THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box tiin
•1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER .Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffie*
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, May 7, 1947
Why Pick On Schools?
V
(Ketchikan Daily Fishing News)
THE ALASKA NATIVE SERVICE, a branch of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is in turn a branch of
the Department of Interior, says that it will have to
close 20 government schools and two government hos
pitals as a result of the cuts in appropriations.
This seems to us to be much the same type of propa
ganda that the Bureau of Customs employed recently
in trying to get its appropriation cuts restored. That
bureau sent discharge notices to 80 per cent of its agents
when a ten per cent cut was made in its appropriations.
The result was more than 5,000 telegrams to Congress
protesting the cut.
The Alaska Native Service submitted an estimated
budget of $4,069,000 for the fiscal year 1948. The House
committee recommended a cut of $819,000, leaving this
bureau $3,250,000.
This represented a cut of abdut 20 per cent in the
original estimate. As a result, according to Fred R.
Geeslin of the ANS, 20 schools will have to close to save
$170,000, and the two hospitals will have to close to
save $207,000.
This would throw an estimated 1,000 Indian children
into the Territorial school system, already overbur
dened, or would leave them without schooling. Geeslin
said that 35 teaching positions would be abolished by
the closing of these schools.
But what is the Alaska Native Service going to do
with the $3,250,000 that the committee recommended
it receive?
The ANS has, of course, a good many rather expen
sive branches. There is the Native Resources Division,
and the Arts and Crafts Division, and a lot of others. It
looks after the reindeer .herds, but testimony during the
recent session of Legislature disclosed that the rein
deer herds have dwindled from some 800,000 animals
when the government took over to a top estimate of
65,000 animals at present under the ANS. Some estim
ated that there are now only 35,000.
But aren’t the schools and the hospitals a good deal
more important than much of the costly nonsense the
ANS engages in? Closing them, Geeslin says, would
save $377,000, but more than three -million dollars
would remain to be tossed around and used up by a top
heavy administrative staff in Juneau and elsewhere.
Reconstruction Can't Wait
(Rocky Mountain News)
SINCE THE FIGHTING stopped in Europe, May 8,
1945, the condition of a sorely wounded civilization has
become progressively worse, and now a series of crises
seem at hand.
As they grow acute, we will be called upon to extend
relief, as we are about to do in Greece and Turkey.
But there is a limit to what the United States can do.
“Rich as America is supposed to be, it could go broke
trying to rescue unsound economies in Britain, Greece,
Turkey, the Middle East, China and elsewhere,” as Wil
lian Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor, ob
serves.
The steady economic and political deterioration in
Europe almost wholly has been due to uncertainty and
fear arising from inability to roach peace terms with
Russia.
But economic reconstruction no longer can be left
waiting on political decisions. We must begin at once
to out our own part of the world’s house in order.
Reconstruction must begin with the German situa
tion, heart of Europe’s economic problem. We can do
nothing about that part of Germany under Soviet con
trol, but we can allow the western zones a level of in
dustry that will enable them to become self supporting.
This would end one of the drains on our own resources.
The ill-conceived Morgenthau program should be
scrapped.
Al: Germans, except war criminals awaiting trial,
should be permitted to enlist in rehabilitation of their
c ountry.
Th? rest of free Europe can be saved only if its ceono
nro recovery can be made self-operating. Mere relief
is a bo? tom less hole for American dollars. Eu If a high
derre^ of economic unity can be achieved, w? can well
af'ord ' > finance enterprises which promise to become
r0i^o- c, n'-erns.
to . can*t bail out troublemakers as well a; victims
r\ ( •'mmunist aggression and intrigue. Our State De
er'' mm is reluctant to admit that every dollar sent
‘ a a Arr ian- iominated country will be used against us.
"a h~L D ihe hard fact, and it should be recognized
" w. v/hr n \ e suport Communism we advance chaos.
'■ ‘.he wo go hand in hand.
!\o String All ac lied
n
HENRY WALLACE, who a very short time ago was
saying the Truman policy of “ruthless imperialism*’ in
t1**'' mUd’? east would fail because “Americans wild
pc"r'r ;*av the cost,” now proposes that the United
' o'er Rra^cn the reconstruction of the world.
