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. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Emily Boucher .Local Editor
Jim Frye . Editor
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at :he postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska Monday, November 15, 1948
I
THE PITFALLS OF SECRECY
(Rocky Mountain News)
Gov. Earl Warren made an important contribution to
the current discussion of American foreign policy in his
speech at Chicago.
He observed that our government had no right to de
cide what its people should know and what they should
not know.
“Foreign policy is not something to be conceived in
secrecy and carried out privately by any one man,” he
said. Woodrow Wilson said the same thing in another
way when he advocated “open covenants openly arrived
it.
Americans never have subscribed to the doctrine that
“papa knows best.” They know that open discussion has
shaken the bugs out of many a program.
•The world was given the promise of open diplomacy
in the declaration of principles known as the Atlantic
Charter, made jointly by President Roosevelt and Win
ston Churchill Aug. 14, 1941. That declaration, which
also outlined our objectives in the crisis then confront
ing, won us the moral leadership of the world.
Most of these commitments to a suffering world went
into the ashcan one by one after we entered the war.
The Allies pledged themselves to seek no aggrandize
ment, territorial or otherwise; to desire no territorial
changes that did not accord with the expressed wishes
of the people concerned; to respect the right of all peo
ples to choose the form of government under which they
were to live.
All of these high promises were sacrificed on the altar
of expediency and appeasement bv concessions to the
Soviet Union at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. We took
•
nothing for ourselves, it is true.
A section of Poland was transferred to the Soviet
Union, and Poland was “compensated” by a slice of
German territory. But the free elections promised in
Poland and the Balkan states were not held.
Part of Japan was transferred to the Soviets, and Sov
iets, and under American and British pressure China
was induced to make concessions to the Russians at Port
Arthur and Dairen. In no case were the people there
consulted. *
All of these assignments of territory were the result
of secret deals. Many of the evils plaguing the world to
day stem from these agreements and the unrealistic
military partitioning of Germany, Austria and Korea.
It is questionable if any one of these agreements
would have been given public approval if all the consid
erations involved had been known to the people before
the deals were consummated.
_•
TOPHEAVY WORLD
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
If you feel a horrible shaking and throbbing some
warm night, and wake up in the morning to find your
self knee-deep in icebergs, you’ll know that the dire pre
dictions of Mr. Hugh S. Brown have been fulfilled. Mr.
Brown, you may know, is an electrical engineer who
fears that the increasing weight of the Antarctic ice
load may tip this old world of ours at any moment,
throwing her so far off balance that cold climates will
become warm—and vice versa.
iMr. Brown has an imposing array of data to back up
his theories. He points out that, some thousands of years
0
FIRE-BREATHING DRA«ON
ago, great sections of the earth were covered deep with
ice—areas which today are of moderate climates. Ac
cording to his calculations, the earth’s axis has sh:fled
before—the most recent shift, he believes, came about
8,000 years ago and brought about the end of what we
now call the last “Ice Age.” He isn’t alone in that idea.
Other scientists, years ago, advanced similar concepts.
But Mr. Brown, unlike those who went before, has
definite oroposals which he thinks would counteract
the growing weight of the Antarctic ice cap. He believes
we should spend some $10,000,000 in a preliminary sur
vey to determine just how fast the ice is accumulating
and how soon we must act to prevent calamity. Such a
study, he says, would show how much ice should be re
moved—and he suggests removal with atomic blasts.
We can’t decide just what to say to Mr. Brown’s uni
que suggestion.- If we only knew a little more—just a
teeny-weeny bit more—about meteorology and the kin
dred sciences, maybe we could be of help. But our ig
norance in this department is abysmal. Guess we’ll have
to leave the decision uo to Congress of the World Court
or some other agency like that. Dangerous business, we
know. But probably no more dangerous than if we han
dled it ourself. *
WHAT IS “ACADEMIC FREEDOM”
(By Jack Foster)
A Harvard professor has issued an appeal to “all lead
ers of political parties” to issue statements denouncing
any infringment on our basic civil liberties through at
tacks on the academic freedom and political rights of
faculty and students in the schools and colleges.
That seems to be an appeal for a reaffirmation of one
of the fundamentals of Americanism. But let us be sure
that it is. There may be more in it than meets the eye.
We are just as interested in the preservation of our
basic civil liberties as any professor is. But a lot of this
lip-service and double-talk about liberty is nothing
m^rp th^n p cnrpon t0 m^«k organized attacks on the
verv basis of liberty.
If more of our professors understood the real meaning
and foundation of freedom, and could and would impart
that understanding to those they are presumed to in
struct, essential academic freedom would be in little
real danger.
But we do not maintain schools and colleges for the
dissemination of doctrines which advocate the destruc
tion of the very institutions that make their existence
possible. Too many of our educators just cannot under
stand that.
If Marxism is the issue, let its defenders come out in
the open and submit their proposition that the Ameri
can system of free enterprise should be taxed to ad
vance the philosophy of Russian Communism.
But that issue should be decided in the political field,
not in the classroom. And let’s not call that issue “aca
demic freedom.”
Development
Board Budget Calls
For Half Million
JUNEAU—A budget request for
$500,000 for the next biennium
has been filed by the Alaska De
velopment Board with the Terri
.orial Board of Budget for consid
eration by the legislature which
meets in January.
Decision to outline a half mil
lion dollar program to spur devel
opment in the important two years
mmediately ahead was a unani
mous one by development board
members representing all four ju
dicial divisions of Alaska. These
are J. A. Talbot of Ketchikan, A.
Polet of Nome, Fred W. Axford of
Anchorage and Herb Hilscher of
Fairbanks. Governor Ernest
Gruening is chairman of the
board.
“With financial needs of the
Territory greater than ever before
and with the budget requests of
Territorial agencies at an all-time
high,” said a statement from the
)urd’s Juneau office which ac
companied the funds request, “it
•ony good business sense for the
territory 10 make a substantial in
. estrment in attracting new econo
mic activities to Alaska.”
Budget requests of Territorial
agencies are reported to total ap
proximately sixteen and a half
million for the next biennium. The
board pointed out that the sound
est manner in which to meet in
creasing governmental responsi
bilities in education, health, wel
fare and similar services and to
contribute to the general well-be
ing of Alaska residents is by
bringing :o the Territory new pay
rolls and a better balanced year
around ceonomy.
“Having shown what can be
done by well-directed effort, hav
ing maintained faith with the peo
ple of Alaska through the present
biennium and having kept the
cause of Alaska development alive
;hrough this trying period, the
board recommends most strongly
to the legislature that the Terri
tory in 1949-51 embark on a real
develop ment program,” the
! board’s statment continued.
The 1947 legislature voted the
development board no appropria
tion whatever. A move in that ses
sion to abolish the board was,
however, unsuccessful. The board
has operated in the current bien- *
nium on a small fund which it it
self has saved, by prudent man
agement, out of its original appro
priation.
Emphasizing that the decision
to underwrite a real program of
active promotion of new indus
. tries, the tourist trade and Alaska
business in general, is after all one
which has to be made by the peo- *
pie of Alaska through their legis
lature, the board stated it was
making its 1949-51 proposals pub
lic at this time so they could be
subjected to full discussion well
in advance of the legislative ses
sion.
HOSPITAL NEWS "
New patients in the hospital are
Thore Aelson, Robert Vreken,
Lloyd Holt and Clara Curran.
THREE PRECINCT
ELECTION RETURNS MISSING
Three precincts are still missing
from the election re'urns of the 4
Second Division, and must be in
before a final total can be tabu- £
lated. Official returns from Wain
wright, Akularak and Selawik
have not been received.
/