Bale Name Ijndugirinl Mist-BE
Published Daily except Sunday
Name Mine Workers’ Union, No. HO, Western Federation of Miners.
Subscription Price
One Tesr ___ _ „ _
llx Months.. —.._ .
One Month .. „
1X0.0#
«10.00
I X.00
Entered as second class matter March 1, llM, at the post office at
rfome,- Alaska, under the Act of March >, X87X.
AM changes In standing advertisements must reach this office at six
o’clock each evening to Insure insertion in the folio-swing issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
"To secure to each laborer the whole product of h!s labor, or as
aearly as possible, is a worthy object of any good government.”—
anranam Lincoln
Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black 1X4.
Nome, Alaska, May 24, £»I7.
question or caste.
The manager of the Olympic
Theater of Brooklyn was fined $250
for refusing admittance to soldiers
and sailors in uniform. The men
discriminated against were private?,
and the press hailed the punish
ment as in apt penalty for insulting
the uniform of the United States
government.
In point of fact the manager io
not to blame at all. The uniform
as a uniform is not discriminated j
against.at all. The men as soldiers
and sailors are not prohibited from
entering and associating with the
other luitrons of the theater because
soldiers and sailors at all. Nor
was the manager guilty in the least
bit.
The fact is that there exists a
snobbish dislike of the common
soldier. He is considered, as such,
hardly fit company for those who
like to be thought a good deal
better than they are socially. And
the manager caters to caste.
No one has yet ever heard of ail
officer of the army and the navy be
ing discriminated against at such
places, and hence it is just to argue
that it is not the army and navy
that is being barred from such
places.
Just as objection wot.id t« raised
to admitting a man i'l over alls In
some of tb^ Broadway cafes, just
as there is a rule iu many of them
that only those in evening dress are
served, so the management of me
theaters observe shrewiy enough
that the patrons of their establish
ments think the tone of the place
is lowered if it is graced by the pre
sence of the common soldier or the
common sailor. The men and
women folk who woulu break tlielr
necks to be seen talking and asso
ciating with an officer, will cast the
bad eye in the direction of the com
mon soldier. They know the oTner
m the one who gives orders: they
know ihe soldier is the man who
takes them and obeys them. The.t
p'ace the officer on a higher soda',
plane and the common soldier is of
a lower caste. Reai-v that is all
that there is to it, although many
good men who ought to be able to
use their brains more, hive worried
the matter into a national agitation
as an insult to the fleg, th" 'nation,
and the army and the navy.
A private in the United States
army who had shared in all the
trials of the Boxer Campaign in
China was one of the detachment
that rescued some missionary folk
from the Boxers. On a river boat
travelling through the country, one
of the mission ladies’ children be
gan to play with the private. The
missionary lady ran towards the
child and scolded it in shameful
manner for daring to play with a
common soldier—after that com
mon soldier had dared to venture
his life to save the good lady.
It was all right to play and
smile, and even at a pinch flirt,
with an officer but with a private
soldier never!
, At public dances where officers
and privates have been known to
freely intermix with the community,
there are a good many ladies often
times who would border on a hy- ;
sterieal tit if some private dared to ,
ask them for a dance, and they ,
wrould talk for a month about the i
dance with captain this or major ]
that or colonel the other thing. j
Theatrical managers who have t
barred soldiers do so because they i
have observed this quite common (
failing upon the part of the public |
that patronizes them. Some have an
idea that it is due to the raiscou- j
duct of the common soldier or sailor i
and the general failure to act with E
a decorum suitable to public enter- 1
tainmeuts. But that idea, which by j
the way was aiso Kipling's, is en
tirely wrong: (
■'It’s Tommy this and Jt’s Tommy ,
That
And it’s chuck ‘im out the brute!” 1
For Kipling, with the caste-bound t
a- ture of so many Englishman, ai- s
ways saw in the private a lower ordet
of animal—very interesting to be
sure, and at times almost human,
“under their skins’’.
The taste idea remains still
strong even in the United States.
The ancient identification of gen
tilty and nobility with a higher class
was the egotistic indulgence of the
“higher orders’’ who despised the
“boor.-’’ and “churls" and “vil
lains’’.
That was in another age. But to
day the young college AmeTicai
refers to the “mucker” as in con
tradistinction to his own noble self,
and the acts which he contemns rae
“mucker’s acts". The inbred caste
idea will not down, and even ex
tends to the horrified maiden ot
the mine boarding liuse who told
her mother in tones suggestive 'ot
scrilege “there was a mucker in the
machine man’s bed’’.
