THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday, by The Nome
Publishing Company, Nome, Alaska.
Telephone Mam 114 P. O. Box 518
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National Advertising Representative
Frank J. Dunning, 1011 American Bank Bldg., Seattle, Washington
Entered in the Post Office in Nome as 2nd Class Matter
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hospitalsf
And Herring
(Juneau Empire)
. It is encouraging to read that
the Senate has added to the In
terior Department supply bill ap
propriations of $250,000 for treat
ment of tubercular Alaska In
dians, $34,000 for investigation of
causes of depletion of the Alas
ka herring supply and $25,000 to
continue the study of the king
crab fisheries.
As we have contended in these
columns many times, facilities
for. the treatment of tuberculosis
are Alaska's greatest need. The
hospital which the Senate wants
built will be a big step toward
the day when we will really be
able to cope with the disease in
the North.
The appropriation for the Her
ring study brings to the nation's
attention a critical situation in an
industry vital to national defense
as well as Alaska ecenomy. Prin
cipally because the money for
scientific research has not been
available in the past, the Fish
and Wildlife Service this year
cut herring quotas and closed
reduction plants with the result
that Alaska's normal production
of herring oil will be halved. The
defense industries which rely up
on herring oil — and there arc
such industries — will be serious
ly hampered until production can
be pushed back to the previous
yield of approximately 5,t;00.000
gallons of oil.
The $34,000 will enable the
Fish and Wildlife Service to con
duct a limited year-round survey
of the fishing grounds. The spawn
ing grounds of the herring in
Southeast Alaska, Prince William
Sound and the Kodiak district
will be studied. The tagging of
fish, now carried on in a limited
way in Southeast Alaska, will be
extended to the other two main
herring districts in order to learn
•the migration habits of the fish
and give a better indication as
to the abundance of fish in those
areas. The existence of such a re
search program will undoubtedly
enable the Fish and Wildlife Ser
vice to meet the present emer
gency by relaxing somewhat the
restrictions placed on the indus
try.
The war has cut off from Am
erican industry the supplies of
Norwegian cod and herring oil
normally used for vitamin feed
ing of poultry, cattle, and other
stock, for the tanning of leather,
lor paint and soap manufacture.
These processors have turned to
Alaska herring oil as a substi
tute, making it imperative that
domestic production be kept at
the highest possible level. Tire
leather people, busy on defense
orders, are particularly concern
ed. The importance of a full op
eration of the herring reduction
plants in Alaska has been recog
nized by the Bureau of Materials
of the Office of Production Man
agement. And the President, by a
proclamation issued March 27,
has put fish oil under the export
control system.
In order to work out fishing
regulations, the Fish and Wildlife
Service conducts a program of
scientific research. With regard
■to the herring industry, however
the extent of that research, due
to the small budget available to
the Service, is such as to make
estimates of the abundance of fish
very difficult. The present Alaska
lierring investigation has a staff
of only one man and operates on
^ a budget of $7,500, which must
include wages, transportation,
maintenance in the field scientific
equipment, and so forth. It is
patently impossible to conduct a
survey of a complex industry
stretching over a couple of thou
sand miles of coast line with such
limited facilities. Lacking suffic
ient data, the Fish and Wildlife
Services has had to pretty much
shoot in the dark on quotas for
the herring industry. The Service
has taken the position that to err
on the side of conservation is
wiser than to take a chance on
depletion.
There is an element of grim
humcr in the fact that the regula
tions cutting down on Alaska's
herring oil production were is
sued by the Department of the In
terior on March 4. For Germany
and Britain are waging in the
North Sea a side battle for fish
oil. And it was on March 4 the
English Navy staged its sensation
al raid on the Lofoten Islands.
The raid's purpose was to destroy
the herring-oil factories and stor
age tanks.
A few days ago the papers car
ried a Stockholm dispatch stat
ing that fish —hungry Norway’s
last unrationed food —would be
henceforth rigidly controlled. No
cod or herring can be sold fresh
for food or salted dowm without
a special permit from the Nazis.
According to the article, this step
was taken so that the bulk of all
fish caught can be reduced to fish
oil and fish meal. The brown
shirt blitzkreig machine needs
fats and vitamins to balance the
diet of the army and of industrial
labor. And even more important,
the news story continues, fish oil
is an important element in the
, manufacture of certain explosiv
: es.
Germany's gain is our loss. Am
erica’s leather-tanning industry
la t year used 12.000.000 pounds
of Norwegian cod oil. With the
source of supply cut off, it had to
find a domestic sub-titute. The
mixers of cattle and chicken
foods, the paint manufacturers,
and others are in the same fix.
These people find that Alaska's
herring oil fills the bill. The prob
lem is to secure a sufficient sup
ply.
This appropriation for scientif
ic study will help us accomplish
it. The $34,000 involved is small.
The industry's stake —$6,000,000
— is large. Labor’s stake — 1,200
jobs — is important, Above all,
the considerations of national do
fense demand that we take this
step toward a permanent solu
tion of the herring production
problem.
Unusual Menace
Of Dry Season
At no time has the tundra fire
menace to Seward Peninsula been
so fraught with possible disas
trous consequences than right
now.
The prevailing dry spell serves
well to emphasize the extraordin
ary dangers now confronting the
region.
Heretofore tundra fires have
been a menace chiefly to towns,
mining camps and the game and
wild life supply. Now, with the
many new army and aviation and
other projects throughout the
territory, involving an invest
ment of millions, they also are ex
posed to extraordinary dangers
from uncontrollable flames in the
open.
