THE ALASKA SOCIALIST
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PUBLISHED THE FIRST AND FIFTEENTH
OF im MONTH.
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF Tfi|
WORKERS OF ALASKA
AND ADVOCATING
POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ACTION
THE PASSING OF THE
PROFESSIONAL JfjpQR. j
From Eaiitjnnks Dailj- Times.
Through long abuse of the authority
vested in the office of the United States
marshal in the matter of selecting jurors
for the trial of cases in the commission
er's court, the public has learned to look
askance at jury decisions emanating
from the lower court. Under the system
which prevails, it is not impossible to
pack a jury, provided the marshal or his
/
deputies lend assistance, and, in the he- I
lief of many Fairbanksans, such things j
actually have happened under former
administrations, both decisions and the
names of the jurors have furnished evi
dence of questionable justice.
Under the new regime, however, it is
pleasing to pote that there has been less
cause for complaint against a system
which is admittedly had and antiquated.
The names of the old familiars who were
regarded with suspicion have disappear
ed entirely fr^ni the panels, and there is
now a refreshing variety of names on
each new jury summoned.
The recurrence of nhmfes can not be
avoided entirely iu a town the size of
Fairbanks. The fees paid for jury service
in the lower court are no inducement to
business men to become jurors, and the
number who can conveniently serve
without interference with their
private affairs is small at all times,
so that it sometimes happens that
one man is compelled to act more often
than otherwise would be the case. Since
Marshal Erwin has taken over the office
however, comparatively few jurors have
served more than once, and only in one
instance has a jur^j. been required to act
more than twice.
The present marshal and his assistants
have sliowu a disposition to deal fairly
with the public, und insofar as the Times
has been able to learn, there is no
reasonable excuse for complaint at the
manner in which trial jurors are
selected. Good jurors are in demand at
all times, but with the best citizens hold
ing back and the semi-professional juror
pushing himself forward, it is not sur
prising that the marshal sometimes finds
it difficult, if not impossible, to secure a
jury entirely acceptable to a critical
public.
The best thing in the reading li^e we
liave been able to find of late is an ed
itorial m the Fairbanks Times of Nov.25
which is set fcrtli above for the edific
ation of our readers. The Times tells us
that it has evidence of corruption under
a former administration in the matter of
Selecting jurors, but it does not explain
why these .r^ks *hat the Times speaks
of were not exposed at the time they
liap-pened.
It also informs us that it is still pos
sible to turn the trick but that it will not
lpe done which makes us happy.
The Times also tells us that the fees
paid for jury service in the lower court
are not ^efficient he attract business men
t o serve a s jurors. The assumption w e
draw’ from the language of the Times is
that the fees being more in the upper
cour’;. and the fee being the sole attract
ion, it follows that jury duty will attract
them with a veugeuce.
Who are our best citizens ? The Times
THE RELIGION
OF CAPITAL
By Paul Lafargue.
THE LONDON CONGRESS
The progress of Socialism is to such
an extent disturbing the peace of mind
i of the property-holding classes on both
j sides of the Atlantic that during the cor
onation ceremonies a large number of
capitalists, together with their helpers,
gathered from all nations in a Congress
at Condon, to deliberate upon the best
means whereby to clieak the ominous
| growth of Socialism.
Prominent among the representatives
of the British capitalist class were Prem
ier Balfour, Cord Roseberry, Joseph
Chamberlain and Rothschild. lfmperor
William could not come in person, but
he was represented b y his brother,
Prince Henry, who, together with the
anti-Semite Ahlwardt and the pro-Sem
ite Bleieliroeder, Eugene Richter, and
many other German prominencies, rep
resented the Empire. France, Austria,
Spain, Russia and all the other contin
ental nations also had full delegations.
Strongest of all, however, was the
representation of the capitalist class of
the United States. Among the official
prominencies were the Republican Judge
Brewer of the United States Supreme
Court, and the Democratic Judge Barrett
of the New York Supreme Court, Judges
Ricks, Taft and Billings ; Whitelaw Reid
and Perrv Belmont, Thomas C. Platt,
the Republican, and William C. Whit
I ney, the Democratic boss ; Mark Hanna,
j Tom L. Johnson, Prof. George Guuton
and Carroll D. Wright. Then there were
several members of the Vanderbilt fam
ily, J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rocke
feller, John Wanamaker, George Gould
and Chauncey AJ. Depew. Besides these,
quite a number of gentlemen of the
cloth thronged the aisles : The Rev.
