THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Bdx 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .Editors
$1.50 PER MONTH S16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, November 26, 1947
Let The Taxpayers Keep Half
(Rocky Mountain News)
IT’S SUPPOSED to be poor politics for Harold Stas
sen to say, as he did, that the government in peacetime
should not take more than 50 per cent of any Ameri
can’s income.
The way to make votes, it’s said, is to talk soaking the
rich.
But we’re not so sure that Mr. Stassen pulled a politi
cal boner.
There is in the American people a sense of fair play
and fitness of things, which responds to the reasonable
idea that a citizen should be able to keep at least half of
what he makes by work, ingenuity or risk of his money.
In January of this year the Gallup Poll asked people
about taxes, taking a hypothetical case of a man with
a wife and two children. The questions asked and the
answers are indicated in the table below:
Income What People What People Approximate
Think Tax Think Tax Actual
Should Be Is Tax
$3,000 $ 50 $ 200 $ 131
10.000 900 1,000 1,720
50.000 7,500 9,000 24,000
From which tve deduce that the public rank-and file
isn’t nearly so intent as the politicians are in soaking j
the rich. Mr. Stassen, by his plain speaking, may have
frightened off some politicians in his race for the Re
publican Presidential nomination. But it seems possible
that he attracted just plain folks, who vote.
Mr. Stassen’s argument is that an excessive tax says
the incentive of a citizen to work harder and plan and
invest for the future.
“Dynamic capital,” he reminds us, is the source of
American jobs and production and living standards.
It stands to reason that a man will look more favor
ably upon a proposition to risk his hundred-cent dollars,
if he can keep 50 cents out of each dollar of profit he
may make, than if the government is to take 85 cents,
and he can keep 15—if he wins, nothing if he loses.
Which, logically, would mean more risk-taking, a
greater volume of business, more jobs, more production,
better living standards, and, in turn, greater revenue
for the government.
After all, that’s the formula under which America,
alone among the nations, is feeding, clothing and recon
structing the world. Makes sense.
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation
“And therefore, I, William Bradford
(by the grace of God today,
And the franchise of this good people),
Governor of Plymouth, say—
Xrough virtue of vested power—ye
Shall gather with one accord, n
And hold in the month of November,
Thanksgiving unto the Lord.”
When the Puritans fled to Holland from England in
the latter part of the 16th century, they found a people
whose practice of thanksgiving was well established.
When the Puritans, a deeply religious folk, landed on
the bleak New England shore in December, 1620, they,
knelt and gave thanks to the Lord for bringing them
safely to their new home. One year later, after a bounti- j
ful harvest, Governor Bradford recommended as he
states in his own words: “A Day for a Festival—that
autumn in 1621 for Tranksgiving to God.”
Have you ever thought what it would be like to live
in Nome without a church? We all agree that the church
our forefathers built is a necessary force in any town.
TAIL TRYING TO WAG DOG
vjCh.
ym\Ha
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■met j
We send our children to Sunday School, but not many
of us take the time to go ourselves.
Your church needs you and your support. The great
er the support the more service it will give in return.
There are services here to fit the spiritual needs of
every person. Wherever you decide to go you will find
fine leaders who have prepared messages that We ap
plicable in our own lives. *
By going we will encourage and inspire the pastor of
that church who carries a heavy responsibility, often
with little encouragement.
We have a lot to be thankful for this year, if for noth
ing else because we are Americans living in a country
where there is food and shelter for all.
Soviet About-Face
i
(By Barnet Nover)
WASHINGTON—In his recent University of Michi
gan address, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, chairman
of the foreign relations committee, emphasized the par
amount need for an early German peace settlement.
In taking this stand, Senator Vandenberg was not
speaking for himself alone. His view on this matter also
happens to be the view of all American offic:als who
have anything to do with the formulation of foreign
policy.
