Eailg Name Industrial Max-leer
Published Daily except bunday
*%t Nome Mine Workers' Union, No. 240. Western Federation of Miners.
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“To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as
nearly 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 134.
All changes In standing advertisements must reach this office at six
• clock each evening to Insure Insertion in the following Issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1911, al the post office at
florae, • AiasKa, under the Act of March 2, 1379.
Nome, Alaska, September 121, ll>10.
X UNKNOWN GROUND.
Every one has heard the story of
Steinmetz, the expert manager ot
the General Electric Co. and his in
veterate habit of smoking. He
smokes on the job. And when he
was told that he could not do so,
tlfis ^nan. who is probably the great
est electrician in the world, without
exception, simply walked out and
stayed away until he was permitted
his cigar. He wanteci more free
dom.
This incident is characteristic of
what occurs on a large Scale in all
or almost all American employments.
There is surrounding the employees
an atmosphere of authority and re
gulation that simply makes the
work little better than slavery.
Dante Barton in a recent number
of the Masses tells of Jim Lord, the
president of the Mining Department
in the American Federation of La
bor. Barton thinks Jim Lord is
"the biggest man in the American
Trade Union Movement". He tells
of meeting Lord in a train, and how
interestingly Lord spoke to him.
Lord while speaking of the Youngs
town strike. Barton writes, “fired
this question a* me”:
“Barton did you ever write any
of this damned rot about this bad
treatment of workers in American
Industries being un-American? It
you ever did, take it back. .For. by
God. it’s only American. It's dis
tinctively American. A foreign
worker comes here and it doesn't
matter where he comes from—-he is
driven at longer hours under a hard
er whip, than he is ever worked ot
ever felt back in his home country.
Most Americans, naturally enough
feel v^ry keenly when anyone sub
jects the country to criticism. What
they observe is the great political
freedom that is here existing. They
see the voters cast their ballots fot
the men of their choice and they
say, if things are not satisfactory,
the people can change them.
But for these people, the industri
al life of the nation, which outsidt
the management is practically in
the hands of the foreign workers
is unknown ground. They do not
know and will likely never know
Itow the workers are treated iii
those industries. Instead what they
do see is a discontented class of for
eigners “who are always causing
trouble”, as they think.
But men like Jim Lord who is
himself an American, fully under
stand the situation. lie realizes
that the real life of the nation is
not the political life, is not life on
the farm, or in mercantile activities,
hut in the industries of the nation.
And most of the life of the work
ing class is spent in the induseries.
They only vote once every so sel
dom, and their experience in the ci
ties or the fields is limited to a few
minutes when leisure came to them
in little straggling moments.
That is why so many fail to grasp
the fact that in ,a land of liberty
there can be no liberty, and in a
land of personal freedom, there can
be nothing but industrial tyranny.
For the average worker, say in
the steel industry, his life as an cm
ployee yielding up his labor
power, consists of ninety-nine pet
’cent of his waking existence. Conse
quently what happens in the other
one per cent is of small account. It
Is immaterial if the welfare workers
and up-lifters and leagues for this
or that, endeavor to dump into that
little margin of free leisure all tin
generous contents of the cornucopia
of blessings. What counts with thai
worker is what happens while at
work. That is his experience ol
America. That is his understanding
of the life the country affords: that
is his real life and the living in th«
land of the free and home of ,th«
brave.
And his experience therein U
something appalling. That surely
has been shown during many recent
investigations. The worker is com
pelled to endure the most complete
personal subjection; every sense ot
freedom and initiative is taken from
him. He cannot do this and he must
not do that. He is just an unthink
ing piece of living machinery whose
brain power is only in the way. And
he dare not organize to change that
condition.
This has been recognized by every
observer.
Judge Brandeis, then Mr. Bran
deis, testifying before the Industrial
Relations Commission declared:
“We are as free politically, perhaps,
as it is possible for us to be. Every
man has his voice and his vote, and
the law has endeavored to enable,
and has succeeded practically in
enabling him to exercise his political
■ franchise without fear. He there
; fore has his part, and he certainly
! can secure an adequate part of the
government of the country in all its
! political relations—in all relations
. which are determined by legislation
or governmental administration. On
the other hand in dealing with in
dustrial problems the position of the
ordinary worker is exactly the re
verse. And the main objeetion as I
see it, to the large corporation is
that it makes industrial absolutism
possible, in many cases inevitable”.
