THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 126 P. O. Box 618
Si.50 PER MONTH S16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER..Editor*
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postofnr**
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, March 26, 1947
Time's A wasting
(The Denver Post)
HOW MUCH LONGER is the federal government to
stay in the coal business? That is a question of much con
cern. Chairman White (Rep.) of Maine of the Senate
committee on interstate commerce has said he feels the
government, the mine owners and the miners’ union
should be called before his committee to explain the ex
act status of the situation which exists. Senator Cape
hart (Rep.) of Indiana has expressed hope this will be
done. “I am not only somewhat confused, but I am a lit
tle frightened,” Senator Capehart told the Senate,, “be
cause, from a technical standpoint, we have at the mo
ment nationalized our coal mines. We have a situation
in which our government is operating the coal mines
under an agreement between it and the miners, and yet
the coal operators are taking the profits. It appears to
me that the mine owners have made no effort to take
back their own property.
“John L. Lewis states he has been ready at all timer,
to sit down and negotiate with the government or with
the operators. Yet, Captain Collisson (federal coal mines
administrator) stated on one of two occasions that Lewis
was not willing to sit down and negotiate.
“So far the government has been unable to get the
mine owners to take their mines back. So far the govern
ment has been unable to get the mine owners and the
miners’ union to sit down and negotiate. In other words,
collective bargaining, in this instance has failed com
pletely. So far as I am able to learn, no effort is being
made—or at least no progress is being made—in respect
to returning private property which is now technically
in the hands of our government.”
Recently, Senator Capehart asked Lewis, who heads
the United Mine Workers, and the government the fol
lowing questions:
1— “What steps has the government taken toward re-|
turning the mines to the mine owners?
2— “When will negotiations start between the mine
operators and the union with respect to a new contract?
3— “What disposition has been made of the miners’
welfare fund and how much money is in the fund? How
much money has been spent and for what purposes?
4— “Who are the trustees of the welfare fund?”
According to the replies received by Senator Cape
hart, nothing has been done toward returning the mines
to their owners. Nobody knows when negotiations will
be started between the union and the operators. The
welfare fund now amounts to about 15 and one-half mil
lion dollars. The paymaster general of the navy is hold
ing it as custodian. No money has been spent from it. The
board of trustees to administer*the fund has not been
completed. Lewis has been named to represent the!
union and Captain Collisson to represent the govern
ment. They have not agreed upon the third member.
Lewis has submitted a list of eleven names for this place
on the board, and Captain Collisson has the appointment
under consideration.
This miners* welfare fund was established under the
agreement made between secretary of interior Krug and
Lewis last June after the government had taken over the
mines to prevent a strike. Captain Collisson says he was
not notified until Dec. 26 that the union had selected
Lewis last June 19 to be its representative on the board
of trustees. Collisson notified the union on Jan. 22 that
he had appointed himself to the board.
If the miners were in such dire need, as was claimed,
it seems that both the union and government have been
remis* fa failure to organize the board of trustees to ad
minister this welfare fund. All the fund has done thus
far is accumulate 15 and one-half million dollars which
hasn’t done anybody any good.
With the government’s authority to operate the mines
scheduled to expire June 30, a decision will have to be
made soon on government policy. If the mines are to be
turned back to their owners, they should be conferring
with the union now on a new contract.
One Man’s Opinion By Walter kiernan
We are being invited to step from the frying pay into
Greece — someone has got the United States confused
with the United Nations. . . . Churchill said it wasn’t his
job to liquidate the British Empire but Attlee sure is
; becking out of the low-paying properties* . . . Britain
has great confidence in us—they think we can straight
en out things in Greece when we can’t even get straight
in Georgia. . . . Herbert Hoover says we should feed
Europe but make them pay for it—he’s still against
Santa Claus. . . . Herbert never will learn that the way
to make friends is to give them everything—as we did
with Russia. . . . Italy has pensioned Marshal Badoglio
—It was felt he was entitled to some compensation for
his fine work on both sides in the recent war . .. Badog
lio didn’t exactly deliver a total victory but he sure
knew when to keep it from being a total loss. . . . Ger
many has not rewarded any of its losing generals—It is
true that the Allies have singled out a few for drop
bottom platform appearances.... Nothing much is heard
of the former king of Italy—For his part in the war he
was condemned to retire to a pleasant spot at full pay.
... I hear he wired Hirohito recently, “Why didn’t you
quit sooner and get a partnership?” . . . The more you
examine it the more the brave new world looks exact
ly like the tattered ole one.
i
By GEORGE 3 BENSON
President cf Harding College
Searcy. Arkansas
- <3
DIPS AND PEAKS
Practical economists view the
business outlook in terms of peaks
and valleys. They have come to
accept the ups and downs of the
charts as interpretation of the
myriad factors indicative of trends
that may take place in our chang
ing, dynamic economy. V But the
query is put: How can we avoid
depressions? Must we take these
periodic back-sets for granted? Is
there not danger for America in
depressions?
