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 $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. Boucher .Owner-Publisher
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice'
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, November 21, 1949 _
FEDERALIZATION FOR ALASKA
(Ketchikan News)
No matter what Alaskans may say or desire, Assistant
Secretary Warne of the Interior Department, is going
righ ahead with his pet Federalized plans for Alaska.
Recent press dispatches say he has withdrawn areas
of 60,000 acres each known as the Kasilof area. The idea
is to develop paternalistic farms of 150 acres each.
The government will do the clearing, build roads,
construct farm buildings and loan money at a low rate
of interest.
On the face of it it sounds good.
Maybe it will do as he expects, increase Alaska’s pop
ulation some 20,000. Maybe, also, it may in time prove
to be an excellent farming community, a real asset to
Alaska.
But the fact remains he is withdrawing Alaska land
without consent of Alaskans, land that should belong to
a future State. This or any other such withdrawals, will
be mortgaged to the government, will be federalized
sections inside a State over which the state residents
will have no say.
The principle is socialistic, paternalistic, un-Ameri
can and without the consent of the governed.
Look at it from another point of view.
The “farmers” will essentially be tenants. They will
have to do exactly what the government agents tell j
them to do. They cannot use their individual initiative j
to build the kind of residences they want or barns or
fences and put in the kind of crops they want.
They must follow a government pattern, whether
they like it or not.
We all know that farmers cannot make a go of it in 1
Alaska without financial assistance. But if they are will
ing to take a chance they should be allowed a long-term
loan at a low rate of interest and let them do their own |
planning. They could do this if they secured money
from private sources. Moreover, they government work
under government direction will cost them a great deal
more in the end, since if they were on their own, they
would do much of the necessary work themselves.
We thought when we had gotten rid of Ickes the Inte
rior Dept, would be through with making Alaska ' an j
experimental ground without consent of the inhabitants
and high-handed ukases for land withdrawals, but it
looks like we are against the same old government rack
eteer game.
By the time we get statehood there will be nothing
left by a shell on which we will have to pay taxes.
We are like a lot of sitting ducks with Congress stand
ing by to see us shot at.
MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES
In 1948, there were 1,802,895 marriages in the United
States and approximately 405,000 divorces, according
to the U. S. Public Health Service.
It appears that marriages decreased about one-tenth
from the 1947 figures and more than one-fifth from the
1946 record. Divorce totals also dropped, the 1948 es
timate being one-eighth below 1947 and one-third less
than 1946.
We know of no necessary comment on the above fig
ures. Apparently, there were nearly 3,605,790 who de
cided, in 1948, that they could not live apart and about
800,000 others that decided that they could not live to
gether.
6,009 TAX-FREE FARM CO-OPS
According to the last official listing of the U. S. Treas
ury Department, there the 6,009 farmers cooperatives
of all types doing business tax-free in the United States.
The Treasury estimates that the Government could
collect up to $20,000,000 more in income taxes annually
if Congress would plug the loophole which permits the
!U. N. Agency
Portrays Utopia
WASHINGTON, (/P)—A world
| in which “no man need go hun
gry, or ill-clad or without a home”
was the goal held up today to the
1 food and agriculture organization
i <FAO> of the United Nations.
The goal was pictured by Nor
ris E. Dodd, director-general of
the FAO, at the opening of its an
nual conference. Representatives
of 48 nations are here to tackle
the job of how to increase food
production in some countries and
how to handle unmarketable sur
pluses in others.
Dodd is a former undersecretary
of the U. S. department of agricul
ture. He said in his prepared text:
“In respect of the state of food
and agriculture, 1949 has been in
general what fanners call a good
year, even if not quite as good in
total as 1948.
“Food scarcity is no longer per
ilous for nearly the whole world,
as it was through 1947.
“For more than half the world,
however, the old chronic under
nourishment continues and hunger
is scarcely one meal away from
millions. For the world as a whole,
Jones Says Airlines
Troubles Should
Be Settled on Spot
JUNEAU, (/P)—Settlement of the
northland’s airline problems on
the spot, rather than 4,000 miles
away in Washington, D. C., was
advocated Saturday by Harold
Jones.
He’s a civil aeronautics board
member from the national capital,
and is meeting here with South
eastern Alaska airline officials.
