THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 61«
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAH
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editor*
* _
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postotnc**
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, December 9, 1946
Wliat Unionism Really Means
(Rocky Mountain News)
LET’S TRY to look at the labor-management scene
from a longer view than appears in each of these recur
rent crises.
What is the essential and ultimate aim of unionism. It
is, we believe, not merely economic, but spiritual. It in
volves the universal desire for human dignity. It isn’t
dollars alone, or bread alone. It is part and parcel of the
long crusade which dethroned the tyrant kings and cre
ated democracy.
Man does not live at peace with himself as a slave,:
underling, or just a hireling. He yearns for the right to;
look every other man in the eye as an equal.
Through unionization the industrial worker has
achieved economic improvement. But spiritually — in
many possibly most unions—he has achieved* little or
nothing. He has changed bosses. But has he gained the
self-respect to which he aspires? He has merely sub
stituted the union boss for the factory boss. He is still
subservient to his new master as he was to his old—in
many cases more so.
In union meetings he is slapped down, as he wa's be
fore by the factory boss in the days when there were no j
unions. If he raises his voice against the union “leaders”
he is booed and browbeaten. Though he may have gain
ed economically, he still can’t be himself, spiritually.
So he is bewildered and frustrated. He is caught ini
an epic struggle for power between his union boss and
his factory boss, a struggle as yet undecided.
In this struggle, though he suspects that he has been
cheated of his fundamental desire, though he realizes
increasingly that he has traded one master for another,
he is not yet ready to withdraw his loyalties from aj
cause which promised to achieve his need for both eco
nomic progress and human dignity.
In his growing doubt, however, may be found the mo-l
tive for spiritless endeavor, the slowdown, which has
plagued production.
New union legislation, to be sound, should not seek
to curb unionism, but to support it and purge it of the
autocrats who have perverted its aims.
To this end, democratic principles must be applied:
the secret ballot must be stubstituted for the “throw-1
him-out’ type of union meeting; the democratic right to
a free American to give or withdraw his support for .an
organization, as he chooses; the democratic right, even
the obligation, to vote and participate actively in the af
fairs of his organization so long as he gives it his alle- i
giance; the democratic right to have his part in controll-i
ing his union affairs and to stand the equal of any man,!
whether he be the head of the factory or the head of,
the union.
Such measures which involve the abolition of all I
forms of compulsion as to union membership would not, i
as union autocrats say, weaken the bargaining position
-of unions.
This would, instead, strengthen the bargaining posi-i
tion of the individual and, through him, rather than
through his union boss, strengthen the position of his I
organization.
There must be no attempt to restore the old, auto
cratic powers of the factory head. We hope most indus
trialists are convinced of that. But the right of a free
American to be treated as such must be established once
and for all.
Else our vaunted production system is finished—
these men will not forever work in bondage, either the
bondage of the factory boss or the union boss.
—AND THE WALLS CCMS TJAAEUN' DOWN
A Suicidal Course
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
THE AMERICAN nation seems to be now pursuing,
or on the verge of doing so, the same suicidal course
with respect to national defense it followed after the
First World War.
The war department has just reduced its ground force
units in the United States by 38,000 officers and men
for so-called “economy” reasons.
If the terms of the draft extension act are fulfilled, by
next July 1 the American army will have no more than
a million officers and men, and the American navy will
have a scant half million—both including the aviation
establishments.
This is not a sufficient force to either keep America
out of war or give the country any assurance of victory
if it becomes involved in war.
So it is not a safe defense establishment, and it is not
economy to maintain it on such a deficient basis—and
the country is not only risking its peace in the pursuit
of such a policy but its very life.
Senator Ball of Minnesota has said that the limita
tions placed on the armed forces by the draft extension
act are dangerously low, and he is right.
In urging that the appropriations and personnel of
the armed forces be revised upward in proportion to the
grim and ominous trend of world events, Senator Ball
is speaking the voice of not merely wisdom but utter
necessity.
