THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday bv the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME. ALASKA
eiephone: Main 125 • P. O. Box 618
f 50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
\ A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the postoffict
* Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Friday, March 3, 1950
“WARDS” OF GOVERNMENT
(The'Alaska Weekly)
When the American Negroes were freed from slavery
they had, and in some instances still do have, some
rather tough going. But, by and large, they valued their
freedom so highly that the vast majority of them made
every effort to be worthy of both the responsibilities
and privileges of full citizenship. The result is that to
day the Negroes of America are largely self supporting,
are constantly advancing educationally and, in short,
are doing a thoroughly creditable job of taking their
place in the society of which they are a part.
The educational attainments and success of numer
ous individual Indians should be sufficient proof that
there is no justification for the belief that the Indians
are less capable of assuming full citizenship than were
the Negroes. But here we have an entrenched bureau
cracy to face and that makes a great deal of difference.
That bureauracracy has grown until today we have
12,000 federal employees taking care of 233,000 reserva
tion Indians, about one employee to twenty Indians,
who are still classified as “wards” of the government.
As the number of “caretakers” has increased the self
sufficiency of the reservation Indian has declined until
it is now claimed that thousands of them would die
of starvation if the Great White Father should cast them
adrift. They might at that, for that is what happens to
people who are “wards” of government.
There is no point ot satislaction yet discovered lor the
lust for power which motivates the average bureaucrat.
Add to the bureaucratic urge for more and still more
power the efforts of the self-appointed do-gooders and
the professional saviours for a fee and you have the
Alaska reservation picture in a nutshell.
The natives of Alaska have been making tremendous
strides. Any unprejudiced observer is forced to admit
that even within the past decade the natives of the Ter
ritory have gained in stature as good citizens in a man
ner making confidence in their future beyond question
of a doubt.
But the bureaucrats, aided and abetted by the Currys
and the do-gooders, are determined to reduce them to
the status of wards. We have long advocated that these
American citizens be accorded by the courts any rights
which are legally theirs and then let them accept the re
sponsibilities of citizenship along with its, so-called priv
ileges. Every citizen has a right to expect that and that
is all he has a right to expect.
WHY BUY IN NOME?
It is true that the standard of living in a given com
munity depends upon the volume of business done, but
it also depends on the distribution of the income in the
community.
Increased business for local merchants means in
creased income for the community. This means that lo
cal buyers, who trade at home, will have a part in im
proving the standard of living for local families.
You may not be interested in the economic; welfare of
some of your fellow citizens until you realize that, as
they prosper, you may expect to prosper. The welfare
of local merchants affects other people, including em
ployees, and everyone who expects to sell them any
thing, either in the way of service or goods.
We do not urge local buyers to trade at home at ex
orbitant prices. Merchants in Nome who expect your
business, expect to meet competition, in price and qual
ity. They must if they expect to stay in business.
Give them the opportunity to serve your needs and,
if they cannot do so, that is their fault, not yours.
Have you noticed that wives who complain about
having to go through so much, never mention trouser
pockets? ... The native language of any nation has been
SCHOOL NEWS
HIGH SCHOOL
One of the most popular poets
of all time was Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow. He was born on Feb.
27, 1807, and died in 1882. His
poems were translated into all
European languages. It is said that
10,00 copies of “The Courtship of
Miles Standish” was sold the first
day in London. His poems have
been memorized by many. There
are more entries in the British
Museum catalogue for Longfel
low than any other poet except
Tennyson. A total of 357 entries
can be found for Longfellow.
He was born in Portland, Maine,
and became a well-behaved stu
dent at school. Nathaniel Haw
thorne was one of his classmates
at Bowdoin College. Once he
though of becoming a lawyer but
he was not gifted for argumenta
tion. He became a professor of
modern languages at Harvard
which position he held for twenty
years. He enjoyed conversations
with people. Longfellow contrib
uted a famous aboriginal epic to
American literature in the poem
“Hiawatha.”
The Nome High School is very
proud of the basketball team
which returned last Monday after
noon from the Anchorage tourna
ment. They defeated many teams
at the tournament including Val
clez, Wasilla, and the Kodiak Na
val Air Base. The scores were de-;
cisive ones and in the last deter
mining games we almost won the
championship. Several of our boys
won places on the mythical “All
Star Team.” The boys winning
those honored positions were:
Harold Bell, Clarence Willoya and
Gilbert Ozenna. Juanita Fager
strom and the cheering section are
to be highly complimented for
their enthusiasm.
Report cards came out Wednes
day and students achieving the
honor roll are: George Bell, Har
old Bell, Ralph Bingham, Kather
ine Bjornstad, Wilfred Boucher,
David Bowen, Juanita Fager
strom, Shirlee Fricke, Olga Hay.
