THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 61K
$1.50 PER MONTH 516.00 A YEAR
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffic*
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Friday, June 8, 1947
The Industrial Northwest
(New York Times) ,
IN FIVE YEARS the Pacific Northwest, which means i
Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana, has;
been transformed by electric power. Where once the;
lumberman’s axe rang and farmers raised crops on irri-!
gated soil there are now huge plants that produce alum
inum, magnesium, ferro-alloys, heavy chemicals, air
planes, ships and plutonium. It is safe to say that had
it not been for Bonneville and Grand Coulee we could
not have met the war demand for some of these materi
als. On the basis of energy deliveries the Bonneville
Grand Coulee system is the third largest in the country.
Yet the Northwest is so hungry for power that it is
clamoring for more. What this means, Ivan Bloch of the
Bonneville Power Administration recently told the Chi
cago Electrochemical Society.
When it was first projected the Bonneville-Grand
Coulee system was regarded as an enterprise that could
hardly pay for itself in decades. There was some reason
fox pessimism. By a stroke of good luck the more im-|
portant power plants were ready by the time we were j
preparing to enter the war. Instead of falling off with1
the arrival of peace, the demand for aluminum, magne- j
sium and ferro-alloys is actually increasing, so that the!
Northwest is bound to grow industrially. The Niagara
Falls plants cannot be expanded; TVA has about reach
ed the limit of its hydro-power possibilities; the St.
Lawrence project may not offer much relief because of
the rapid expansion of non-industrial power require
ments of this State. As Mr. Bloch sees it, the west re
mains the one great source of hydroelectric energy.
It is gratifying to learn that the Bonneville-Grand j
Coulee system has been a profitable investment. As of i
June 30,1946, the Bonneville Power Administration has
returned to the United States Treasury some $80,000,-!
000—about one-fourth of the investment so far made,'
including interest. This financial showing is all the more1
remarkable because the 36 billion killowatt-hours sold1
since 1938 have averaged 2.55 mills per kilowatt-hour.
Those who proclaim the dawn of a new industrial day,
now that a uranium pile may be substituted for coal or
oil, may well ponder these figures. Nuclear fussion can
not compete with falling water, which costs nothing.
Whatever may happen in other parts of the world, the
Northwest will rely on the Columbia River and its trib
utaries. A potential of some 25 million kiRowatts re
mains to be developed. There is more gold in the water
of the Columbia than there is in any of the hills of the
Far West. Horace Greeley’s advice to young men is still
good.
The Durocher Case
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL comment around the na
tion has been singularly favorable in the wake of base
ball commissioner A. B. Chandler’s one-year suspen
sion of manager Leo Durocher of the Brooklyn Dodg*
ers. A number of sports writers have criticized either
the verdict or its severity, but most of them had previ
ously been critical of Chandler and could have been ex
pected to view with a jaundiced eye any decision he
might have made.
The editorial concensus is that Durocher, aH things
considered, had been guilty of conduct inimical to the
best interests of baseball, and that despite the harsh
ness of the punishment he “got what was coming to
him.” Several newspapers have made the point—and we
think it a good one—that the boisterous Durocher
should have been disciplined some time ago. Conceiv
ably, had this happened, it would have averted the re
cent crescendo of notoriety with which the Brooklyn
manager surrounded himself, and baseball.
The comment was made that Chandler rendered a
moral judgment on Durocher. This may have been the
case, and if it was, Commissioner stood on firm ground
in giving the judgment. Essentially, one of the mam du
ties of the Commissioner is to safeguard the morality of
baseball.
It should be remembered that in handing down his de
cision Commissioner Chandler remarked that Duro
cher’s suspension was for recent actions and “other con
duct detrimental to baseball.” There was the inference
that the dossier in the Durocher case contained much
that wasn’t being made public. Indeed, those who have
read the entire file say it quite justifies the year’s sus
pension even if, as many believe, it means the end
rather than a mere interruption of Durocher’s career
in baseball.
Commissioner Chandler may have strained the qual
ity of his justice in the Durocher case, but to have been
more than fair to “Lippy” would have been less than
fair to the national sport.
