The emancipation of the working
/
' class must bethe class- conscious work
of the wo rkirg class. —KARL >'.AR
t
GREEDY PRICE-RAISERS AND
CAMP KILLERS
Companies Raise Provisions to Prohibitive Prices* Such Action
is Killing the Camp*. Operators Are Leaving for the States
and Europe Until Prices Drop*
By OLD PROSPECTOR ’ '
In quoting the market conditions the
morning Times of July 12th, stated per
haps unconsciously, that complaints
were coining from the creeks of the high
price of grub, which the operators de
clare is as high as in 1905. Now, it hap
pens that the Times’ remarks were the
first refenence to the widespread indig
nation expressed during the past couple
of months by operators, old prospectors
and others about the exorbitant raise in
prices. When the raise was made there
was no cause for it; and in the eyes of
some at the time it looked strange, and
to others it looked criminal! Before the
raise came the News-Miner advised peo
ple to buy, buy. buy, as it knew that a
raise would take place, but how could
people buy at a time when there was no
money? As well try to take the breeches
off a Highlander. The morning Times,
apparently the organ of the Interests,
gave its indorsment and blessing to the
scandalous raise in prices. And. these
two dailies and the Citizen claulored a
bout the people sending their money to
the Outside mail order houses. Why not
keep the money here, pay exorbitant
prices and further enrich the so-called
fair and heavilv-taxed merchants ? Time
will tell---and before the reader has fin
ished this article he will see--- whether
or not people are justified in present
conditions to order stuff from the out
side and prevent themselves from being
plundered and robbed.
Now, to begin with, the raise was
made before the freight rates were
known and the small difference between
the rates of this rear and last could not
by any means justify a material raise in
the prices of grub. One has only to
compare the Dawson prices with ours to
see how we are swindled and robbed by
the companies. If a raise, as unjustifi
able and of as great a magnitude as ours
took place in the Dawson country we
would hear of an indignation meeting
and boycotting, but the people here, for \
some reason or other, are subdued and
...
spiritless and only protest in whispers
and murmurs.
This hydra-headed monster, Price
Raising, is the Octopus that has killed
the operators’ chances of working in the
camp for this year at least, when other
wise there would be five times the num
ber of laboring men employed. One ex
tensive operator on account of the raise
has closed down his works and is pre
paring to depart for Germany till grub
is cheapened by the railway service,
while others for similar reasons are let
ting their claims lie idle, for they all
declare that the ground is not rich e
nough to bear the increase in grub prices
which would only enrich the merchants
and leave themselves without a cent aft
er all their hardships, trouble and hard
labor. Now, the merchants of course say
they have been working without much
profit. True enough, some times they
may have had little profit on some ar
ticles but at all times they have enor
mous and fabulous profits off other ar
ticles. Of course it was apparent to ev
erybody that the recent raise—m view
of the coming railway—was established
in order to bleed the camp to the last
centif the people were fools to stand for
it! They have started deliberately to kill
the goose that laid the golden egg, but
they have overshot the mark!
het us see if there are no profits. It is
argued that some merchants went to the
wall. True, but these merchants stupid
ly gave credit to men who actually went
to the outside with money—their niouev.
Take examples and examine into them.
A man starts out carefulh' as a merch
ant with little or no capital and in the
space of a few years he is enriched and
can indulge in fast horses and other fast
articles, and make frequent tours of
Europe. Where does that wealth come
from ? From the sweat and hard labor
of the pick and shovel stiff!
Time was when a certain company
was regarded, rightly or wrongly, as
the enemy of the camp, but that com
pany was taught a lesson a n d until the
recent raise was so reasonable and nice
that the miners flocked to its wholesale
and retail department for purchases.
That company may take a tumble and
get sensible again without being taught
another lessoh and then it is quite pos
sible that it may be able to command
the business of the whole camp and
make more profit than it is- doing at pre
sent.
At this stage the reader may ask—
what’s the remedy ? Well, there are sev
eral remedies. We have seen that when
the price of sugar, milk &c were un
reasonably raised the miners went with
out these articles and left them to the
merchants for their own consumption.
It is early enough yet in the season for
for some enterprising party to procure
enough stuff and pull down prices and
make profit on the venture—And such a
I party should be supported at any cost.
But the best remedy of all, if not the
swiftest, lies with the District Attorney
It has been decided by the Supreme
Court in several decisions—-notably in
the Humbolt case—that the Interstate
laws apply to Alaska and if the District
attorney could be persuaded to act and
do his duty in this vital matter, which
is of more importance to the community
than whether or not a man wears a bath
ing dress when washing his hide in a
pool in the wilderness, there would be
a toppling down of food prices and per
haps some rascals weukl be landed in
jail, where they rightly belong.
J. H. LEWIS LOBBYING
AT WASHINGTON D. G.
It is said that James Hamilton Lewis
(Dude Lewis) has been lobbying down
at Washington in the interest of the cor
porations of Alaska.
