T H E N O M E N U G <; E T
Published Monday. Wednesday an 1 Friday by the
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W. A. Boucher Owner-Publisher
Emily Boucher Local Edit >r
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at he postoftice
at Nome. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1 179.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, December 13, 1948
KEEP THE DEVELOPMENT BOARD
(The Alaska Weekly)
It is one of the regrettable things about our demo
cratic system of government that any governmental ac
tivity must inevitably become involved and sometimes
befouled with politics. We do not happen to be political
ly interested in the personnel of the Alaska Develop
ment Board nor in its management. What does interest
us is that there be a development board and that it be
adequately financed to do the job which needs to be
done and that it be made up of men of sound judgment
and administered by capable people. A board so set up
and absolutely divorced from politics can do inestim
able good for the Territory during the very important
years just ahead.
The Alaska Development Board has asked for an ap
propriation of $125,000 for each of the next two years.
If it were properly organized and equipped, and this is
no reflection on its present personnel, we could find
only one fault with that request—namely that it is not
enough money.
However, this is one organization which has some
thing of a unique record in Territorial, or for that mat
ter, national circles, so far as concerns governmental
agencies. It has not accepted the right to spend a given
amount of money as a mandate to spend it. When it
could not spend it to the advantage of the objectives it
was trying to accomplish it did the next best thing—it
kept the money. We are inclined to think that the type |
of people who have been and may expect to be appoint
ed on that board will continue similar tactics.
We have not always been happy with the activities of
the present board. It has seemed to us at times that the
press releases and the public utterances of the manage
ment were far more the expression of the personal:
opinion of the manager and the chairman than of the
board membership and we think less latitude should be
allowed in that direction.
But we do believe, and we want to make this very
emphatic, that the Alaska Development Board, with the
limited funds and personnel at its command, has done
a very good job and that it should not only be continued
but continued with more opportunities for helping the
Territory take full advantage of the development pos
sibilties open to it.
IT PAYS TO FIGHT
(By George S. Benson)
Everybody loves a fighter. For that reason, the popu
larity of Harry S. Truman is running pretty high at this
time. All the pollsters, all the misled, have had their
say: President Truman was the man who wouldn’t be
licked! Mr. Truman was apparently the only candidate
who really took the opinion polls to heart. While the
general public was being lulled to sleep by everybody’s
opinion as to the outcome of the election, Candidate
Truman got in there and fought.
The result was that Mr. Truman got voters enough to
come to his aid—enough to win. Nor will this experi
ence be the death of the pollsters. They were probably
correct in their reported findings. Their samplings were
calculated on the basis of some 90 million eligible vot
ers. But only about 47 million (little more than half) of
these eligible voters went to the polls to vote. And not
a few of these were fighting—for Mr. Truman.
Preferences for candidates in the voting on Novem
ber 2 were not the same as reported by the poll takers
AN OLb HAND
rBERUH
before election. What happened? My guess is this: a
larger percentage of those who favored a fighting m :n
went out to vote than was the case with those favoring
the non-fighter, who thought he would be elected any
how. In other words, the opinion polls were interpreted
by each candidate—by Mr. Truman in a way that help
ed elect Mr. Truman and by Mr. Dewey in a way that
defeated Mr. Dewey.
The important thing is that the fighting man won.
This is an old American principle. The man who works
the hardest, who never-says-die, is favored in the strug
gle for success. Our nation has been built by heroes,
sung and unsung, who lived by that rule. May I submit
that in these critical times, it will not be possible for
American to keep her traditional place as the most fav
ored of lands, unless Americans are willing to take up
the fight.
Why has America more national income than any
other six nations you can name? Why do more American
youth have a chance to go to high school and college
than go in all the rest of the world put together? Why
do American workers have the highest wages in all the
world? Here are some of the reasons: we have the right
to own property, to operate our own businesses and
compete with each other, to invest capital in industrial
tools.
