THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
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W A. and EMILY BOUCHER . . Editors
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Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943 at the postoffic*
at Nemo, Alaska, under the Art of March 3. 1379
Wednesday, February 25, 194S
V
Palusline-Polilics Overrule Wisilom
(Denver Post)
THE DECISION to spi t Palestine between the Jews
and the Arabs lighted a fuse which is new birn'nt?
short. In three months, the British arc scheduled to sur
render their mandate and begin the final removal of
their troops. What will happen then has b°en a11 foo
plainly forecast in the violence which has rent th^ H )!y
Land since the partition plan was first announced.
Unless determined and intelligent statesmanshi p
takes hold of this situation without further delav, we
shall see an eruption of bloodshed which may lead to a
new world war.
It may be too late for statesmanship to prevent the
explosion, in which case we shall learn the penalty of
allowing wisdom to be overruled by political expedien
cy. Such a characterization of the U. S. Palestine policy,
we realize makes unpleasant reading for American
Zionists. But the facts may not be escaped.
We are in this position because the White House, de
fying the advice of the state department, was moved by
political pressure and sentiment to ignore the vital
stakes of American interest in the Middle East.
There have been indications lately that the Wh'te
House has awakened to the serious jeopardy in which
peace and national interests have been placed. Accord
ing to some information from Washington, there is even
a movement to withdraw the partition plan although,
Secretary Marshall has denied that the state depart
ment intends any “re-examination” of the U. S. Pales
tine policy.
It is easy to argue that the United Nations, which de
creed partition, should enforce it. It is less easy to see
how U. N. would do it, for the international organiza
tion has no police force. The great powers might furnish
the force, but that would put the Russian army on the
shore of the Mediterranean. We would be trading one
problem for a greater one. The next worry would be
how to get rid of the Russians. No, thank you.
Would certain small powers undertake the mission?
The nations of the British commonwealth probably
would be unwilling and likely would not be acceptable
to the Jews. The smaller nations of Europe are tied to
the great powers. The Latin-American countries do not
have the means, even if* they should be willing to lose
the blood of their men to defend a remote cause. A solu
tion by the little nations can be dismissed.
What, then, is the answer? One thing is more certain
—we cannot continue in the present line of fatalistic in
activity. One must be pretty hardy to suggest a solution,
but two things are obviously necessary right now.
First, the Palestine problem must be brought to the
urgent attention of the United Nations security council.
Perhaps the U. N. does not possess the answer, but we
will not know unless we at least discuss it.
Second, the Jews of Palestine must be allowed to arm
and organize for their own protection. If the United Na
tions intends to stand by its partition decree—but still
cannot supply the force needed for its execution—then
it will be a tragic inconsistency to deny the Jews means
for their own defense.
What does the Truman administration propose to do
about the contradiction of its policies? It pressured par
tition through the United Nations. It gave the Jews the
promise of nationhood. And now it has clamped an em
bargo on the arms needed to defend the new nation.
Somehow, that typifies the confusion and conflict in
America’s Palestine policy.
domniunigni Illegal
(By Dorothy Thompson)
OBJECTIONS TO DELEGALIZING Communism
, LOOKING FOR A HAPPY MEDIUM
i ■ ■■ '■ nit
PRICE 1
-BfZEAVC
— —
I
I
arc chiefly two, one stemming from Communists and
liberals and the other from the mentality of the FBI.
The first is that Communists are guaranteed freedom of
activity by the constitution; the second that, if out
lawed, the legal organization would go underground.
The first argument assumes that any k'nd of political
activity has, under the constitution, a natural right, j
That was not Lincoln’s interpretation. Nothing in the'
constitution prohibited secession; Lincoln thought, how
ever, that preservation of the union was the essence of I
the constitution.
A continually reaffirmed thesis of Communism is that;
its objectives cannot be realized without ruthless vio-|
•ence nor within the framework of a constitutional or
der. It is our counter-thesis that law cannot be invoked
against promoters of such catastrophe? Law, it has been
said, is made by criminals! First an act damaging to the
community is committed and then a law is passed to
prohibit its occurring again. 1
But what if overt acts by an organization with which
an American group is subordinately affiliated long have
been projected and actually carried out in many other
countries? Is it a principle of law that it may not antici
pate events? Actually, conspiracy to commit certain
acts is itself an overt act. That a definite conspiracy ex
ists and have existed for years to subvert all constitu
tional orders in the world, and that the Amercan Com
munist party and its leading members have ben con
sciously allied with it, can be proved.
