THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 613
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER Editor#
Entered as second cla^s matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1379.
Monday, January 7, 1946
ALASKA—49TH STATE?
(Denver Post)
Not since Feb. 14, 1912, when Arizona became the
48th State in the Union, has there been an addition to
the family of States. Now the question is being asked:
“Will Alaska become State number 49?” There is a bill
in Congress to give her that status.
A Congressional investigating committee has indi
cated, however, that Alaska has not attained sufficient
economic stability and political maturity to qualify for
Statehood. President Truman and Secretary of the In
terior Ickes disagree with this conclusion.
We don’t propose to argue the question, but if Alaska
is not ready for full membership in the Union for econo
mic reasons it is largely the fault of the United States.
There has been too much exploitation of Alaskan re
sources and too little effort toward helping the Terri
tory build itself up on a permanent basis. Too many
American business concerns and individuals have made
a practice of grabbing as much as they can in Alaska
and leaving as little as possible. The federal govern-!
ment’s tendency to treat that area as a stepchild has not:
helped much either.
Alaska is much more than a frozen wilderness. There j
is extensive acreage of fertile land that is wonderfully1
productive in summer. Being situated on the shortest
route to the Orient, Alaska has great possibilities as an
air center in the coming age of flight.
After serving an apprenticeship for more than three
quarters of a century Alaska is at least morally entitled
to Statehood if she wants it. But she is entitled to some
thing more: A square deal from American business and
government—and she certainly wants that! J
FOR ALASKA?
In our latest mail we received the following resolu
tions the product of eleven Western States. The West
ern States Council and twenty-two Senators:
WESTERN STATES COUNCIL !
RESOLUTION
Air Transportation in Eleven States
RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of the West
ern States Council approve the following five-point pro
gram for the improvement and development of air
transportation in the eleven western states:
1. Approval and support of the Air Route through
the mountain states via Great Falls to Edmonton and
Alaska.
2. Approval and support of air transportation in
Alaska which would give the territory access to and,
from air gateways at Seattle, Great Falls and Minne
apolis-St. Paul.
3. Support and approval of the Oriental Route
through the Seattle-Tacoma gateway to Alaska and
across the North Pacific to the Orient.
4. Approval and support of the Trans-Pacific Cen
tral Route with terminals at San Francisco and Los An
geles.
5. Approval and support of local air service between
California points and Hawaii and between Pacific
Northwest points and Hawaii.
♦ *
The following resolution has been signed by the 22
Senators of the eleven western States:
We, the Senators from the eleven western States, con
sider it vital to the most effective development of com
jnerce between the United States and the Orient that
our Western and Pacific States be afforded the most
convenient access to all the Trans-Pacific air routes.
We believe that the establishment of a North Pacific
air route to the Orient is clearly required by the na
tional interest.
We are firmly convinced that to adopt the Examiner’
proposal for a singie North Pacific air route over Can
ada via the Twin Cities would seriously retard the de
velopment of the West.
Since all portions of the United States can be better
served by an all-American route to the Orient via the
Seattle-Tacoma gateway, the interests of the entire
Western half of the United States should not be subor
dinated to a foreign route to the prejudice of the na
tional interest.
We ur^e that an all-American North Pacific air route
to the Orient be established through the natural Pacific
Northwest gateway.
& &
WESTERN BLOC(K)
Naturally the Western States are going to push the
Coast cities for their Oriental outlets. “Go West Young
Man,” is still their motto, as the East is pretty well or
ganized and needs very little of what the West has to
offer. Nevertheless the East does need an outlet, a com
petitive outlet, to the Orient through Alaska and Can
ada by which Alaska can also be served from the East.
Normally Alaska can and does make its purchases on
the Pacific Coast if possible, but the route planned by
the Seattle-Tacoma groups would in no way be benefi
cial to Alaska. The only stop would be at some base in
the Aleutians.
