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
et Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, October 12, 1949
LESSONS OF PATERNALISM
(By George Peck)
“When more of the people’s sustenance is exacted
through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet
the just obligations of government and the expenses of
its economical administration, such exaction becomes
ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental
principles of free government.”
Who said that? No, it wasn’t Senator Taft nor was it
any conservative Repblican. Grover Cleveland, Demo
cratic President, said it in December, 1886, during the
course of his Second Annual Message.
Were Cleveland alive today, undoubtedly he would
demand that the Federal Government change its atti
tude toward business and industry and abandon its pro
gram of robbing the taxpayers to play Santa Claus to
the American citizenry.
The political planners would do well to read what
Jonathan Swift wrote in his “Voyage to Brobdingag”
early in the 18th Century: “Whoever could make two
ears of corn, or two blades of grass grow upon a spot of
ground where only one grew before, would deserve bet
ter of mankind and do more essential service to his
country than the whole race of politicians put together.”
Were Swift able to speak from beyond the grave, his
advice to America would be to stop aping the socialistic
experiment of England: to;,<once again encourage indi
vidual thrift and initiative; and to see to it that achieve
men, as formerly, gets a reward commensurate with
service rendered.
Our Federal Government up to 1930, for the most
part, kept its nose out of the affairs rightfully belonging i
to the individual States and to business and industry; it
encouraged competitive enterprise and made a fairly
successful attempt at keeping the national debt down
and the budget balanced.
When we entered World War I, the Federal debt was
slightly over one billion dollars, even at the end of that
war, the debt had risen to only 25M» billion dollars, and
bv 1930 this had been reduced to 16 million dollars.
.
Now, we stagger under the twin handicap of a debt in
excess of 250 billion dollars and exorbitant taxes. Thej
Administration, taking no heed of the morrow, advo
cates socialistic schemes that will further increase the
national debt and add to the already onerous tax bur
den. No real American begrudges one single dollar eco
nomically spent to keep our Armed Forces strong and
well equipped, or helping nations abroad stave off Com
munism.
But the Federal Government must tighten its belt.
Extravagant and unnecessary expenditures must be cut,
most certainly no new ones must be added. The Hoover
• Commission has pointed the way for a reduction in the
army of servants who are eating at the public trough at
the taxpayer’s expense. Congress should swiftly, per
haps with some minor revisions, adopt this plan. The
chief function of many of the Government bureaus
seems to be to hamper business, to frustrate competitive
enterprise and impede “The American Way.” Their
abolition would have the two-fold beneficial result of
easink the tax burden and taking bureaucracy off the
banks of business and industry.
Then, if Congress will say “NO” emphatically to the
various socialistic schemes that are now being proposed,
this nation will again attain some semblance of an or
derly economy. The Congress would do well to heed
what Grover Cleveland, to quote him again, said in his
Inaugural Address on March 4, 1893: “The lessons of
1 Inquiry Com'n
'Denies Pribilof
I Islanders Abused
ANCHORAGE, (£>) — Members
of an inquiry commission said
yesterday they will refute the im
plication that Pribilof Island na
tives are living under conditions
bordering on peonage.
The commission returned here
Monday from a roving investiga
tion of native living conditions in
: the seal-bearing islands and the
! Eskimo areas of the mainland.
They withheld details of what
! their report would be.
The study was made after com
plaints by the Alaska Native Bro
therhood and after the Association
of American Indian Affairs raised
the question, in Washington and
New York, of the natives’ status.
Oliver La Farge, president of the
Indian group, said natives of the
Pribilofs “may be in virtual peon
age.” He said “They are wards of
the Fish nad Wild Life Service,
exclusively engaged in fur sealing
operations for the United States.
“We can’t help but feel,” he
added, “that the government has
been just a little more interested
in seals than sealers.”
The commission that returned
here Monday is led by the Rev.
Mark Dauber of New York City,
executive secretary of the Home
Missions Council of North Amer
ica and a director of the Associa
tion of Indian Affairs. The group
made a three-week inspection tour.
The party visited Nome, Kotze
bue, Bethel, Hooper Bay, Nunivak
Island and St. Paul Island. At
Italian Premier
Lauds Columbus
ROME OP)—-Christopher Colum
bus must ibe an example of cour
age and endurance to our genera
tion, Premier Alcide de Gasperi
of Italy said in a message to the
United States for Columbus Day.
“Italy celebartes the man who
first united ideally our two coun
tries,” De Gasperi said. “His act
has been an act of courage and
sacrifice, of industrious and spon
taneous activity, and of union and
collaboration among nations, an
act of peace and prosperity.
“His deeds must be an example,
because we have to face the same
odds now.”
Nome the members interviewed
King Island Eskimos who were in
a summer encampment there.
