OQtfUdinif Hit tArmi of es/fltoskcCb <y4{oxt vVisloHc p/dand
| Published every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
' ( Yearly Subscription Rate $7.00
Second Class mail privileges authorized at Kodiak, Alaska
Send notices of undeliverable copies to:
THE ISLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY
Box 1307, Kodiak, Alaska
Sig J. Digree, Editor and Publisher
Betha Digree, Executive Secretary
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
rhe Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use or republica
f ton of all nows dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in
this paper and also the local news published herein.
A Message on Making Christmas Last
By DR, EDWIN T. DAHLBERG
(The Rev. Dahlberg, D.D.,
pastor of the Delmar Baptist
Church in St. Louis, Mo., is
president of the National
, Council of Churches.)
t --— *
■ The United SUtes has welcomed
into its fellowship what might be
palled our Christmas state—Alas
ka.
It .was my good: fortune last
veor to enjoy the Alaskan Chrj&ff
mas whde on a Christmas mission
^ • (he armed forces of the Alas
kan Comniand. It was like a visit
to a wir^^r fairyland. Every tree
was a frosted Christmas tree—
every bush a crash.of jewels, Even
(the telephone wires and electric
cables wgre like ropes of silver
tinsel strung from pole to pole.
When Santa Claus—a lone ted fig
ure against the sparkling snow
far beneath our plane—personally
waved us down to the landing
strip, the illusion was complete.
Nor was it an illusion. For the
Christmas carols, the worship sef
■viees in the churches and the mili
tary chapels, the Christmas lights
in the windows, all made clear
that Christ—the One who is the
heart of Christmas—was not for
gotten.''With what a sense of exal
tation did we sing amidst the Alas
kan snows, thousands of miles
away from Bethlehem, the im
mortal words:
‘ Joy to the world.
The Lord is come!”
Christmas is such a meaningful
season that certainly its spirit
should Tint hp pnnfinAd fn Hip OSfh
>f December.
There are simple outward ways
by which we can celebrate Christ
mas aU the 365 days of the year.
I know a woman, for instance,
who some months a20 ^"cided to
make every smppmc
perienee of Christmas friendli
ness, regardless of seasons. Espe
cially does she try to find some
good reason for complimenting
every sales girl for the most ord
inary service.
The whole year has been a very
happy one for this Christinas ex
perimenter. Planning ahead, she
does much of her Christmas shop
ping during the summer vacation
period in the gift shops along the
highway. With the help of her
deep freeze, she even makes her
Christmas cookies long weeks
ahead, so that she has more time
to think of the real meaning of
Christmas when the time actually
comes.
In the larger areas of life we
should be able to expand the
4 4 - .**J . . .'•> ... , k : ,
Christmas season in every direc
tion.
This is particularly true in the
field of race relations. How many
people there are who, like Joseph
and Mary, can find no room at the
inn, not because there is no room,
but because restaurants, hotels,
and motels all over the land re
- fuse to open their doors to peoole
of other color. A hotel cle”k in ?
northern community even called
the police when one of my Negro
friends, a distinguished Christian
educator, inquired at the desk late
one evening for a room. What a
long way to Christmas! And yet
htpW . near, when the spirit of
dtgpst is re-born in the human
A- major Christmas enterprise
the year around should certainly
be an. all-out effort for world
peace also.
It is good to see in the rear win
dows of many cars on the high
ways the little sign, “Pray for
Peace.” But it is not enough to
pray for peace. We must work for
peace, too. For thousands of years
we have prayed to the God of
Jesus Christ for peace, but
through all that time we have
worked for the god of war, build
ing our whole economy around
military preparations.
Instead of being content with
Christmas rehearsals of peace,
with shepherds kneeling at the
manger of Bethlehem, wise men
bringing their gifts, and radiant
young angels singing “Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth,
oeace. eood will to men.” is it nnt
time that we should begin answer
ing our own prayers by an actual
performance of peace? We can
not continue armament races,
bomb tests, and programs of mas
sive retaliation and expect to have
peace at the same time. History
ias given that kind of double-talk
Christmas the lie.
We need a new kind of inter
continental Christmas missile:
loaves of bread for the hungry,
hope for the poor, work for the
jobless, medical care for the sick,
education for the illerate, release
for the prisoner, compassion for
the brokenhearted. Above all, the
gospel of Jesus Christ for the
lost—the good news of a God who
loves us and wants us for His
own.
“A merry heart,” said the an
cient Hebrew writer in Proverbs
17:22, “doeth good like medicine.”