Morgan Dix of the New York Trinity
Church and the Rev. J. Minton Savage
conspicuous among them. There were
also Prof. Felix Adler, Prof. George I).
Herron, Hugh O. Pentecost, President
Harper of Chicago University, President
Bliot and Prof. Peabody of Harvard,
Prof. E. R. A. Seligman of Columbia
and numerous other miner professional
luminaries. Last and not least in the
assemblage were Samuel Gompers, John
Mitchell and others of Senator Hanna’s
labor lieutenants.
Never before had the spectacle been
seen of so many people, entertaining
what is generally imagined to be hostile
! and irreconcilable views, gathered from
; such different points of the compass
i
; shaking hands as friends. The Rev. J.
Minton Savage tapped Hugh O. Pente
cost familiarly on the shoulder ; Lord
Roseberrv a n d Chamberlain chatted
pleasantly together ; Carroll D. Wright
and l rof, Gunton were splitting sides
over some statistical tables recently pub
lished by themselves; William C. Whit
ney and Thomas C. Platt entertained
I each other with humorous incidents of
their respective political parties; Ahl
wardt and the Jewish capitalist Bleich
; roeder treated each oth^y to anecdotes ;
| the Rev. Morgan Dix, who was engaged
! in the pleasant pastime of footing up the
i rentals drawn by the Trinity Church
; Corporation through the gambling dens
! tenement houses, grog shops and houses
: of prostitution located on its estate, was
i noticed not to mind being disturbed by
| Prof. Felix Adler, with whom he soon
i
probably considers our best citizen
i those who have gone through bankruptcy
i several times or who owe thousands of
' dollars in labor bills ; but we don’t.
Who are our best citiz.ens is a matter of
i
! opinion, just as whether corruption has
I beem expelled or not is a matter of opin
I
ion, in the matter of selecting jurors.
It looks like the Times’ Editor had
partaken o f his thanksgiving turkey a
day or twryahead of time.
fell to laughing anti joking. The cause
ttha had brought all these people to
gether suppressed their personal anim
osities, hushed their Rational antipathies
and established a cqpimon bond among
all.
The Rev. Morgap Di* opened the de:
liberations with this allocutipn tp the
bodj-:
“Man is governed by both spiritual
and physical forces. Until recently, the
thing that we call religion was the mystic
force that swayed the piipds of men ; it
enjoined submission ffpm the workers ;
it taught, and managed tp induce them
to give up the substance for the shadow
to forget their earthly misery in dreams
of a heavenly happiness. But Socialism,
this evil spirit of modern days, anounces
that it will establish paradise on earth,
and instills the desire of enjoying life on
this, instead of on the other side pf the
grave. With its pestiferous voice, Social
ism shouts into the ears of the wage
workers : ‘You are being robbed; rise
and free yourselves!’ It is by these
means slowly making the once submiss
ive and patient working people ripe for
rebellion, to the epd of putting aside the
privileged clasgfs, taking their wealth
from the rich and giying it to the ppor,
overthrowing religion, disbanding the
family, destroying art and sciences and
reinuroducing barbarism on earth. How
is this enemy of civilization and progress
to be fought ? What are the weapons we
should take up against Socialism ? Prince
Bismark, once the arbiter of purope,
the modern Nebuchadnezzar, who over
ran Denmark, Austria and Prance, was
overcome by a lot of Socialist shoe
makers and tailors. The French conser
vatives massacred, in 1848 and 1871,
thousands of Socialists and turned Paris
into a mammoth shambles, but out of
the blood of those wholesale butcheries
Socialism has sprung up in all countries.
After every slaughter, Socialism rises
with increased strength. This monster
has withstood the test of bru^e force.
What is be done?”
Thereupon, one after another, the
philosophers and freethinkers present
rose and proposed, in elaborate addresses
that Socialism be curbed by science.
