Baily Name Jludsustrial MarkerJ
Published Daily except Sunday
Some Mine Workers* Union, No. *40. Western federation of Miner*.
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"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or^ as
•early as possible. Is a worthy object of any good government."
abranam Lincoln
Address all Communications to Daily Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black 184.
All changes In standing advertisements must reyib 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, 1811, at the post office at
(tome, • Alaska, under the Act of March 8, 1878.
Nome, Alaska, September 5, 1 !>!(!.
SIGNIFICANT CONKinKNC'K. |
- !
The most significant, it not the j
most important, fact for us in con- j
nection with the railroad crisis, be-]
tween the brotherhoods and their
employers, is the supreme con
fidence shown by the railroad presi
dents in their abiliity to have an
eight hour law thrown out by the
courts as unconstitutional.
It is Quite beside the question
that when the constitution was writ
ten or adopted there were no such
things as railroads, that machine
industry had hardly begun its gi
gantic development. It is imma
terial too that the constitutional
convention had any idea of legislat
ing lor an industrial age that is as
different from the present as the
present will be from that of another
a thousand years hence. The consti
tution, in the hands of lawyers, is
expected to prove the protecting
guardian of the railroad companies
in their troubles today.
This means if it means anything,
that the courts in which rests the
interpretation of the constitution,
have made themselves the ralljing
ground of privilege and the bul
warks of the interests against any
tide of reform.
We have seen quoted somewhere ,
recently a statement h> Cl’.iet
justice Walter Clarke of the;
Supreme Court of North Carolina,
before the Boston Economic Club,
in the year 1007: “Forms of gov
ernment remain long after changes
of the substance. We should not
delude ourselves with the idea, that
the people govern themselves in
this country, and that through their
Congress and State Legislatures,
they shape their own destinies,
when in truth and in fact they can
not pass a single statute of any
kind or nature, however urgently
demanded, unless the statute shall
meet the approval of the lawyers
who happen at the tithe to compose
the highest court. In some states
two lawyers (a majority of three)
can thus prevent or nullify all le
gislation”.
Now the majority of the judges
holding positions under the federal
government have been corporation
lawyers. Very few of the present
regime on the Supreme Bench but
have been railroad attorneys, and
it is easy enough to understand
with their definite views upon the
rights of corporations and the pri
vileges of railroads, what their de
cision is likely to be in the event
of presidents of former roads rrom
which they enjoyed retainers should
seek to annul the eight hour law.
It is with the greatest confidence
that capitalist interests everywhere
rely upon the judiciary body to re
verse the findings of lower elective
courts or to annul the acts of the
legislatures. And it is only fair to
recognize that wherein such a
system prevails, the people do no
more than legislate subject to the
approval of lawyers in ermine.
At least we can trace the fall of
two nations in South Africa to the
efforts made by the Transvaal gov
ernment to make its \ olksraad, or
Congress, supreme as the governing
body.
A case arose wherein great, capi
talist Interests in the Rand gold
fields obtained damages from the
Transvaal government on account of
the Republic proclaiming a public
fields in a certain district and when
claims had been staked, anulling
its own proclamation. The injured
stakers who were merely the tools
of special gold mining interests on
the Rand were awarded damages by
the Supreme Court. President Kru
ger called a special meeting of the
Raad. and enacted a law whereby
all judicial decisions were subject to
revision by the legislative body.
This caused all the great mining
interests in Johannesburg to start
an agitation which culminated In
the Jameson raid and later on as
a result of the friction artificially
engendered by the capitalists of the
Rand, the Boer war, which ended in
the extinction of the South African
Republic and the Orange Free State.
Everything could be forgiven the
Kruger government just so long as
the Supreme Court could reverse in
the interests of the mining compa
nies the acts of the legislatures.
But to Paul Kruger there was no
submitting to the condition which
left the action of the elected officials
at the mercy of a life holding body
like a Supreme Court, and he was
eminently correct in his idea of
bringing home the government to
the people in his compelling all ju
dicial decisions to be subject to such
legislative supervision.
As it is now, although the consti
| tution was written in an age when
1 tallow candles and stage coaches
and hand looms and sailing ships
prevailed, it has to do duty for an
industrial age when electricity * and
steam and mechanical looms do the
| work; the constitution as written
was adjusted to an age when handi
crafts prevailed, and it has to do
! duty when machine industry has
| wiped the- craftsman off the face or
i the earth.