The Alaska Fire Control ser
vice has called on the public to
cooperate in combatting the men
ace.
The service stands ready to
fight the flames in any area ac
cessible, but its numbers are lim
ited and volunteers or other help
ers are few.
The area to be guarded is so
vast, the number of available
fighters so few, the task is al
most overwhelming if once sev
eral fires get started.
Obviously the best way to fight
a tundra fire, is to avert its start
ing. The suggestions on how tov
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THE WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROUND
By Dr w Pearson
and Robert S. Allen
WASHINGTON — Behind all
the guessing and speculation over
convoys aroused by the Presi
dent's fireside chat is this one
basic fact. The old-fashioned
form of convoy already is out
moded, and, as Roosevelt indicat
ed it will not be used. But the
new -fashioned form of convoy, as
described recently, already is in
use and will be intensified.
This is convoy by airplane pat
rol, using airplane carriers and
nearby islands for bases. The
destruction of the Bismark show
td how effective this airplane
1 convey could be.
Airplane flying above the wa
ter can sight the submarine be
low the water miles away, where
as a surface vessel cannot sight
a submarine more than a mile or
so away. Therefore you can ex
pect to see a network of United
States airplanes, criss-crossing
back and forth across the north
Atlantic, assisted in part by sur
face warships, but extending all
the way to Ireland. <■ *—•
THE PACIFIC FLEET
With this settled, the most im
do this are innumerable.
Most people know what pre
cautions to take. Others should
not be slow in learning. Scarcely
an individual in the land can
hope to escape the consequences
or suffer in some degree when
such fires get under way and be
come common.
All-out cooperation and vigi
lance should be the slogan in ev
ery locality in this vast region.
portant strategic problem being
discussed in backstage Navy cir
cles is that of bringing the migh
ty Pacific fleet from that ocean in
to the Atlantic to prevent Nazi
st :zure of the mid-Atlaintc is
I lands and to be ready for other
! may r eventualities.
Every detail in connection with
1 -nich a shift has been discussed.
A: d while there have been some
hr t behind-the-scenes arguments
the re thing upon which the ad
miruls all agree is that the fleet
mus- be kept together. To split
it into small units and send some
of them to the Atlantic, in their
opnon, would be dssstrous. Bat
tleships must have their accom
yirg cruisers, destroyers, etc.,
and they cannot be divided.
Naturally, the idea of the fleet
withdrawing from the Pacific is
enough to raise the hair on the
heads of most people on the West
Coast. However the Navy has
worked out a plan whereby it is
confiident that the West Coast
would be n no real danger.
Ths plan is extremely import
ant, because it illustrates the new
type of warfare made possible by
the long distance bomber. Also
it gives the key to Roosevelt’s
convoy plans. Finally it illustrat
es what the Nazis could do to
the United States if the plan
were reversed in the Atlantic.
Key to the plan is Hawaii and
the Aleutian Island. The admirals
are reasonably confident that long
distance patrol planes ranging
out fqom Hawaii in the mid
Pacific and from the Aleutians in
the north Pacific would be suf
ficient to spot any Japanese ship
approaching American waters.
And air torpedoes of the type
■which crippled the Bismark
could do the rest. In fact, the
entire Bismark incident has been
a striking demonstration that
long distance bombers plus is
land bases have revolutionized
I warfare in both oceans.
AZORES AND CANARIES
Now if you transpose the map
of the Pacific onto the map oi
the Atlantic, you will also get
1 an idea of why Roosevelt bore
down so heavily on the import
ance of the Azores, the Canary
1 and Cape Verde islands in his
fireside chat. For the Azores are
! the Hawaii of the mid-Atlantic.
1 while the Canaries and Cape
1 Verdes might be compared to the
Aleutians—in reverse positions.
Whoever holds these stepping
stones across the Atlantic car
sweep that ocean with naval pat
rol planes and bombers, .just as
the U. S. fleet can sweep the Pac
ific from Hawaii and the Aleu
: tians.
If we hold these Atlantic Ls
1 lands, then we hold the gateway
to the Atlantic. If Hitler holds
them, he controls the first step
toward Brazil—and the rest of
the way is easy. These were some
' of the things Roosevelt studied
on the large-scale maps of the
Navy Department before he
, made his broadcast.
i
Old Papers For Sale
Buy them by the bundle, Use
them for starting fires. For Sale
i tt The Nome Nugget.
TH1AT.
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^_MANAGEMENT C.H.CODE
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with WALLACE BEERY—TOM BROWN—ALAN CURTIS
lie Sprung the Trap on His Son to Save Olliers
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with CAROLE LOMBARD—CARY GRANT—KAY FRANCIS
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TWO SHOWS: SUNDAY, 7:15 & 9 Adm. 55c & 25*
“MAN ABOUT TOWN”
with JACK BENNY—DOROTHY LAMOUR—EDWARD ARNOLD
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and “SNAPSHOT” No. 10
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PASSENGERS AND EXPRESS TO
ALL PARTS OF ALASKA
Approximately One Dollar of Each Fare j ‘
Is Spent for Passenger Insurance
I WIEN ALASKA AIRLINES
I NOME FAIRBANKS
PAN - AMERICAN DIPLOMATS II EAR PRESIDENT WARN HITLER
i
i
Surrounded by representatives of the American republics, with m embers of their families, President Roosevelt broadcast his radio
declaration from Washington, D. C., that the U. S. would resist N azi attempts at world conquest. He spoke ftjom the historic East
Room of the White House with its famous crystal chandeliers.