Jailg Name Industrists Markt-H
Published Daily except Sunday
Hf Nome Mine Workers’ Union, No. 940. Western Federation of Miners.
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Entered as second class matter March X, 1S11, at the post office at
Moroe,' Alassa, under the Act of March I, 187t.
All changes In standing advertisements must reyh this office at si*
•dock each evening to Insure Insertion In the following Issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as
aearly as possible. Is a worthy object of aDy good government.”—
Abraham Lincoln
Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black 1>4.
Nome, Alaska, December 14, 11)10.
OUSTING THE MIDDLEMAN. ,
The movement which has begun ■
in Seattle to establish a co-operative ^
store is certainly justified by condi- ,
tionr, Notwithstanding its proximity j
to the farm products which form
the basis of the necessities of life,
Seattle prices have been artificially
boosted by certain conditions.
Briefly those were restrictive or
dinances preventing hawking and
peddling, high rents altogether be
yond the population growth and
business development, and the deli
berate efforts of the commission and
retail men to withold commodities
from the market thus to enhance
the price.
Efforts have been made to over
, ame this condition with city mark
t ts, city docks and legislation which
kept ihe commission men nominally
within bounds.
But those efforts improved condi
tions har liy any, and the highei
< osts of living still pressed heavily
upon the workers of the Spirit ( ity.
Moreover, the farmers, truck or
stock or grain, did not get the bene
:t o! th.se high prices. Someone
else did. Thus potatoes sold for as
;,igh S1..°>9 and the growers got
hardly half that amount. Berry
grow* in the western vaiieys made
iia. it $400 from their farms, per
annum. That is the statement ot
1’aulbamus president of the ! uysl
! up Valley berry growers association.
A condition of this kind naturally
forced resentment among the farm
, v. ho watched enormous prices
asked for their produce while they
l!.t;i to sell it for a pittance.
The prevailing idea that the farm
I 1-s and orchardists were rolling in
riches is not correct. Their poverty
prevented them holding out for
higher prices and they had to take
rvhat they could get. With berries
under sixty cents a crate, no munifi
cent fortunes are in sight, and Un
rest of the farmers and ra;icher»
lured little better.
The other day the members of the
Washington Grange and the Central
Labor Council of Seattle determined
to start up a co-operative store. This
will have a bona fide list of custom
ers to start with o r;t 'ban
27,000. It is quite clear that it will
enable the farmers to get higher
prices for some of their products,
and bring those products in touch
with the consumers who will also
pay less than they are now paying.
They propose to oust the middleman
and the commission man and sell di
rect to the consumer.
That idea is really very oui. me
first co-operative store on a gigantic
scale can trace back its history over
one hundred years. It has been a
success in a variety of places, but in
the majority of sections similar at
tempts have not met with the same
success.
It appears that the success of this
co-operative movement is manifested
just so long as there is real co-ope
ration and the co-operative store
valors to the members of that move
ment directly and chiefly, nut as
it has often happened when the
members of the movement find that
they receive a dividend from their
■store, they begin to insist that the
management increase this profit and
hence it spreads out beyond the
range of actual co-operation and, be
comes just as much interested in
profit-making for Its promoters as
any other corporation. And the end
of it Is that it becomes a stock com
pany whose members are privileged
•as to prices and still more privileged
•as to profits.
Further than this, there have suc
ceeded jealousies and dissatisfac
tions with the management when
the lean years cut down dividends
and the profits *were small. /
The chief utility of a co-operative
store may readily be granted to be
psychological rather than material.
It can be used to prevent any seri
ous artificial combines .controlling
the prices to such an extent as to
place them beyond the range of the
ordinary worker. Under ordinary
conditions this cannot be as well
done by competition, Tor the very
great expense of numerous small
establishments in competition,
means that those expenses must
come out of the consumer. Hence
ordinary business prudence dictates
that these be carried on in such a
way that despite expenses an income
will be assured, and it is the con
sumer must pay that income as well
as the expenses incidental to the
distribution of the mechandise.
The retail business in any commu
nity is one that is accompanied by
considerable risk. Those risks are
due to bad debts and other losses
which cannot be foreseen. The good
customer is one who must pay foi
the bad, and the pfices are such as
to cover losses incidental to bad
book accounts.
Some stores conducted upon a
cash basis make a specialty of small
profits but quick returns, and the se
cret ot success in many mail order
and department stores is that they
write up no accounts and insist upon
cash.
To operate such stores however
involves great capital and usually
when they succeed in establishing a
business upon that basis, the quick
returns arc insisted upon but the
[small profits are superseded by very
large ones indeed.
The mail order houses and depart
men stores of mammoth proportions
also buy direct from the producing
manufacturer They buy up for a
very small margin of profit the en
tire output of factories. In conse
qucnce they place merchandise on
! the market at prices which some
times are equivalent to the whole*
1 sale prices in other sections.
