Satlg Nome 3ttktatrial Workrr.j
Published Daily except Sunday
By Nome Mine Worker*' Cnion, No. 210, International Union of Mine, '
Mill a ml Sm elter Workers.
Subscription Price
L'bm Year ... ._ ___ _. „ ~ — — -— — —-- — 110.OV
Tlx Months. .. — __ — --— — 110.00 |
Dae Monxh ... .. _ _ ... — __ ... _ ....... .... 1 100
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1*11, at tha poat office at
Home, - Alasaa, under the Act of March I, 1S7I.
All changes In standing advertisement* must reach thla office at 8lx !
O’clock each evening to insure Insertion In the following Issue.
Advertising rates made know.i on application.
"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as
tear!? as possible, Is a worthy object of any good government.”—
abraham Lincoln
Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black IS*.
Nome, Alaska, August 20, 11) 1 T.
\ yl'I STION OF TAXES.
The evident intention of the < it?
council to retrench is, it may he
recognized brought about by rea
son of the fact tiiat the city is
broke.
It cannot redeem outstanding pa
per. and while it is very evident
that when the taxes come later to
the treasury what is outstanding
may be redeemed, there will from
now on be an increase in general
indebtness. It is a very remark
abl ■ thing that the opposition to
this policy comes from the business
interests of the city, and they
1 henj>*■;v or . t b a great many
of th>-m it '- ’ upon maintaining the
Kir Depart! hi intact i a lseees
Tj... Kir Depnrtnvnt maintained
• TiO
«ioul ? a lr- ’ tiling i - n like
Nome, but i* k is *M i" rnaintanu'cl
at its prc-a nt cost of upkeep then
the bust!. ; interests of the city
ought to ldow through with their
taxes and i-ejd the assessment oi
their propi rt> at its actual value.
Every man, woman and child in
Nome knows that if the personal
property in this town was valued
at tin mie rate as the miner's
t abin v. ithin the city limi's, there
would be money to spare and more
for the payment of the Fire Depart
ment. Nor would it be ne< • sasry
to -leave some of the streets unat
tended to. especially when the resi
dents thereon have paid their taxes
without a murmur.
Hut it is a peculiar stale of
things if to protect a merchant’s
stock not assessed at their proper
proportionate value. and hence
upon which taxes remain unpaid,
the Kire Department is maintained
at a metropolitan scale while all
other departments are to lie unat
tended to or are to experience the
pruning hook of the retrenchment
policy.
Councilman Ross in objecting to
any policy might affect the Fire
Department because the taxpayers
would object, should have recalled
tie* bitter and animated contest
against paying iv; -Tibli was
maintained by some of tho:-'- for
whom lie spoke. And if they are
unwilling to pay into the city trea
sury the funds required to keep
the expenditures going, the city
has no right whatever to keep them
going when plunging the city into
debt and maintaining a larger and
larger balance in the red, and hav
ing its paper not worth the ink
written upon it.
The councilman are simply mort
gaging the future to pay for a pre
sent time extravagance and they
have achieved that wonderful con
dition when the city thinks so little
of its own waratits that it will not
take in payment of taxes its own
paper.
The timidity over re-organizing
the fire department upon a moer
economic basis amounts to a super
stition where such superstition is
not directly plain politics.
Tiie city council simply refuses
to see that it is not able to pay its
way, to perform necessary work
requiring on other streets than
Front St. to do many things that
are urgently reoulred and all sim
ply to give merchants a lire protec
tion more mythical than anything
else.
There never was a serious Tire,
and the councllmen know it, when
the services of volunteers wore not
required to aid in quenching it, and
often enough those volunteers
worked as hard and performed as
effective service as those who were
placed permanently upon the sala
ried list.
To intimato then, that the pre
sent system which *s simply no sy
stem at all. is absolutely necessary
for the proper protection of the
city is to intimate what is not r
fact.
It is ;i peculiar condition when
the council will r.ct face the fact
that reforms are patently needed.
The city is broke, and if the pre
sent council will not do anything
they will simply do all in their
power to make that bankruptcy
permanent.
By a judicious policy at the pre
sent time, such as apparently has
tlie approval of the mayor, but fails
for lack of support, the city can be
placed upon a sound basis when
the warrants will be worth at least!
their .. v..lue. Moreover nothin,;!
is mor. c rtyin than this that even-!
tually '."hat the council ea.iinni
must r Mirage to da will i n
to be Men will eventually,
have tic inevital le at 1
! compel reform win re now every
| effort i< made to evade it when |
i evasion is nt all possible.
It cei ainly would not lie diffi-j
| 1 *u 11. i1 they would rid themselves!
| of tin t ridiculous superstition as to
hampering the efficiency of the tie-!
partment which is when all si j
said and done more or less a myth J
and a thing existing Irorn frequent
repetition, onlv in tlie minds of the
ildern, :i. ’o face the situation as
it must eventual^ lie faced and
gt i down to the bands of cold
! facts.
