THE AtASIlA SOCIALIST
OFFICIAL ORGAN
of GARDEN ISLAND
Brance of LOCAL OLNESS,
Socialist Party
Issued bv Socialist Publishing Co. at
)> 1 •
Tilth & Lacv Streets, Fairbanks, Alaska.
; ■ ' ' '!
A. KNOWLES Manager.
Subscription Price : 55.00 per year; $2,5:
for six months ; 51.25 for three mo ntlis
50 cents for one month ; single copy
*, |
25 cents, payable in advance.
_
Published j>a the Fifteenth and,
Thirtieth of each month*
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF
HE WORKERS Or ALASKA AND
t
ADVOCATING POLITICAL AND
. • > •
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
T.---"-:
fill AH EXHIBITION !
HELP THE WORKERS ?!
Yes, we ought to hold an exposition
during the :mpsquito months of 1917.
l airs are good money making innov- :
a Sons for those who have something to'
unload, and the working class will have 1
a chance to feed their vanities by seeing
tbs products of their labor on exhibition. ;
For it is expected that the cabbage-head, I
w ho raised the 2Q pound cabbage, will’
le allowed to gaze at a distance on the
. result of his patient labor. Also, it is
thought that the rules of the exposition !
may allow the miner to approach and.
even touch the specimen which he
crawled ou nis stomach in the bottom of
a wet shaft to wrest from the earth.
Undoubtedly, the working class would i
profit by a fair. T.l ev would b e permit- ;
ted to erect the buildings and do all the
I
pleasant and easv things incident to the :
Vig show, than there will be supplied for
their pleasure 3 Midway Plaisance, the ,
Streets of Cairo or some other elevating ■
spectacle which mav be thought best ;
suited to their vulgar tastes.
The producer in Alaska should, by all .
means, boost for this proposed exhibit
ion. of their labor. It means a lot to,
them. Fairs always mean a lot to the'
working class. •
ANOTHER STORY OF
THE BLARNEY STORY
i
Some lime since one of the brightest
and wittiest of Cincinnati’s girls went
abroad, and when she returned home.
About the first person to congratulate
her upon her safe return was B--a ycnng
•blc.od of the citv, whose dollars exceed
ed liK- sense in the ratio of about a mil-'
lion to' one.
“Aw, Miss Y—lie said, “permit
nie to greet you. 1 know you have had
a very pleasant trip abroad.”
“Yes,” she answered, “very pleasant
indeed, I was all over the continent,
Kngland, Scotland and Ireland.”
“Ah, in Ireland; and did yon see the’
Blarney stone ?”
“Yes, I was there." !
“Oh, I should delight to see it; il has
always been a desire of mine to kiss that
celebrated stone, bui I have never had
*
the opportunity.”
♦
“Indeed, then yon should go there.’’
“I know, but I have not done so, why
shouldn’t I kiss b by proxy? You have
been there and kissed it; why should I
i it
not take the influance of the Blarney
from vour lips ? And the smart Aleck
stepped forward to prosify the young
lady/'
But she drew back, and looking him
squarely in the face, said, “I beg vour
; ’ .e tat
pardon, my dear Mr. B—, but I sat up
on the Blarney stone.”
i .V. .. .
Like a man with great sorrow, R-~
sank down in a heap and hasn’t said
“Ireland since, and the very word
'il t.
“Blarney makes him delirious.
—AMERICAN ARTISAN.
.. - vi
A PRESENT FOR WILSON
We Will Send Him
The Alaska Socialist!
Wilson ought to have a present, the;
Citizen says, and we are in hearty accord j
with the idea. For the time being, let usi
forget that a big percentage of Fairbanks j
residents are flirting with starvation.,!
that it is harder to g et a job thau it is '
to do the job after one gets it, and throw |
in foi a memento to President Wilsea.
Come now. don’t be stingy. If you,
have four bits hoarded away to buy surh i
luxuries as bacon and bread, throw it in-!
to the hat like a sport ami then go ouj '
to the suburbs and run down a rabbit. ;
Or, if you have been saving this money j
to bur water, there is no excuse for be- 1
ing penurious, lor vou can melt snow. I
i
It is just as good.
It has not yet been decided what
sort of a token would be most appropri
ate. Personally, we have about concluded
to send Wilson The Alaska Socialist for
a year, beginning with the issue prior to i
i
this one. However, it has been suggest- ,
ed that a very titling thing would be a j
loving cup, engraved on oue side to j
show the Democrat party of Alaska and j
the X. C. company clasping hands ace- i
ross a gold-pau.
Roden & Co. Are Down
at Washington- Prob
ably in the Interest of j
the working class, j
_
Ray, Roden, and Bruner, three Alaska ■
solous, are down at the National capital !
i
lobbying. These men all voted m the
legislature for the resolution against
lobbying and immediately turned aronml !
ar.d elected themselves a lobby to go to '
Washington. The House refused to con- j
eur, but the lawyers went on their own j
motion. It’s hard to. head a lawyer off if'
there are some lobby $$$$ in sight.
—COMMONKR. j
THE EVILS OF CAPTTIALISM I
I
_ j
The representative of the American
people are rapidly being converted into
a venal class of politicians (already num
bering some 200.000) who are but the
tools and the creatures of capital, and
who, when they fail of re-election receive
ample compensation in the form of off
ices and sinecures. “In all the great,
American cities there is todav as clearlv
" - f
defined a ruling class as i n the most ar- j
istoeralic countries of the old world. Its j
members carry wards i n tlieir pockets,
make up the States for nominating con
i
ventions, distribute offices as they bar- j
gain together, and though they toil not j
neither do they spin, wear the best o f
raiment and spend money lavishly. They
are men of power, whose favor the am
bitious must court and whose vengeance
he must avoid. Who are these men ?