9
Junket To Alaska
(Cincinnati Enquirer)
ALASKA in an intriguing and interesting place. This
is especially true in the summer, when Washington, D.
C., swelters in its humid heat and trout are striking in
the streams of the north country. Congressmen, being
human, long to take advantage of the climate and the
other opportunities which Alaska offers. It is no cause
for wonderment, then, that the House Public Lands
Subcommittee plans a junket to the Territory within the
next few months. The committee goes in order to report
back to Congress, in the autumn, on the advisability of
admitting Alaska as a full-fledged State of the Union.
It is doubtful if the Congressmen will turn up any in
formation that couldn’t be advanced by the citizens
themselves as they appear before Congressional com
mittees for hearing, or by government experts who are,
or have been, on the ground. Visiting dignitaries actu
ally learn very little; have very little opportunity tc
study or to understand the real feelings of a people. The
Alaska matter has come up before. There is in Washing
ton, a tremendous backlog of facts and figures bearing
on the subject.
But—as we say—Congressmen are human. And
Washington is hotter’n Hades after June arrives. May
be, between visits to rainbow streams and the high
mountains, they’ll pick up a little information on how
the folks feel about the possibility of statehood. We only
hope that the information they gather will be worth
the money taxpayers will spend to finance the expedi
tion.
, . iLL SrtALLi- >
[mvtk
NHIOMM,
COHTROC
Washington
News Letter
EXPORT DECLARATIONS
Seeking to wipe out what they
believe to be burdensome, time
consuming and unnecessary pro
visions of law in existence for 45
years, Delegate Farrington of Ha
waii and Delegate Bartlett have
urged that export declarations and
o‘her papers required in trade be
tween the United States and Ha
1 wai\ Alaska, Puerto Rico and
Guam be eliminated.
Delegate Bartlett first testified
hefore the House Ways and Means
Committee in support of his own
measure which would exempt ves
sels engaged in the fisheries of
Alaska from the requirement to
fill out cargo manifests, stating
such action would be of consider
able aid especially to halibut boats
which now have to clear Customs
on each trip to the fishing banks.
He then joined forces with the Ha
i waii delegate to persuade the com
mittee members to act favorably
on Delegate Farrington’s bill
which would do away with filling
out all export declarations and
other papers on shipments to. from
and within Hawaii and Alaska
and the other places mentioned.
The law in question, in force
since 1902, was enacted as a sta
tistic-gathering device for clock
ing the kinds and volumes of ship
ments moving between the United
States and its non-contiguous ter
ritories. However, the delegates
feel that the statistical data gath
ered in this manner are far from
being complete and do not justify
the trouble to which shippers are
put to get a shipment from point
of origin to destination. They
pointed out that parcel post pack
ages not a part of those statistics
make up a considerable bulk of
; shipments moving between the
I points in question,
j Congressman Homer Jones of
Washington is strongly supporting
the Delegates’ representations
speaking especially in behalf of
businessmen of his state who are
caused irritating delays in paper
work on shipments to Alaska.
TRAVEL TAX
In a second appearance before
the House Ways and Means Com
mittee Delegate Bartlett spoke in
favor of the removal of 15 per
cent tax now imposed on travel
lers to Alaska and Hawaii.
The tax on travel to foreign
countries has been removed, and
Delegate Farrington’s measure
which Delegate Bartlett supported
before the committee would ex
, tend the’ same reduction to persons
; desiring to make trips to the terri
1 tories.
“With removal of the tax on
transportation of persons destined
for foreign ports,” Delegate Bart
lett declared, “there is discrimin
ation against tourist travel to
Alaska which is bound to be
harmful. If the cost of making a
, pleasure trip is a matter of im
' portance to the traveller, as it al
most always is, then it is obvious
! that the Alaska trip is at a serious
competitive disadvantage with a
trip to a foreign land .The trans
portation tax counts up and is
bound to be taken into account by
the potential traveller. It should
be remembered,” he continued,
“that the tourist dollar spent in
Alaska is spent in a land which is
wholly American. The benefits of
that expenditure inevitably flow
back to this country. To promote
tourist travel in Alaska is to pro
mote the best interests of this
country.”
TIMBER CONTRACTS
The formula presented to Con