Usually it is the boast of the Am
erican that caste and class do not
exist and that the well conducted
man is received everywhere, quite
regardless of his position in life.
The experience _ of every person
knows that this is a weird delusion,
and that the man in over-alls as
well as the man in broadcloth has
his caste ideas. In camp, boarding
houses usually there is a separate
table for bosses and higher skilled
workers, while the “shovel stiffs”
usually are herded together and
receive scant enough attention from
the flunkeys who direct their'solid
tous care towards the “bosses
table”.
Indeed we see the relation ot
master and servant seldom men
tioned except In court decisions, but
maintained rigidly by the caste
ridden nature that is in a great pair
hereditary, covert but strongly
subtle.
The rich man may conduct him
self beyond the rules ot good con
duct and get away with it. if the
wori.ingman does it, it affords a
real fo-ul excuse for giving him the
“Through tattered rags” it was
the Jard pointed out, ‘s nail vices
do appear, robes and furred gowns
hide all”. Under more ancient sy
stems of jurisprudence, the man
who had many possessions could
compound a murder for so many
cattle or so much live stock of one
kind or another. Today so many
dollars will satisfy justice while
the man who has none, goes to jail
for an identical offence
That versatile if more serious
than amusing journal “Life” had a
cover design, during the war, of the
Kaiser stamping across the woild
with feet that left a blood stain in
every print: he was paying mone
tary compensation for the sinking
ef the Lusitania with the disdainful
remark ‘Here's money for you Am
ericans: I may want to kill some
more children". It is hard to tell
whether “Life” inteuded this as an
ittack upon the Kaiser or an al
ack upon the American character,
t was most certainly both.
Yet, more significantly, it may
>e asked, if the law feels itself sa
isfled with monetary fines, why
ihould we cavil at the Kaiser or the
>eopl#if they regujate their stand
ird*of living by power and pelf that I
>ne has got? If it were possible to!
onceive every private soldier, the
icion of a noble family or one con
lected with great wealth or receiv- '
ng.a princely remittance, his posi- !
ion would immediately change. He ,
irould instead of being an unwel
ome guest at public places, be the
ionored of them all.
Indeed the literary hacks that
:rind out ephemeral, but doubtless
ery profitable scenarios and short
tories for movies and for magazines
ave struck upon this solution when
laking the common soldier a hero.
The other day in the Iocal# mo
icn picture show was produced
The Wall Betweeu”. Before in
crests could be roused in tho hero
liey had to make him a banker’s
an, with powerful and wealthy re
latlves and promote him to the
quasi official rank of quartermaster
sergeant. Then he became poss
ible of absorption by the movie
going public who love a banker as
the Englishman loves a lord.
Take up at random some story
of the common soldier who is made
hero of the romance. He is the
disgraced son of a wealthy family
who finally winds up a dishonored
career by rescuing the colonel and
marrying the captain’s daughter.
He does not remain private Smith
or Jones or Robinson. He gets a
commission for distinguished
bravery or for brilliant leading of
the commoner s.tufl that filled the
ranks with him.
It is not, we said a question ct
uniform at all. It is not a question
of the army or the navy at all. It
is a question of ‘lie public point of
view, which always looks to the
higher “caste”.
The phrase “an officer and a
gentleman” is identical with the
phrase “an employer and promi
nent citizen”. It does not mean
that the officer has monopoly of the
finer qualities of a man, but that
he is In a position which controls
other men, whether they have or
not.
Whether officers have a higher
ideal than the rest of the world Is
quite immaterial: we know that in
the final test ot things they have
no monopoly of it at all. Indeed
some arc so detestable that men
shrink from considering their per
sonality at all, and allow them to
lose their evil qualities in the facts
of their position.
It would be quite immaterial were
this caste idea confined solely to
the army or the navy, but as has
been pointed out it is quite as gen
eral as its existence is ignored and
generally denied. Tha workers
themselves are not free from it,
and even labor organizations have
been kept apart by the fatal caste
tendency whereby certain craftsmen
considered themselves so much bel
ter than the rest, that they refused
to affiliate or associate or organize
with the rest. Only the compelling
and levelling tendency of capitalism
on the workers has enabled indus
trial unionists to organize men ot
all crafts in one big union and then
they had to fight every inch of the
way to be allowed to do it.
Moreover, the very persistence
with which some organizations
establish a whole bevy of officers
shows the inate caste ideas which
/8tlH prevail even if the worshipp
ing anti idolization whifli is extend
cd to those officers and leaders dit
not cinch the fact.
