THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone 443 - 2381 $1.50 PER MONTH
P. O. Box 610 $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14. 1943, at the
_post office at Nome, Alaska, under Act of March 3, 1879.
A: v";'1 - if ' ■ .
JUST A LITTLE REMINDER—
EDITORIAL and COMMENT:
Is $78,000,000 Enough ...
From the Bristol Bay Digest
Published at Naknek
The biggest state news recently is big indeed. It’s the whopping
$78 million shopping list which the Governor just handed to the
legislature. ■••••*
$78 million is a whale of a lot of money, especially for a state with
loss than 300,000 people. But we find ourselves wondering it it’s
really enough money.
We noticed, for example, that the ferry systems are going to
run in the red this year to the time of about $2.5 million. This doesn’t
exactly astonish anyone; even the most ardent ferry supporters
realized that this wouldn’t be a break-even proposition for a long
time — if ever, But it was argued this would tend to open otherwise
isolated parts of the state, and this certainly seems sound enough.
It may prOve to have been an extremely wise investment.
Another wise investment which should have been included in
this budget — and wasn’t — is the economic development of the
Bering Sea coast. ' • *
It’s an open secret in the salmon industry that several packers
are interested in developing salmon fisheries as far north as Kot
zebue Sound, and in all probability' 1982 Will see considerable change
in the economy of a good part of the coast. '-•••■- *
• The trouble is that while we develop our fisheries which have
the greatest immediate return, we ignore entirely the infinitely
greater potential in, the off-shore fisheries — a dreadfully short
sighted policy which may ultimately close the door forever to Ameri
can fishermen and American industry in this rich area.
-• rnu.il- iu- Ti .11 il.it. ji 11. 1 iP*"* * . ;
im ou uviu uvwu iu a matter 01 CCWlOITllCS.
The need for this resource is not yet great enough to make a Bering
Sea fishery practical: But Japan and ‘Russia are both- working these
grounds dangerously hard — and while we do nothing, serious de
pletion may already be occurring. But that won’t make much difference
to the U.S. By the time we get around to the Bering Sea, the same
Abstention Principle which protects our salmon and halibut may
be invoked by the Japanese to legally keep American fishermen
out of this fishery.
While the federal government has a clear obligation to all the
states of the Union to help preserve American interests in these
fisheries, the terrible pressures and distractions of the Cold War
and the distances involved all tends to divert those in Washington
who could help solve this problem — and nothing is done.
Nor does it seem likely that House Joint Resolution 1, sponsored
by Messrs. Deveau, Dittman, Hansen and Jensen will excite the very
considerable effort which will be required if solutions are going
to be found.
If the federal government is unwilling — oar unable — to under
take this responsibility, then it seems clear to us that this then
becomes an obligation of the State of Alaska. It would, not in all
probability prove nearly as costly to subsidize a substantial fishery
effort in the Bering Sea as it is to underwrite ferry losses; but the
arguments advanced for one are equally compelling for the other
with this exception: that where Southeastern Alaska already had a
highly developed economy, with limiter exception the Bering Sea
roast is starkly deVoid of even the most precarious local fiidustry
and development. **' '■■■'.-jc- ■ . ■■ . b a. •
We realize, as well as anyone can that $76 million is an awful
lot of money. Somewhere in this budget there must be enough slack
so the State iLegislature can do something about the Bering Sea
fisheries besides writing resolutions to Congress. Resolutions woh’t
solve this problem, rt’s going to take some pretty dristlc actiofa —
and if Washington won’t do It, then the State rifiust. * *- f
f ■
Atomic Scientist
Assailed for
Disclosing Info *.
On Nuclear Tests
WASHINGTON iM — A mem
| her of the Senate-House Commit
tee on Atomic Energy said
Saturday atomic scientist Hans
Bethe disclosed information about
Russia’s recent nuclear tests that
should not have been made public.
Rep. Melvin Price, (D-Hl.), de
scribed as “most unfortunate”
some of the statements Bethe
made in a lecture at Cornell Uni
versity Jan. 5. He did not specify
to which statements he was re
ferring.
Bethe was quoted at the time
as saying the Russian tests ap
parently were devoted to develop
ing a warhead for a missile
similar to this country’s Minute
man, which can be stored under
ground for protection from initial
attack.
He expressed hope Russians
would succeed in developing a
“secure” secondary striking force.
He commented that “this also
will contribute to stability and
will remove any incentive for the
Russians to strike first.”
In his lecture, Bethe said the
United States had determined
that a 60-megaton bomb exploded
during the Soviet tests had “a
lead jacket around the fusion
materials and gave only a few
megatons fission.
