THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
f Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER ... Editors
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Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, October 6, 1947
A Case For The Court
(The Denver Post)
THE SOVIET CONTENTION that continued Russian
occupation of Dairen is authorized until formulation of
a Japanese peace treaty is a direct violation of the Sino
Soviet pact of 1945, and we cannot now help but regard
that treaty as nothing but a scrap of paper.
The Chinese government signed this treaty after pres-*
sure was applied by the United States—for the U. S.,
Britain and Russia virtually wrote the treaty at the Yal
ta conference—the Chinese were informed later. The
treaty called for return of Dairen to China at the cessa
tion of hostilties, although it was to be a free port and
the Soviets were to have important rights.
Now the Russians choose to state that hostilities with
Japan are not over, nor will they be over until a treaty
is signed. This contention does not go along with their
other actions in regard to* the Sino-SoViet treaty. They
were only too eager to accept joint administration of the
South Manchurian railway, and they joyfully hailed
Chinese recognition of Outer Mongolia as a sovereign
state—a sovereign state now under Soviet domination.
As with these clauses, so with the clause concerning
Dairen and Port Arthur. If these portions of the treaty
are not applicable until the peace treaty is signed, nei
ther should the remainder of the treaty be held valid.
For all practical purposes the Sino-Soviet treaty has
been torn up. The Chinese, recognizing this, have closed
Dairen to all foreign shipping, and have refused to al
low ships which call at Dairen to visit Chinese ports.
This, too, is a violation of the treaty, but the Chinese
had little other recouse. They cannot enforce their or
der closing Dairen to foreign shipping, but they can en
force the second order, and have done so.
The Sino-Soviet treaty should be taken before the
world court and adjudicated on the basis of its provi
sions. Until this is done, no solution can be reached. Un
til the Soviets take it there or abide by the treaty, we
can look upon their occupation of Dairen and Port Ar
thur, and their joint administration of Manchurian rail
ways only as infringment of the sovereign rights and
territory of China.
Too Little, Too Late
(St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press)
UNDERSECRETAY OF AGRICULTURE Norris E.
Dodd said recently that the only way to avert famine
abroad and undermining of friendly governments is for
the United States to adopt voluntary rationing of food
t ostretch out this year’s short corn crop. Secretary of
Commerce Harriman said much the same thing, with
special reference to the feeding of wheat to livestock.
He wants a voluntary meat fast to prevent this diversion
of wheat.
If a voluntary rationing of food in America is literal
ly the only hope of the world, then the predicament of
the world is very grave.
Voluntary rationing is a lame excuse for the real ar
ticle. The amount of food that can be conserved by that
method is doubtful. That a sufficient saving can be ef
fected by reliance on individual action is unrealistic to
the point of the fantastic.
The Administration does not want to ask for restora
tion of rationing, because that would be bad politics. It
also does not want to do so because to get rationing a
special session of Congress would be needed, and Presi
dent Truman has said that a special session is not need
ed.
Difficult or not, until the Administration asks for real
rationing, it is on weak ground. Secretary Harrimdn
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apologizes for not having the courage to come to grips
with this problem by saying that the time is too short.
The time is not too short if the Administration has the
courage of its convictions. Right now, at the end of the
harvest, there is plenty of food in the bins of the world
for immediate needs. The immediate problem is one of
financing purchases. Britain is the outstanding example.
The British recently cashed 80 millions of their gold
reserve to get dollars. The present pinch is in the poc
ketbook of the hungry nations. The food pinch will come |
later, from mid-winter on through spring and the start;
of the next harvest.
The American people know their duty and have al
ways been willing to assume it. But if the rescue of the
world depends on a restriction of the American diet,
they have a right to expect that the method used will, j
first, have some reasonable chance of success, and sec-|
ond, that the burden be equally and fairly distributed
among all.