Moreover, we Americans can work at the job w: like,
wherever we like, with equal justice for all. If we keep
these liberties, preserve constitutional government, and
maintain freedom of individual opportunity, it will be
possible for us to double our wages and standards of liv
ing, as we did during the last generation. If we turn to
government management and thus kill our incentives,
we can expect wages and living standards to go down
50 per cent below the present level.
World trends are toward government management,
with low standards of living. Step by step America is
being pushed in that direction. A few more steps, and
we may find ourselves under such pressure that we can
not avoid socialism, and the communism that follows it.
Our people must understand these facts. More import
ant. we must be active in preserving the fundamentals
of our American way of life.
Our fathers gladly fought for freedom. Thev P* ~'Tr*r]
fortune and honor to its preservation. The price >tiV
“eternal vigilance.” Are we willing to fight valiantlv by
every means: platform, radio, press, screen, and con
servation—to preserve America’s freedoms? If so, we
can keep our freedoms. Otherwise, they will pass away,
as from Greece and Rome. It takes a valiant heart.
Those who win are those who fight.
It’s a great life when you’re on fire for other people
and not just burned up about yourself.
• >
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Physicians Make
Recommendations
For Alaska Health
WASHINGTON. </P) — A com
of physicians recommend
•tl yesterday more hospitals, doct
ors, dentists, nurses and medical
tP' hnicians for Alaska.
The commit'ee filed its report
with secretary of interior Krug. It
h <d been appointed by the Ameri
can Medical association to survey
medical conditions in the Terri
wy at Krug’s request.
The committee uigad ‘he r\
struction of additional hospital fa
cilities and better salaries at
tract doctors and dentists to the
staff of the Alaska Native Service.
It said nurses are well paid, and
suggested publicity of “the high
pay and the security of work”
might at.ruct more of tnem : im
the States.
In addition to expanded general
hospital facilities, the committee
favored the establishment by the
Terri ory, with federal aid. of a
psychiatric hospital of 350 to 400
beds in the Matanuska Valley,
near Anchorage.
It disapproved current proced
ure of sending patients to a mental
hospital in Portland, Ore.
The committee said it found “a
marked de erioration” in ving
s'andards, disease rates, Legiti
macy, indigence and broken Lames
in villages where liquor was sold.
It suggested that housing subsi
dies be conditioned upon a prohi
bition against the sale of liquor.
It said housing subsidies “might
in the long run save many mil
lions of dollars spent to r medy
the consequence of inadequate
housing.”
%
While commending the coopera
tion between the Territorial health
service and the Alaska Native
service, the committee said a com
mission headed by a physician of
the public health service should
be set up to coordinate all heal.h
activities in Alaska.
Members of the committee mak
ing the survey included John E.
Tuhy, Portland, Ore., chairman:
Frank H. Douglass Seattle: W.
Charles Martin of Portland and
Austin T. Moore of Columbia. S.
C., all physicians, and Dav'.l B.
Law of Seat le, a dentist.
The committee listed nine “most
urgent” health problems in Alas
ka. They are:
1. The high incidence ot all
forms of tuberculosis, especially
among the natives, and the inade
quate facilities for the'r treat
ment.
2. The shortage of doctors,
nurses, and medical technologists,
especially in the Alaska Native
Service. I
3. The lack of adequate general
icspital beds in certain communi
ties and the absence of any psychi
atric hospital in the entire Terri
tory.
4. Inadequate control of preven
‘able and communicable disease,
particularly venereal disease.
5. Lack of adequate sanitationi
:o towns and villages throughout
the Territory.
6. The frequency of alcoholism
and the social and economic prob
lems :t involves.
7. The common occurrence of
• ye d senses, and the need for an
ophthalmologist to conduct re
search on the prevention and
.reatment of these diseases.
3. A shortage of dentists in th|^
Alaska native service and a lack
of dental care among natives.
9. Low standards of housing,
educa'ion, and hygiene among na
tives which help to make them
“easy prey to disease.”