Satly Nmttf Jniiustrial Worker.
Published Daily except Sunday
% Nome Mine Workers’ Union, No. 140, Western Federation of Miner*.
Subscription Price
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Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome,-Alaska. Phone, Blaek 114.
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1911, at the post office at
dome, • Alassa, under the Act of March I, 1279.
Nome. Alaska, October <>. 191 <1.
r. K. TO < VMI’.VIGN.
The Hughes shortage of war mu
nitions and political artillery is pain
fill. Else why resurrect such an
archaic muzzle loader as T. R.?
NO DOUBT.
That President Wilson is the Sav
ior of the working class can hardly
be doubted. A son of President
Oompers of the A. F. of L. is an
office holder under the democratic
administration.
A WAR VICTIM.
The Juneau Empire contains the
thrilling and gruesome story of an
exchanged prisoner of war. The
man was hot in the stomach, had
both arms broken and suffered
other and permanent injuries. He
is in Juneau looking for light work
just to make a living. How he
comes to be in Juneau, Alaska, U.
S. A., is not explained. What and
where did he fight for? Can't he
make a living in Great Britain or
Canada, if not why is it he enlisted?
Surely he would have had a more
worthy object in fighting against
the powers in Great Britain so that
be and so many, others like him
could obtain a living therein?
* ---
STRIKES.
On every side we read or hear ot
labor strips. Today when the era
of industrial prosperity is supposed
to be dumping a cornucopia of plen
ty upon a smiling land, every sec
tion of the country is providing ex
amples of labor troubles of a more
or less serious nature.
That there is just now a period of
great industrial “prosperity” or ac
tivity is not to be doubted, and the
demand for labor is probably great
er than in a long time. Moreover'
the wealth of the country has in
creased enormously. Gold is now in
greater abundance in New York
than than in any previous period ot
its financial history. Stock, com
mon stock of many corporations
which before the war was worthless
is now reaching up to enormous
values: the United States Steel Cor
poration for example. The demand
for goods of all kinds has been so
heavy that it has squeezed the water
from the capitalization of a dozen
companies which are paying divid
ends that never paid expenses be
fore. A dozen such could be named
off hand.
But at the same time, keeping
«ven step with this good fortune of
the business man, the industrial
chief, the financial king, we observe
also, the fact that for the workers
the cost of living has incended
enormously. Since the war began
food has climbed up about thirty per
cent for staples in New York and
this average is maintained fairly
well throughout the rest of the
country. All prices are still going
up, and the active demand is show
ing no sign of slackening.
On the other hand let us turn to
the wages question. Although we
may observe that in some particular
crafts, wages have kept a fairly even
step with the higher costs of living,
for the vast majority they showed
no such tendency. Wages irrespec
tive of organization have obeyed the
law rather indifferently of supply
and demand. The wages1 paid there
tofore sank in the financial collapse
of the winter of 1907. Then they
flopped away down anywhere from
thirty to eighty per cent. It was the
most remarkable characteristic of
the panic of 1907 that the prices of
necessities and staples responded
but slowly to the panic and still
continued very high while wages
dropped with a rapid slump. The
charts which have been drawn up
by statistical experts show that the
prices of staples after a slight de
•crease continued‘their increasing
tendency steadily, and except just
Immediately after the war broke
out, when in the financial uncer
tainty of that period they fluttered
a little and dropped back a few
points, they have been soaring
steadily ever since.
Any person can understand the
close relation exists between the
commodity labor and the costs of re
producing that labor power. It is
the great drawback that the human
machine has to be fed, clothed and
sheltered. It is true that many who
have to buy this labor power have
reduced all three to an almost ir
reducible minimum and are still de
vising ways and means of making
labor contented with a lower stand
ard of living.
During panicky times there is a
tendency of the employers, taken in
the aggregate, to advantage them;
selves by reason of the enocmously
over-crowded labor market and to
still reduce labor below the point ot
subsistence. Hence it is that the al
most revoltless slaves are in times
of stress, notwithstanding the des
perate conditions which prevails,
driven to rebel and strikes are ex
ceedingly frequent. Although the
labor market is over-crowded, the
terms paid are so low that the
workers strike. And hence it is,
during panics and hard times strikes
are so numerous that only when the
climax of industrial activity is
reached is there any similar fre
quency; this is shown at the pre
sent time.
During times of activity the labor
market is relieved of the pressure
of an excessive supply. And the
workers who find jobs more plenti
ful are then in a position to demand
some sort of equalization between
the higher costs of living and the
rate of wages paid. Although labor
is the first to experience the knife
of retrenchment during dull times,
it is the last to receive any equival
ent increase during times of activity,
and hence to obtain some means ot
meeting the increased costs of living
the workers are forced to take such
a radical action as in involved in a
strike.
ii lctnui nan a. biuiijic iuci i
modify, the employers long ago
would have met the needs of the
case by paying the higher price ne
cessity demanded. But as it hap
pens there are always more than
enough men for the jobs at the very
highest period of expansion in in
dustry, and there is always there
fore competition between the indi
viduals owing and having for sale
the labor commodity. And those
labor owners when unemployed are
always feeling the spur of necessity,
and they are always driven by the
bitter thongs which compel the
propertiless to sell themselves to.
live. Hence an employer instinctive
ly plays one set of workers against
another, and also instinctively views
any demand for higher wages as an
arrogant demand upon the part of
men who dont know when they are
well off, which is when they have
a job. And the employers as a
class and as a whole, noting the ac
tivities upon the part of employee*
to demand better conditions and ig
noring the economic pressure which
drives them to do so, organize to
fight the men and hence precipitate
greater and greater struggles.