It may be bad politics for President Truman to call
a special session, to ask for rationing and price ceilings
and wage control, and to tell Congress that emergency1
grants must be made to our friends abroad—in short to
confess that he has consistently misjudged national and
world developments since the day after Japan surren
dered. It may be easier to try to pass the buck to the
people. But surely when cabinet officers can speak as'
the Secretory of Commerce and the Undersecretary of
Agriculture have done, politics ought not to come first.
Too Big A Job
(Rocky Mountain News)
EMIL RIEVE, president of the CIO Textile Workers
Union, has just made quite a speech to the New York
State CIO Council.
Among other things, he opposed formation of a third
political party at this time, holding that it would only
insure election of a “reactionary” Republican president. j
And he advised labor to stop talking about defeating altj
members of Congress who voted for the Taft-Hartley
act. That, he said, was too big a job, though something i
might be done by concentrating on a 1948 drive to' retire
12 Senators and 100 Representatives.
Since Mr. Rieve is a national vice president of the CIO
and a director of its Political Action Committee, his
words may carry some weight. Anyway, it’s certainly
true that other union leaders are biting off much more
than they can chew when they threaten to drive every
Taft-Hartley supporter out of Congress.
That would mean beating more than three-fourths of
the present members, including well over half the Dem
ocrats in addition to more than 90 per cent of the Re
publicans.
The acid-test vote for the Taft-Hartley bill, on the
overriding of President Truman’s veto, was 331 to 83 in
the House, 68 to 25 in the Senate.
Whether Mr. Rieve himself takes in too much terri
tory—whether, that is, labor can defeat a dozen Sena
tors and 100 Representatives who
supported the Taft-Hartley act—
is another question. 41
Its answer will depend, we be
lieve, on what the country thinks 4
of this new labor law along in the
summer and fall of next year. And
that, in turn, probably will depend
on how the act operates, not on the
present outcry from union leaders
who call it a “slave law” and at
the same time assert that it can’t
prevent them from ignoring, by
passing or defying its provisions.
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THE "CAMEL" METHOD
Once the camel gets h if head
into a tent, he soon has his entire
body inside. This old saw lends
itself to some modern applica
tions, but it fits none better than *
the current English situation. So
cialism is indeed like the camel;
it does not stop at part-of-the-way
measures. To put it into a good
old Southern expression, it’s sim
ply “whole hawg or nuthin.”
A striking feature r>f the British
“Crisis Bill” which recently be
came law in that country, was a
clause giving government the au
thority to take possession of any
industry which it might pro
nounce inefficiently managed. Ac- *
tually, what this means is that no
industry in England is safe from
govern ment confiscation. The
threat will always be present, for
the excuse of “inefficiency” could
be trumped up at any time.
Invading The Tent
For five years I have contended,
in this column and in public add
resses, that no country could oper
ate successfully with a ‘‘half-and- 4
half” economy. If it’s partly gov
ernment managed and partly pri
vate enterprise, pretty soon Social
istic schemes find excuse to invade
and take over. The present Eng
lish government is proving by con
tention. It’s the old “camel” pro
cess. *
England is a country that long
has been known for devotion to
the freedom of individuals. Yet,
within two years after she started*
her program nationalizing major
industries, it was found necessary
to pass a law giving the govern
ment power to sieze any industry
it may choose on the excuse of
“inefficiency.” There’s a lot of
leeway there. An industry might
be inefficiently managed from the
viewpoint of production, or even
from the viewpoint of non-cooper
ation with the government.
Camel Becomes Boss *
Anoth«* striking feature of the
crisis bill, as reported by Associ
ated Press, was that it gave the
government power to' tell both
men and women where to work ^
and what to do. This includes wo
men from 18 to 40 years of age
who have no children under 16,
and men from 18 to 50 years of
age. This loss of freedom of indi
viduals has been unthought-of
heretofore in English speaking
countries.
What does this measure mean?
It means that no privately-owned
industry is at liberty to hire men
under the age of 50, or women un
der the age of 40, except through
the government employment agen
cy. It means that any woman un
der 40. unless she is the mother of
small children, may be told where *
to go and what to do. All men be
tween the ages of 18 and 50 may
be told where to work and what