What better medicine for the
world than to develop the equiva
lent of a Merry Christmas greeting
for every morning of 1959?
Alaskan Reindeer
Go to Washington
WASHINGTON OR — Fourteen
reindeer and caribou arinred here
recently as a Christinas gift t<]
ihe nation from Alaska.
But soon there’ll be more. Eight
of the reindeer are expecting
little ones. The herd traveled
5,100 miles from Kotzebue, Alaska,
to Washington by plane, railroad,
ship or truck.
They will take part in the an
nual pageant of peace, and will
then become permanent residents
of the National Zoological Park.
Here, There and Everywhere
By SIG DIGREE
Its nice to be able to fit peo
ple into certain categories. In fact,
it can be an amusing game when
one has the time to play at it.
Even editors can be fitted into
categories—even more so—since
by their writings they reveal their
thoughts and feelings about events
and happenings.
What manner of man is the typi
cal “country editor”? is the ques
tion posed by “The American
Press,” an independent magazine
for home town newspapers, in a
recent issue.
The magazine has made 25 sur
veys in the past five years among
country editors of the nation.
They state they have learned he
does fall into the category which
might be called Stubborn Ameri
canism.
They say: “Of course, we do not
pretend to believe that all country
editors are alike. There are radi
cal editors, liberal editors, con
servative editors, crackpots, intei
li^e-’sia and ‘just ordinary’ among
the 9 000 odd men and women who
edit the nation’s small town
press.”
The writer goes on to say that
the majority of editors oppose any
legislation calling for increased
welfare activity on the part of the
federal government: they favor
any move to curb , labor union ac
tivities; they will fight handouts
to any group—whether it is to
farmers, veterans, the aged, or
even a group of which they might
be apart, and they will back any
moves to shift power from the
federal to the state governments.
“Mollycoddling” by government
is one of the pet hates of the coun
try editor. “His heroes are the
founding fathers of our cation who
believed in a minimum amount
of government and a maximum of
maiviauai ireeuom.
“He has swallowed hard to ac
cept Social Security; he accepts
the foreign aid with many misgiv
ings; farm supports are contrary
to his philosophy; he is a cham
pion of free enterprise, and the
freer the better.”
Percentagewise, as revealed in
these polls, 78% voted against in
creases in Social Security bene
fits; and only 45% voted in favor
of extending unemployment to
federal workers.
58% opposed any federal aid to
schools in a poll conducted in
1957. 76% felt that adequate local
plans were being made to take
care of future growth. One editor
expressed a generally accept view
when he said: “Municipalities
should take care of their own
school problems. History has
shown that government aid event
ually leads to government control.
Farm Programs. Country edi
tors were cool to government aid
to farmers. In 1953, 60% voted in
favor of reducing subsidies. In
1955, 72% opposed going back to
90% parity; in 1956 and 1957, 78%
oposed returning to the old parity
system.
Foreign Relations. In 1955, 49%>
voted to eliminate foreign aid en
tirely and a sizeable number be
lieved it should at least be dras
tically reduced. Sharing nuclear
secrets with our allies was oppos
ed by 71%. 71% were willing to
give the president increased pow
er to use U. S. forces, if necessary
to stop aggression in the Middle
East.
Taxes. “A staunch sense of re
sponsibility is indicated among
country editors by their insistence
upcn a balanced federal budget
and debt reduction before taxes
are reduced,” the magazine found.
70% favored debt reduction be
fore reduction of taxes.
Publishers are almost unani
mously in favor of increasing
taxes on cooperatives. In 1954
85% favored taxing cooperatives
“in the same manner as other
businesses,”. and in 1957, 86% fa
vored this.
They favored taxes on liquor
and tobacco, on gasoline, but not
automobiles. If we ever get to the
point where personal taxes are
reduced, 62% of the editors, ac
cording to a 1957 poll, would fa
vor an increase in the personal
exemptions.
THE LAST WORD
We comment for the last time
this year on politics, people, life
and foibles generally with the
timeliest comment of all: To all
of you, here, there and every
where—a Merry Christmas. May
the year 1959 offer each and all
of you much to live for and us
much to write about.
-“**HAPPY
HOLI DAY SEASON
When ♦K# flurry at grtatiaga
inow you under
rloro'i a wi»H wa'd (ike to add . .
May this ba tKa meaat Chmtmaa
fbat you Kara aver bad.
THOMPSON
TRANSFER
KODIAK OUTFITTERS
BANK OF KODIAK
MAY HEALTH,
GOOD CHEER,
HAPPINESS
be yours
this
Christmas
and through
The New Year