“We want airlines to work out
their own problems so better serv
! ice may be given, rather than have
the CAB make plans from 4,000
away.” he declared.
Jones said he is interested in
the need of a more integrated and
economical service, and expressed
surprise at the heavy freight serv
ic by air.
“I don’t understand why so
many things come to Alaska by air
when they could just as well come
by ship.”
After Juneau consultations, he'
will go to Anchorage and Fair
banks.
per person food supplies are not
as good as before the war.”
cooperatives to escape the payment of taxes, just like
other business enterprises.
The question is certain to receive some attention in
Congress. Representative Noe M. Mason, of Illinois,
who has made a study of co-ops for the House Ways and
Means Committee, says that they go far beyond simply
marketing farm products and that they are “big busi
ness.’’ He points out that the largest of all American
co-ops, the Cooperative Grange-League-Federation Ex
change, of Ithaca, New York, has given up its tax-ex
empt status voluntarily and paid the Government, last
year, $928,000 in income taxes.
REFUNDS TO VETERANS
Beginning in January, the Veterans Administration
will disburse some $2,800,000,000 to approximately 16,
000,000 veterans.
The refund represents a return of premiums paid on
service life insurance policies and will range from
ninety cents to $528, depending upon the amount of in
surance the veteran carried and the length of time he
paid premiums.
It will take some time to mail checks to all the veter
ans entitled to refunds. In order to be fair to all entitled
to payments, the VA will use the last three digits of the
Veterans’ serial numbers as a guide to mailing of
checks. This means that those whose serial numbers end
with 000 come first, those with 001 come next and those
with 999 come last. The method, it is said, places offi
cers and men on the same basis.
MAYBE HE NEEDS A NEW SYSTEM
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CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE
The Board of Directors of the
Chamber of Commerce held a
meeting Friday night at the Nome
Motor Co., with President H. Har
per presiding.
The need was stressed of Nome’s
applying for participation in the
$70,000,000 public works program
set forth under the General Serv
ice Administration which is being
offered to Alaska. The committee
appointed to thoroughly investi
gate this project is composed of
H. F. Harper, A. Polet, Ted Duf
field, Don Lyle and George Bea
com.
Ted Duffield, chairman of the
housing committee pointed out the
need of better housing facilities
for Nome and that his committee
would request participation in the
housing program now being of
fered to the Territory.
A. Polet, chairman of the tour
ist committee made a full report
of his committee’s activities with
the main stress placed on the
need of encouraging travel during
the winter months as well as sum
mer months. A full program has
been tentatively worked out by
this committee as to setting up
the necessary needs for encourag
ing tourists to come to Nome and
taking care of them when they ar
rive. The tourist committee is
composed of A. Polet, Joe Wal
lace, Keith Hedreen, T. A. McAl
lister, Dick Cornwell, Tom Mar
tin, Les Bronson, Tex Zeigler, Bill
Wood, Gerry Modrew and May
Bale.
Mrs. Harper served refresh
ments following the adjournment
of the meeting.
All B-29’s Must Br
Modernized Before
Flying Again
^Continued from Page One)
an exact indication of how many
superfortresses will be earthbound
until inspection can be completed,
the air force declined to say how
many of the SAC and 19th Bomb
group planes lack modernized en
gines.
The total of B-29’s in operation
al use, either in units or as sparer,
now is estimated unofficially at
between 400 and 500.
* Although the air force order in
dicated that engine or plane fail
ure was the chief reason for the
grounding, not all of the crashes
have been for that reason.
SPOKANE <(#*)—The command
er of the Spokane Air Base said
Friday night: “We do not consider
our B-29’s in bad shape.”
Col. Clifford Rees made the
comment in connection with the
air force order to ground all of the
superfortresses that do not meet
specific mechanical requirements.
Tko B-29’s that crashed in Cal
ifornia last week after colliding
during a maneuver were from the
Spokane base. The crash killed 18.
“The fact that two airplanes ran
together has no reflection on the
^mechanical) maintenance,” he de
clared.
Colonel Rees said he could not
say how many planes based here
would be affected by the ground
ing order. The air base information
office said the number could not
be released, under security regula
tions, even when it is determined.
The U. S. Maritime Service
training station at Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn, had 60,000 grad
uates in two years.