THE NOME NUGGET .
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 618
W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER ..Editors
$1.50 PER l/ONTH ' $16.00 A YEAR
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943. at the postoffice
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Monday, November 3, 1947
Easy Payments
w *
(Rockv Mountain News)
THE GOVERNMENT’S WARTIME controls over in
stallment selling ended Saturday night. Beginning then
credit terms are available to consumers who buy goods
“on time.’ For example:
Up to Saturday night, if you bought a car, an eectric
refrigerator or a radio on the installment plan, you had
to fork over one-third of the price in cash and pay the j
balance in not more than 15 monthly installments.
With the controls off, most finance companies plan to
require the same one-third down payments on new cars, |
but to allow as many as 24 months for paying the bal
ance. Down payments on other articles may be one
tenth of the price, with installments spread over as
many as 24 months on radios and 36 months on refriger
ators.
Many people think it was a serious mistake for Con
gress to end these controls so soon. They fear that mak
ing it easier for more customers to buy, while the supply
of goods still is far short of meeting even the present
demand, will push prices upward and pour gasoline on
the infation fire.
They have grounds for their fear. This country, at
this time, could be hurt badly by a flood of installment
buying or a competitive rush to sell goods on easy
credit.
But the shortages of goods, themselves, may lessen:
that danger. For instance, people who decide to order
cars and pay for them over 24 months will find them
selves behind long, waiting lines of would-be buyers
eager to plunk down cash or pay in 15 months. It seems
likely to be a long time before automobile dealers need
to emphasize easy terms as an incentive for customers.
And the same thing is true in many other lines. *
Anyway, the government controls have come off.
Congress showed no disposition to restore them. So,
whatever the danger, the only counter-measures now
availabe are voluntary ones—self-control and common
sense.
Our Advice, to anyone who cares for it, would be to
think a good many times before deciding to buy any
thing simply because you can get it on easy credit.
Be very sure you really need it. If you can’t afford to
pay the price for it over 15 months, consider whether
you can afford to pay the same price, plus more interest (
charges, over 24 or 36 months. Don’t commite yourself
to long-term payments unless you’re reasonably cer
tain of your ability to meet them.
Installment selling is a legitimate and useful practice,
any easy credit, used wisely, is a good thing. But unwise
use of easy credit leads to trouble, and this is a time
when it could lead to terrible trouble..
Comprom ise?-~I m possi ble
(The Denver Post)
DESPITE UNCONTROVERTIBLE evidence of its
consistent failure, many Americans • still advocate a
“golden rule’ policy toward the Soviet Union, and con
tinually protest the firm actions of the American gov
ernment in dealings with Russia.
One of these men, Elver A. Barker, writes in the Open
Forum that the “golden rule”, is an absolute necessity
if mankind is to survive the atomic age.
If we were to adopt an “objective attitude” toward
Communism, Barker says, “the result would be an ob
jective attitude of the Russians toward our political and
economic system.”
Barker writes in terms of compromise, but to date it
CUT f_, !
for their final answer to any non-Soviet plan is “No.”
He suggests combination of the best of both capitalistic
and Communist systems, but the Russians would be
aghast at such a suggestion.
Proof of this rests in Soviet propaganda broadcasts
alone. Radio Moscow, on Oct. 7, said: “There can be no
non-political education. Our teachers are proud of the
fact that they live in this Soviet country in which alone
it is possible to foster in children true humanism, de
mocracy and the highest qualities of patriots of their
native iand.”
On Oct. 1, Radio Moscow quoted Andrei Zhdanov:
“The task of our ideological work consists not only in
replying blow by blow to all this vile slander on our
Soviet culture, but to castigate and attack bourgeois cul
ture now decaying and rotting.”
This propaganda is directed to the Russian people to
persuade them that their political system is the best
possible in the world. It admits no compromise. In for
eign affairs the western world already has watched “ob
jectively” while its attmpts to apply the “golden rule”
have boomeranged.
Thus the American government is now embarked on
a policy of containment of the Soviet Union, for the Rus
sians have shown in Europe that wherever they can get
their foot in the door, they will not rest until they have
the entire house.