Aiul it i
tion that i
r by reason of this c.oniti
is capable of any poss
ible determination aim
tion at the hands of the lawyers who I
happen at the time to be judges. In j
point of fact, the American 'consti |
tution was written with conserva- |
tive ends in view. The historian of
the convention has shown us that;
it was highly reactionary and was
meant to be, and almost all the pro
minent liberals of those days bitter
ly opposed it.
In any event the interpretation
of this instrument is now in the
‘hands of men who themselves have
arisen from a part of the profession
whose special function has been the
bolstering up of the acts of great ,
private corporations. And it is
very interesting and intensely signi
ficant to observe that the represen
tatives of the railroad companies
feel perfect confidence in their abil
ity to have the courts nullify the
law passed by the elected of the
people.
Clearly therefore, it is not con
gress which governs. It is the
courts which say how Congress and
the legislatures shall govern. They
may not as a matter of fact give
legal expression to the views of the
constituents who have sent them to
Congress, but only such expression
as it shall please the judges to ap
prove of.
We thus very clearly understand
too. Chief Justice Clark’s assertion
that we only delude ourselves when
we hold the idea that the people
govern themselves.
It is truer to hold and it is cor
recter to teach that the Courts are
the real governing body. They can
throw a protecting cloak over the
interests and forbid the people,
the necessity or that grievance,
whatever the complete need
of reform, to touch or in any
way tamper with the rights end
privileges of the corporat’ons.
It is quite unnecessary <
in this connection that the judicial
decisions have been marked by an
essentially dark class tinge, it is
unnecessary to point out that black
listing has been upheld and boycott
ing declared illegal, that the law
which forbade the discharge of any
person as a union man has been de
clared unconstitutional, and so on
down the line with painful regular
ity.
The railroad companies have
every reason to rest contented with
the up-shot of the negotiat'ons n
Washington. The brotherhood men
have an eight hour law, which la
non-compulsory. They get no over
time pay. And the very conditions
they’ have fought against will stilt
exist. It is not even a Pyrrhic vic
tory, for at any minute the compa
nies will have little enough trouble
finding Judges willing enough to
condemn the legislation. I
Possibly, the Brotherhood men
are just as glad. They are great
insurance companies rather than
unions. They have immense treas
uries at stake and the issue was at
least doubtful. They have not so
many and so ardent friends in the
workers because of their own per
sistent betrayal of the working
class. Hence they might expect
that the companies would experience
less trouble filling up the Vacancies
than they would otherwise.
It would have at any rate been a
great educational factor for the
brotherhood men and even this is
lost without the strike. It would
have brought home to them the
fact that they cannot stand alone
in the labor movement if they are
to be a part of it. And they would
have better understood that railroad
unions like every other Organization
have something more important on
hand than mere fraternal societies,
paying benefits with mechanical re
gularity and shutting eyes to the
labor movement in the other indus
tries around them.
This trouble however is not over.
The legislation, likely enough, pro
longs the agony. It Ripley’s atti
tude is characteristic of the rest of
the company heads and it surely is
of most of the Western roads, the
brotherhood men have just begun to
taste the friction that arises be
tween the antagonistic aims of
workers and employers. The signi
ficant confidence of the employer in
the courts will be lost upon nobody,
and it places the brotherhood men
in such a position that the compa
nies can force a struggle when and
-where and how it may best suit
them. These are fat years in the
railroad' industry, but there are
lean years coming and it is in tile
lean .'ears when work is scarce that
the Adamson bill will, with the help
of the courts, be nullified.
Conditions will then be reversed,
idle workers will be many and
hungry. Strike breakers will be
numerous and will; >g. The broth
erhoods themselves will be less fat
ted with over work and over time
3>ay. The railroad company man
agers are not fools. They know just
as well as the brvtUerhood men the
I strength and tim weakness of tliero
! selves and the unionists. They
were willing endugh to fore j a
fight now when everything was in ^
favor of the brotherhoods, when i
men were hard to obtain and even {
the shiftless and no account of the j
sunny south had to be commandeer- j
ed into service as strike breakers |
pay.
