THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone Main 125 $1.50 PER MONTH
P.O. Box 610 $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
post office at Nome. Alaska, under Act of March 3. 1879.
Subscribers not receiving their paper by 5:30 p.m. call
Main 125 for special delivery. After 5:30 call Black 102.
THE SHOUT HEARD 'RQ'Oku THE 'tiO.ilD!
Achievements of Free Medicine
THE PROPOSED BILL to give government-paid
medical, surgical and hospital care to all the
people who are eligible for Social Security benefits
presents the “gravest, most far-reaching crisis in the
'history of modern medicine.”
That unequivocal verdict comes from Dr. E.
Vincent Askey, new president of the American
Medical Association. He added that “die-hard backers
of socialized medicine” are trying, with this bill, “to
get piecemeal what they couldn’t get in an alLout
attack.”
All manner of experience in this and other coun
tries supports Dr. Askey’s view. The bill is a perfect
example of the old foot-in-4he-door technique.’ If
such a precedent is established in the case of social
security recipients, the next and inevitable step will
be to extend it to other groups. Complete socializa
tion of medicine will ultimately follow.
What, then should be done about the medical
problems of the elderly and the disabled? The
answer is that striking progress is being made without
imperiling the institution of free medicine The vol
untary insurance systems have been greatly broad
ened and improved — Dr. Askey points out that only
about 4 million Americans can’t carry health insur
ance, and they are being helped under indigent pro
grams. And increasingly affective work on behalf
of the elderly is being carried on at community levels.
No nation on earth has better health care than
ours — and it is getting better all the time. Chalk
that achievement up to free medicine — not politic
ally-bossed medicine.
VERN MILLER
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Thor-Able Space Probe
Postponed by NASA
WASHINGTON, UR — The Na
tional Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration yesterday announced
a further postponement of an ef
fort to shoot a Thor-Able space
probe toward Venus.
The 90-pound instrument pack
age initially was to have tieen
launched December 15 from Cape
Canaveral, Fla.,
The NASA said it has been fur
ther postponed “because of pay
load problems.”
The agency said a new firing
date has net yet been scheduled,
but it probably will be some time
in January.
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Higher ESC Benefits Called for by
State Labor Federation President
ANCHORAGE, UR — Drastic
changes in Alaska’s controversial
employment security law will be
recommended to the 1960 Legis
lature by the State Federation of
Labor, its officials announced
Wednesday.
R. F. McFarland, federation
president, and Henry Hedberg,
legislative representative, issued
a statement criticizing the present
law and calling for higher unem
ployment benefits.
Hedberg said the present law is
inadequate and added “This is
extremely visible when you con
sider that the rate of business
failures and bankruptcies in the
state have exceeded* double the
national average.”
Should 'Pay for Itself'
He said the federation proposed
in the last Legislature a bill de
signed to “pay for itself” and re
duce indebtedness but that this
“was violently opposed by the
vested interests controlled by
stateside boards. . . .”
The statement said Alaska now j
has the lowest average weekly i
benefit compared to weekly wages
of any of the 59 states.
McFarland said those who op
pose changes in the ESC law ap
parently now propose “to let the
government collect the indebted- !
ness in the penalty manner pro
vided in the national act.”
The federation president added:
“The working people of the
state and the small businessman,
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whose economic welfare are de
pendent on the ESC program,
have no objection to this, but we
refuse to become pawns in the
hands of so-called ESC experts
who refuse to recognize the effect
of this program on the economy
of the state.”
Six States Have New Rates
Six states have changed to the
method of setting-the basic max
imum as a percentage of average
weekly wages. In Wyoming the
basic maximum ia the law is set
at 55 per cent of /the average
weekly wage in covered employ
ment, he said. Other states using
this formula or a larger one, are
Wisconsin, Utah, Colorado, Kan
sas and Vermont.
“This is what President Eisen
hower and the United States De
partment of Labor have been ad
vocating for years,” Hedberg con
tinued. “The only difference is
that they are maintaining that -the
percentage should be closer to
sixty-six and two-thirds per cent.
“There is no justification for
the downgrading of our program
in Alaska, especially when we
have a state that has more than
double the national rate of un
employed workers,” he concluded.
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