If you are a worker you need
THE ALASKA SOCIALIST
subscribe for it $5.00 per year
0, HOOLIGAN ON GATH
ERING PROXIES FOR
SKAGWAY
Dear-r Edithur-r:
D’ yez moind how
aisv an smooth tli’ local reg’lar dimniv
cr-ratic primaries wus pulled off ? trroth
an ’twas a well or-rdhered affair-r in
toir-rely. But, be th saints! this Skyg
way preliminar-ry wus diffr-r’nt t’ th
wan thot led up t’ th rumpus an fought
at Valdeez. There’s nawthin c’n bate a
well kipt machayne. Yez didn’t see any
dissap’inted, so-re headed candydates
this toime; ivr-ry mon that wus loockv
enug t’ get his name on th’ roster, won.
Twinty names wus on th’ ballot an th
instroochuns r-read: “vote f’r twintv’’
jvr-rv wan stud pat, an be jabers, th’
whole ticket wus il lie ted! Be gorry,
thots th’ v'ay oid loike t’ run, wid me
name on a lead-poipe-cinch ticket! ’Twas
a vict’r-rv fer ivr-ry last mon on th har
m’ny ticket. An thots right, sez oi, if
yez can’t be illictek th’ fir-rst toime run
again! Shure it wud be a waste of toime
try in to kape a good mon down! An liow
the divvil is it only forty voted an th’
votin so good? Wus it that abnoxshus
pledge, d’ye think? or is it a critereeon
av th’ coomin illicshuns? Arrah pliwats
a little plidge among lrinds at a reg-lar
Tweed-Murpliy owld par-rty pr-rimary?
Shure an cudn’t aich canbydate vote a
plunker fer himself an ask in a fr-rind
eli? Be gory, an maybe ’twas better
thot so many stayed away fr’m the polls
D’yez raymimber th’ pr rimary av two
years ago ? Faith there wus no sich sys
tem ov har-m’ny at thot ilhcshun; the
th’ compeetishun in tickets wus 100
sharp wid all th’ ruff stuff—An be me
scwl, there wus hard names called an
sich langwidge! Wurra! Wurra! (Bad
cess t’ all buttinskys ’n their tickets!)
Faith an 'tis looky pris-int day political
aythics don’t call fer doolin or we'd liov
plintv Aar-ron Burrs an Alexander-r
Hamilt’ns! But, thank th’ lord, all’s
|
har-rm-ny now among the tr-ried an
tr-rue an we'll hov no more pers-nal
peddigrees in the paper-rs fer a wlioile
annyway—there’s liawtliin to it now but
gather-rin up th’ proxies at Fairbanks
an th’ cricks an takin a steamboat fer
Skagway an if the whole gin-r-ral skame
doesn’t run agin a snag or stame-roller
at th’ c’nvinshun, ’twill be a loocky day
fer th tr-ried an thr-rue.
Me owld sourdough frind fr-m Fish
crick, Marty Me Mulligan, sez t’ me,
sez he: “Plnvat th’ divvil are all'these
thried an thrue dimmverats going t’ all
this throuble fer, oi dunno, Prisident
Wilson won’t appint them t’ office, th
bist they can do is t’ git in t’ the coort
house, or the fed-r-ral jail or maybe th
new building on aitli avenoo!’’ “Arrah,
krwan,” sez 01 t’ me bowld Marty, sez of
“phwat the divvil d’yez know about
polyticks, sliure all th loikes av ye cares
I
fer is a javvb in the dr-rifts wid foive
'dollars a day an yer boord!” Marty
| scratched his mop av red hair an sez,
i sez he: ‘‘An it poozles me,” sez he, hew
in th divvil Dan Callylian an Jawn Moe
| rist together on the same ticket!”
“Slmr-re, an Marty, me bhoy, ” sezoi
I “poly ticks ’a grand assim’lator. ”
Mrs. Lincoln
Next to "Peoples’ Store
YOUR OLD PANAMA FIATS
CLEANED LIKE NEW.
Suit Alterations. Mosquito bed
tents $2
Will MARSHALL 1
t
The Democratic Club Passed Res-1
olutions Condemning Crossley. Will!
They Pass Resolutions Condemning j
Erwin And Call for His Dismissal) j
In the Valdez Commoner for June 27,
014, appears a copy of an affadavit,
sworn to by a highly respected lady of
I Fairbanks, before V. II. Woolridge, a
notary public of that place, charging the
U. S. Marshall of Fairbanks L. T. Ivr
win, with making indecent proposals to
her as a condition cf employment, and
also making her cook for his men while
serving in the capacity of matron at the
federal jail.
If these charges are true, Erwin
should be discharged from the position
lie now holds.
A man who would insist on debauch
ing a good woman as a condition of em
ployment is so vile that there are not
words enough in the English language
to portray tile depths of the infamy to
the infamy to which he would descend,
provided he had the opportunity.
It remains for our tried and true Dem
ocratic club,which was so busy, but a
short time ago, passing resolutions for
the purpose of removing J. J. Crossley
from office, to investigate Erwin, the
Trind and True, and if found true, call
for his dismissal, for the good of the
service.
Subscribe for the Alaska Socialist and
find out where you’re at.
BILLY GORHAM
GOLDSMITH
Watches Repaired
Opp. Gordon's Glass Block
Cushman Street
Watch the old parties fuse as the
‘Menace of Socialism” shows up.