THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P.O. Box 618
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E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879. »
WHAT WOULD GRANDPA SAY ?
ALASKA WAITS HER TURN
(Reprinted from the New York Times of Febduary 9, 1953)
Whether the present Congress and administration
will give us two new states, or one new state, or no new
state is uncertain. The Republican platform promised
immediate statehood for Hawaii and statehood for Al
aska under an equitable enabling act. The suspicion
was that an excuse would be found to postpone Alaskan
statehood. General Eisenhower, during his campaign,
went beyond this device, if such it was. He advocated
the quick admission of both Alaska and Hawaii. In his
message on the state of the Union he still urged the
admission of Hawaii but said nothing about Alaska.
We have no reason to question the President’s good
faith. What he is now advocating is probably what he
thinks this Congress at session will accept. But it
would be ingenuous for anybody to believe that the
reasons usually advanced against Alaskan statehood
at this time—inadequate population, pioneer stage of
development, need for more experience in self-govern
ment, etc.—are the really compelling ones. Self inter
est, political and economic, inside and outside the terri
tory, plays a lively part. All the arguments, the honest
and the hypocritical, the overt and the hidden, are a
poor excuse for keeping even 150,000 Americans in the
status of second - class citizens, getting second - class
treatment from absentee legislators.
Alaska’s population today is not much less than
that of Nevada. Under the drive of defense installa
tions and the speeded up development of resources,
especially minerals, the territory is bound to grow.
And certainly a community which is not allowed to
govern itself makes a poor example for the non-self
governing communities not so far off across the Bering
Sea and Bering Strait.
VIEWS AND REVIEWS
Definition of Utopia: 1952 wages, 1932 cost of
living and 1912 taxes.
-- *
Good and evil do not befall men without reason.
Heaven sends them happiness or misery according to
their conduct.—Confucius.
Pretty soon the young things will be dazzling you
with new, airy spring clothes — and a young man’s
fancy will get around to the basic facts of life.
House Repeals
Employment
Security Act
J
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, — The House Re
publican majority whipped thru
on a solid party line vote Monday
afternoon a bill to repeal the pre
sent Employment Security Com
mission Act. Then the House
voted 23-1 for a bill to create a
new commission.
The repeal bill whipped through
24-0 after heated debate in which
Rep. Wendell Kay accused the
Republicans of “railroading” and
said the bill should be labeled a
“bill to abolish Ralph Rivers.”
Rivers, mayor of Fairbanks and
former Democratic attorney gen
eral, is the lone remaining mem
ber of the three member com
mission.
Rep. Bert Rutherford, chairman
of the Labor Committee which in
troduced the bills, said the pur
pose was to get a change of pol
icy to conserve the unemployment
compensation fund, especially the
heavy drain for payments to
workers who return to the states
and still draw payments.
Rep. William Boardman de
scribed it as a “niagara of pay
ments pouring outside.”
Boardman declared Kay was
endorsing a policy under which
the fund paid out $1.42 average
over four years for each dollar
of receipts during a period of
high employment.
“We want to keep it an insur
ance system, not a dole,” he said.
The Anchorage legislator ex
pressed the belief that Rivers
tried to do a conscientious job
but added that “it was appalling
to the committee to find that he
could not answer basic, pertinent
questions about the office’s opera
tions; he wasn’t even aware that
payments from the fund last year
were $400,000 over receipts.”
Kay told the House that if the
plan is to put construction work
ers on a seasonal basis so they
cannot automatically draw checks
when their jobs expire at the end
of the construction season “it
would be disastrous to recruiting
workers for Alaska.”
Debate reached a high point i
when Rep. Dorothy Prior, Anch
orage Republican, showed a flash '
of feminine fury in debating!
Kay’s arguments.
She said she knew of men mak
ing $200 to $300 weekly, unmar
ried and buying new cars, who
would ijile compensation claims
with commission office encourage
ment before heading for the
states.
Kay responded that a compen
sation claim is a matter of right,
whether an individual was buy
ing a new car or new house, and
it was intended to keep the local
economy on an even keel.
By 1954, California expects to
import enough natural gas from
Texas to produce power equal
to that produced by 28 water
power projects the size of Hoover
Dam.
Bering Sea Club
Dining Room
Now Op en
Dinners Only
4-12 p.m.
Japan Hopes Have
Lumber Mill In
Alaska Next Year
TOKYO, OP) — Japan hopes to
finance and operate a lumber mill
in Alaska’s vast forests within a
year, says the head of a seven
man technical delegation which
recently returned from Alaska.