A' the world’s leading proponent of turnin'? th° c4her
rh eh handing one’s antagonist a pistol). Wa’lncc
r''nr :p^. as a part of this program, a loan to Russia.
^’■e ’o n would allow Russia to “obtain from the
Uni'e l S ates, the only nation in a position to supply
■!vm certain minimum necessities to enable her to re
rrwe hrr nroduction on a large scale,” quoth the Corn
ier14 Myst:c.
Thr ’can to Russia would be “nonpolitical”—that is
ay. id oresumably would not carry such carping (as
H nrv would call them) conditions as, for instance, a
'nidation that Russia abandon her role of world trou
b’e-maker.
SLACK WIRE MARATHON
nm
By GEORGE S BENSON
President cf Hording Co!;c j9
Se a rev. Arkansas
————————;|C ---
11 _
COMPETE AND LIVE
America's workers take pride
in their ability to do hard jobs
well. They are Willing to let meri*
be the judge of their handiwork.
Pure craftsmanship, whether in
skilled or .^emi-skilled trades, is I
a quality for which employers
are willing to pay well. Even in
ditch-digging know-how sets a
man apart as a desirable work
man. Such added traits as speed,
accuracy, stamina, dependability,
and initiative are what get a fel
low ahead.
America has seen this kind of
' competition make real men. In
| turn these free men have made
America. Every worker, no mat
! ter whether he makes use of
! strong hand or agile mind, puts
his faith in the trading of the val
uable commodities he possesses to
j his employer. Competition is good
policy for craftsmen, athletes,
(scholars, fishermen, shopkeepers,
and American business in general.
The American people have rea
soned wisely that competition in
industry must be maintained so
that the whole nation may benefit.
Enforced Agreements
%
Does competition on the level
of labor have any value for the
J welfare of the nation? It is obvi
' jus that our industry, of Vvhicn
abor is a part, exists for the sake
i f those who consume goods. Pcl
Cies that add unreasonably to the
! costs of goods, or any other non
| competitive practices, endarjjcr
he free economy that made us
great.
Closed-shop agreements, usual
' :y signed by management under
i i ress, present this kind of dan
ger. The non-competitive monopo
i 'lie nature of such enforced
closed-shop agreements is appar
ent. Labor groups themselves
i need the stimulus of fair compo
i lilion, for the sake of improv d
service. Unions need not find their
only competition with employers.
Rather, management and labor
have need of cooperation, for they
complement each other.
Too Dangerous
Mr. Gunnar Anderson, execu
tive vice-president of the Federa
| tions of Swedish Labor ‘Unions,
l
told me that 80 per cent of Swed
ish labor belong to unions. Yet, he
| informed me, the federation of la
jor unions is unalterably opposed
to the closed shop. They feel that
! the closed shop is antagonistic to
! the very principle of freedom
j which labor unions enioy and
i which they must help defend in
! their own interest.
A universal closed shop in
America would amount to one tre
mendous monopoly of non-com
petitive labor, with the premium
placed on mediocrity. This would
also make labor more powerful
than any plain American would
wish. Any segment as powerful
as that either would be actual
head of a totalitarian government
or would be so powerful that only
a totalitarian state could deal with
such a power. A national closed
shop is too dangerous for America,
and would mean the end of free
labor unions.
Selling Service
Labor wants no such regime,
whether you call .it fascist, com
munist, or by some other fancy
name that may yet appear. Under
any other system you can think
of, as compared with a free Amer
ica, labor would be the loser. In
Nazi Germany, Hitler found it
necessary to protect his totalitar
ian state by abolishing labor
unions. In Russia, Stalin simply
runs them. There’s every reason
why we must avoid monopolies of
either labor or industry, and in
stead must foster competition in
every way.
Even with:n labor unions there
Is need for competition. Leaders
should be elected regularly, in a
democratic way. Fair competition
among our labor leaders always
adds to the service they render,
Honest, emphasis on the value of
good service represents the most
important itehn of bargaining.
Our leaders in every field must
learn to build by good promotion
and by the ideal of selling service,
a commodity which the American
public is anxious to buy.