The western world already has turned both cheeks
to the Kremlin, and had both those cheeks resoundingly
slapped. In the face of present Soviet policies, any fur
ther application of the ’’golden rule” would simply be
inviting decapitation.
Marshall Plan—A Matter Of Conscience
(By Palmer Hoyt)
THE UNITED STATES, without endangering its se
curity or living standards, can provide 20 billion dol
lars in aid to Europe in the next five years, Secretary of
the Interior Krug has reported to President Truman.
In view of the fact the country has spent more than
one-half trillion dollars since 194l in foreign activities,
including World War II, the assurance given by the sec
retary should be unnecessary, except, possibly, to spike
the arguments of those who might try to claim the
United States cannot “afford” the expenditures con
tempated by the Marshall plan.
The question of European aid is not one of ability to
pay. In one respect it is a question of humanitarianism.
But, primarily, it is a question of the wisdom of spend
ing additional money in an effort to salvage something
from the mammoth “investment” in lives and money al
ready spent in trying to drive aggression from the
world.
By allowing the Allied victory over Axis aggressors
to be followed by even more predatory aggressions by
one of the members of the Allied forces themselves, his
tory has come up with its greatest masterpiece of irony.
I-,. TiW—AIrrinn rkrtnnrtiinitw tn Wn. qt
least part of Europe free from
Russian domination without the
catastrophe of another war. Even
the Marshall plan may not suc
ceed in stopping the steady march
of the Soviet forces. It is a gam
ble at best.
The alternatives to the plan are
war or the complete withdrawal
of the United States from the in
ternational scene, thereby leaving
the Communists an open field for
almost complete world domina
tion.
The only significance of Secre
tary Krug’s report is that it puts
the Marshall plan up to the Amer
ican conscience rather than to he
American pocketbook for a final
answer. '
, LOOKING
[ AHEAD I
n GEORGE 1 BENSON I
k PraidtMt-JUnUaf Myr'l
I Sttrtf. Art*j*m 1,
RULE BOOK FOR
CIVILIZATION
Like thousands of other Ameri
cans in 1941 I bought a new car. I
got an Oldsmobile. I am still using
the car and getting good service
out of it, and I believe I know
why. A book of instructions came
with it, and because I believed the
people who made the car could
tell me a great deal about how to
run it, I studied that book care
fully. I got excellent service from
the automobile throughout the en
tire war, and am still using it.,
* believe that happened because
i I followed the instructions of
those who made the Oldsmobile.
j Doing that, I could expect to get
good service. The whole idea
I seemed like good logic to me. May
I submit an application for this
I home-made parable? If this prin
| ciple works with automobiles, it
should have some merit when ap
plied to things larger and more
mportant. Will you follow me in
i this application?
Handbook For Mortals
The Bible is the book of instruc
tions from the Creator who made
the world and the fullness there
of. It is the book containing the
laws, rules, and advice that we
mortals should read and study in
order that we may know how to
proceed. It is the instruction book
on hoTv to operate that part of the
Creator's handw'ork with which
we are involved. Careful study of
this instruction book will bring
great dividends.
I am glad to live in a land
where a National Bible Week
finds enthusiastic support. This
year October 20 to 26 was so des
! ignated. Did you know that
twelve of the thirteen little col
onies planted along the Atlantic
seaboard were founded by people
| who came to America seeking re
ligious freedom? Their lives were
guided and dominated by the
Bible. But perhaps even they did
i not visualize the kind of America
to come, the America to come be
| cause of what they did.
Bill Of Freedoms
Later, when our Constitution
was framed, the men who wrote it
were men who believed the Bible
9
dnd who looked upon it as God’s
“instruction book.” These men
desired to maintain for their de
scendants and for posterity, the
; kind of individual freedom which
, they believed the Creator had de
! creed for every individual. To
them, that was one of the instruc
I tion rules out of the book.
That Constitution, when adopt
ed and amended in 1789, carried
with it the greatest bill of indi
vidual freedoms that any nation
; has ever enjoyed. Under these