THE NOME NUGGET
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NOME, ALASKA
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__ SUFFERING A RHEE-LAPSE
Vr&r^/S. —
JEFFERSON WAS THE FATHER
OF U.S. INDEPENDENCE DAY
AP Newsfealures
July 4 is celebrated in America as Independence Day by long
standing custom. Few Americans remember that July 2 was the
day on which the Continental Congress first adopted a resolution
that “these United colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free
and independent states.”
The power of the ideas present
ed in the more formal Declaration
of Independence adopted July 4
seems to have been what deter
mined the date of the celebration.
And those ideas came from Thom
as Jefferson. He wrote the Declar
ation and Congress adopted it
with little change.
In the national document Jeff
erson put larger parts of a paper
he wrote in 1774. This was “A
Summary View of the Rights of
America.” It was written for the
Virginia convention to consider
the state of the colony and ad
vance inter-colonial union.
“Our immigration to this coun
try gave England no more rights
over us than the emigration of the
Danes and Saxons gave the pres
ent authorities of their mother
country over England,” Jefferson
said in the “Summary View.”
Jefferson’s first draft of the
Declaration contained criticisms
of the British people and a de
nunciation of slavery which Con
gress deleted before adoption.
Otherwise, the document is almost
exactly what Jefferson wrote.
Students say that many of the
ideas in the Declaration were
found by the scholarly Jefferson
in the writings of the English
philosopher Locke ond in other
works by French philosophers.
I
Sen. Lyng Reports To Nome Chamber
On Territorial Finances And Roads
Attending his first Chamber of<
Commerce meeting since his re
turn from Juneau, Senator How
ard Lyng Tuesday spoke at some
length on the subject of territorial
finances and roads.
Mr. Lyng, one of the four mem
bers of the Senate Finance Com
mittee, whose funtion is to exam
ine and conduct hearings regard
ing the budgetary requests of
every department of the Terri
torial government and then in
conjuction with the House Ways
and Means Committee, write the
General Appropriations Bill for
the ensuing biennium, gave a
complete breakdown of the pres
ent 1953-54 24-million-dollar ex
penditure of the taxpayers’ mon
ey.
Stating that this sum is appro
priated out of the General Fund
of the Territorial Treasury, the
Senator pointed out that there is
approximately another six million
dollars in biennial tax collections
that do not go into the General
Fund, but into special earmarked
funds which cannot be touched
by the legislature.
Among these are the fuel oil,
gas, tobacco and school taxes. The
fuel oil and gas taxes are spent
only for roads, trails, airfields and
harbor facilities, and are expend
ed by the Territorial Highway En
gineer and Superintendent of Pub
lic Works, together with the Dir
ector of Aviation in conjunction
with the t erritorial boards of
Road Commission and Aviation,
respectively.
The tobbaco tax and school tax
are for school purposes only and
amount to several million dollars
each biennium.
In giving this breakdown, Sen.
Lyng pointed to the ever-mount
ing costs of maintaining the ter
ritory’s school system—$16 mil
lion, over^half the total tax col
lections for the 1953-54 period.
Part of this increase is due to
the $600-a-year raise in each
teacher’s salary, amounting to
$800,000 for the biennium.
The territorial school system is
an ever-increasing problem, the
Senator said, and poses the ques
tion: which comes first, proper
and complete school facilities;
needed expansion of roads, air
fields and harbors; an all-com
prehensive department of health
with proper hospitalization and
medical care; a department of
Public Welfare with its many aid
programs operating with the high
est standards of any of the 48
states, and so on down the line.
Each session of the legislature
is confronted with this acute and
pressing problem, the result of a
period of rapid expansion and
growth due to astronomical de
fense spending with its conse
quent building boom and result
ant population increase.
Unfortunately, industrial growth
has not kept pace, hence little if
any new tax sources are available
beyond the present ones which
are being stretched to the limit.
Again, with the looming end of
defense spending, tax income from
our largest present source, the in
come tax, must necessarily de
cline.
When one stops to consider, that
per population, the residents of
Alaska are among the highest
taxed groups under the American
flag, if not the highest, you can
understand' the dilemma that con
fronts the legislature.
Continuing, the Senator stated
that a thorough review of the en
tire territorial tax structure
should be made and a special ses
sion of the legislature called some
time next winter, preferably in
January, for this and other perti
nent purposes, not the least of
which is the disturbing lack of
funds, both federal and territorial,
for the construction of market and
access roads in farming and min
ing areas.
With the end of defense spend
ing the territory will again be
come dependent largely upon the
development of its own natural
resources, and a proper road sys
tem, including market and access
roads, is a necessary and vital
adjunct.
The building and maintenance
of roads in the territory, outside
of our national forests and re
served lands, is the business of
the Alaska Road Commission, a
federal agency whose funds come
from congressional appropriations.
Unfortunately, the $20 million
approprated for this season’s work
in Alaska was slashed $8,000,000
by an economy-minded Congress,
and its effect is already being felt
at Nome and in the other divi
sions.
Territorial road funds are used
at times to supplement the regular
Road Commission funds. The ter
ritorial highway engineer is em
powered to turn over certain
sums of territorial money which
the Road Commission uses as the
highway engineer may direct. He
also may enter into contracts with
private firms and individuals for
the construction of roads and
trails.
Unfortunately again, the Terri
torial Road Fund is in a chronic
state of depletion for various rea
sons that should be corrected.
Highway Engineer Irving Reed
is due soon in Nome and will ac
quaint you with his difficulties.
One of the most glaring reasons
for this chronic depletion lies in
the manner in which the newly
created Territorial Police Force is
set up, and this was also true of
its predecessor, the Territorial
Highway Patrol. The cost of op
erating the Territorial Police
Force is beyond my comprehen
sion, for it is a territorial institu
tion and its cost should be de
frayed by the General Fund of the
territory, just as any other depart
ment of government is main
tained.
When this bill passed the House
and came over to the Senate, an
amendment was made to the act
so as to move the cost from the
Road Fund to the General Fund.
The House refused to agree to the
change with the result that the
act passed the legislature in its
present form. If the Senate
amendment had prevailed, we
would now have this $750,000 to
spend for roads, fields and harbor
facilities, where it properly be
longs.
Senator Lyng further stated
that one 60-day legislative session
every two years is not enough
time in which to carry on the
territory’s affairs, for the times
for which this system was fitted
are long outmoded.
The Territory of Alaska is now
big business and must be recog
nized as such, and a special ses
sion of the legislature next winter
is necessary for the proper and
orderly conduct of urgent terri
tory-wide matters.
Fear of Arrest Causes
Skipper Jump Polish Ship
LONDON, UP) — Captain Jan
Cwiklinski, escaped master of the
Red Polish liner Batory, said to
day he jumped ship in England
because he feared arrest on spy
charges.
The 55-year-old skipper told a
news conference: “I was warned
by friends.” He added:
“Polish Communist authorities
are very suspicious about anyone
in contact with foreigners, es
pecially English speaking for
eigners.”
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