A corporation may spread itself over the whole world
. . . may employ one hundred thousand people . . . yet
the average person will form his judgment of the cor
poration through his contact with one individual. If this
individual is rude or inefficient, it will require a lot of
courtesy and efficiency to overcome the bad impression.
Every member of an organization who, in any capacity,
comes in contact with the public, is a salesman . . . the
impression he makes is an advertisement . . . good or|
bad.—Author Unknown. j
NO CORK FOR A NEW VBAR HFAPACHE*
■W»tW
LOOKING
n GEORGE 1 BENSON
Prrtidemf—Jtsrdiaf ftiy
Stsrtf. Jrismm
MUD-DAUBERS
Down here in the Mississippi
valley we are all acquainted with
a species of wasps called mud
daubers. They are relatively harm
less, build little adobe huts in
high, protected spots and look out
for their own interests. By in
stinct they are engineers and dip
lomats but, like so many insects,
they know very little about mod
ern industry. Some of their mis
takes are costly.
An aristocraitc family named
Sceliphron Cementarius fcommon
mud-daubers' got busy one sum
mer and built a fort inside the
vent pipe on top of a big steel
tank of heating oil. The tank had
been filled in the Spring for Fall
marketing and stood quiet for
months. Finally came an order for
a barge load of heating oil an^
! the plant owner started pumping
i it out of storage. Suddenly the big
tank collapsed.
Tco Much Authoritv
The oil man’s motor-powered
pump silently pulled out the li
quid and built up a vacuum inside
the tank. Being in a position to'
plug up a vent line and call down
the forces of nature of destroy
property and waste merchandise
i is too much authority for a mud
dauber. To be perfectly frank, the
more I observe the workings of
the OPA, the surer I am that sup^
authority as it has is too much for
anybody.
Right now our governmrntnl
price fixers have the vent line
closed on some exceptionally ti"’
structures and the pump has al
ready started. "People who buy
machines shall not pay more for
them,” says government, but (with
government consent* peoDle who
manufacture machines must pay
more, much more, for every hour
of effective labor, and for every
pound of processed material.
Strong for Service
I am in favor of workers getting
high wages. The more take-home
pay America’s factory workers
earn and get, the more food and
feed stuff our farmers will sell,
means prosperity. Just the same,
nature’s laws are inexorable. If
wages keep going up, somebody’d
better uncork that priceline or
business is sure to collapse. Some
firms have crumpled already and
more are in jeopardy.
America’s big manufacturing
concerns have some strength: of
course they do. They need finan
cial strength to navigate economic
storms, race with competition and
meet payrolls on schedule. The
more strength they have the morej
useful they are. That oil man’tY
tank had a great deal of strength
too; was useful because it was
strong, but it buckled because of a
vacuum.
Sublime Vandalism
Big corporations have to be ef
ficient. If they grow extravagant,
a lot of small concerns with lower
overhead stand ready to undersell
them and take their trade. Accord
ingly, big firms must operate on
thin margins of profit. Figurative
ly, they are tight. They can be
“pumped down” by holding their
prices and boosting their costs.
Ford declares a $27 net loss oi^
every new car sold at prices fixed
by government.
Nearly everybody knows that
America’s advantage over foreign
lands is based on mass production
and volume sales, things we have
and they don’t. We have nothing
to gain and much to lose by wreck
ing big industries. Theo d o r e
Roosevelt said, “It . . . ought to be
evident to everybody that busi
ness has to prosper before any
body can get any benefit from it.”
_.A
Trying To Bet Boys—
Not Fire—Out
■ ■
HOT SPRINGS, S. D.— (IP) —
The fire siren shrieked, necks
craned to find where the smoke
was coming from and a few ad
dicts jumped into their cars.
Editor C. J. Twomey called the
fire station. “No fire,” came the
reply. “A lot of the boys are late
for the firemen’s banquet at the
church and we’re tryin’ to get ’em
out!”