These questions are sometimes
honestly asked by critics of what
they call ”\>oom and bust” capital
ism. Yes, there is danger in depres
sions. They’re full of dynamite.
We might wish to avoid the ef
fects of every kind of business re
i cession, but to say that we desire
to give up freedom of individual
opportunity for a regimentation so
thorough that we can avoid depres
sions would be to swap temporary
set-back for permanent disaster.
L«t*1 Road?
America’s economy is a chang
ing economy. It is dynamic. And
its direction, always, has been up
wards toward the mountain peaks
of a higher and higher standard of
living for all her citizens. It is just
possible that we could ■stay in the
I valley, finding a level road that
, would be smooth and easy. Some
folks mistakenly call this “secur
ity.” But if we would have the
mountain peaks of higher and
I higher living, then we must be
prepared for the brief plateaus, or
j even the dips, of re-adjustment
l for the climb ahead.
This need be no bitter revela
tion. The price of no depression
! would mean accepting a static
economy. We can have “no prog
ress’’ along with “no depression.”
A static America, however, would
not be a progressive, inventive,
virile America. There are freedoms
which thrive in the dynamic econ
omy and not the least of them is
freedom of opportunity.
Prices Tod High
In the continuous depression of
‘he Orion life moves along always
the same, measured in centuries.
Living improves slowly there, if
at all. In Soviet Russia every citi
zen is guaranteed a full-time job,
but at wages that are approximate
ly one-fifth of our own wages.
State socialism desires to become
your protector. You may have full
and continuous protection—if you
care to turn over to the state the
job of deciding how many jobs
there will be, what will be pro
duced, who’ll take the jobs, and at
what wages. But we know the
price of this protectorate is too
j high.
Almost within our own genera
tion the working man has had his
hours cut nearly one-third. Real
wages of the “undiscovered” com
mon-man have tripled in many in
dustries. Secondary school enroll
ments have increased ten times,
and college education is available
to everyone. The physical com
forts and the luxury goods con
sumed by America’s common-man
is the envy of the whole world. All
this has taken place, despite de
pressions.
Upward Still
This is not to say that America
should accept serious business re
cessions without making any ef
fort to cushion their effect. A
wealth of experience from the un
certain Thirties should enable
Congress to meet future emergen
Radar Screen To
Protect Far North
I _____
MONTREAL, Que. (/P>—'The de
velopment of the Arctic waste
lands, key to global air travel in
war as well as peace, took another
long step forward today through i
joint U. S.-Canadian plan to throw
a radar screen around the far
north.
Establishment of a series of
leran <long range radar aid-to
navigation) stations are to be com
pleted this year and possibly an
other in 1948—was seen as materi
ally incresing the potentialities of
northern bases.
In addition, some Canadians
viewed last night’s announcement
of tiie join project by Louis S. St.
Laurent, Canada’s external affairs
minister, as adding force to U. S.
moves in the international politi
cal field—recently emphasized by
President Truman’s call for aid to
Greece and Turkey.
Construction of the loran sys
tem for the Arctic was seen as a
| logical continuation of steps to se
cure North American dominance
of aerial short cuts across the froz
en top of the world in a joint U. S.
Canadian program of winter man
euvers, experimental flights and
the projected building of nine
j weather stations in the area in the
| next three years.
President Trumans contemplat
ed visit to Canada in early June
was viewed in some Canadian
quarters as an additional demon
stration of the close friendship
binding this country and the
United States.
St. Laurent, in his announce
ment of the loran program, de
j dared:
"In order that these stations may
j be constructed and in operation at
an early date, the United States
has offered to assist us by supply
ing technical personnel until suf
ficient trained Canadian personnel
are available for replacement, as
well as certain special technical
equipment not available in Can
ada.”
The exact location of the sta
tions was not disclosed. But St.
Laurent said that initially they
would be operated in conjunction
with existing stations on U. S.
territory, presumably Alaska.
DETROIT, (/P)—Willie Senters,
25, awakened early today to find
his mattress afire. He tried to
j shove it out a first story window
I but it stuck. So Willie backed up,
took a short run and lunged at it
again.
The mattress remained wedged
but Willie flew out the window and
down 15 feet onto a basement
stairway. Firemen extinguished
the*blaze and took Willie to Re
ceiving hospital where he was
treated for an injured arm and re
leased.
t __
cies with more success. We shall
be able to avoid the mistake of
blaming overproduction, for we
now know that to admit overpro
duction is to admit that we can of
fer a higher standard of living
than our people can accept. We
shall know too, how to use public
works to better advantage in cush
ioning future recessions.
America can keep going ahead
on the climb upward toward
heights now undreamed of if we
rededicate ourselves to honest ef
! fort in understanding and using
1 the system that has brought us so
much. Recognizing the laurels that
belong already to the American
way, we may scal£ heights that yet
have never been surveyed. Let us
not just take depressions for
granted; let’s take them in stride.