THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER. Editor*
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the posloffw***!
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1S79.
Monday, January 27, 1947
Peace With Germany
(New York Times)
WHILE NEGOTIATIONS for a peace treaty with
Germany still mark time, it is increasingly clear that the
present Allied regime has reduced that country to a po-j
litical and economic vacuum. For the Germans this has
meant hunger, which in turn is undermining the whole
process of their democratization. For the rest of Europe
it has meant continued dislocation, dangerous delay in
recovery, and a political and economic reorientation the
ultimate consequences of which cannot be foreseen. For
the American taxpayers it has meant an extra expendi
ture of one billion dollars a year, including occupation
costs, of which $200,000,000 a year, goes for civil ad
ministration alone, with the British paying proportion
ate amounts. General Clay, now in Washington to re
port, estimates that before the unified Anglo-American
zone of Germany can become self-sufficient (in about
three years’ time) it will cost the United States and
Britain another billion dollars over and above the “nor
mal” occupation costs.
How the situation might have shaped itself by thi
time if the Potsdam agreement to administer Germany
as a single economic unit had been carried out it is diffi
cut to say. The.point is that the Potsdam agreement has
not been carried out, and that there is grave doubts that
it can still be carried out at all. For the Russians, and to
some extent the French, have so stripped and disorgan
ized the production of their occupation zpnes that these
are likely to be initial liabilities rather than assets to a
unified Germany. Meanwhile the quiet rivalry between
American methods and British socialization in their re
spective zones continues to keep production below even
the low levels permitted.
All this merely confirms that a military regime such
as is now ruling Germany is not the best means for mob
ilizing the energies of a people. The American military
government has frankly acknowledged this by turning
as much government and authority over to the Germans
as possible, and the Russian soundings for additional
reparations from the West indicate that the exploitation
of their own zone has reached the stage of diminishing
returns. Whether the present system of control in Ger
many was the best available in the circumstances is for
history to judge. But the brief history of that system has
already demonstrated that the only way of converting
Germany from a cancer into an asset is to turn the coun
try back to the Germans themselves—under proper Al
lied supervision as long as that is* necessary. The only
way this can be done is to follow the program mapped
out by Mr. Byrnes—to establish a German Government
and to make peace with it.
---
Young Ford Has Faith
(The Denver Post)
THE TYPE of enlightened industrial leadership
which points the way out of today’s economic whirligig
has been evidenced by the Ford Motor company in an
nouncing price reductions of as much as $50 on new
automobiles. It is not the amount of the reduction, which
is small, but rather the principle involved which is
important.
“This is our ‘down payment’ toward a continued high
level of production and employment in the months
ahead,’’ declared Henry Ford II, president of the com
pany. “We believe that the ‘shock treatment’ of prompt
action is needed to halt the insane spiral of mounting
costs and rising prices and to restore a sound base for
the hopeful period of postwar production we are now
entering.”
Young Ford gives proof that he has inherited the in
dustrial imagination which guided his grandfather in
pioneering the mass production technics which fathered
the modern machine era.
For a short haul Ford could take advantage of today’s
voracious demand for automobiles and set his prices,
within wide competitive limits, at whatever he could
get. But he has taken the long view. He knows that the
heart of America’s unequaled mass production economy
is mass consumption. He has clearly seen the danger of a
situation in which prices are engaged with wages and
other production costs in a maddening tailchaise.
That is where his “shock treatment” enters. Someone
in this spiraling production complex must take the ini
tiative, even at the risk of temporary losses, to prevent
an economic crackup. Ford, despite his company’s well
known deficits of the past year, has dared to do so.
It is a bold act of faith which Ford has undertaken
and one which must serve as an example not only to
other manufacturers but to labor as well.
One Man’s Opinion By Walter kiernan
The Republican Congress has had three messages
from President Truman all ending in R. S. V. P. —
meaning “Republicans should vaccinate politics.” . . .
