 16 miles away.
• • •
Ginger Rogers is making her
fourth picture without a trace of
make-up . . . Few actresses risk
it . . . Ginger tried the experience
in a picture where she did a se
quence as a 14-year-old and got
away with it.
It is not only proof of acting
ability, but it also gives her mi
extra hour of sleep each morninjL
... Takes that long to get made
up.