How are the brotherhoods going j
to meet the day of reckoning. Are |
they going to fall back into the old ,
rut of aristocratic benefit unions, j
holding themselves aloof from the I
rest of the workers, or are they
going to prepare right by making j
an injury to one in any industry
the concern of all in that and in
all industries? It is surely up to
them. And they would be well ad
vised, as we should all be well ad
vised, especially those who delight
to dabble in the muddy pools ot
politics, to consider well the touch
ing confidence of the managers in
the courts to aid them in their
fight. _
OVERSTOCK til*
To the Public: —
We have just finished stock tak
ing, and find that we are heavily
overstocked so are making enorm
ous reductions in Hardware—as
much as 50% in certain lines. Not
withstanding immense advances out
side, especially in Hardware and
Metal Goods, we are still selling on
the basis of goods purchased tne
past two or three years.
We will sell for cash only at these
prices, and for a limited time, until
I we bring our stock down to the re
quirements of the Camp.
If you have an order to be filled,
let us figure on it; we can save you
money. We have proved it oo
| others, we can prove it to you.
DARLING & DEAN COMPANY.
Anything in the line of Job work
For Correctly
Fitting
EYE
GLASSES
Go to
Segerstrom & Hagen
Jeweled* and Opticians.
Milo’s
Cafe
OPEN DAY AM) NICJHT
Next door to Pacific Cold
Storage.
I MWb'nfiswifiifiaasfiiii'fi'fiSifiiJWSKifiSifiW'fia
IlOMEN BROS. I
;1 \
^ Prescription Druglsts y
I BRfclGS 1
S and
| Drug Sundries
Occident Flour
ljUy a Sark of Occident Flour and make as many bakings
as you wish* If you aro not satisfied that it is better titan anj
other Flour you ever used ret-urn the unused Flour and get
Your Money Back
MOLLERS GROCERY
211 FRONT STREET PHONE, MAIN Sd
Steamer Arctic
will sail for St. Michaels and all way points including Solomon,
Blurt and Chlnlk, August 24.
For information «all up Al-aska lighterage & Com. Go. or
U. S. Mercantile Co.
YOU CAN ALWAYS GET
LOWNEYS
AT
HILLS PHARMACY
A Boy will bring it to you if you will
Telephone
IF HE DOESN’T BUY YOU (
M>WTWY$
HE DOESN’T BUY THE BEST.
We Deliver The Good*.
laHaMgBiaaaHaaiHaBaMMWBBBBMWBBBi
S. UMATILLA”
For Seattle Direct
SAILING FROM
NOME
SEPT. 4TH.
SEPT. 25TH.
OCT. 23TH.
SAILING FROM
SEATTLE.
AUG. 22ND.
SEPT. 11TH.
OCT. 7TH.
SCHEDULES SUBJECT TO OHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
ALASKA L. & C. CO.
AGENTS
At Dock.
F. J. O’CONNOR,
Commercial Agent,
Front St. and Steadman Are.
ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO.
S. S. VICTORIA
LEAVE SEATTLE:
SEPTEMBER 18.
OCTOBER 15.
LEAVE NOME.
SEPTEMBER 11.
OCTOBER 1.
OCTOBER 29.
R. A. Carroll, Agent, Nome
We have received on the
Umatilla a nice line of
SUCKER COATS before
buying see
ilgialiilitfgigliSEilgfBigliiFiBilBfillMiSfBfitfH
!
!
!
!
3
ft
Cheap John Store j
>——»—— 'mtg a
ONE PRICE TO ALL. TELEPHONE MAIN 48.
Lfi* ** * * *!f KfiWtf ** SifWSS W8MBMBW *
Kent Transfer Co.
General Transfer & Freighting
Ctoal & QiT
Phone Main 139.
MR. MINER
For Hose, Tents,
and Canvas, See
PHIL MURPHY
MURPHY HAS THE 80008
GET THE NEWS RIGHT. READ Anything in the line of Job work
THE WORKER. Satisfaction assured.
4,+ 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,*H'
MINERS
RE3TAURA NT
Opposite Industrial Worker.
FIRST CLASS MEALS.
9 Served in
FIRST CLASS STYLE.
Under New Management
open All night.
Phone Main 158*
S. H. SIMEON
4. 4i 4. >{• ^ 4i 4< 4< 41
*+ +++++++++++ f.++
++++++++***+*
U. S. MAIL BOAT +
“Silver Wave99*
+
Making scheduled trips be- *|»
A
tween St. Michaels and al) ^
way points, ineluding Bluff, ■{«
Solomon, Nome, Teller, York, *
Tin City, Deering, Candle and j,
i X
Kotzebue. 7
+
**♦++♦++++++*