The Industrial Relations Comtnis
] sion went into this little known, or
, little exposed, phase of the national
' life somewhat exhaustively. “The
| commissison nas neui pumic near
i mgs and lias made thorough inves
! tigations in such industrial commu
! nities as I’aterson, X. J., Los An
j geles, Cal., Lead, S. D. and Colorado
where the right of collective actior
on the part of employees is denied
| "These investigations have showr
j that under the best possible condi
1 lions and granting the most excell
I ent motives upon the part of the
employers, freedom does not exist
either politically, industrially or so
cially. and that the fiber of man
hood wil inevitably be destroyed b}
the continuance of the existing situ
ation". That is from the final re
port of the Commission on Industri
al Relations.
And it may be pointed out that
inevitably from this industrial su
premacy, from the establishment 01
industrial absolutism, “a state with
in a state” as Brandeis called it ir
his testimony, there will follow alsc
a control of political freedom makes
such a thing impossible. The indus
trial absolutism in Colorado of such
coal companies as the Coloradt
Fuel and Iron Co., reduced the poli
tical freedom of the people to such
a mythical affair that the Supreme
Court of that state in the counties
where the coal companies had ocn
trol, upon petition annulled the elec
tions in a scathing and stinging de
cision. State Senator Helen Ring Ro
binson, under oath testified that “1
found that while the counties of Las
Animas and Huerfano are geograph
ic-aly a part of Colorado, yet indus
trially and politically they are a
barony or principality of tile Colo
rado Fuel and Iron Co.
It may be alleged that conditions
aer not much different as (hr as th«
| industries of the country are con
i cerned, in any nation which has
reached anV important stage in ca
pitalist development.
That idea is wholly wrong. Ir
point of fact, government in mosi
cases now steps in and prevents an}
such a ruthless exploitation as h
continued in the United States. Ir
the United States industries, speed
ing-up is not an exceptional but t
normal condition. The employers
pay higher wages, hut they^exact ar
even greater increase in production
The employers in Europe still main
tain greater interest in their em
ployees Had pay closer attention tc
the personal conditions of work
This is either due to the unionisi
control or to the desire of the gov
ernment to prevent too great a de
terioration in the working class!
physique which will result in the
loss of so much human gunfodder.
/
The ideals- of the American em
ployer are not more inhuman, but
they are much more impefsonal.
Consequently the working hours in
Europe are realized as the real life
of the working classes, and no such
emasculation of intiative, personal
freedom, or conduct is tolerated.
And the person who has given no
time to this condition of things will
ask why then do so many European
workers immigrate into this country.
That immigration is supposed to
show that at worst, conditions are
better here than at their best in
Europe.
As a matter of fact there are few
of the more advanced nations send
ing their emigrants any longer to
the United States, and where the
so-called “'backward" races are still
coming in abundance, it is only
with the intention of coming to the
United States -to make a stake no
matter what comes, and get back to
the old country with which relations*
are always closely maintained. But
nowadays the great industries ot
the country are obtaining fewer and
fewer Germans, fewer and fewer
British, fewer and fewer Scandi
navians. fewer literates from any
nation. Those that are coming are
seeking new land, homesteads, farm
ing opportunities or are engaging in
business on a large or small scale.
The Germans, the British, the Scan
dinavian does not seek in such in
dustries as the Steel trust, employ
ment. Only when the man is a high
ly proficient artificer or expert at
some specialization in the industries
does he from those countries seek
employment in the great industrial
plants, always excepting the man
penniless and unemployed who takes
anything he can get.
Immigration is really no criterion
of conditions any longer; it is the
condition under which immigration
is carried on Few Italians are settling
in America. Few of the Balkan po
pulations are becoming permanently
Americans. If they can escape the
junk pile or the dump of the great
corporations, they return home to
live a life of ease upon their saving.
And that is always before them.
That makes them shut their eyes
to the despotism of the boss and the
| absolutism of the corporation be
i cause they hope in time with thrift
and care to be free again in their
own country. Just recall the fact
that when the various nations of Eu
rope were involved in the war and
the call for reserves to return -was
sent out, the huge numbers of Bul
gars, Italians, Greeks, Austrians,
Germans, Servians and even Rus
sians that made effort to get back.