Tin city treasury lias been pretty
well milked, it is now dry. What
with an expensive establishment
h .t cost no man knows how much,
if is the height of nonsense not to
realize where the city is at, and to
i in.dst upon maintaining the same
extravagant expenditures in the po
rtion in which it now finds itself.
Bo the couneilmen so eager for
the tax payers in business imagine
that when the annual assessment
roll is prepared there will be an ef
fort made to appraise personal pro
perty at its actul figure or that the
business interests would pay these
taxes if they did any such thing.
If this council insists upon its
present policy of maintaining the
expensive establishment as it now
stands they are bound in duty to
the rest of the people to see that
the personal property owners are
! ’axed to the proper values which
I they own. It is their bounden duty
j to see that they pay iu proportion
to their values as the miner pays
l for his cabin. If they did do this
and went through with it, they
might reasonably do as they are
now doing. But the probabilities
are that they will do no such thing
and if past experience is any guide
they most certainly will not.
Yet there is no reason why they
do not. Year after year they place
an assesed value upon homes and
cabins that the owners would
cheerfully accept from the first
buyer that offered within ten per
cent of that amount and the same
time they balk at coming within
a long shot of the actual stock
of the business men.
And it is because year after year
delinquent property is sold because
the taxes are impossible and the
proper taxes are not collected on
personal property, the city has now
the balance in the red and must
stop work on streets while the
streets are In many places unpass
able by the very persons who have
been mulcted of taxes over and
above the value of the property
that they live in, the Fire Depart
ment is now the subject of conside
ration when only those are consid
ered who arc balking perpetually
about paying their taxes.
Yet it is up to the council. If
they continue to fail in a proper
appraisement of the property of
the merchants and insist upon
maintaining flic same extravagant
'■stablishment they have be?n asked
lo consider, it means simply that
they have not the courage or the
•backbone to do their duty in either
i regard.
They mast do one thing or the
other and although they now do
neither, the choice will he made
for them by force of circumstances i
whether they will or not. •
If the merchants want the Fire
Department maintained at its pre
sent basis, if they influence conn
oilmen to such an extent that a
hands off policy" is timorously |
maintained, then the merchants!
should he made to pay for its up- j
keep. Tl: y surely cannot cxpcci ;
something for nothing and the
council should see to it that do not
get it even if they do. The city i ■
down to cases, and everyone
knows it.
INVKSTIGATK.
The proposal to investigate ‘he
I. W. W. activities might as well
he brought about first as last. It
is the suggestion of Sam Gompers
and although Gompers is hardh
actuated by the highest motive in
tho matter, the probe ought to be
well worth while.
And it ought tr lie no Star Cham
ber affair, it ought to tie conducted
with “pitiless publicity’. It ought |
to lie in the hands of judicial and !
judicious men who have r.ot pro-1
j-udiced themselves from the star! :
It certainly ought not to be in the
hands of professional jobbites with
an axe to grind in painting wha't is
supposed to be black stiil blacker.
it ought to get down to facts—
all sorts of facts. Facts connected
with the working conditions of the
men, facts connected with the
wagc3 paid, facts connected witli
the reasons for inspiring patriot
ism is supposed to lie lamentablj |
lacking in the workers—all these i
tilings should lie brought down to
publit view and understanding.
Moreover such an inquiry con -1
not but he of - vr - tior. . value to oil
elapses of workers. The differ; i.
methods of orgn: i.'.ntion and tie-,
policies pursued ought to he rigid
i" scanned, and themselves might
he advised to consider their po- i
lion for and against.
Sant Gompers h naturally pr-.
judiced. Why shouldn’t lie he? lie
has been absolute boss of the Am
erican Federation of Gabor for
goodness knows how long. His
opponents were treated with scant
ceremonv and the machine which
lie built up was admirable.* He has
a munificent salary. He is pos
sessed of enormous power. He has
quite a sinecure and all the help
lie needs. Nothing can detract
from his position unless the work
ers take a notion to conclude that
he is not through his policies de
livering the goods and join another
organization.
And that is what is actually hap
pening. The members have left
the International Union of Timber
Workers, they have left in quite
large numbers the Western Federa-;
tion of Miners, and they are orga- j
nizing in other lines because in fact |
they have not been able to better1
their condition through the system |
of craft unions that have been so i
long and in some quarters so suc
cessfully in vogue.
For this reason it would be well !
l'or such an investigation it more
impartial men than Gompers con- ]
troi it and if it starts to investigate |
with a view of considering how
conditions are and suggesting to
those who have been following the
I. W. V. some other course which
would improve their conditions
where improvement is needed.
That ws take it ,is the crux of
the whole matter. If the workers
in any organization are well and
effectively shown that they are
wrong, it cannot he done too soon.
If the investigation should result
in showing those who arc members
of the Industrial Workers of the
World that they are members in a
impossible organization, an organi
zation which is doing them more
harm than good, it is time that they
were told about it.
