THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
61.80 PER MONTH 616.00 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.
Friday, July 11, 1947
A Basic Fault
(The Denver Post)
NEWS FROM LONDON that potatoes are virtually
unobtainable in the English markets should give our de
partment of agriculture a new incentive for working out
a program which will make it unnecessary to destroy
any more potatoes—or any other food, for that matter—
in this country at any time.
When a few potatoes were destroyed in the south re
cently, Business Week magazine feared the Commun
ists would seize upon the incident to spread propaganda
in hungry Europe that the American economic system
is entirely irresponsible and wasteful.
Apparently the Communists, before they learned of
the potato destruction, already had committed them
selves to a propaganda policy of spreading the report
throughout Europe that America is starving. At least
Europe seems to have heard little about our potato sur
plus so far.
The department of agriculture is trying to arrange
for the diversion of surplus potatoes to relief agencies,
stock feeders and alcohol manufacturers. There is a
movement in-Congress to encourage the manufacture
and use of potato flour.
Statements have been made that if 40 per cent of the
bakers in the country would use flour containing a 4 per
cent mixture of potato flour, the entire potato surplus,
would be taken care of at once.
So far most of the suggestions for handling the potato
issue have ignored one of the principal causes of trou
ble, the Steagall amendment under which the govern
ment is committed to support certain farm prices at 90
per cent of parity until January 1, 1949.
Many farm leaders and an impressive list of agricul
tural economists have been advancing the idea for some
time that a farm price support program based on the
relative purchasing power farm commodities had back
before World War I is too inflexible.
They point out such parity prices do not take into ac
count that eating habits change, thereby causing
changes in the demand for specific products.
For example, in the last thirty-five or forty years the'
per capita consumption of potatoes in this country has
dropped from 192 pounds a year to 127 pounds. Yet po
tato prices are supported on the basis of the former con
* sumer demand and production naturally is based on the
former demand rate also.
It is too early to predict that the working out of a new
farm program will be one of the principal issues before
Congress in 1948. It is reasonable to believe government
support never will be withdrawn entirely from farm
prices, but there is growing sentiment for a support pro
gram which will function only in times of low prices and
will allow the law of supply and demand to regulate in
part the production of individual crops.
A Sobering Conviction
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
THAT THERE are some Communists in various gov
ernment departments and agencies is a fact everybody
knows. The number may be-exaggerated. The danger
often is overstated. But they should be removed from
federal employment. And they are being removed, al
though the process has to be slow if we are not to see a
good many unjust decisions made in haste.
One means of weeding out disloyal bureaucrats is the
loyalty test exacted of federal workers. The easy way
around this is for the Communist to deny his affiliation
I l
or to conceal his past affiliations. But that may not al
ways be the easy way. The case of Carl A. Marzani, a
minor official in the state department, suggests that
evasion of the loyalty test can be costly.
The conviction will have a salutary effect in the Fed
eral service, regardless of the sentence imposed by the
Judge. For if it is made plain to all concerned that it’s
bad business to conceal facts in a loyalty test, we can ex
pect more and more disloyal employees to make a clean
breast of their shortcomings when the examiner comes
around.
And that is all the present purge seeks. The object is
not to see how many Communists or neo-Communists
we can put in jail. It is to have as few Communists as
possible in the employ of the government.
A Fine Example
(Rocky Mountain News)
TWO DAYS AFTER the Taft-Hartley labor bill be
came law, leading representatives of unions and em
ployers in New York City’s construction industry at
tended a notable luncheon meeting.
Both sides asserted eagerness to stimulate building
activity of all types. They agreed that costs must be held
as low as possible; that builders must be able to make
accurate cost estimates, with reasonable assurance that
they wouldn’t be exceeded and that projects, once un
dertaken, would be completed without undue delay.
Spokesman for the AFL Building Trades Unions an
nounced that they intended to work for repeal of the
Taft-Hartley Act, but that meanwhile they would com
ply with its provisions and fulfill all contracts.
And they promised that at least until 1950, when cur
rent labor-management contracts expire, the unions
would put no limitations on the output of workers;
would settle jurisdictional and agreement disputes by
mediation or arbitration, without strikes or lockouts; j
would man all jobs with sufficient labor, and respect the
right of employers to hire and discharge. j
Such a pledge, faithfully kept, can do much to encour-1
age building. More than that, it can be a fine example!
of the patience and moderation which President Tru-j
man recently called upon labor and management to ex- \
ercise in accommodating themselves to changes made
necessary by the new law.
The vital responsibility for complying with the law in
a spirit of tolerance and fairplay, of which Mr. Truman
spoke, rests just as heavijy on management as on labor.