John Hudert, Donna Miller, Clar
ence Willoya.
Just below the eastern end of
Air Force Can’t
Do It; Navy
Conics Buck
SEATTLE, (/P)—Navy air trans
ports were ordered back to Alas
kan duty yesterday after the Air
Force tried for two months to
haul freight and passengers to
northern points long served by
the navy.
In the shuffle, however, Seattle
lost the Alaska Navy Transport
squadron long based at Sand Point
Naval Air Station. This squadron,
VR-5, attached to the Fleet Logis
tic Air Wing, will go to Moffet
Field, Calif.
VR-5 will be replaced by squad
ron VR-3, which also will make
its headquarters at Moffet Field.
The new squadron will fly from
the California base to Kodiak,
Adak and other Alaskan points.
There were indications that all
Seattle-area stops will be made at
McChord Field, near Tacoma, in
stead of at Sand Point.
The VR-5 squadron, which es
tablished a perfect air safety rec
ord in its long assignment to the
Alaskan route, was shifted from
the northern service originally
when the Military Air Transport
Service decided to take over the
route. Air Force planes based at
Great Falls, Mont., since then
have been supplying Kodiak and
Adak, along with mainland Alas
ka points.
The M.A.T.S. said in an official
release that the latest plane-shuf
fle would strengthen its Alaskan
Air Transport service.
ARTIFICIAL BLOOMS
TURN REAL
NEW YORK, (/P)—Capitalizing
on the trick of bringing branches
of willow into the house to force
pussy willows to sprout early,
New York department stores have
been selling sprays of dogwood
with artificial blossoms attached.
The branches are placed in a vase
in water and soon the real dog
wood blooms vie with the waxed
blossoms.
Orion’s belt is the greatest of all
nebulae.
called the mother tongue because father gets so little
chance to use it. . . . Civilization has advanced a long
way, but a great discovery still has to be made—how to
get all nations to work together, peacefully. . . . It’s sur
prising how the law of compensation works. Take any
small town for instance—not much to see, but what you
hear makes up for it.
THE WORLD SHRINKS
Alaska Could Carve
Oul !\Ii<*iily Stale
\\ ilh Statehood
(Continued from Page One)
hod and said its contribution to
the economy of the United States
already has reached immense
amounts.
A population is required to de
velop the resources of Alaska, he
said, asserting that the needed
population is certain to follow
statehood.
Alaska, Peterson continued, is
the nation’s last frontier, and
needs statehood and more popula
tion to aid in its own defense and
that of. the nation.
Bartlett said statehood will not
solve all of the problems confront
ing Alaska but that statehood will
help more than any other one
things to solve them.
He reviewed the status of Alas
ka since it was purchased from
Russia in 1867 for $7,500,000.
If admitted to the Union, Alas
j ka, with its 586,000 square miles
| of land, would be the largest state.
The Delegate said that through
; the years, governmentally speak
ing, “handcuffs were placed on
Alaska” and “were locked tighter
than in the cast of other Terri
I tories.”
“And the opening of those
handcuffs, which can only be
brought about by statehood,” he
continued, “ought to, and in fact
would, enable the pioneer hands
i of those in Alaska and those who
will go there, to carve a mighty
new state for this Union from our
last western frontier.”
He blamed government regula
tions for slow development of the
Territory.
Statehood brought rapid devel
opment of other territories, he
said, and predicted a similar
: growth would follow with Alaska.
Alaska has a greater popula
i tion now than did 16 territories
when they weer admitted to the
, Union, he added.
The Delegate said) that the Ter
ritory is the closest United States
land to Russia, with only three
miles separating them at one
point.
“If Alaska had two United
States Senators and a Representa
tive in the Congress there would
be voting strength in behalf of
adequate security measures for
that region, and for the United
I States, that simply does not exist
j now,” Bartlett said.
“To build up Alaska to its pop
i ulation will increase, so that its
: business will expand and its in
dustry will grow, will be to
1 strengthen our defensive position.
“Then and then only will it, be
unnecessary for our armed forces
to ship from the United States
proper practically everything they
need.”
Bartlett said that at other times
in the past statehood has been
granted because the nation’s in
terests demanded such action.
That, he said, is the case of
Alaska now.
“Today 100,000 Alaskans in
Alaska await your verdict on
Statehood,” he said.
“Our fate is in your hands. But
it is not altogether alone our fate
! which you are considering. It is
the fate which is intertwined with
I fhe welfare of the entire nation.”
He said resident sof Alaska
come from every state and “seek
justice at your hands.”
“They need statehood,” he con
tinued, “they need it for their
own sakes. They need it for the
childred who come after them.
They need it for the other Ameri