THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska *
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $18.00 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.
Wednesday, March 13, 1946
VETERANS AND HEALTH
(Daily Alaska Empire)
With the Seventeenth Alaska Legislature Extraor
dinary Session nearing the end of its first week, bills
have been introduced to take care of the two main rea
sons given for calling the special session.
Yesterday saw the introduction in the Senate of a
committee bill which would appropriate $250,000 for
the fight against tuberculosis. We believe the amount
requested, in view of the great need, is modest, and we
believe it will a great deal of good, providing the Con
gress of the United States apppriates the funds for the
Alaska Office of Indian Affairs to carry out its part of
the program. We are quite certain the bill will pass
both Houses with little opposition. Naturally, there will
be some feeling on the part of some legislators over the
fact that the Interior Department’s Office of Indian Af
fairs has failed so miserably in making any strides tow
ard assuming its responsibility for the health and wel
fare of the Alaska native in the past ten years. This,
above all, is the reason for the problem today. But that
office has now spoken its desire to embark upon an ex
tensive program in Alaska — if Congress makes the
funds available—and that is a step in the right direc
tion. j
Comissioner of Health Dr. C. Earl Albrecht made an
excellent presentation of the case for the requested
funds yesterday, and there should be little question of
the bill’s passage.
veterans legislation nas also oeen introduced in dii
ferent bills in both the Senate and House.
Rep. Stanley McCutcheon has introduced a measure
appropriating $3,500,000 for setting up a Veterans’
Fund from which loans would be made to both World
War I and World War II veterans of Alaska. How the
money would be raised is not specified, nor are there
any provisions for bonuses for those who do not wish
loans.
The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has in- i
troduced a measure which would provide loans, or j
bonuses of $15 per month for each month of service for
World War II veterans of Alaska, only. This is the
"Walker Bill” which has received much comment since
it provides for administration of the fund to be set up
and run by the veterans, themselves, the veteran ad
ministrators establishing their own rate of interest for
loans—a feature which Walker said he included to keep
the administration completely out of politics. The Gov
ernor would appoint the administrators.
This bill provides that the money for the fund shall
be raised by a sales tax of one-half to one per cent.
We are reliably informed that this is the bill for
which most veterans in Alaska have expressed prefer
ence.
We hope that the various veterans’ organizations will
come to the front now and state their desires as to which
bill they want. Now is the time to act.
While there will be some opposition to the Walker
Bill because of the sales tax feature, it seems to us that
the money must come from some source and there
wouldalways be some sort of objection to any tax.
As Governor Ernest Gruening stated in his message
yesterday, “it would be worse than unfortunate if dis
sension over the manner of raising the necessary reven
ue were to jeopardize the enactment of the desirable
legislation for our . . . veterans.*’
TELEVISION PROGRESS
(Scientific American)
RCA has demonstrated new advances in television
* * * (, • * . . Ml, ,
WHM MHOS HIM UP?
.FRANCO
receiving images that can be viewed in a fully-lighted
room. Basic to the new images is an aluminum-backed
cathode-day tube screen which decreases internal re
flection and increases picture contrast. RCA also dem
onstrated full-color television, at the same time stating
that the mechanical methods used lacked perfection and
that color television by a satisfactory electronic means
was still five years in the future. Television reception
for the general public is an immediate possibility (RCA
will be in production with receivers within the next six
months), but their engineers admit that obsolescence of
receiving equipment is a big problem.
Just as radio in the early 20’s heralded a new and
mighty industry, so does television today. But many a
bleached skeleton is going to line of path of progress.
Brains, dollars, and faith must back the development.
And the public must want the benefits of television—
and be willing to pay for them—if the industry is to
prosper.
FRIENDS
(Dealers Digest)
If nobody smiled and nobody cheered and nobody
helped us along.
If every man looked after himself and good things all
went to the strong;
If nobody cared just a little for you and nobody thought
about me
And we stood alone in the Battle of Life, what a dreary
old world it would be.
life is sweet because of the friends we have made
And the things in. common we share;
We want to live on, not because of ourselves, but be
cause of the people who care.
It’s living and doing for somebody else on that all life’s
splendor depends,
And the joy of the world, when you have summed it
all up;
Is found in the making and keeping of friends.
mo NEWS LETTER
By MARY LEE COUNCIL
Secretary to E. L. (Bob) Bartlett, Delegate to Congreea from Alaska
REVENUE BOND BILL
The President has approved
Delegate Bartlett’s bill authoriz
ing municipalities and public-util
ity districts in Alaska to issue
revenue bonds for public works.
The issuance of such bonds
must be approved by a majority
>
the municipality or district con
cerned, and the bonds are payable
solely from the revenues produced
by the works so financed.
This law places municipalities
and public utility districts in thei
Territory on an equal basis with
municipalities throughout most of:
r's-'m* -- - i
nancing of public works through
the issuance of revenue bonds.
WAR DEPARTMENT EXPENDI
TURES IN ALASKA
Expenditures in Alaska con
templated by the War Department
•nr the next fiscal year are rough
ly twice those spent in the Terri
tory in any given prewar year by
the entire federal establishment,
according to information furnish
ed Delegate Bartlett and given by
the army to the House Appropria
tions Committee.
For maintenance alone, $14,500,
000 has been asked and for new
1 nstruction, $5,900,000. The item
for salvage is set at $327,000.
Work outlined for Nome, w’here
$495,000 would be spent, includes
lighting for the airfield. New in
stallations planned would cost
$717,000 at Fort Richardson and
$1,194,000 at Ladd Field. Paving
of airstrips and roads and installa
tion of a water filter system are
on the program for Ladd Field.
Funds in the amount of $297,600
have been requested for expendi
ture at Juneau, $23,600 for sal
vage operations and $274,000 for
the army engineers.
This total expenditure of over
$20,000,000 for maintenance, con
struction and salvage would not
include pay and maintenance of
troops, amounting to an additional
several million dollars. w
“Needless to say,” said Delegate
Bartlett, “the expenditure of this
sum, which does not include ap
propriations asked by the Navy
Department and the Coast Guard,
will go far in providing employ
ment in the Territory next year
and will mean that the reconver
sion problems, so acute in many
setions of the States, will be made
much easier in Alaska.
POSTWAR COAST GUARD
IN ALASKA
It is anticipated that postwar
Coast Guard operations in Alaska
will far exceed prewar establish
ments, although the Coast Guard
is not yet in position to make any
definite commitments at this time,
according to information given
Delegate Bartlett by Admiral J.
F. Farley, Coast Guard Command
ant.
The final organization of the
service in territorial waters can
not be accurately determined ai
this time. Admiral Farley reportec
to Delegate Bartlett, since th<
postwar strength of the Coas
Guard is not yet determined
“Many new responsibilities havi
been assumed by the service ii
Alaskan waters dfcring the perioi
of war, most of them lying in th
Aleutian area,” Admiral Farle
, stated. “If these are all retaine
ifor Peacetime operation, consider
able expansion of the service i
Alaskan waters over its prewa
size will result. The scope of terr
tory to be covered is so great th;
that very careful considerate
would have to be given to fini
distribution of the availabl
equipment to best serve the neec
of the area as a whole. Such e>
pansion of the service as has t
far been contemplated has hece:
sarily been planned chiefly with
view to meeting the new respoi
sibilities in the western area, bol
as respects vessels and bases.”
PUBLIC EDUCATION
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Alaska would be in line to r
ceive its portion of $6,000,000
year for aid to public elemental
and secondary schools through s
authorization bill recently intr
duced by Congressman Pace
Georgia.
The bill authorizes an annu