The wise, the good, the learned—men
who have earned the confidence of their
fellow-citizens by the purity of their lives
the splendour of their talents, their pro- I
bity in public frust, tlieir deep study o f
the problems of government ? No ; they
■ are gamblers, saloon-keepers, pugilists,
or worse, who have made a trade of con
trolling votes aud of buying and selling
offices and official acts. Tliev stand to
*
the Government of these cities as the
Praetorian Guards did to that of declin
ing Rome. lie who would wear the pur
ple, fill the curule chair, or have the
fasces carried before him, nmst go or
' send his messengers to their camps, give
i them donations and make them promises
i It is through these men that the rich
. corporations and powerful pecuniary in
terests can pack the Senate and the
!
; Bench with tlieir creatures.”
—ECONOMIC
FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIETY,
THE WORKERS IN
THE COMPETITIVE
HELL
I
An employer inserted a note i n tlie
“Post'’
That he wanted some workmen—>a
couple at most
And found himself soon in the midst o i
a host.
“Mv friends,” said he, “in hiring a
man
Of course, I must get him as cheap as I
can—
For that’s the approved competitive
plan.*’
Said one, “I’re a wife and children
three;
My aged mother is living with me;
I need twelve dollars n week,” said he.
“I’ve a wife and child,” the next one
said,
“Mv mother, thank God, is long ago
dead;
Ten dollars a week will buy our bread.”
I’ve only a wife,” said the third, “and
hence
Our living involves a .mailer expense,
I'll take nine dollars as my recompense. ”
“My wife each week earns a dollar or
two,”
Said the next, “If I were to work for
you.
About eight dollars a week would do.”
”1 have no wife,” said the next. I “stay
Vt’iih my parents, who board me without
any pay;
So I will work for a dollar a day.”
Said the next with a voice and mien
subdued.
For twenty-four hours I’ve tasted no
food;
I’ll take four dollars with gratitude,”
I*1
The next one said, “I’m a heathen
Chinee,
I learned to live cheaply far over the sea;
Three dollars a week is sufficient for
me. ”
Thereupon to the crowd the employer
spake,
“The lower the wages you are willing
to take,
The larger of course are the profits I
make. ”
‘‘Two workmen are all I at present
require;
The two that spoke last are the men
that I^-H hire
So the rest of you may as well retire.”
The unhired men began to entreat,
‘.‘We’ve nothing to do and nothing to
eat;
Must we and our families die in the
street ?”
“Aye, some of you must, if the rest
would thrive,
Too many oi you are at present alive,
And only the fittest can survive.
‘‘And he is the fittest beyond dispute.
The present competitive system to suit,
Whose life comes nearest to that of a
brute.
“You ought to remember you only exist
For the perpose of grinding some other
man’s grist
And swelling the gains of the capitalist.
‘ ‘The coarsest of food to nourish you
while
Yonr master is daily increasing his pile
That he may revel in royal style—
* ‘Some wretched hovel hi which to dwell
If yott can get these things yott are do
ing well
For a worker in this competitive hell!”
Read some elementary work on Soc
ialism and you will know what is wrong
BILLY GORHAM
GOLDSMITH
Watches Repaired
Opp. Gordon's Glass Block
Cushman Street
Where you get the flcest
Wines, Liquors & Cigars
Old Eagle Saloon stand
JOE O’CONNOR Manager.
Fairbanks Alaska
Fine Wines, Liquors aud Cigars
Bowling Alleys & Pool Tables
Moving pictures Every Evening
F. A. MARTIN, Prop.
I
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»
V.
BAKERY
Wholesale and Retail Bread; CakeS and Pies
-
ice Cream Parlors In Connection
Creek Orders Promply Riled
Hot Bread For Dinner
Second Avenue Next Orpheum Theater Phone 186
Sour Dough
Express
HACK, Day & Night.
Wood foi Sale. Call up Sour Dough
Office at M. A. RIMKA'S.
HALE’S
Grocery
294 Frcnt Street. Phone 108
Next To Library
FAIRBANKS
Get Yotfr
WOOD; SAWING
JmJ0
Done by
ENAS & BETTICUR
Office Ijafis; Books Store
White Swan Laundry
ESTER CITY
Carries gents furnishings, socks,
drawers, top-shirts etc.
J. W. RIGGS.
*». ^
Barber Shop
j fROMT STREET Next Northern
First class in every respect.
ARCADE
TAILORING
Sec.TAvenue opps^The Pirate
Suits sponged & pressed
only $1. Furs repaired at
s hort notice, an1 low prices
PINESS BAR
i
OPPOSITE RAHWAY STATION
OLNESS
George and Charlie
WILL A BAIIMB;
SOLVE M PROBLEM
The fact that conditions of the poor
are worse on the outeide than here, a s
commented upon by one <»f the daily
papers, makes oar lot seem a great deal
more endurable, doesn’t it? Comparison
is great food. If yon are hungry, just sit
down and nibble the fact that some one
else is hungrier.
Booster publications should not ad
vance such arguments. Remember, there
are all kinds of railroads on the- outside
and, it we, who have to railroad, are
better off than they, what about it ? The
greatest poverty is ia these sections
which have the greatest mileage of rail
roads. Is this not true ? II it is. whai’s
' - '■ • v5
wrong ?