The British are showing greater awareness of their
continuing danger and their consequent need for ade
quate defense than we are, avoiding demobilization
the point of disintegration and retaining conscription in
fulfillment of a national policy in which the govern
ment has the support of its opposition.
The brutal fact is that the war is not over yet, or at
least there are as yet none of the instrumentalities of an
enduring peace—and until a world peace is established
that can be relied upon by peaceful nations, the armed
forces of the United States must be kept powerful.
The new Republican Congress, which has properly
pledged economy to the nation, and should keep its
pledge, has a wealth of opportunity to do so in the lush
fields of inefficiency and waste which the New Deal
exploited so assiduously.
It should not practice economy at the expense of na
tional safety.
LOOKING
' AHEAD
rt GEORGE i BENSON
| Praidtat—Mardla/ Mia/t
ft Start/. Arkaaaaa
MONOPOLISM
Norway has little government
managed industry, as such. The
only things wholly owned and op
erated by the government are the
post office, telephone and tele
graph, electric power, and rail
roads, some of which the poorly
managed. There seems to ' be no
agitation for extension of govern
ment ownership and management.
In fact some leaders feel the trend
; is in the other direction and that
the government has shown no
ability to provide efficient s
ice.
However, cooperatives are
merous in Norway. Entirely
ferent from government man;
ment, they nevertheless con
the buying and selling of aln
everything and are monopoli
in nature. The effective organ
tion of the co-ops, while indivi
ally owned, have been used
some instances for extensions
government control. Subsi<
have been offered to farmers
operatives in an effort to pie
everybody: the producers v,
higher prices and the purchas
with low prices. The governm
now pays half the cost of gr
which goes into bread.
Wait 'Til You're Old
The completeness of the eo-i
er itive monopoly may be seen
the association of drug store op
ators, to which all operators 1
long. To open a new drug stor<
man would first have to becomi
member of the association and
their approval, after which
would appeal to the governmt
ior a license. The govermru
could never grant a license uni
the applicant were admitted to 1
association.
Drug store operators admit
new members except at their o\
pleasure, and then seldom exce
to replace a member who has di<
I was told that an aspirant to t
drug industry can seldom be a
mitted to the association and o
tain permission to operate his o\
store before he is 45 years oi
The same applies to furnitu
stores. On furniture, moreovi
the government determines t!
selling price of all stock. At pre
ent dealers are allowed a profit
35 per cent, regardless of the siz
type, or location of the store.
Plenty of Frontiers
A successful businessman
Oslo, who was a prominent leadi
of the resistance during the wa
is in charge of an old firm wil
an excellent reputation. Said h
1 “The regulations have come to ii
terfere with everything. I am r
longer really doing business. I ju.
i sit here and do what they tell n
I can do. In my opinion, the cor
! trols are a failure. They rmftte prc
i duction more expensive and price
higher.
Under the right kind of econc
mic climate, the Norwegian peopl
could raise their standard of liv
ing. And this right climate Con
munism can never provide. Nor
way does not lack for frontier;
1 Their farms produce as man
bushels of grain per acre as ou
farms. The fishing waters of Nor
way are not surpassed. Possibiliie
for electric power are the best i:
the world. Manufacturing am
lumbering offer only the ordinar;
difficulties. The country is no
over-populated. Yet their stand
ard of living is not more than hal
as high as that in America.
There It A Way Out
When forward looking Norwe
gians try to modernize an indus
try, they are met squarely with th€
deadening hand of monopoly
either private or public. If one
fishing company manages to find
a way to sell its products at a
good price, while another com
pany exports its fish to Europe for
i a lower price, the former company
pays a tax which goes to the sec
ond company for the sake of
equalization.
This policy invariably discour
ages excellence and tends to medi
! ocrity. A premium is thus placed
on inefficnency and on failure to
make money. But a realistic in
centive system, based upon hones!
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