The persistence of caste, then, ii
one of the realities of present daj
life and draws its continued inspi
ration from the economic founda
tions of human existence. It wil
not disappear, however it may b<
moderated or however it may b«
protested against, until exploitiv<
economic systems disappear.
As long as one class controls the
means whereby another lives, as
long as some men have great anc
compelling power and authority
so long will caste exist—so Ion?
will the man of leisute be honorec
above the worker, so long will the
man who commands be honorec
above him who obeys, so long wil
the tqll silk hat obtain more rever
ence than the slouch hat of the or
dinary' producer.
This caste idea is so old that its
appearance nowadays is hard to re
cognize for it has adapted itself tc
changing economic systems with
the ease of any other parasitic
tendency. The old Hebrews insisted
upon the higher position of the man
of leisure and the despicable condi
tion of the hewer of wood and
drawer of water. Aristotle ques
tions whether the workers (that is
the slaves) had any souls or no.
Sudras and dogs were forbidden the
entry, in the same terms, of the
Hindu i temples, and the bitter op
position of Christ and Buddha and
others failed to impress any phase
of the caste question while the caste
idea overcame and impressed itsell
upon both Christianity and upon
Buddhism.
This is a long way from the city
of Brooklyn in this twentieth cen
tury. But when the Olympic theater
kept out^common soldiers and com
mon sailors it merely pandered to
the caste ridden public which pa
tronized it.
The fining of the manager did
not even affect the root of the mat
ter at all. It may have left him
regretful, but it certainly did not
touch the repugnance of the snobb
ish public from having to consort
with one who takes instead of giv
ing orders.
There's not a manager living who
would wilfully and willingly keep
out an officer in uniform, and if
they could they would let them In
free, because they know that the
same patrons who would walk
across the street to avoid a private
would run twelve blocks to be seen
talking to an officer.
1T •fr,fr*i*4**!*4»*|**fr*i»4* 44. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4.
SUBSCRIBE FOR
The Daily
Nome Industrial Worker
$2.00 each month
Best Telegraphic News
Job Printing Neatly Executed
. • T
♦♦ <H< >!■ 4- 4* 4- 4- + *4* 4* 4« 4* 4- 4* 4* 4- 4- 4- 4- 4. 4. 4. 4.
INDEPENDENT
MEAT MARKET
Wholesale and Itetail Dealer
In Beef, Pork, Mntton, Veal,
Ham, Bacon Poultry and Fish
Game la Season. All fresh
Stock. No old or damaged.
W. H. Webb prop. Phone M.1K
BOARD OF TRADE
Restaurant
and
LUNCH ROOM
George Modini,
Proprietor
NOMEBAKERY
NEXT DOOR
HILL'S DRUGSTORE
NOMEBAKERY
Big Dandy
B read
NONE BAKERY
Buffer* Nuf
f if
B re ad
BREA
I
NOME BAKERY
Pan Dandy
B r e ad
NOME BAKERY
Rye
Bread
BAKERY
NEXT DOOR B
HILL’S DRUG STORE B
i#S«*3S '9M3
ALASIH LIGHTERAGE 8 COHI’L CO.
EGGS!!
4 DOZ. FOR 50c. EVERY ONE GUARANTEED.
Armours Evaporated
J IBS. TINS. USE THEM IN COOCKING, JUST AS SATIS
FACTORY AS FRESH EGGS..
TRY A CAN AND BE CONVINCED.
D. E. Crowley Groc. Co.
v:»rei»jEiirc;iin^^
Kent Transfer Co.
General Transfer & Freighting
Qoal & Ql±
Phone Main 139.
waaaaaaaaMMiaBiH
LOOK
AT OUR DISPLAY OF UNDERWEAR, SHIRTS, SOX, GLOVES
ETC. IF PRICES TALK THERE IS AN INTERESTING STORY
IN OUR WINDOW FOR THE MAN WHO WANTS THE BEST
FOR THE MONEY. SEE OUR SPECIAL PRICE ON
Heavy Weight Cafivas Gloves
10 CENTS PER PAIR. GLOVES OP THIS QUALITY NEVER
HAVE SOLD FOR LESS THAN $1.50 PER DOZEN.
P. A. PETERSON SHOE CO.
The Rose Candy Store And
Arctic Bakery
THE HOME OF FRESH CANDIES, SALTED PEANUTS, PEA
NUT CANDIES, GOOD BREAD AND COOKIES AND GOOD
LC NCHES,