THE NOME NUGGET
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THE WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROUND
l _
Ey Drew Pearson and
Robert S. Allen
WASHINGTON — For eight
long years the United States has
been striving to build up the
Good Neighbor policy. It has urg
ed American business men to
give more attention to Latin Am
erica, has besought Latin Ameri
cans to buy more goods from the
United States, hgs extended half
a billion dollars’ worth of cre
dits to Latin American govern
ments in this country.
But in a few short weeks a few
red - tape - minded bureaucrats
have virutally undone all this 8
years’ endeavor. Thanks to Ex
port Control, thousands of Latin
American orders for U. S. goods
©re blocked.
While on the fifth floor of the
Comerce Department, Secretary
Jesse Jones extends millions in
credtits to Latin American gov
ernments to buy U. S. goods, on
the first floor of the Commerce
Department Brigadier General
Russell L. Maxwell, who runs
the office of Export Control, pre
vents those goods from being
shipped.
For instance, the State Depart
ment, after months of diplomatic
dickering, arranged with Brazil
to establish important air bases
in the bu'ge of Brazil opposite
the vital air route by which Hit
ler could attack from Dakar,
West Africa. Brazil, though a
warm friend of the United Stat
es, was not superenthusiastic
about there air ba=es because no
government welcomes foreign
military establishments on its
own soil. Neverthele-s, Brazil
consented.
Simultaneously and to aid the
United States in establishing
these bases, Brazil consented to
biuld strategic highways to thes
airdromes in the heart of the
jungle. To build these roads Bra
zil needed road-building machin
ery. Through credits extended
by Jesse Jones, bulldozers, trac
tors, etc., were ordered from In
ternational Harvester Company.
This order was placed last
spring but so far Brigadier Gen
eral Maxwell has not permitted
the machinery to move. With one
stroke of the pen he has undone
all the diplomatic negotiations
with Brazil.
NOTE:—In another instance of
this kind. $72,000 worth of TNT
ordered by Argentina and ready
to be loaded on a ship dispatch
ed specially for this purpose was
directed elsewhere. Finally, just
es the ship was getting ready to
leave empty-handed, the British
made available a quantity of
TNT that they were about to
©hip to England.
Agentina Press Rebuffed
- Another good friend of the
United States in Latin America is
tie powerful newspaper, La Na
tion, in Buenos Aire. It has been
a vigorous opponent of Hitler
and a strong friend of the Unit
ed States. It exercises tremen
dous influence throughout South
America. In mid-summer La Na
tion needed to repair its type,
asked to buy a small amount of
zinc in the United States. But so j
far General Maxwell has not cut1
red tape sufficiently to permit
the zinc to move. The State De
partment has been dinning at
him. The Argentine Embassy has
been requesting speed. But no
thing has happened.
Thus we promote Latin Ameri
can good will at present.
NOTE: Argentine packers have]
large orders from U. S. firms for:
canned beef. But, because of ob
structions here, the packers can’t
get the necesary tin cans to fill .
the orders. Naturally this does
not endear the U. S. to Argentine
business men.
Red Tape Mogul
Some of this shutting-off of
Latin American shipments is nec
I essary for National Defense, but
much of it is plain, ordinary red
i tape which could be cut by any
| one save tap fie-worshiping Gen
I oral Maxwell.
General Maxwell is a regular
army officer who takes great
pains to impress upon other gov
eminent officials the fact that he
reports only to the President of
the United States and can slip in
and out of the White House like
an animated shuttlecock.
Result of General Maxwell's
! activities is two fo d:
(1) A number of American
firms are doing business through
branches in Canada. Canada has
no export regultions on ship
ments to South America, so U.
S. firms ship to Canada, then to
South America. Thus our export
restrictions intended to help Brit
ain are being circumvented in
ritish territory.
(2) Latin American govern
ments are tending to adopt the
same technique which we and
they so sevcrly criticized on the
part of the Soviet government.
They are pooling all purchases
from te United States. Thus in
stead of one company’s ordering
direct from New York, all com
panies in a Latin American coun
try will order through a govern
ment agency. Tlvs is done on the
direct suggestion of the U. S.
State Department so it will not
have to pass upon the relative
merits of, for instance, zinc to
La Nacion as against great paper.
La Nacion a; against zinc to an
other great paper. La Prensa.