A Chicago house recently made a
particular feature of silk gowns at a
price which was considered imposs
ible by ordinary retailers. A large
order was filled for an Oregon city
addressed to a “reverend” in the
j coast burg. The Chicago store was
t,curious to know just what a “rev
I crend” was doing with all the dres
I scs. and after filling the order
1 placed a sleuth on its tracks. The
sleuth reported that the gowns ord
ered by the “preacher” were adorn
ing one of the show windows of the
biggest store in the Oregon town,
and at a price about two hundred
' per cent higher than the Chicago ca
, laiogeu scneuuie.
The important point about this is
I that the people do not know any
thing about the things they buy. The
country is kept in a state of pro
found ignorance on manufacturing
prices and costs of production. Bus
iness has become as secret a profes
| sion as the medical profession of an
j other day, and they use a jargon all
\ their own.
There never has been any decent
I effort made to bring home the facts
! to the people. There is not an
average man in any community can
tell offhand the relation of prices
' wholesale or retail to the actual val
ues of the commodity. There is no
standard; it is an empirical matter
which fluctuates for a variety of
reasons and price today has little
I or no relation to the actual worth ot
a commodity. Articles which cost
a trifle to produce are marked at a
fabulous figure and occasionally, but
not often vice versa. ^
The co-operative movement Is
Therefore not based upon any precise
knowledge as a general rule of the
economic facts. It is due to the in
stinctive view that the consumers
are paying more than they Bhouhl
for the merchandise which thtf/ pur
chase. But althmgh this instinct^. c
feeling is beyond question founded
upon fact, there is not the slightest
probability that the real cause.of this
inflation can be determined offhand
and an intelligent view taken of the
matter In this,regard. A variety ot
causes are blamed for this condl
tion, all or none of which may be
really responsible
There Is no earthly reason why
this neglected field should not re
ceive general attention. It Is
astounding that in this the twentieth
century there should be such com
plete economic ignorance and that
not an effort is made to overcome it.
Yet that this is so, is patent to
anyone. When the high price of a
loaf of bread confronts the people
they blame the speculators, the high
freight rates, the farmers, the mill
ers and the bakers with about even
responsibility. That surely- is gro
tesque enough. But even in the
matter of paper, the publishers ot
the country are wholly at sea as to j
what the costs of the commodity I
they daily use are in the matter
of production, and whether
they are not paying wholly beyond
the actual values in white paper.
The ignorance is universal. And be
cause there is such ignorance the
work of gouging the people and
robbing labor has become easily
enough the high standard of efficient
art it is now, with absolute impun
ity. ^
Surely it ought to be as import
ant to understand the costs1-of the
processes involved in making a coat
as it is to understand the process
itself. Yet while the textile industry
is familiar, the machinery of the
clothing factory is popularly under
stood, and the various other pro
cesses are commonly and intelligent
ly followed, not any effort is made
to accompany that Inquiry with a
knowledge of the actual costs in the
whole process.
Yet it is evident that before the
middleman can be sucessfully ousted
and before prices can be brought
within reason, and the cause of the
high prices directly placed, the en
tire processes in industry must be
analyzed as to cost before any in
telligent action can follow.
Only the other day at an investi
gation on the subject, the independ
ents in the manufacture of gasoline,
a by-product of petroleum, admitted
i that they could not explain how the
I prices of wholesale gasoline w( re
| set. It was not set by them, and it
I never did bear any relation to the
costs of production. The price was
determined beforehand by the trust
and 2fi Broadway dictated what it
| should be.
So when any investigation is made
of high prices, necessarily if it is to
be intelligent, it must familiarize
i the public with production and dis
} tribution costs, until then weevil!
i be ignorant men unable to solve any
| thing.
Bring this right home to the aver
I age Alaskan. The prices which are
I charged are considered high. And
' the costs of living are blamed, upon
| a variety of people: upon the whole
salers, upon the trusts, upon the
steamship companies and upon the
lighterage companies as well as
upon the storekeepers.
Manifestly they are not all equally
| responsible and manifestly it is im
| portant that in saddling respousibil
I ity, we have to be much more famil
iar with the facts at issue.
That ^the co-operative movement
I is generally receiving an impetus
: due to the higher costs of living is
■--■ % ■ -:
_
certainly to be admitted. It haa
been introduced by organized labor
in a variety of places and especially
by coal miners where the union co
operative stores has taken the place
of the company commissary with
wonderful results. And that these
successes have warranted its intro
duction elsewhere can hardly be de
nied.