Expansion of industry and great
activity in all industrial lines are
accompanied therefore with an ever
more and more intensified struggle
upon the part of the workers for
better conditions. They cannot help
themselves. Wages while they re
main stationary actually decrease be
cause the purchasing power due to
the higher costs of living naturally
decreases. While a man may be
paid today the same as he was paid
two years ago, since the prices ot
food staples have increased 28 per
cent during that time, his wages are
decreased by that amount.
Of course the employers blame
the labor agitators, and their
method of spreading this idea helps
to make it quite a general belier.
But the real agitator is an economic
I force over which neither employers
j nor employees have any control, and
that is the tendency to keep up an
equivalence between wages and the
price of food, clothing and shelter.
The costs of production and the
increased price that has to be paid
is a chapter in economics that has
to be written, and it is certain that
so far no proper analysis of the
present constitution of society as
far* as industry is concerned has
been written. But quite regardless
of this fact, quite regardless ot
what may or may not be the capses
of the higher prices now prevailing,
the fact remains that labor instinc
tively and often unconsciously seeks
to meet it by an increased wage
scale. That is resisted by employ
ers who instinctively and often un
consciously view any such efforts in
the nature of an industrial insubor
dination, and there is no effort made
to adjust these things In a fair man
ner. Hence the resort to strikes
upon a larger or smaller scale and
hence the efforts made to obtain
wages equal to the costs of living.
Roclumg chairs at $1 to $7.50 at
Crooks next Fire Department.
Now Is the time to Subscribe.
NOTICE.
All clothing not claimed before
October 15 will be sold. JOHN
FEYRER, Tailor Shop, Lane’s Way
and Front Street.
RELIABLE TAILOR SHOP.
Front St. 8 dooip west of Alaska
Bank.
We do the best
CLEANING
PRESSING
ALTERING ft
REPAIRING
Ladies and Gentlemens Clothes.
Standard upright Grand Piano for
sale, see Crooks, next Fire Depart
ment.
Political Cards.
FOR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS
FROM ALASKA
Chas E. Sulzer
Klection, November 7, Kllfi.
FOR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS
FROM ALASKA
Lena Morrow
Lewis
Socialist Party Candidate.
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR ATTORENY GENERAL
TERRITORIAL OF ALASKA.
George B. Grigsby
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR SENATOR:
Thos. M’Gann
For Re-Election.
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
Victor A. Julien
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
Charles D. Jones
Independent Candidate.
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
T. M. Reed
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
Phil. Corrigan
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
Mike Young
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
A. A. Allan
(SCOTTY)
Election', November 7, 1910.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
«
James P. Daly
For Territorial Roads. No Poll Tax
Enforcement of Territorial Laws.
Election, November 7, 1910.
FOR TERRITORIAL
ROAOCOMMISSIONER
John A. Wilson
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR TERRITORIAL
ROADCOMMISSIONER
Barney Gibney
Election, November 7, 1916.
FOR REPRESENTATIVE:
Nate C. Coombs
For Re-Eliction.
Election, November 7, 1916.
“$. S. UMATILLA”
For Seattle Direct
SAILING FROM
NOME
OCTOBER 9..
OCTOBER 25.
SAILING FROM
SEATTLE.
V
SCHEDULES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
P. J. O’CONNOR, ALASKA L. & C. CO.
Commercial Agent, AGENTS
Front St. and Steadman Ave. 1 At Dock.
ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO.
S. S. VICTORIA
LEAVE SEATTLE:
_
S OCTOBER 20.
I!
LEAVE NOME.
OCTOBER 10.
OCTOBER 30.
||
IR. A. Carroll, Agent, Nome
Attention
WE are RECEIVING OX EVERY STEAMER ONE OK THE
BEST STOCK OF GENERAL MERCHANDISE, SELECTED DUR
ING OUR TRIP TO THE OUTSIDE. WE ARE HERE TO STAY
AND FOR A SQUARE DEAL CALL AT CHEAP JOHN’S STORE.
TEL. MAIN 48.
ONE PRICE TO ALL
Cheap John Store
Kent Transfer Oo.
General Transfer & Freighting
noal & O"
Phone Main 139.
MR. MINER
I HAVE'PURCHASED WHILE OUTSIDE THE BEST LINE
OF FURNISHINGS AND WINTER SUPPLIES TO BE HAD, AND
AM DETERMINED TO MAKE THIS STORE THE BEST PLACE
IN ALASKA TO TRADE.
PHIL MURPHY
MURPHY HAS THE GOODS
GET THE NEWS RIGHT. READ Anything in the line of Job work
THE WOKKER. ^ Satisfaction assured.
MINERS
RESTAURANT
Opposite Industrial Worker.
FIRST CLASS MEALS.
Served In
FIRST CLASS STYLE.
Under New Management
j OPEN ALL NIGHT.
Phone Main 153.
S. H. SIMEON
*+ + + + + + + + + + + *
U. S. MAIL BOAT
‘ Silver Wave”
Making scheduled trips be
tween St. Michaels and all
way points, including Bluff,
Solomon, Nome, Teller, York,
Tin City, Deering, Candle «■»*
Kotzebue.
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