Nevertheless, this sytem. if ear
ried on after the war, will set up
"Sovi.t” buying agencies where
by Latin American governments
can pool purchases from Japan,
Germany, or whichever country
gives them the cheapest price, in
stead of old-fas'nioncd purchases
direct between firm and firm.
Several South American coun
tries also have been quietly con
sidering setting up government
import monopolies by means of
, which they could bar all U. S.
goods unless the U. S. suupplies
them with the requirements they
wanted.
NOTE:— Close to $170,000,000
worth of defense and non-de
fense orders from Latin Ameri
ca have been tied up on one
ground or another. Practically
all of these orders wore financed
out of the $473,000,000 so far loan
ed South American countries by
the U. S. to promote inter-hemi
spheric trade and defense.
Auto Salesman
OPM Director Bill Knudsen
hasn't lost the knack of salesman
ship since going to work for the
government as a $l-a-year-man.
The former General Motors presi
dent recently sold a used car to
Donald Nelson, OPM purchasinf
chief. However. Knudsen credits
his amiable chauffeur, Bob, with
an "assist” on the sale.
Knudsen drives a shiny Cadil
lac sedan, which he usually turns
back to General Motors after it
has gone 5,000 miles and gets a
new one. The other day he was
; giving Nelson a lift down town
when the chauffeur noted that
the speedometer had reached the
. 5.000-mile mark.
“I guess we’ll have to return
1 this buggy, Mr. Knudsen,” said
| Bob, sadly, “and I sure hate to
j lose it. It’s the best car I’ve ever
driven. Handles like a dream and
the motor’s perfect. Why don’t
, you buy it, Mr. Nelson ”
"Say, that’s an idea,” broke in
| Knudsen. “You need a car, Don,
| and you can’t do better than this
one. I”1 make the price right.”
The OPM boss mentioned a
: figure.
“It’s a deal,” said Nelson, add
ing with a grin: "But remember,
I demand the usual 90-day guar
antee.”
In this time of national emer
gency your country needs your
help. Buy Defense Savings Bonds
and Stamps regularly.
Current Comments
From Washington
o
The text of ths Anglo-Ameri
can concord was so lucid, and
the radio commentators who fol
lowed the London speaker cover
ed the ground so thoroughly,
•hat there is little to be added.
The agreement did not go nearly
; so far as the average listener ex
| pected. It was simp v a summing
| up and a crystallization of what
j had been said already, just as
j the Ten Commandments swept
j together i:; concrete form, rules
of action that had long been re
: garded as sound. The enforce
' ment of the terms of the agree
! ment is a long way off. and the
way leading thither will be hard
, to travel.
_
| Perhaps the foregoing words
' about the roughness of the road
I might better have been left un
: printed, since nothing would
p ease Mr. Hitler so perfectly as
to have the rest of the world
pause and consider, while he
' forges ahead. Yet the potential
ities at his command are enor
1 mous. With rural Europe con
i verted into one big German
1 farm, and industrial Europe turn
ted into one big German work
[ shop, the Nazis can fight for a
I long time. Maybe the strongest
assisting force toward Hitler’s
downfall resides in the possibil
ity of insurrection and rebellion,
| in the Fatherland itself, in con
| quered lands, or in both.
i The foundation for such a move
ment must be a reasonable hope
( of success. It lies within the pow
' er of democracies to lay a founda
tian of that kind, and to build
upon it. They had better fall to
work, and with speed, even
though, in the trend of events,
; some of the structure has to be
I torn down and rebuilt. Freedom
i and liberty are more than plea
j sant generalizations, to be trot
' ted out once a year by the
Fourth of July orator. As to the
truth of that statement, let the
individual Hollander, Belgian or
j Pole be called as a witness.
Increasing National Debt
The national debt is said to be
increasing at the rate of $277
per second. If the outlay were j
represented by autos of the bet
ter grade, they would ome honk-;
: ing out of the plant'at the rate
of twelve per minute, day and
night, and some fast driving
1 wou d have to be done in order
to avoid a traffic jam. That de
fense work does not lag is made
manifest by the fact that the pres
■ ent outlay for that purpose is j
represented with a fair degree of
accuracy bythe easily remember
| ed jingle: A billion and and a
; half in a month and a half.
The rapid rise in the national
debt was caused, to some extent,
by large sales of defense bonds
during the period mentioned, A
contributing factor was the sell-)
ing of certificates to be used in
the payment of taxes. It might I
seem that paper of that kind \
should not be considered as a |
: federal burden, since it will be
! turned in as the taxes fall due, i
but the contemplated system is, |
not to tear up the tax notes and;
“forget it,” but to replace them |
by bonds or other evidence of
indebtedness.
