THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING GO.
Noma, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. o. Box 61*
•1.M PEN MONTH SI 1.00 A YEAN
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER...*.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffir*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879,
Monday, June 23, 1947
The House Got Burned Down
Before We Got There i
(The Denver Post)
THE TIMETABLE OF EVENTS which have led to
the Communist coup in Hungary and to the spre°ding
of Soviet power throughout eastern Europe should be
kept clearly in mind. It is an answer to those who ex
plain this development as Russia’s rejoiner to the Tru
man doctrine.
The record does not support such as explanation, in
spite of the “I told you so’s” which are now rising from
among the Wallace followers and the Communist party-;
liners.
The Communist seizure of power in Budapest—gloat-1
ed over by Matyas Rakosi, Hungary’s new Red dictator
—is the climax of a train, of events which began long
before the Truman doctrine was proclaimed on March
12, 1947. •
The flames were first touched pff in the Allied agree
ment which permitted Russia to establish the Red army
in Hungary as the sole occupying force. They were fan
ned by the Russian pressure which forced Communists
into key positions of government despite the minor frac
tion of votes won by the party in the elections of 1945.
And, finally, they came to full conflagration in a series |
of pressure plays which began well before President!
Truman announced the U. S. policy of aiding nations1
threatened bv aggression.
Russia tipped her hand completely on Feb. 26 of this I
year—a full two weeks before the Truman speech—^
when Communist agents, accompanied by a Russia gen- j
. eral, arrested Bela Kovacs, member of the Hungarian \
parliament and leader of the majority Small Landhold-!
ers party. As in the recent ouster of Premier Ferenc |
Nagy, the excuse for the Russian action was a trumped- i
up charge of “conspiracy against Hungarian demoe
racy." j
The conception of “democracy” in which a minority,
seizes power with the aid of an alien army and secret
police led by foreign agents is purely a Russian one.
The Truman doctrine had nothing to do with the
Russian conquest of Hungary except possibly to step up
the timing* That unhappy country has dropped behind
the iron curtain as a victim of the kind of aggression
which U. S. policy seeks to prevent. If we failed in Hun
gary, it was because we were not able to bring our
power to bear in time.
We are beginning to see that the faults of U. S. policy
will not be in design, but rather in execution. In the
Truman doctrine, we have a “fire department” fcyr use
against the holocaust of aggression. The “department”
is to blame only if it fails to reach the fire before the
house burns down.
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Our Per-Capita Red Pouplation
(Anchorage Daily Times)
THERE ARE MORE Communists per capita in the U.
S. today that there were in Russia in 1917, says J. Edgar
Hoover, the FBI chief. America has one dues-paying
comrade for every 1814 non-Communists, while in Rus
sia 30 years ago the proportion was one to 2277.
Furthermore, says Mr. Hoover, for each American
Communist there are 10 fellow travelers willing to fol
low his lead and do his work. If we add them to Mos
cow’s figure of 74,000 party members in this country,
we get a figure of 814,000 active pro-Communists, or
about one tot every 165 Americans. And since there are
few Reds in agriculture, management and the profes
sions, the ratio must be much smaller in the fields where
they are active.
So we can get an even more alarming figure than Mr.
Hoover’s 1814 to one. But before we jump to any con
clusions we might speculate on how many anti-Com
munists there were among Mr. Hoover’s 2277 Russian
non-Communists in 1917.
Russia had already thrown out the czar in a socialist
revolution when the Bolsheviks, come of the present
Communist party .took over in the fall of 1917. The
country was prostrate and groping for leadership. Mil
itary defeat by Germany had touched off the long-smol
dering revolt of millions held in virtual slavery.
That was the Russian situation in 1917. Socialism was
assured in some form. The big question was when, how
much, and by whom. The Bolsheviks answered that
question. But their conquest was scarcely the conquest
of one Leninist over 2277 determined opponents.
Whatever conclusion Mr. Hoover wishes drawn from
his comparative figures, it is obvious that one Com
munist could accomplish more in the fertile field of 1917
Russia than he can in America today. Yet this does not
leave us free to underestimate the Communist menace
here and now. For the comrades would dearly love to
create the sort of chaos that led to victory in Russia.
There are at present only two discernible ways by
which they might do this. One would be for the rest of
us to mismanage our economy so completely that a pop
ular uprising could result. The other would be for us to
become so gullible and confused as to permit the Com
munists to gain enough control to create their own up
rising before we woke up to what was happening.
Both possibilites seem remote, but they are worth
guarding against. A tendency toward the second is re
sponsible for much of the Communist strength in Amer
ica today. Some of us pick up the Reds’ catch phrases
without realizing their source or implications, and thus
help spread basic propaganda.
