THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00'A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .. ...^.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at th^'Hnstoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879
Friday, January 4, 1046
*
EDUCATIONAL CRISIS
(Anchorage Daily Times)
The inevitable postwar crisis in American education
is at hand. Tens of thousands of teachers who left the
profession for better paying jobs have no intention of
returning. And no one can blame them.
The average rural teacher’s salary, according to the
National Education Association, is $959 a year. In urban
schools the average pay is $1955. Consequently there is
an accute shortage of competent teachers, especially in
rural areas.
More than a third of the country’s 900,000 teachers
are new to their jobs. Some 50,000 are teaching on
emergency certificates. In our 175,000 one-to-three
teacher rural schools throughout the country, 60 per
cent of the teachers have had less than two years of col
lege education.
Thus far the states have eluded any federal “inter
ference” in control of their educational systems which
might have supplemented existing school salaries. Theo
retically, state control of education has tradition and
good sense on its side. But too many states take advan
tage of this to pay teachers what, in this day, scarcely
amounts to subsistence wages.
Today, better-paid workers with strong organization
are receiving or being promised peacetime pay in
creases to match high living costs. Today the United
Nations educational organization is stressing the highly
important role of better international education as a
factor in fostering permanent peace. It is time that the
states corrected these shocking inequities in teachers’
salaries where they exist, for the sake of their school
children and their own interests, as well as of the teach
ers themselves.
COLA DRINK HARD ON TEETH OF RATS
Drinking large quantities of a popular cola beverage
is hard on the teeth of rats, causing severe destruction
of the enamel, Lieut. Comdr. J. S. Restarski, Lieut. R. A.
Gortner, Jr., and Lieut. Comdr. C. M. McCay found in
studies at the Naval Medical Research Institute.
Since men are not mice or rats, the Navy officers are
not yet issuing any warning against human consump
tion of cola drinks. Differences in composition of the
saliva, manner of drinking and amounts of beverage
consumed must be studied before the results of the rat
studies can be applied to humans.
The cola beverage tested is not the only soft drink
that can be hard on tooth enamel. Probably any other
acid-containing soft drink would cause the same de
struction, especially when sweetened. For reasons of
economy, the Navy officers made part of their studies
with a drink containing the same amounts of sugar and
phosphoric acid as th$ cola beverage contains. The ef
fect on the rat’s tooth ^enamel was the same.
Ginger ale, grapefruit juice and cranberry juice, as
well as the cola drink, had been found, by another scien
tist, to have an enamel-destroying effect.
Although the acid alone caused some enamel destruc
tion, sugar added to the acid drink aggravated the ef
fect.—Science Digest.
ATOMIC HYPOTHESIS
(Anchorage Daily Times)
The Moscow publication Izvestia reports that Russiar
scientists in Armenia have succeeded in knocking pro
tons out of lead atoms by means of cosmic rays. Being
sadly unscientific, we cannot guess what effect, if any
WATCH THE IVCPItcSStOH ON Ml* FACE
such a discovery might have on the technique of atomic
I fission.
But let us assume that this reported discovery or a
! development of it should add significantly to present
| knowledge of the atom. Suppose Russian scientists
I should discover a method of making atomic bombs
! which would avoid the tremendous installations and tre
j mendous expense of the present method—which, we
j gather, form an important part of our “secret.”
What then? The Russians would have a “secret” of
their own. It might be that the present keepers of the
atomic secret then would be seeking rather than offer
1 ing knowledge.
All this is merely talking through the hat, but theo
1 retically such a turn of events is possible. Perhaps the
possibility has occurred to the heads of the American,
! British and Canadian governments.
A new, simpler technique of releasing atomic energy
| might toss out the window any idea of attaching condi
i tions to the revelation of present atomic secrets. Cer
| tainlv it would add another twinge to the headache
which goes with possession of this frightening source
! of power.
