Inili Nahm-e- Jndugttial »Um-Kurs
Published Daily except, ounaay j
«%, Nome Mine Workers’ Union. No. *40. Western Federation of Miner*.
Subscription Price
One Tear .-.
•lx Months..
One Month . ..
110.00
S10.SS
IIS.®*
"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or^as
•oarly a* possible, 1s a worthy object ot any good govern meat."—_
anraham Lincoln
address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 110 Nome. Alaska. Pkone, Black 114
All changes In standing advertisements mast rs^eh this oflee at six
o'clock each evening to Insure laser tloa In the folleudng Issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1111, al the post offlee at
Home, Alasxa, under the Act of March I, 1171.
Nome, Alaska, January 111, 1916.
Because the Fatherland and the
Gaollc-Amcrican appeared to some
public library authorities to be too
.pro-German or pro-Hyphcnate, they
excluded them from the desks there
in. And In at least one place (Pas
saic, New Jersey) they were only
re-admitted after the nationwide
protost made the narrow minded
librarians sit up and take notice
that their viewpoint was not the
only ono.
The most striking thing about this
exercise of authority is not the at
tempted interference with the right
of free expression of opinion. It is
that the interference received any
recognition, and attention and any
serious protest.
For it’s no new thing in the
United States. It's quite a common
thing. Thus tho great agnostic
weekly The Truthseoker is barred
from dozens of public libraries;
hundreds of labor papers are also
not admitted because too radical,
r.nd there is nothing at all in the
way of powerful protest to inter
■ fete with this arbitrary interference
with- a free press.
‘ ‘ Let no one imagine that it is be
cause tho Fatherland or the Gaelic
American has been, it is re-discov
ered, telling tho truth, that they
have been re-admitted to the desks
in tho public libraries as at Passaic
Not at all. But because it is found
that however wrong or however er
roneous, they represent views enter
tained by those who are also per
sons of importance that they must
bo respectfully received.
Very few people care anything
about truth for truth’s sake. What
ail consider is now mew tames
represented as troth arc received by
persons or associations of power.
If they receive tills approval ana
this recognition, the underlings
who are in subordinate positions
are willing enough to acquiesce in
tho circulation of such opinions.
No matter how true, how posi
tive, how unquestionable, how obvi
bus, how manifestly beyond all con
troversy some matters may be, it
they arc denied recognition by those
in economic positions of power,
those ideas will be taboo.
Our ideas today pass befcrc the
interests in instinctive review. Some
of the ideas arc co vontional and
respectable, not because they are
true, they may be and are very
often false, lint because their pro
pagation is to bo considered as use
ful in upholding tho system that ban
pwved profitable to the interests,
or calculated in seme measure to
racist in tho retention cf privilege.
When we sco the powers direct
ing their forces towards tho sup
pression of any ideas it is because
they fear them, and the truer those
dangerous ideas are tho more mer
ciless will be their suppression, and
the greater anxiety manifested ia
destroying them if possible.
Little, attention is indeed paid to
♦ l» - f oo t«ri
within thcrasalvcs their own refu
tation on this account. But the
ideas that expose concealed truth,
that square with human intelligence
•< 'and which are the logical conclu
sions of deductions rationally made
• —these are they that are feared
beyond ail others, and which will be
kept away from the masses just as
long as pose'ble.
The less dar serous they r.rc, 'P’
more likely cf acceptation by the
authorities in positions of control.
That's really why the Fatherland
and the Gaelic Amorlcan are re-ad
jnltted after nr.aturer consideration
to the public libraries, whorco they
had boon barred, while many labor
pope's are still cut out.
It is an extraordinary thing that
Louis M. Brcndois, just appointed
to the Supromo Bench, should be
considered a radical. The man never
did or spoke a really radioed thing
in all his life. His politico-economic
ideas have all been directed towards
a strengthening of capitalism, not,
to be sure, by extending privilege
where privilege outraged the people,
but by limiting privilege to that ex
tent that it would be less likely to
scald the tender spots of the body
politic.
The man opposed capital wrong
ing its own laws, laws made ex
pressly for the protection of capital
ism, and in the concept of regulat
ing railroads he is indeed in harmo
ny with such well known men of
money as Perkins or as Morgan.
He has stood squarely upon the
right of labor as well as capital to
organize, but his ideas as to labor
unions are qualified very largoly by
the activities of such organiza
tions, some being good and others
being bad.