Too many liberals are inclined to confuse Commun
ism with liberalism, an<J to call all their opponents Fas
cists. Conversely, too many conservatives brand all lib
eralism as Communism, thus infuriating sincere, patri
otic liberals anfi making them easier prey for the Com
munists.
Mr. Hoover’s FBI has a big job to do in uncovering
and exposing active Communism. But there is an equal
ly big job of education to be done by our press, schools,
political parties, unions, and other groups. That job is
to show us the party line whe^e it exists, and to try to
promote that temperate thinking which can save the
American people from being suckers on the one hand
and bigots on the other.
„ ly OEORG£ S BENSON
htdJtiri mf H<udtn§ Coll«t«
*
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A PRESENT THREAT
America today needs thinkers if
any nation ever did. We not only
have the responsibility of the
world, but we have a debt of
$2,000 for every man, woman, and
child. This means a debt of $8,000
for a family of four. Just to pay
the interest on that debt takes
more federal income than the na
tion ever raised from taxes in any
year before the war. We have,
also, the added costs of war pen
sions and expenditures for veter
ans.
Moreover, we must keep strong
armed forces as a hope of not soon
being in another war. Again and
again we shall be called upon for
relief and assistance to foreign
countries. The $400,000,000 for
Greece and Turkey is only a be
ginning. Th* total demand over
the next two years may run as
much as $8,000,000,000 above all
present obligations. Demand is
everywhere, at home and abroad.
0
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EmnlUli io Health
To meet all of these heavy de
mands we must have a healthy
economy. This is not optional. It is
a must. President Truman, Mr.
Bernard Baruch, and others are
calling for'some of the essentials
to a healthy economy. They have
recently stressed longer hours,
and higher productivity on the
part of labor; lower profits nnd
lower prices an the part of indus
try; and maximum production on
the part of agriculture. These are
good. They are essential, and I en
dorse all of them.
But one equally important item
is being overlooked. It is so im
portant, that I believe unless cor
rected properly it will act as a
brake on our economy and pre
vent the very prosperity we all
crave. It is a problem that cannot
be correctly settled just on a
hunch. It has a solution that runs
counter to- political expedience,
which i& a great handicap. It is a
matter which requires study, for
although the corrective measures
are sound, the solution is not eas
ily sold to the public.
- Desire to Venture
1 refer ta taxes on incomes in
the high brackets. The contention
that we can keep the present high
tax rate on big incomes and main
tain a healthy economy is in my
opinion fallacious. A dynamic
economy like ours requires that a
lot of men each year must not only
dream dreams of achievement, but
that they actually must venture
into business in an effort to satis
fy American consumers. To do
that requires a lot of capital and
a willingness to venture that cap
ital.
This is an obligation upon men
who have large amounts of capi
tal. But men in the high brackets
now are being taxed up to 85 per
cent of their net income. The take
from income is so great as to
threaten their willingness to risk.
A man who could keep only 15
per cent of any additional income
would not likely find it advisable
to undergo the required risk neces
- ’’v to increase his income. Natu
rally, it is easy to say that those
in the high brackets are the ones
most able to pay, that they are the
last ones to deserve any tax relief.
Politics and Courage
It is also good politics to appeal
to the many, with a determination
to keep taxes high on those “able
' to pay.” But it is very bad for the
future of the nation. 1163^8150
statesmanship should have no part
of this. Any policy that keeps
competitive capital from going
freely into tools of production to
1 make goods and provide jobs is in
the long run going to reduce the
I national income, reduce the num
I ber of good jobs, and reduce
| wages.
Sustained high investment of
private capital in the tools of pro
duction is the only possible road
to sustained high wages and full
'employment. May we have the
courage and the wisdom to stop
penalizing those who can supply
venture capital. We must correct
this dangerous threat to our future
before it is too late, regardless of
immediate political repercussions.
May we look to the welfare of the
many, .and keep America ever the
land of the free.
High Speed Radio
Developed
I WASHINGTON. <Jf) — NBC
president Niles Trammel said to
day a new radio communications
system has been developed which
can send 1,000,000 words a min
ute.
He said the new system, known
as ultrafax. “could transmit 90,000
word novels from New York to
San Francisco in only 60 seconds.”
It's so speedy, the National
Broadcasting company head told
Congress, that present communi
cations methods will seem as “slow
as the ox cart compared with a
stratoliner.”
Ultrafax was developed by Ra
>dia Corporation oft America, and
will be ready for a public showing
some time this summer. Trammel
said this is the way it works.
“Each printed pag^ is treated
as a . . . picture and Ms) flashed
' in rapid succession. At the receiv
ing end, the pages are reproduced
by a hew high-speed photographic
process for quick delivery.”
Trammell told a Senate inter
state and foreign commerce sub
committee that the hew process
may mean that the newspaper of
the future will be delivered by ra
1 dio.