The members explained that
they carried their inquiry to vari
ous communities to compare liv
ing conditions of Pribilof natives
with conditions in other places.
Others of the visiting commis
sion are: L. T. Oldroyd of the Uni
versity of Alaska; Albert M. Day,
head of the Fish and Wild Life
Service; John Nichols, commis
sioner of Indian Affairs.
Traveling consultants were Lar
ry Stevens, assistant to the Indi
an commissioner and Don Foster,
director of the Alaska Native Serv
ice. Others in the traveling party
were Clarence Rhode, executiv
officer of the Alaska Game Com
mission; Clarence Olson, superin
tendent in the Phibilofs and E. P.
Haddon, Fish and Wild Life Serv
ice photographer.
paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson
taught that while the people should patriotically and
cheerfully support their government, its functions do
not include the support of the people.”
30 CENTURIES AGO AND AHEAD
Archeologists of the American Museum of Natural
History recently unwrapped a Peruvian mummy, said
to contain the remains of a native of that country who
died some 3,000 years ago.
Newspaper reports relate that the experts carefully
unwound yards of burlap and brilliantly colored cloth,
including bright ceremonial robes and a short, tasseled
poncho in a state of nearly perfect preservation.
The earlier civilizations of Peru, and some other Cen
tral and South American areas, are attracting more and
more attention from American archeologists. Undoubt
edly, some of these ancient peoples were more highly
developed than the inhabitants of the North American
continent.
As we speculate upon the life, manners and peoples
of thirty centuries ago, the thought might enter our
minds that thirty centuries from now, other people will
speclate about us. Certainly, if the atomic age proves too
powerful for the mentality of modern people, there may
be opportunity for speculation three thousands years
from now. At that day, perhaps, other human beings,
struggling for self-development, may be puzzled by
some of the relics that they discover buried in the
ground.
($SS WKAI I MEAN AMUV NKWNG A NEW COED.*
Little Theaiter
Activities
The fourth membership meet
ing of the Nome Little Theater
Group met Friday night a week
ago, at 7 o’clock at the Service
Club on Marks Air Base. Miss Vir
ginia Busihco. president, turned
the meeting over to Capt. Ambos,
chairman of the nominating com
mittee. Capt. Ambos began nomin
ations for chairmanships of the
twelve committees chosen. The
chairmanships are as follows:
Play selecting committee: Lt.
Bellury; public relations. Sgt.
Mock; make-up: Lt. Evans; cos
tuming: Mrs. Mary Lee Yates;
stage management: Wes Welch;
business administration: Ed Galla
gher; membership: Ted Duffield;
social: Mrs. Gallagher; house:
George Beacom; property: Lt.
Gaudin; tickets and programing:
Sgt. Forrest and the music com
mittee: Chaplain Robert Fricke.
The preponderance of military
committee chairmen is due to the
fact that very few people from
Nome have attended the meetings,
evidencing little interest in the
Nome Little Theater Group among
the civilians in the area. In order
to positively insure that the group
, becomes a success it is imperative
, that more people from Nome at
1 tend the meetings and become
members of the group.
It was decided that a board of
governors meeting would be held
the following day in order to es
tablish a constitution and by-laws
for the Group. Try-outs for the
various roles in the chosen play
“A Christmas Carol” were begun
Friday night after the close of the
r e g u lar meeting. Everyone is
strongly urged to come and try
out for one of the many roles in
the play.
It was decided that the Charter
Membership list of the Nome Lit
tle Theater Group would be closed
as of the meeting of October 8.
Future memberships would be
classed as regular memberships.
But charter or regular member,
your attendance at the regular
meetings of the group are needed.
Still more persons will be needed
to fill the many vacancies existing
in the committees and cast of
players. If you are adept at hand
ling tools making scenery, keeping
financial books, the art of make
up, or managing stage equipment
we need you. If you can sing we
also need you. There will be a
choir in the play and we still do
not have nearly sufficient people
for that.
Everyone is heartily welcome to
join the Group and your applica
tion for membership will be wait
ing for you to fill out at the next
regular meeting of the members
which will be Sunday afternoon
at 2 o’clock on Oct. 16, at the Serv
ice Club at the Base. Give a hand
to this group and you will be re
paid many times.
NELS SWANBERG. SR.
HAS RARE COIN
Nels Swanberg, Sr.T is displaying
to his friends a rare coin which
has been in his possession for
many years, just how many he
does not know. In fact he had for
gotten all about the coin until he
read in last weeks’ Seattle P.-I.
that there were only for 1 dollar
gold pieces coined in the mint at
Charlotte, North Carolina in 1854
and the whereabouts of all of the
coins was unknown.
Mr. Swanberg, who is a mining
man who has uncovered many a
pay streak has really found a rare
nugget now which is smaller than
a dime, but may be worth a lot to
collectors.