“If the council of foreign ministers still deadlocks this
winter,’’ the Senator said, “it had better adjourn sine
die. The peace conference should be called by those who
do agree ... to write a practical, reasonable peace for
the German areas. ... It is infinitely preferable for the
council of foreign ministers to come to united terms. But
I am saying that disagreement—here or elsewhere—
cannot be allowed to postpone peace, rehabilitation and
self-government forever.’’
Judging by the general tenor of his remarks regard
ing the state of the world and particularly the state of
Russian-American relations, Senator Vandenberg is not
very sanguine about the outcome of the next meeting
of the council of foreign ministers which is meeting in
London.
His pessimism is widely shared. Few now believe
that Russia and the western powers will “come to united
terms” on the German problem at that meeting. A
growing number are reconciled to such a development.
Some, including high officials of the American military
government in the former reich, even so far as to ar
gue privately that a clear-cut failure at Londtfh would
be preferable, from the viewpoint of American inter
ests, to a patched-up compromise.
Those who take the latter view are not at all con
vinced that the stand which the Russian delegation will
take on the German settlement at London will be the
same as the stand taken by the Soviet government at
the Moscow meeting.
At Moscow, the Russians were stubborn, unyielding
and uncompromising. They were equally »tiffnecked in
the later discussions on the Austrian settlement, held
in Vienna during the summer.
I find in Washington a growing
belief that, at London, the Rus
sians will take a complete tactical
about face, that instead of holding
out, as they have done hitherto*
against unification of the four
zones, will insist on it; that they
will now be the loudest to clamor
for an early peace settlement with
Germany.
This will not mean any change
of heart on the part of the men in
the Kremlin. It will not mean that
they have suddenly been convert
ed to the one-world theory when
they, more than any other group,
have been most responsible for the
division of the world into two hos
tile camps. It will mean only that
having squeezed the German
lemon dry in their own zone, to
the point where it has become an
economic liability instead of an
economic asset, they now want to
share in the economic develop
ment, particularly the industrial
output, of western Germany. They
want a finger in that very import
ant pie.
It has taken many months of ef
fort and many heartaches and
headaches to achieve the economic
unification of the British and
American zone^ to which, before
very long, the French zone is like
ly to be joined.
High officials of the American
military government are now con
vinced that western Germany can
be operated as a separate entity,
that it can be made to prosper
within the orbit of a western Eu
rope whose economy is to be re
habilitated with the aid of the
Marshall plan.
The union of the Russian zone
and the western zones in Ger
many, which would have been a
great boon a year ago or even nine
months ago, might, at this mo
ment, only result in retaiding Ger
man recovery, they believe.
That is why some American
policy makers are insisting that it
is not enough for this country to
be prepared for a Complete break
down of the coming London nego
tiations. They insist that it is of
equal importance that we be pre
pared for a Russian gift horse,
which, unless we are very careful,
may turn out to be another horse
of Troy.
One Man’s Opinion
(By Walter Kiernan)
The bureau of mines says retail
sales of diamonds have hit an all
time high. Apparently many peo
ple are trying to collect things
they can trade for meat. ... As
between Tiffany’s and T-bone
there isn’t much difference these
days ... A headline says “Butch
ers see $1.50 steaks.”—It’s nice to
know that someone can see them.
. . . Anyway we don’t do as much
eating as we think — a scientist
says a man of 70 has actually
spent only about five years of his
life eating. ... Of course the other
65 he may have been wondering
how and when he’d eat. ... I hear
the Soviet will protest that George
Marshall used the atom bomb on
the U. N. conference without no
tice . . . Vishinsky looked like a
man whose ears are telling him the
truth but his brain doesn’t believe.
. . . Britain’s delegate was so agi
tated he later ate a lemon and
squeezed a tea bag on his crum
pet. . . . And in the lounge an Iran
ian absent-mindedely spoke to an
Iraquian. . . . The state department
is stepping up its new broadcasts
to Russia. There will be thirty
minutes more a day to explain
Congress’ investigations. . . .
Translated into Russian they make
a kind of sense. -