It is only a matter of time when
the rejuvenated co-operative stores
will appear in all communities, be
cause the terrific experience of pur
chasers throughout the country on
account of the arbitary increase in
costs of living, are rapidly driving
the workers to this polity as the
only way of making their wages go
sufficiently far towards making ends
meet. In the majority of cases they
do not do so now.
THE DIAMOND FROM THE SKY
* AT DREAM TONIGHT
Ninth Chapter entitled “A Run
away Match’. The great romance is
proving its merit as a record break
ing attraction. Tonights exposure
shows Vivian Marston seized with a
desire to own the Diamond, what
follows is intensely thrilling. See
Quabba rolling a huge rock down
the mountain - literally wiping out
the Gypsy camp, see Cummings at
risk of his life boarding a moving
train. See Blairs desperate fight
with the conspirators in an attempt
to escape with his bride. These are
only a Jew of the many big ex
posures in tonights instalment. A
Pathe Weekly and a Keystone
Comedy completes the program. A
Big show. To-morrow night a fea
ture The Hound of the Baskervilles,
4 parts. See Sherlock Holmes at
work.
WE CAN DO IT. ft
For first class work and pron. p«
delivery pli *ne Main lrtl and th*
People’s Steam Lnnndry *'Jl e< I
' and get your laundry.
W. J. WTlifilAMHON Pros
PROFESSIONAL CARD.
Dr. A. F. Heimlich
PHYSICIAN. & SURGEON.
Office & Residence:
I
OVER HILL’S PHARMACY.
j
Office Hours: 2—5 and 7—8 p. m.
Phone Main 7.
John Hancock
I
NIGHT SCHOOL. 212 FRONT ST.
i
From 0:30 to 8:30 p. m.
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic,
also Art of Bookkeeping.
Terms reasonable.
^s,*^**********’*,**^**!#. s-sHfifiiHfitf: ^KWKWKanfiifiifWffiwsfianiafifiwifiifi
1
The Arctic Bakery
PRICES AMIN REDUCER ON
FORD AUTOMORILES
Chassis price is now $ 325.00
' Runabout $ 345.00
Touring $ 360.00
F. D. B. DETROIT
PUCE YIUC ORDER NOW
ALASKA LIGHTERAGE 8 COM GO.
MT. VERNON RANCH ERGS
NO PEI DOZEN
Have you tried our Mt. Vernon Ranch Eggs which we are sell
ing at 50c. per dozen? If not you have overlooked something.
These eggs will compare very favorably with eggs for which you
pay 75c. per dozen. Try them and save 25c per dozen. This is quite
an item. You know our reputation for having the best eggs.
And we are sincere in saying that this is the best value for the
money we have ever .been able to offer.
dTejcroWley^
Kent Transfer Oo.
General Transfer & Freighting
Qoal_&_ QIL
Phone Main 139.
i mmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmn \ m m i—m
TRY
PHIL MURPHY
| FOR LEATHER VESTS & COATS, THE LONG KIND OREGON
CITY MACKINAWS. HATS SHIRTS, PANTS, SHOES, UNDER,
WEAR, SWEATERS, FUR CAPS, MITTS, WOOL GLOVES,
PARKAS AND ROBES.
MURPHY HAS THE GOODS
m-*-, i Binwrif iririPiftjP^teuArif/trif j^rtrtrtririg .-l/nriniinrifiri/iMriru IClUCICUhUllCICIACkDDB
I Men’s Women’s Children’s
SHOES
Since (lie opening of Navigation we have received 3270 pairs
£ of SHOES and RUBBER FOOTWEAR. Every boat brings more,
jj “There is a reason”. Our prices are right and our business has
S been built by satisfactory service to our patrons.
P. A. PETERSON SHOE CO.
NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS.
All taxpayers will please take no
tice that the Assessment Roll o£ the
City of Nome for the year 1916 is
completed and in the hands of the
City Clerk of said City and open foi
the inspection of the public.
You are further notified that pur
suant to resolution duly passed by
| the Common Council of said City,
.the said Common Council will sit as
a Board of Equalization on Thurs
day, December 14, 1916, at 8 o’clock,
P. M. of said day, and at such times
thereafter as 3aid Council may by
resolution determine, to examine the
said assessment Roll and to correct
all errors in valuation, description
or quantity bf lands, lots, and other
property, and to transact such other
and further business as may proper
ly come before said board.
E. GRIMM.
City Clerk.
Safety first. You miners coming
in from the creeks look np the ad*
vertisers in your paper before die*
posing of your patronage.
fim !■ Mia ga Pnlidraltia
ROW M WO 1111*0 1© oOWCmWi t
I
j Try our Mild Cured
Hams and Bacon
Also our WILD ROSE LARD, made
Iw from the pure leaf fat, In 3, 5, 10 and
20 lbs. cans. ■
■ Independent Meat Market I
■ g W. H. Webb*
I TEL. MAIN 15