Takuji Oshima said the Japa
nese government has been nego
tiating with the U.S. State Depart
ment since early last year for
rights to cut timber in Alaska
and a general agreement was
reached.
He said if the program was put
through, it would fit in with the
U.S. development program in Al
aska under which pulp mills
would help supply the world with
much - needed newsprint and
paper.
Although no concrete agree
ment on financing, construction
and operation of the lumber
mill has been made, Oshima said
Japan has been granted the right
to “bid for the deal.”
If the plans are approved he
said a Japanese lumber company
would be established in Alaska
and build a mill.
This would equal the largest
lumber mill now operating in
Japan but would be considered
small in comparison with U. S.
mills.
The forestry expert said the
trees are getting “over-ripe” and
declared that when this happens
the trees die and new saplings
cannot grow.
If proper deforestation were
undertaken in U.S. national for
ests of Alaska, he added, lumber
mille would operate indefinitely.
Oshima said U.S. timber com
panies were interested in cutting
only spruce trees while hemlocks
are untouched. He said two-thirds
of Alaska’s forests are hemlock.
“Our negotiations are an open
book,” he said. “Japan only wants
to be in line with other countries
who may obtain timber rights. We
only want the right to bid for
the deal, and that we have ob
tained.”
When asked why Japan had
turned to Alaska, Oshima said the
only places in the world today
that produce soft woods in large
quantities are South America, Si
beria and Alaska.
“South America is too far away,
Siberia is behind the Iron Curtain
so naturally we turn to Alaska,”
he said.
Senate Passes Bill
For Election of
Committeemen
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, UP) — The Senate, *
after a hour and o'ne-half debate,
passed a bill yesterday afternoon
to provide for popular election of
major parties’ national committee
men and committeewomen.
The vote was 9-7, with one
Democrat joining with eight Re
publicans to put it over. The
measure now returns to the
House.
The bill was originally intro
duced in the House by Rep. Dor
othy Prior as a bill covering the
popular election of prfecinct com
mitteemen, but the Senate split it
into two bills.
The Senate then killed the sep
arate bill providing for popular
election of the precinct committee
men by a 12-4 vote.
Before adjournment of the
longest session of this year’s meet
ing, after 5 o’clock, the Senate
also passed unanimously and sent
to the House a bill for a wing
addition to the Pioneers Home at
Sitka. The wing is designed to
accomodate 32 men and 20 wom
en, with women’s hospital facil
ities. No exact cost figures were
available but the finance com
mittee reported indications were
that it would be around $500,000.
The national commiteeman bill,
however, was the 15-round main
event, and almost that many sen
ators talked on it.
The long debate brought talk
of smoke-filled rooms and politi
cal bossism, and at one point,
Sen. Howard Lyng described the
House sponsor of the bill as an
“attractive, statuesque woman,
but naive in political affairs.”
The main speakers against the
bill were Lyng, former Demo
cratic chairman and national com
mitteeman, and Elton Engstrom,
Republican chairman.
Sen. Gorsuch contended it was
the legislature’s “duty to clean
up” party affairs; the people’s
vote showed they were sick and
tired of “political manipulations.”
Highway Lined With
Alaska-Bound Cars
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Two new
arrivals from Long Beach, Calif.,
report the Alaska Highway is
“lined with Alaska-bound cars.”
Eugene Gough and his son said
they found roadhouse accommo
dations filled two nights so they
drove all night. They arrived five
after leaving Long Beach.
$7,000 Subscribed To Arouse
Interest In Susitna Basin
ANCHORAGE, UPi — Anchorage
businessmen have subscribed
$7,000 in the initial effort here
and at Fairbanks to raise $17,000
to arouse federal interest in build
ing a hydroelectric power dam in
the Susitna River basin. The
money would also be used to in
terest private industry to move
into the area to use the abundant
supply of cheap power.
AND WHERE WAS MOSES?
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., UP)—
Let there be light, said the mayor
of Rendondo Beach Monday night
as he pulled a switch intended to
bring near-daylight vision along
a mile of Pacific Coast Highway.
Instead the whole town was
plunged into darkness.
Mayor J. Russell Shea’s blush
was hidden for two hours until
workmen repaired a power line,
•blown down by high winds, and
the ceremony of dedicating the
new high power lights was re
sumed.
If You Want to . . .
• RENT, BUY OR SELL A HOUSE
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