“Thus the Russians reduced the
fallout, especially that which
might have fallen on their own
country,” he said. “If the lead
were replaced by uranium, the
Russian device would give 100
megatons or slightly more.”
Bethe served on the govern
ment’s panel of experts that ana
lyzed the Soviet tests. The
Washington Post said Saturday
that Bethe probably faces at least
an official reprimand for his re
marks. •
The Post quoted Bethe as saying
his talk contained nothing that
had not already appeared in the
press. He mentioned Newsweek
magazine and the Washington
Rtarr
Bethe last year's winner of the
Atomic Energy Commission’s
$50,000 Enrico Fermi Award for
hi* contribution; to this country’s
atomic development. ' - h
BASKETBALL NEWS
Three games of the Little Lea
gue Tournament were played last
Saturday. Two remaining games
will be played, as preliminaries to
tjie City league games on Tues
day and Friday of this week.
Tournament Results: " 4
North Star 9—Nome Nuggets 2
N.C. 8—-Nome Druggists il5
Bering Sea 20—Bronson’s $
A change of schedule has been
made for the City (League for the
final two games:
Tuesday. Feb. 13
7:30—Jaycees vs. Merchants
9:00—ANB vs. Polar IJomets
Friday. Feb. U
7:30—ACS vs. Merchants
9:00—ANB vs. JayceOs.
GLUE POT
Soda Fountain
Cigars—Cigarette*
'
Fresh Ice Cream
'■&r •■ ■'(%) c.: hrt
Every Day
When Congress Gets Too Nosey . . .
Presidents Assert “Executive Privilege”
By
James Marlow
Associated Press News Analyst
WASHINGTON UP) — President
Kennedy has distinguished com
pany in refusing to let Congress
get to nosey. Presidents from
Washington to Eisenhower have
done the same.
Through American history Pres
idents have reasoned this way:
The Constitution separates the
powers of the three branches of
government: “Congress, the Ex
ecutive headed by the President,
and Federal Courts.
So the President can assert his
“Executive Privilege” — when he
thinks it’s in the public interest—
to refuse Congress’ request for
certain information from the Ex
ecutive Branch.
Who decides what’s in the pub
lic interest? The President says
he does in this case. Does he have
the right to refuse? He thinks so.
The third branch, headed by the
Supreme Court, has never ruled
on it.
Congress has never forced it to
a showdown. So it has only been
a test of wills so far between
Presidents and Congress. Now
Congress is heading into another
test.
A Senate subcommittee investi
gating Pentagon censoring of
speeches by the military brass has
demanded that Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara reveal the
names of his men who censored
specific speeches.
McNamara refused. Wednesday
Kennedy backed him up publicly.
McNamara has given the commit
tee his censors’ names and back
ground. But he will not disclose
which one of them changed what
in what speech.
If he did, almost certainly the
individual censors would be call
ed before the subcommittee and
extensively quizzed on why he
did what he did. Kehnedy didn’t
speak of this kind of thing as
quizzing.
He said it would be an “harass
ment” of men who were only
earning out policies dilated bj
their superiors. McNamara says
he takes full responsibility for
what they^m^ ^ * ”
Kennedy said he would involve
“Executive Privilege” If necessary
td‘ -protect censors. He mhy have
to. The subcommittee decided to
Insist • bn its demand.
Eisenhower ran into the same
dad of thing ~ and reacted the
same way — in 1954 when a Sen
ate committee holding the Army
MoCarthy hearings demanded in
formation about a secret meeting
of Eisenhower’s top aides.
Eisenhower at the time cited
some other Presidents who took
the same position, from Washing
ton to Truman. The latter refused
Congress 10 times.
Eisenhower said:
“The messages of our past
Presidents reveal that almost
everyone of them found it neces
sary to inform Congress of his
constitutional duty to execute the
office of the President and, in fur
therance of that duty, to with
hold information and papers for
the public good.”
By the reckoning of Herman
Wolkinson, a Justice Department
attorney, and a specialist in this
field, at least *18 of the 34 Presi
dents at one time or another took
this stand. Kennedy would be the
19th.
$167,750 to Be Spent
For Exploring Gold
PORTLAND UP) — The De
partment of Interior announced
Saturday that $167,750 will be
spent exploring for gold at the
Mikado claims of the Chandalar
Mining District near Fairbanks.
D. R. MacLaren, acting field
officer for the Office of Minerals
Exploration at Spokane, said the
government had signed a contract
with the Little Squaw Mining Co.
af Alaska to do the work. The
government and the company
will split the $167,750 expense,
MacLaren said.
He Said it is part of the federal
program to aid in the discovery
of additional mineral reserves.
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