The present outlook is that the Republicans will give the
President everything he wants — provided he wants
the same things they want. ... As one legislator put it
“he should have learned early in life that Santa Claus
doesn’t bring everything on the list.” . . . However Mr.
Truman’s appointment of General Marshall has toned
up the state department — I hear one assistant secretary
has turned in his spats for spurs. . . . General Marshall j
is the first professional soldier to be secretary of state;
and the nineteenth man to be mentioned for the Presi
dency. . . . There seems to be an impression that ex-GI’s j
are eager to vote for their old general — most of those
I’ve met just want to meet their old sergeant.
_ __ _ _ i
HEADING FOR THE PROVING GROUND
By GEORGE S BENSON
BiilJani of Harding Colleg*
Searcy. Arkansas
- I 1
SCRAMBLED FIGURES <
Plain-logic and clear-thinking
are two delegates who should al
ways register at all management
and labor conventions. They
should be ever present in all coun
cils of patriotic groups. Neither
our business nor our labor leaders
must be responsible for a lock-out
of truth and of the dignity belong
ing to facts and figures. Inasmuch
>
as plain Americans can reason,
just so will they see any inade
quacies of thought demonstrated
by any leaders.
Most of American labor was
! pleased, I believe, when the CIO
adopted a resolution recently con
demning Communist influence in
its ranks. I suspect the rank and
file back home gave this action a
round of genuine appl \
aside from the intra-union politics
which prompted the , resolutiorw
regardless of the doubtful political
tinge of the men who drafted it,
my belief is that the CIO unions
are taking a step in the right di
rection. It remains to be seen what
shall follow in future councils.
In The Record
At any rate, these unions have
put down on the record their re
sentment and rejection of efforts
of the Communists and “other po
litical parties” to interfere with
their affairs. Communists, they
seem to imply, are just another
political party, but let us not for- k
get what ideology is followed in a
party by that name or in other
parties. There’s nothing American
about their ideology nor their
long-range aims.
It would seem the time has come
for our two major political parties
to do more than merely disown
the Communists who have infil
trated their own ranks and the
ranks of labor. Moreover, it might
be a good time for the two majdf
parties and for our leaders of la
bor to say that political action
groups have no business interefer
ng with the affairs of political
parties.
Greater Threat
The extent to which Communist
ideology has penetrated gradually
the councils of labor is no doubt
much greater than labor itself is
aware. A prominent labor person- J
ality recently set down the profits
of industry for 1946 as fifteen bil
lion dollars, after taxes, and added
that this represents a greater
threat to the nation than does
Communism.
Whatever industry’s earnings
will be for 1946, the figures will
not be high enough. The poor
showing in the first nine months
of the year, as seen in the stall^S
output of the automobile industry
and in the failure of many indus
tries to make any profit at all, will
not make large sums available for
higher wages.
The Profit Motive
Poor industrial earnings will
not permit management to set
aside funds for expansion and for
badly needed working capital.
Neither will lagging product on
or. a prosperity level that will
help pay our tremendous war debt.
N.j production brings no profits
and no wages.
Americans will dislike to see
any groups discredit the profit mo
tive. We like each man’s preroga
tive to make a profit, whether he
belongs on the side of management
and ownership, or whether he is a
wage earner. It is elementa.y er,1^
nomics that wage earners do not
experience increased wages under
conditions where there is no pro
duction. Surely the rank and file
of Americans know this. We can
not believe that any loyal Ameri
cans would like for industry to be
constantly in the red. But we
know that the Communists would.
RECENT VISITORS
TO WASHINGTON
Waler Mesuch of Anchorage has*
been a recent visitor in Washing
ton and has called upon Delegate
Bartlett.
Miss Lorraine Rogers of Anchor
age has been a recent Washington
visitor. Miss Rogers will return to
Alaska in a few weeks following
a short period of training with the
FBI in the Capital. Miss Rogers
has been employed in the FBI
headquarters at Anchorage for the
past year. ^
When Chopin died in 1849,
coffin was sprinkled with Polish
earth in recognition of his great
love for his country.