THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
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W. A. Boucher ...Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1379.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, April 13, 1949
CIVILIAN WAR CLAIMS LITIGATION
(By Clarke Beach)
Among the messes left by war is a welter of claims
and litigation. Tens of thousands of civilians are de
manding redress for injuries and losses.
Certain types of claim already have been approved
by Congress. There are thousands of others, however—
questionable cases—which the War Claims Commission1
will investigate. It will then advise Congress as to the
action which seems justified. These are the war claims'
payments which Congress has already authorized:
1. Detention, injury, disability or death benefits for
persons captured on American soil and interned by the1
Japanese. These are the victims of Guam, Wake and the
Philippines. The detention benefit amounts to $60 for
each month of internment for persons over 18. Those
under 18 get $25 a month.
In addition, employees of government contractors
who were captured, primarily the group on Wake, will
be paid the regular wages they would have earned if I
they had been at work instead of in captivity. The fed
eral security administrator is directed to adjudicate the;
claims of the government employees.
2. Military personnel who while in Japanese prison
camps were not given the quantity and quality of food;
which is stipulated in the Geneva Convention of July;
27, 1929. They get $1 for each day they were ill fed.
Certain religious organizations which remained in
Japanese-held American territory and gave supplies to|
American prisoners will be reimbursed Cor their ex-]
penses. These are the only claims the government has,
recognized up to now. So the vast majority are still up]
in the air. You get an idea of how many and various'
they are when you learn that one government depart
ment has received as many as 1.600 letters a day regard
ing civilian wa? claims.
m m m • • ■ • « ■ « • 1 « 1 A «
The biggest issue which will come before the com
mission is: Can anything be collected by Americans
who suffered war damage in Asia or Europe? Interna
tional law clearly relieves a nation from any responsi
bility for damage inflicted in the course of combat op
erations. U. S. military units, moreover, have their own!
claims units which can settle damage claims by natives
injured through non-combat activities, such as being hit
by a jeep behind the lines.
But what of Americans wrho continued to live and do j
business in Europe, in Japan, or on the continent of Asia
after they had been advised that war was likely? State
department spokesmen have told Congress that they|
felt ample warning had been given to such persons and
that if they persisted in remaining in the threatened
area it was their own responsibility.
They see the situation in the Philippines and the other
American islands as entirely different. For fear of
alarming the people or unnecessarily disrupting normal
activities, no firm warning was given. The government
was thus responsible for their being caught in the war.
Another ticklish issue is presented by persons who
were injured or suffered property loss in the attack on
Pearl Harbor. They contend that as the war had not
started, it was not a combat operation. They had not
been warned to leave Hawaii. Therefore, they say, they
are as entitled to damages as those in the Philippines.
Some limit has to be set on the total damages that can
be assessed. The Japanese nation, now largely depend
ent on American dollars to get back on its feet, will not
pay the bills. The money will come from a fund in the
Treasury derived from liquidation, of German and Jap
anese assets in this country, both government and pri
vate property.
It is estimated that the fund, when finally accumu
lated, will amount to from $225,000,000 to $275,000,000.
I NOW IF IT ONLY HAD TEETH
WHEN AN ATOMIC BOMB BURSTS
There is no point to a fearful, fatalistic viewpoint
about life in an age of nuclear energy, declares Rear Ad
miral William S. Parsons, director of Atomic Defense in
the office of the chief of naval operations, who admits
that practical reasons give us no prospect for absolute
security against an atomic attack short of underground
existence.
The admiral thinks that the risk of the new age will
have to be one of many “compromises with fact,” which
have to be made every day. He thinks that city planners
and architects will have to continue their emphasis on
the primary functions and uses of structures, but with
added considerations for the dangers of an atomic blast
and radiation.
The naval officer gave some idea of what one may ex
pect in the event of an atomic air burst, which, he says,
would render almost any above-ground structure use
less for about half a mile. Beyond that range, he says,
buildings which are strong enough to resist tornadoes,
fires and earthquakes, will begin to resist the blast
wind, heat and shock produced by the bomb.