Popular confusions arise concerning constitutional
rights. Rights guaranteed by a state can be guaranteed
only within the framework of that state. They cannot
be detached from it, as though they were a constitution
in themselves, which is what some people would like to
do with the bill of rights. They aren’t dissoluble from the
| intent of the state that guarantees them. The intent and
purpose of the American constitution is formulated in
! the preamble: “.. .to form a more perfect union, estab
| lish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and se
cure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our poster
ity”
Now comes an American movement, a subordinate
branch of an international movement, which regards the
national welfare as indisoluble from and subservient to
the welfare of the Soviet state; which conspires to dis
turb the domestic tranquilliity by civl strife; to substi
tute for the constitutional system a Communist dicta
torship of the proletariat; to sabotage the common de
fense under all circumstances unless the Soviet Union
is thereby served; and to withdraw from the people all
j liberties, to be afterward granted or withdrawn from
ourselves and our posterity according to the whim of a
dictatorship. And the constitution demands that this
i conspiracy be legalized? That is reducing the constitu
! tion to absurdity.
. The second argument is dangerous. Communist par
ies are both legal and illegal, and
the illegal structure governs the
legal. Probably the FBI fears that
dissolution of the legal body would
destroy connections it has traced
between it and the illegal groups.
The law, however, does not exist
for the convenience of the FBI,
but the FBI for the convenience
of the law.
If the former is admitted, we
are on the way to a police state,
the essence of which is that the
police operate for a clique or on
their own. The first of Communist
lawlessne:s and violence is n*t io
be quenched by fires of the same
nature, but by the waters cf just
law.
The present half-legal, half-per
secuted position of the party and
its members is not justice. It op
erates to eliminate one evil wi'h
another, both evils containing dan
gers to the constitutional orde \
That’s That
By BRUCE GUSTIN
As proof that Henry Wallace’s
third party movement is Commun
ist-backed, the House committee
on un-American activities points
to an official circular of the Com
munist party of Georgia dated
Jan. 1, 1948. While this document
denies the Wallace party will be
controlled by Communists, it de
clares “the Communists . . . will
not be denied the privilege of
helping the new party” and “they
will contribute their experience
and devotion to the working class
to this new party.” When you add
to that Wallace’s announced will
ingness to accept Communist sup
port, there can’t be any doubt that
the Commies think he is playing
their game and are backing him.
The sixth circuit court of ap
peals at Cincinnati held recently
that where a union is the recog
nized bargaining agent for a group
of workers, an employer cannot
grant merit raises in pay to indi
viduals without first consulting
the union. That decision cetrainly
should be appealed to the United
States supreme court. As Judge
Simons contended, in a dissenting
opinion, “it is difficult to accept
the concept that gratuitous in
creases based upon zeal and abil
ity are an unfair labor practice.”
Such a concept is fantastic.
President Truman’s budget mes
sage called for an appropriation
of approximately 11 billion dollars
for national defense. The Soviet
trade-union paper—Trud — points
to that as evidence the United
States is planning a war. If there
ever was a case of the pot calling
the kettle black, this is it. Russia’s
armed forces budget totals more
than 13 billions—over 2 billions
more than the figure proposed for
the United States.
President Truman is trying to
1 scare Congress into giving him po
lice state powers of rationing and
price controls. He 'said in his sec
' ond annual economic report that
! American prosperity is riding a
“wave of inflation” toward the
danger of a “serious” business
slump. That boils down to a warn
ing that we are headed for another
depression. If we keep on talking
depression, we may talk ourselves
into one. A man can start in the
morning feeling as fit as the pro
verbial fiddle. But, if a number of
his acquaintances tell him he
looks badly, it isn’t long until he
. is feeling mighty low.
As the President says, income, in
the case of most wage-earners, has
not kept up with prices. One cause
for that, which he doesn’t men
tion, is tax increases. The Ameri
can people are paying more for
government than for food. On an