He is strictly called a conservative,
and indeed it would be impossible to
expect that a Harward law gradu
ate, after years of practice in Bos
ton would evolve into any very ra
dical being.
The simple fact about Brandeis ts
that he recognizes that for the good
of capitalists generally, those who
over-step the limits of the game
shall be punished. He opposes the
idea that men can, because they
have a mastery over the stock of a
railroad, make it a plaything produc
tive of additional private wealth for
themselves, and that to the detri
ment of the body of stock holders.
But this is merely enforcing in the
realm of big business the accepted
interpretation of “Thou shalt not
steal”; surely a very old, a very
elementary and a very conservative
ethical doctrine indeed.
Brandeis really represents the
wiser and broader view of capital
mill , me ta|Muumiu luav jmiuaic?
the evils that it cannot without
abolishing itself destroy. He is the
representative of that viewpoint
that protects capitalism by diminish
ing the ostentation of its show ot
privilege. And he founds it upon
legal and moral principles which
are much older than the Supreme
Court to which he has been elevat
ed.
He is the necessary discipline
which Big Business has itself evolv
ed to prevent its running riot to its
own destruction; a reforming, up
lifting, efficient and attentive Big
Business which carefully conceals
its evils and where concealment is
not possible, betters them.
The idea of calling Brandois a
radical is absurd. He is the safest
and sanest kind of a conservative.
While a Taft might lay claim with
impolitic candor to impossible
rights for capital, and special pri
vileges for a propertied few, he
would in that outrage and has out
raged the national cense which likes
to delude itself with the idea that
thero are special privileges for none.
Brandeis by a wiser policy reeming
ly antagonistic to special privilege,
would harmonize the facts to the
appearances only to the extent that
a candid admission would irritate
the people. It is men liko him that
contribute to the prolongation of sys
tems; it is men like Taft who
contribute to their destruction. Un
intentionally Taft is as great a ra
dical as the reddest socialist; un
intentionally Brandois is as safe a
conservative as a Rockefeller him
self.
The report of the National Execu
tive of the A. P. of L. to the con
vention at San Francisco in Novem
ber last contains much food for
thought.
Among the sententious - para
graphs within that report we read:
“The labor movement of America
was the steadying force in the per
iod of upheavel and transition that
followed the outbreak of the war.
It was the force that insisted upon
the maintenance of existing stand
ards that protected the workers
against all efforts to throw upon
them the full burden of the war.
It was the force that demanded for
the workers an opportunity to work
in order to earn a living. It was
the 'force that held true and tided
tillage over".
Taken as a general statement ot
tact concerning the American Fed
eration of Labor that Is not true-It
Is true in part. There were some
organizations which having local or
national control ot an lndustty or a
craft maintained the standard ot
wages in the face of many efforts to
reduce the wages.
But it bad no such general effect
upon the labor situation nationally
speaking, »nd no good can come to
organized labor by claiming for It
what it has not done. And because
It has not done these things is rea
son why organized labor should
learn from the past and improve
Itself so that in the future it shall
not be so wanting.
It is hopelessly useless to be pre
tending that the labor movement In
this country was the force that de
manded for the workers an oppor
tunity to earn a living when it
never has, as yet, done any such n
thing. Employers at any time and
at any place that it suits their con
venience, close down their opera
ions and that regardless whaler or
lot the employees are organized
ind that whether or not every such
irganized employee will starve.
Over any such a national crisis
is occurred when the war broke out
irganized labor had really no power.
\s is elsewhere stated in the sa tie
report which we have monitonea,
"During that period of wonder and
horror that followed the beginning
of the war, many of the workers
were left suddenly without the
means of earning a living, left as
best they could themselves to strug
gle on, for themselves and those de
pendent upon them, although they
had not been able to provide out of
their scanty wages to meet such an
emergency.” t
In the face of such a calamity
overtaking the workers, there is no
reason for the American Federation
of Labor to be presenting itself with
bouquets. On the contrary for the
very reason that with their scanty
wages, from time to time the work
ers are left without means of earn
ing a livelihood and to struggle on
as best they may, the leaders of the
organization should don sack cloth
and ashes and do fiting penitence
for tho hopeless inefficiency of a la
bor movement accepts such condi
tions as not only possibly, but ac
tually, so.
It is in just these crucial tim s
of depression that tho value of a
labor or any other organization io
tried. In the piping times or indus
trial activity called prosperity, the
organization is put to no tost for
men come and go, reasonably secure
In the fact that If they do not get
a job In one place they will in
another, and they strike to win be
cause there Is a dearth of competi
tive and unemployed labor to take
their places.
it is when conditions are unfavor
able and when everything is against
the successful development of the
movement that the real test comes,
which says whether it Is to be ap
praised a success or failure.