"
Seaweed Textiles Are Latest British Synthetic
“Scientists look ahead to the not-very-distant time
! when seaweed obtained in British waters—particularly
j round the Scottish coast—will provide large quantities
of textile materials, transparent paper, plastics, and
even foodstuffs,” writes Arthur Nettleton in a recent
issue of Saturday Night.
“At Leeds University, a solution obtained from sea
weed has been forced through spinnerets and drawn off
in the form of thread. Initial setbacks (such as the dis
covery that the threads dissolved in a soap solution)
have been overcome. So confident are British industri
alists about the ultimate commercial value of seaweed,
that a scheme to further the investigations, and to pro
mote commercial uses, has been set in motion* by the
British Government.”
I
Northern Airlines
Plane Crashes
(Special to The Nugget)
ANCHORAGE, Jan. 4 — (/P) —
Northern Airlines Trav e 1 a i r e
cracked up during a takeoff at
Nakenek this afternoon. Pilot Gor
don Booth was brought here with
a broken foot. Passenger Bob Hat
field also was hospitalized with
! minor injuries. Further details
, are not available at present.
LOOKING
f AHEAD
n GEORGE 1 BENSON
N Pf*tUtKl~Mardla§ MU§t
I Starqf. Jrismam
PILOT PLANT
Higgins Industries, Inc., New
Orleans shipbuilders, shut down
three big plants and began early
in November to “farm out” forty
million dollars worth of post-war
business. In a tilt between two
I powerful labor unions, Andrew J.
Higgins cast himself in the role of
a bystander. His story was that in- J|
dustrial disputes had made it
! practically impossible for him to
operate at a profit.
I am not taking up a cudgel for
Higgins or either of the labor or
"ani7ations. The squabble has rot
been settled yet and some new
factors may be introduced. The
detail of the news that interests
me most is Mr. Higgins’ offer to
sell his plants to the unions. His
proposition may have been sea
soned with irony, but I am per
fectly serious. I think it is a splen
did idea.
4
All the Essentials
Just think: here stand three
modern plans; new ones. They
shelter acres of desirable ground
with water frontage. They have
installed power, transmission lines,
assembly equipment and tools.
Such bulidings can be adapted
conveniently to the manufacture
of many different items on a vol
ume production scale. Labor is
abundant and more workers are
arriving daily.
i Working capital is no longer a
problem to working people. The
unions have fabulous wealth, not
even nicked by taxation. Senator
Edward V. Robertson of Wyoming
recently named a dozen unions ^
whose treasuries, he said, con
tained more than 160 million dol
lars all told. With men, money
and machinery, the idea is feasi
ble. One of these idle plants might
be kept very busy sub-contracting
Higgins’ unfilled orders.
Union's Big Chance
By going in business on their
own account, unions have much
to gain. For example: Nearly all
labor organizations uphold princi
ples upon which they disagree I
with orthodox business executives.
The details include plant organiza
tion. retirement plans, vacations
and medical service besides wages
and hours. Who will argue that
these plans do not deserve to be
tried experimentally?
Most industrial leaders of today
are self-made men. Many of them
skated on thin ice occasionally
in the early heats of their business
race. They had principles and they
had courage and they took chan
ces. Their venturesome spirits
were supported by faith in their
principles. Why should not some 4
trade union take over a desirable
plant somewhere and demonstrate
its theories?
History to Be Made
Quite a few labor leaders advo
cate new economic principles.
They insist that their plans can
not fail if faithfully pursued. Now,
for once in a thousand years, come
chances to prove the value of
these new principles to an eager
world. It can be tried independent
of conventional sources of capital. A
Almost any union has more cash
reserve now than most big corpo
rations had when they started.
If neither of the Gulf Coast
plants is suitable, one of the eight
being offered by the RFC at Chi
cago might be better. Any place,
' where working men develop a
new system better than the old,
will be hallowed ground. Certain
i ly America stands at the cross
j roads industrially. Every patriotic
citizen hopes we choose the right
I course. Will the unions now stake
i their wealth on their principles?