But there has been a whole lot of
hearsay and hearsay that has been
coming from very prejudiced sour
ces. The entire press of the na
tion has been working up a tire
less propaganda against the I. W.
W. and there has been no substance
to any of these things but merely
splentic utterances. There has
apparently been no disposition to
weigh and dispassionately expose
evi! where evil existed, founded
upon solid facts and beyond any
question of yea or nay.
For that reason every person will
welcome a complete investigation
and if tiie I. W. W. is found to lie
dangerous, a useless and an Utterly
preposterous organiaztinn, it one lit
to he exposed. And if the proof
should indicate that the organiza
tion has been libelled scandalously
and its members subjected to in
famous treatment, that too ought
to lie known and to be worth act
ing upon.
15!<; IMSIM..\Y OK DRESSES.
We will display and offer for
sale our entire line of Dresses.
Prices reduced so as to cover cost
only. Sale begins at 10 o'clock
today Tuesday, lasting; tltree day's
or until tbe arrival of I'matilla.
Everything re<luce«l. Display and
sale moved to Freeding Store, foot
of Steadman Avenue.
NOME GROCERY to.
A. F. OESTREIC1I, Mgs.
North
Pole
Bakery
& Coffee
House
BREAD
10c. per It nf
3 Loaves 30c.
Anvil
Bakery
and
Coffee |
House
***^**y**x*****wraw**s*w** »wwa***«:f^*!f;s»***** **»*»*»
__
Why worry
About wash day
THAT’S OUIi BUSINESS.
Satisfaction Guaranteed.
BOSTON
STEAM LAUNDRY
444 Front St. Phone Main 53
BOARD OF TRADE
Restaurant
and
LUNCH ROOM
George Modini,
_Proprietor
NOME BAKERY’S IOE CREAM &
SOFT BRINKS PARLOR
Now Open For Business
SPECIAL ROOM AM) ACCOMMODATIONS FOR LADIES.
HOT DRINKS. —
Coffee, Teu, Chocolate, Reef Tea, Clam Tea Milk Toast, Chicken Tea
For Hot Drinks Cake, Pastry, or Sandwiches will he served.
NOME BAKERY MIXED ANI) PLAIN DRINKS.
Plain Soda, Lemon, Strawberry, Vn nilla, IJaspberry, Orange, Pineapple,
Coca-Cola, Root Beer Ginger, Cream ,.Chocolate Sunshine, Grape Juice,
Cider, Sweet Cow's Milk, Ruttermil k, lemonade Arctic Phosphate,
Grape Juice Highball, Loganberry Highball, Egg, Malted Milk, Arctic
Milk Shake. We serve Rainer, NEAR BEER, just received.
WE RECOMMEND OUR FIRST CLASS STOCK OF CANDIES.
NOME BAKERY ICE CREAM by the Cone, Dish, Pint, Quart, and
Gallon. ICE CREAM SODA.
ALASKA STEAMSHIP GO.
S. S. VICTORIA
LEAVE SEATTLE: LEAVE NOME:
Via Seward, Valdez and Cordova
Without Additional Charge.
SEPTEMBER 2 SEPTEMBER 14.
OCTOBER 6. OCTOBER 22.
SAILING SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
R. A. Carroll, Agent, Nome
From Nome/^
\ *
Sept. 3rd.
From Seattle
Sept. 15th.
SEPTEMBER 28.
OCTOBER 25.
SEPTEMBER 15.
OCTOBER 13.
RIGHT RESERVED TO CHANGE THIS SCHEDULE.
PACIFIC STEAMSHIPCO.
ALASKA L. & C. CO.
AGENTS
At Dock.
F. J. O’CONNOR,
Commercial Agent,
•'ront St. an<l Steadman Ave.
Charles L. Ross
Milling, Lumber, Contractor
HAVING TAKEN OVER THE FREIGHTING & TRANSFER
BUSINESS OF \V. STEIGELMAIER AND OF LEO KENT,
FREIGHT ORDERS AND TRANSFER CONTRACTS WILL RE
CEIVE PROMPT ATTENTION.
3RD AND B STREET. PHONE BLACK 162.
S. S. Standard
Sails every SIX DAYS to
DIME AND WAY POINTS
weather permitting
' flu,
Front Snake River.
CHAS WECKMAX.
INDEPENDENT
MEAT MARKET
VV. H. Webb prop. I’bone M.1S
iririririnripiririnxririin** I
CHAXGK IX COAIi PRICES.
On Ails. H)th, Wellington Coal will be $23.00 per ton in yard.
On and after September 25th, Wellington Coal will be $25.00 pr
ton in yard. Briquets will continue at $18.00 per ton in yard.
We ate experiencing great dittirulty in securing anthracite
coal for winter use and cannot guarantee having any quantity
on hand.
Alaska Lighterage Comercial Co.
ii«K*‘*r****!#i*!®ai
THE NOME INDUSTRIAL WORKER
is prepared to handle
all kinds of
JOB PRINTING
%
Let us figure on your
work. Call up Black
134 or call at
THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER OFFICE