New Explosive?
Science, like the national debt,
is making progress, though mov
ing less rapidly. After at least a
decade of research and experi
ment, a manufacturer exhibits a
mar having a body made of plas
tics, and as durable as steel.
| More sensational is the alleged
approach to perfection of tightly
censored explosive so powerful
that a ten or fiften pound chunk
of it will blast out a hole twenty
five miles in diameter and a mile
deep, every building within a
radius of a hundred miles going
down for the count. Such a sub
stance ould be put to good use
right now, but until a fair sized
excavation actually has been
made by a bomb no larger than a
mustard seed, most persons will
be inclined to claim residence in
Missouri.
8-Hour Day Suspended
In suspending the eight hour
NOME RED CROSS
PACKAGE IS READY
Throughout the summer, many
women in Nome, as elsewhere
over the country, have been busy
sewing and knitting with mat
erials that have been donated
for use in the American Wo
men’s Volunteer Services.
The Nome Unit now has an
other box ready for shipment to
Juneau where the garments will
be repacked and sent with others
to England. In the box are 6
nightgowns, 1 pair socks, 2 two
piece children's sets, 2 three
piece hildren's sets, 1 sweater,
1 pair mittens. This brings the
total number of garments ship
ped this season to 72. Approxi
mately $30 worth of yarn has
been used in these garments, as
well as some which has been
donated.
This activity is not to be con
fused with the knitting and sew
ing which is being done for the
American Red Cross with mater
ials furnished by that organiza
tion. However, many people are
sewing for both causes. The
group which has been meeting
once a week at the Territorial
school will continue their work,
sewing in the home economics
room on Saturday afternoons at
one o'clock instead of on Thurs
days.
A shipment of Red Cross mater
ials is expected on the Suther
land. It will include 86 pounds of
yarn and 43 yards of cloth to be
made up into Women's dresses.
All women of the community
who are interested in these re
lief projects are Invited to join
the group next Saturday, Sep
tember 13. Sewing is in charge
of Mrs. Andrew Nerland and the
knitting is under the direction of
Mrs. A. Polet.
2 REPORTED ILL WITH
SMALLPOX AT ANCHORAGE
Two cases of smallpox were re
ported on the outskirts of An
chorage last week and the city
health officer immediately urged
vaccination for all persons to pre
vent a spread of the disease.
Coming a week before the op
ening of school, arrangements
were made for careful enforce
ment of regulations forbidding
unvacinated children to enroll
for classes.
Dr. Harold Sogn, city health
officer, said there was no cause
for alarm as the two cases had
been quarantined and all presons
in contact with them have been
vainated. He said the original
case came from out of Anchorage
and has ben in the vicinty for
only a short time.
At the same time, it was point
ed out that smallpox is highly
cotnagious and may strike un
vaccinated persons of all ages.
Occasionally) those who have
been vaccinated contract it but
for them it is in mild form and
never fatal. To be effective, the
vaccination shoul be repeated ev
ery five years.
Beause of the imumnization
program conducted in Anchorage
last February, most of the chil
dren in the city are reported to
be safe from smallpox and diph
theria, but there are some who
did not undergo the treatment.
Any person developing a rash
should seek medical attention im
mediately and avoid exposing
other persons. Smallpox usually
develops in 9 to 21 days after ex
posure. Common symptoms are
chills, headache, sever pains in
the back, vomiting, rapid pulse
and quick rise in temperature.
These precede the rash.
SOURDOUGH STATIONERY
Write to your friends and rela
tives on the ‘Outside,’ using Sour
dough Stationery. They’ll get a
big kick out of it.
day rule on defense work for the
War Department, President
Roosevelt adhered to a precedent
set by Mr. Wilson many years
ago. The other picture presents
fully twenty-five strikes with
which the Department has to con
tend. No attempt is made in this
column to justify or condemn
strikes, or to discuss division of
profits. The entire subject is dis
missed with the observation that
the federal government has one
more problem, and a serious one,
on its hands.
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CLOAK OF JUSTICE —Robert H. Jackson (right), retir
ing as attorney general to become a supreme court justice, gets
judicial robe from Acting Attorney General Francis Biddle as
j Jackson’s wife (t'*£t rear) and daughter, Mary, look on. ,
s’