Those residing outside the fatal range of such a blast
will have perhaps a minute after the initial roar to seek
shelter. About an hour after the explosion, they might
be able to move swiftly out of the zone without catching
a “sickness” dose of radiation. It will be about a year
before military occupation of the area could be safely
carried out and, even then, there would be a difficult
job of de-contaminating plutonium-soaked structures.
MOST GIGANTIC AND GENEROUS”
Characteristically the United States as an “interna
tionally outstanding example of brotherhood toward
the other nations of the world,” Senator Tom Connally,
of Texas, pointed to the generous aid extended to na
tions suffering from the war.
The United States, as Mr. Connally observes, con
tributed 72 per cent of the money exp’ended by the U. N.
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, to relieve
hunger and misery, principally in the countries of Eu
rope. This contribution ran into the billions of dollars.
Since the war we have given to China approximately
$2,000,000,000. for relief.
The nation has made generous loans to many countries
and in the Marshall Plan offers the world the “most gi
gantis and generous act of its kind in all history.”
With these facts in mind the people of the United
States can well afford to believe that they have prac
ticed, not only the vague principles of human brother
hood, but the great principles of the religion which they
claim to accept. The United States has given to the
world, not words, but deeds.
In the light of the record it is almost disgusting to hear
spokesmen for various peoples, in certain areas, com
| plaining about the attitude of Americans or about the
| manner in which this country has divided the wealth it
has so generously poured out to other peoples.
I
Internation*! News
At A Glance —
(Contined from Page One)
it should cost. Approval seeme i
assured after the way Democrat
and Republicans teamed up Mo . -
day to smash all but one attemn
to change the program.
The Senate approved a $5,500.
000,000 European recovery bill by
a 70 to 7 vote last Friday, after n
days of debate. It differs slightly
from the measure now shaping up
in the House. These differences
must be ironed out by a joint Sen
ate-House committee before final
passage of the program.
A U. S. war crimes court a*
Nuerenberg. convicted a German
diplomat and a former S3 (elite
guard) general of helping the
nazis to exterminate 6,000,000
Jews.
[ The diplomat is Gustav Steen
| gracht von Moyland, 4(5. bright
[young man of Hitler’s foreign ot
1 fice. The general is Gottlob Her
1 ger, 52, who headed the main bf
fice the the SS.
The reading of the court’s. *133
page verdict against 21 high offi
cials and diploma’s of the wartime
German government brings three
years of American .\ar crime
trials to their semi-final s'age. T1 •
last step is set for Thursday v i . i
sentences are to be pronounced.
Washington officials said today
that plans for a new Western Ger
man republic may be-tossed back
into the laps of the Big Three for
eign ministers who just got
through whipping them i n t o
shape.
Leaders of the German social
Democratic party have rejected
the plans as outlined by the west
ern allies. The Socialists are pow
erful enough to block necessary
approval by the German parlia
mentary council at Bonn.
Wednesday. April 13. 1949
Russia is reported to have made
another offer to lift the Berlin
blockade if big four talks on Ger
many are resumed.
A diplomatic informant in Lon
don said the Russians have had
feelers out for the past six weeks
about possible negotiation with
the west over the German ques
tion.
Unless it added something new
such an offer would not materially
affect the Berlin situation, since
the Allies have insisted all along
that the blockade must be lifted
first before any big four talks on
Germany take place. The Russi
ans have insisted on calling the
four power conference first.
German constitution makers in
Bon turned down a communist de
mand for rejection of the occupa
tion statute handed Western Ger
I many by the three western allies.
The parliamentary coun c i 1,
charged with drawing up a consti
i tution for a West German repub
; lie, within the limits of the occu
• pation statute, appointed a com
mittee of 11 to discuss the statute
with the western military govern
ors in Frankfurt Thursday.
Authoritative sources report the
western allies are drafting plans
to make western Berlin a separate
entity with its own parliament.
This would mean a third govern
ment in Germany, since the com
munists have announced plans for
a separate East German regime in
the Soviet zone.
In Nuernberg a U. S. war
crimes court rejected a defense by
accused German war criminals
that charged the allies themselves
with violating international law in
their occupation of Germany.
1 The claim was raised by 11