In the light of the facts, the pow
erlessness of the workers organized
or unorganized to control the jobs,
to shorten the labor time of those
working so that those unemployed
could share what work there was,
or some such simple or very mode
rate ■ reform—the labor movement
of this country is hardly in a posi
tion to place itself on record as
fitting to receive floral tributes from
the members, let alone from its
own executive officials. On the
contrary the abject failure of the
labor movement to rise superior to
economic circumstances, to be a
real rock of safety whereon the
Hopes OI Um wurMiio tuum 9
perishably builded, is reason for q
misgiving when considering the Am- 9
erican Federation of Labor system |
altogether. 8
It must be subjected to something S
more than self flattery and pleasant j
generalizations of their own accomp
lishment by the leaders. The only
safety' is the severest criticism by its
own membership if anything is to
be accomplished. Its conventions
should not be love feasts or gather
ings of a mutual admiration society,
but the stern storm congress of men,
ready to criticize not only the other
fellows, but themselves.
If we consider the difficulties
that the movement faces, and what
has been already done, we will easi
ly see that there is very little :
reason for self congratulation, but
rather for the immediate determina
tion to do bettor than has been
done.
PROFESSIONAL CARD.
Dr. A. F. Heimlich
PHYSICIAN & SURGEON. ,
Office & Residence:
OVER HILL’S PHARMACY.
Office Hours: 2—3 and 7—8 p. iu.
Phone—Night or day. Main 20.
The Talk of the Smoking \
Public
CENTROPOLIS
VEGA DEL RAY
Cigars.
YORKEY’S SMOKE SHOP
BnraaMaaaiaiBiaBBfaiziiircianjBBfiMa^
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
IKE INDOSTOML WORKER OFFICE
Jl
’**4 J.'l
i ii vi’./Iii'.
NOTICE
We have been appointed agents
for the
Dodge Automobile
The popular, fully-equipped,'
pleasure car that satisfies all
ALASKA LIGHTERAGE & 0011 SO.
• *
Cheap John Store
FOR GENT’S FURNISHINGS
FLANNEL SHIRTS WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY TO
SELECT FROM.. A COMPLETE STOCK OF GENERAL MSB
CHA NOISE, TENTS, T ARP ALINS. CANVAS, ALL SIXES.
HIPPERS, EL'RECA AND V. S. RUBBERS A SHOE PACKS.
WE CARRY THE SIWASH SOCKS.
SEE CHEAP JOHNS STORE BEFORE BUYING. . OUR
PRICES ARE ALWAYS THE LOWEST IN TOWN.
Kent Transfer Oo.
General Transfer & Freighting.
Qoal & Qi±
Phone Main 139.
I FOR FELT SHOES, ARCTICS, MOCCASINS, GERMAN SO A,
SHEEP SKIN SOX, AND EVERYTHING IN WARM FOOTWEAR
MURPHY HAS THE GOODS
TARPAULINS AND SLED COVERS MADE TO ORDER.
.........t_
PHIL MHBPHV
ARTIC SPRING
WATER
Always at your Service.
Prompt delivery— Blizzard or
Shine at usual Rates IS
Backets 91.90. 50c. a Barrel.
A. D. POT RET.
Phone Red ISO.
[aiafBBBjafajMamaigfaaiBa
INDEPENDENT
MEAT MARKET
Wholesale and Retail Staler
In Beef, Pork, Mutton, Teal,
Ham, Bacon Poultry and Fkh
Game in Season. AM treeh
Stock. No old or damaged.
W. H. Webb prop. Phone M.19
A FEW SPECIALS
ON OUR BARGAIN COUNTER THIS WEEK.
PEERLESS BORAX COAP, Ibars for.25c.
TEA GARDEN DRIPS, per can.50c.
YAKIMA DRIED PEACHES, per pkgs. ..10c,
CAULIFLOWER, per can . ..35c.
UNEEDA BISCUITS, 4 pIcRs. for.25c.
SODA CRACKERS, family size pSr pkgg.35c.
MOLLER’S GROCERY
AMI TOG snusura A PAOHEf
laTMU—ft
MtM *1 UU MirtiiJ Warkav m
auMMMMa «t tkmm.
WMil Wtrto.
VK CAM M IT.