THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618 j
tl.SO PER MONTH S1S.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Friday, August 2, 1946 |
PROPOSED TREATIES
UNDER THE PROPOSED TREATIES—which would
-end the state of war in Europe except for Ger
many and which would offer the five nations con
cerned an opportunity to enter the United Nations—
none of the defeated countries would be allowed any
bombing planes or submarines and would be required
to guarantee fundamental human rights and to bar
Fascist activity.
The military machines of all would be reduced to,
a vestige of power and the treaty drafts directed the 1
five beaten countries to cooperate for the purpose of1
insuring against any German rearmament in the fut
ure. The atom bomb was not mentioned in the treaty
drafts, but rocket bombs would be outlawed.
The proposed treaties—286 pages in length—of
fered a peace to Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland and
Hungary which was mild in tone and largely so in
demands, except for reparations and upon Italy’s em
pire and border real estate.
The drafts offered little vital change in the troub
led status quo—except for withdrawal of Russian occu
pation troops from the Balkans and British-American
forces from Italy.
Russia alone of the major powers would win rel
arations—$100,000,000 from Italy, $300,000,000 each
from Finland and Romania and -200,000,000 from Hun
gary. To the last award, however, the United States
has entered some unpublished reservations, represent
ing by a half-page scissored out of the treaty drafts
Bulgaria’s reparations have not been settled and the
Italian figure is a partial'one. Hungary would be
required to pay another $100,000,000 to Yugoslavia
and Czechoslovakia.
,On the other side of the financial ledger, the
Russians objected to clauses granting United Nations
citizens full compensation for losses incurred in defeat
ed countries and proposed instead that compensation be
limited to a third of the losses.
The Soviet Union also objected to having assets
of defeated nations in United Nations countries and
Germany subject to seizure to meet U. S., French and
British claims, and asked that such assets be restored
to the b eaten nations.
Territorial clauses in the five drafts also held ad
vantage for Russia.
iln the case of Italy, five small border slices would
go to France, eastern Venezia Giulia would go to Yu
goslavia, the Dodecanese Islands to Greece, the African
colonies would meet some undecided fate and the port
of Trieste would be internationalized under United
Nations Supervision.
The starting point for the territorial changes for
Italy—as well as for Hungary—was the border line
of Jan. 1, 19’8—before Munich—while for Romania,
Bulgaria and Finland the changes were based on the
frontiers of Jan. 1, 1941, while the German-Soviet
pact was still in force.
•
This meant allied confirmation of Romania’s 1940
cession of Bessarabia to Russia—a cession which was
withdrawn after Germany’s invasion of Russia—as
well as of lower Dobruja to Bulgaria and Finland’s
cession to Russia in 1939, to which now is added the
ice-free Arctic Sea outlet of Petsamo Province. Hun
• gary is required to recognize the Subcarpathian Uk
raine as Soviet territory.
WAGE PRICE CROSSING AHEAD
GO SLOW
ACCORDING TO A RECENT Research Institute let
ter “Strict price control is finished . . . even if Con
gress passes some price law, the days of tight ceilings
and profit squeezes are over. . . ”
The letter advises “A price-raising spree is pos
sible, . . . But in figuring your own position, note
several factors that will tend to brake any WILD up
surge . . . Many companies will keep their eyes on
their long-term competitive position . . . won’t want
to risk pricing themselves out of the market for the
sake of temporary gains . . . They’ll remember, too
that swollen profit figures are used as ammunition by
unions.”
The’ survey goes on to say that there is little
doubt that consumer resistance will tend to stabilize
prices, and that more and louder “Don’t Spend!” bally
hoo is to be expected from unions and consumer groups.
The effectiveness of such a campaign might be doubt
ful under ordinary circumstances but during the war
years, some stores piled up customer ill-will, and higher
prices now would only be “the straw that breaks the
camel’s back.”
Many stores the country over continued to adver
tise they are continuing on at OPA ceilings. They
feel that this is not only good public relations, but is
the best course.
Obviously, however, many dealers felt justified
in raising prices on some items which suffered undue
profit squeezes under OPA’s cost absorption rules.
Another portion of the survey deals with the fut
ure, in that, there’s joist about no chance of labor peace
if living costs go up even about 10 per cent. Even if
union leaders might feel there were good reasons to
hold back on strikes, pressure from the rank and file
would force demands for higher pay. Strikes would
slow down production, reduce supply. At the same
time, higher wages will force still higher prices, and
the spiral goes up.
That’s the outlook now, and it is a clear warning
to “go slow” on the prioe-wace situation.
Congressional Reorganization
THE BILL TO REORGANIZE Congress which passed
the House of Representatives last week after prior ap
provel by the Senate makes fundamental changes in
the conduct of congressional business. Several com
mittees which have been
of great importance to Al
aska will no longer exisfc
in the 80th Congress. The
48 committees of the House
have been telescoped into
19. The Committees on
Flood Control, Public Buil
dings and Grounds, Rivers
and Harbors and Roads
have been abolished and
henceforth there will J^e
one Committee on Public
Works. The Merchant
Marine and Fisheries Com
mittee, which has contin
uing interest in Alaska
problems, is not changed.
The Committees on Mili
tary Affairs and Naval Af
fairs are merged into one
Committee of the Armed
Services. The Commit
tees on Territories, Mines
and Mining, Indian Affaicts
and Public Lands—all hav
ing to do with Alaska mat
ters—together with the
Committees on Irrigation
and Reclamation and In
sular Affairs, will make up
one Committee on Public
Lands. 4
for the Delegate from Alas
ka, as well as the Delegate
from Hawaii and the Resi
dent Commissioner from
Puerto Rico, are specifi
cally set forth in a separ
ate section of the bill. It
is provided they shall serve
as members of the Commit
tees on Agriculture, ^e
Armed Services and Pub
lic Lands.
Withdrawal of 80-rod
Shore Space Reservations
Thirty-four Alaska resi
dents whose homesite ap
plications have been iW
some cases held up for
years will now receive a
patent. The Interior De
partment has announced
that the 80-rod shore space
reserve law has been waiv
ed with reference to these
34 applications and in a
comparatively short time
patents should be granted.
“While it is obvious that
these waivers should have
been made in most cases
long, long ago, neverthe
less we may consider this
as a great victory, said
Delegate Bartlett. “It will
be remembered that wheSb
Oscar L. Chapman became
acting Secretary of the In
terior prior to the appoint
ment of Secretary Krug,
one of his first official acts
was to announce that the
policy of the Department
in refusing waivers for^
these homesite applications
would be immediately al-*
tered.”