The Rev. J. Minton Savage and his
friends tried to listen to these proposals
with composure, but one of them could
finally not contain himself, and exclaim
ed impatiently: ‘‘It is your accursed
science that furnishes Socialism with its
most trenchant arguments.”
‘‘You are ignorant of the natural phil
osophy that we teach,” retorted one of
followers of Herbert Spencer. ‘‘Our
theory of evolution teaches that the low
social status of the working class is the
inevitable result of the laws of nature ;
and that the privileged members of the
upper classes will eyolute into higher
and higher btings until they shall have
forme:,! a new race. The people of that
race yjfill resemble in nothing the beasts
in human form of the lower classes, who
are not to be ruled, except whip in
hand.”
“God forfend,” broke in another
clerical gentleman, ‘ ‘t^iat that theory of
evolution of yours should ever reach the
ears of the working class; it would set
them wild ; it would drive them to des
peration, from which popular uprisings
always spring up. Ypu must be very
simpfe-minded if you fl a 11 e r yourself
with the notion that your misleading
science could stem Socialism, a move
ment that holds out to the working
people the prospect of wealth for all,
and of the fullest physical a n d mental
development of the individual. If we are
to remain a privileged class, and continue
to live at the expense of the working
people, we sha^l have to coddle their
imagination, and while we clip the wool
off those human sheep, eutertaan them
with some nursery tales of future happi
ness.
Finally all eyes turned upon the not
orious Statistician Mallock as he arose
from among a group of capitalists —Van
j derbilts, Goulds, Rotlichilds and others.
He addressed the assemblage in an im
I pressive tone as follows :
“We need Religion to curb the masses.
But what religion ? It must be a new re
ligon. Now, then, the only religion that
answers the requirements of our days is
i the Religon Of Capital. Capital is the
j true, only and omnipotent God. He is
; found in glittering gold and in stinking
guano ; in a herd of cattle and in a cargo
i of coffee ; in brilliant stores that offef
sacred literature foy salp and in pbscgye
bopths gf lewd picture^. He is every
\yhere. Capital js the Gpd whom the
wholp world knows, sees, smells, tastes.
He is the only God tliat has not yet rug
against ap atheist. The priest Solomon
worshipped him after everything elsp
seemed vanity to him • tfie Philosopher
Schopenhauer was greatly drawn to him
even after he was disappointed in every
thing else; Herbert Spencer, in the
midst of all his philosophical perplexities
was not perple^e;! about that subject;
and Bob Iugcrso]l, who mocked every
thing else, mocked not him.”
Violent applause from Gould, Baring,
the Vanderbilts, Joe Chamberlain, Car
roll D. ^Vright and all the circumcized
Christians apd unciraumcisad Jews of
the international brotherhood of gold.
WHY HE QUIT
“Well,” said Paul, “it was this way.
I sat in the courtroom before the case
opened, with in y witnesses around me.
Jones bustled in, stopped, looked my
witnesses over carefully, and said: 'Paul,
are those your witnesses?’
“ ‘Tt^ey are,’ said I.
“ ‘Then you win,’ said he. I’ve had
them witnesses twice myself. ’ ’
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PRAYERS FOR CAPITALISTS.
THE INVESTOR’S PRAYER
My fatbpr, Capital, who are on earth.
Almighty God, who c]iangest the course
of riyers, tunnelest mountains, separatest
contiguous slip yes, and in el test, into one
distant nations, Creator Merchandise
and Source of Life, oh, Thou, who rulest
V«' _ ' "
Kipgs and subjects, lahorprs and employ
ers, may Thy Kingdom bp fop evermore
on eartlj. Give us plentiful purchasers to
take opy goods off our hands, without
looking t°p closely whether these be
genuine oy shoddy, pure or adulterated.
Send us gudgeons who may be allured
by the tempting bait of onr prospectuses
and ensnared in the network of our fair
promises. Cause our debtors to pay their
debts ip, full. Lead us not into the pen
itentiary, but deliver us from bankruptcy
ami grant us never ceasing dividends.
Amen.
>
READ THE DISCUSSION ON
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FIND PUT WHY THE LAWYERS
ARK. OPPOSED TO THE RECALL.
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