That alone showed that they still
desired to hold their right to return
to the land of their birth, and that
could only be maintained by fulfil
ling the very service they most
loathed: compulsory military ser
vice.
Had industrial conditions been
here different, had they during the
greater portion of the life as they
lived it, and it was lived while at
work in the industries, been allow
ed to retain a semblance of freedom
and the iron of industrial subjection
not been perpetually stabbed into
them, these men would never have
given the countries of Europe a
thought, for their home would have
been for them in the United States,
as the only land that they knew
worth living in. Industrial abso
lutism, denying them even a semb
lance of industrial liberty, had be
llied them that.
RELIABLE TAILOR SHOP.
Front St. 3 doors west of Alaska
Bank.
Wo do the best
CLEANING
PRESSING
ALTERING &
REPAIRING
Ladies and Gentlemens Clothes.
CITY BATH HOUSh
Moonlight Spring Water. (Boll
ing Hot).
M. O. SOLBERG.
For Correctly
Pitting
EYE
GLASSES
Go to
Segerstrom & Hagen
Jew el err and Opticians.
.
Toilet Rolls
HILLS PHARMACY
We Deliver The Geoda.
LADIES
Going Outside
SHOULD SEE OUR LINE OF
Rubber Lined
Just received. They are almost, a necessity .travelling and
Certainly very Convenient.
Milo’s
Cafe
OPEN DAT AND NIGHT
Next door to Pacific Cold
Storage.
LOMEN BROS. S
Prescription Druglsts
and
Drug Sundries
HEINZ
57 Varieties have arrived at
Mollers Grocery
211 FRONT STREET PHONE, MAIN 8(1
Steamer Arctic
tvill sail for St. Michaels and all way points including Solomon,
Hluif and Chinlk, August 24.
For information call up Al-aska Lighterage & Com. O). or
U. S. Mercantile Co.
•raaoRwayasH!*
■nmTrrrrriTfrrTiT-iTr-FiTfrfrrfrr'frtrriiirrrrrfrfrrnTfrrrrrrrrrr<iir«nw
“S. S. UMATILLA”
For Seattle Direct
SAILING FROM
.NOME
OCTOBER 3
OCTOBER 29.
SAILING FROM
SEATTLE.
SEPTEMBER 20.
OCTOBER 15.
SCHEDULES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
F. J. O’CONNOR, ALASKA L. * O. CO.
Commercial Agent, AGENTS
Front St. and Steadman Are. At Dock.
Bfaasaaaiwgaa^
ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO.
S. S. VICTORIA
LEAVE SEATTLE:
SEPTEMBER 29.
OCTOBER 15.
LEAVE NOME.
OCTOBER 10.
OCTOBER 29.
R. A. Carroll, Agent, Nome
For
Mackinaw Coats
LOGGERS SHIRTS, STETSON HATS, FLORESHEIM SHOES,
FLAXXELL SHIRTS AND A GOOD SELECTIOX OF UNDER
WEAR. LATEST VICTOR RECORDS AT
Cheap John Store
Tel. Main 48. ONE PRICE TO ALL
Kent Transfer Oo.
General Transfer & Freighting
Qoa]_&_ Qil^
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 MARE THIS STORE THE BEST PLACE
IN ALASKA TO TRADE.
PHIL MURPHY
MURPHY HAS THE GOODS
GET THE NEWS RIGHT.
THE WORKER.
READ Anything in the line of job work
Satisfaction assured.
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MINERS
RESTAURANT
Opposite Industrial Worker.
FIRST CLASS MEALS.
Served In
FIRST CLASS STYLE.
Under New Management
OPEN ALL NIGHT.
Phone Main 153.
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*S. H. SIMEON *
+ + + + + + + + ♦•!• + + + +
.j, U. S. MAIL BOAT J
t “Silver Wave”t
4* *
•|« Making scheduled trips be*
•Is JLq
tween St. Michaels and all
4* +
way points, ineluding Bluff,
Solomon, Nome, Teller, York. ^
4* •§•
,|, Tin City, Deerlng, Candle and ^
4* Kotzebue. +
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