But union leaders and union members who feel that the
Taft-Hartley Act is unfair to them have, we think, a
very special reason to display that spirit in all sincerity.
So doing, they can most surely regain public good
will, and most quickly enlist public support for correc
tion of any provisions of the law which a fair test may
reveal to be unjust, unworkable or destructive of labor’s
essential rights.
By GEORGE S BENSON
N*i4«nl «f Hflidmf Coll»9«
Ssatcy. Arkansas
I *
STORY WITH A MORAL
One time there was a young
man, the younger son of a well-to
do farmer. Times were good, pric
es were high. It was a period of
prosperity for everybody. Appar
ently, spending had got to be a
habit with most of the folks in
that community. At any rate, this
son saw that others were having a
good time spending money. Since
everybody’s doing it, he thought,
why shouldn’t I enjoy myself?
So this fine young man who had
| all the opportunities one could
j wish for, and a brilliant future in
j sight, kept after his father untd
i one day “the old man settled him
1 off” with a good deal of* money.
This country boy then went to
. townp-and set out to have himself
, a better time than he had ever had
before. He spent hnere money than
.he had ever spent before. Friends
were numerous. Playboy super
deluxe, this young man had
swarms of lady friends. But they
required money.
He Achieved Wisdom
Now, you are wondering, if you
have read this far, whether this
misguided and pampered lad ever
quit spending. He did. He quit
spending when a depression set in,
for that was the time when he
found himself unable to obtain
any more money. At this point,
our broken down playboy began to
think. Wisdom was forced upon
him and he learned the hard way.
He found he couldn’t even buy a
sandwich, and panhandling was
out of the question. Rather than
starve, he took a farm job feeding
Pigs.
If this lad had done what some
of our so-called statesmen advo
, cate, he would have continued to
borrow and spend. But having
thought the matter through, he
went to work, even though his
hunger was scarcely outdone by ,
that of the pigs he was sent to ^
feed. He had spent all, and he was
in want. You may read the rest of
this story in Luke 15, for it is the
story of the Prodigal Son who
finally came to his senses.
No Money Mill
Must we as a nation spend all
that we have before we come to
our senses, like the Prodigal Son?
With signs of depression approach
ing, we continue to spend, appar
ently from habit. Doing little or
nothing about our monstrous na
tional debt of $260,000,000,000, we <
continue to look around trying to
find things for which to appropri
ate money. We have come to count
off our years as “spending” years,
in terms of the next budget and
appropriations bills.
It is easy to justify any and ev
ery expenditure. Constituents in
each and every community repre
sented by Senator Bloake and
Congressman Doake can spout a
whole book of reasons why this or
that pet project must go through.
Folks are inclined to think that
the money for the whole thing is
a gift, just because they don’t see
where it comes from. But the
founding fathers did not leave at
Washington a mill which flows
out perpetual dollars.
Day Of Reckoning
Maybe it’s not a nice thought,
but you can’t keep on spending
money without knowing where it’s
coming from. This was a fact the
Prodigal Son discovered. Neither
can you safely manufacture cur
rency to carry through your
spending projects. Either course
will soon lead to dire results. A
day of reckoning will come to a
country that spends all it has, just
as it did to the Prodigal Son. Let
us have more wisdom than the
Prodigal, who found that he could
repent only when hard times
struck him.
Our spending, as opposed to sav
ing, has created a situation that
calls for the best brand of intelli
gent citizenship. It is already
time to go to work. We must also
impress upon our legislators that
if they are to be statesmen, not
mere politicians, they must con
serve the wealth of the country
rather than lavishly spend it.
Without being penny wise and
pound foolish, we ought to adopt
fiscal policies that will cut down
our growing debt. There’s no pros
pect of doing this unless we do it
while times are good.
Legislation Would
Permit Cashing
Terminal Bonds
WASHINGTON, (^P) — Senator
Baldwin (R.-Conn.) said yesterday
he hopes to bring House-approved
legislation to permit cashing of
terminal leave bonds before the
Senate next week.
He said he will ask the full
armed services committee *to ap
prove the bill at the earliest op
portunity, possibly at a meeting
scheduled for tonight.
The bill, which has the backing
of the Republican leadership,
would permit the cashing any
time after Sept. 1, of $1,800,000,000
worth of bonds held by 8,000,000
veterans, the vast majority ex-en
listed men.
Baldwin heads a subcommittee
which gave tentative approval to
the measure within an hour and
a half after hearings opened Wed
] nesday. The House passed it Mon- *
♦ day, 383 to 0.