Sail}} Nontf 3ttii»0trial Worker.
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**¥ 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
■early as possible, is a worthy object of any good government.”—
abranam 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 slz
•’clock each evening to Insure Insertion In the following issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1911, at the post office at
Dome, - Alaska, under the Act of March >, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, August 21, 1»lti.
WORTH KKADIXCi.
The Scientific Monthly for August i
contains a notable article on Labor j
Organizations which notwithstand- j
ing its academic nature presents a
sympathetic analysis of the labor
organization as it is in the United
States, that is as instructive as in
teresting.
The writer is Professor T. Cam
pion of Albion College, and it is not
astonishing that he should show an
ability to consider the facts of orga
nization with an acuter and a since
rer vision than many of the so
called labor leaders display.
“The assumption that all labor
organizations may be traced back to
some one original form of local trade
guild is unwarranted”, he says at
the very outset and then proceeds to
declare “Because of increasing po
pulation, the elimination of free
land, rising prices, or other social
phenomena, American wage earners
have been vividly impressed with
the insufficiency of individual bar
gaining. Organization is the next
step’. Titus he grounds the founda
tion of the economic organization
upon the material basis of instinct
for class betterment.
He says very shrewdly that “the
American workingman has been r >o
individualistic to cope effectively
•with the great and growing combi
nations of capital. To many of them
yet clings the restless and impatient
vitality and self assurance of the
frontier'. Surely in Alaska that is
self evident. And the great diffi
culty in the way of organizing the
workers in the territory is the indi
vidualistic notions that prevail even
when those notions are usually most
foolish pipe dreams as to future
wealth, facts and figures in vain
dispute as sensible.
Professor Campion explains the
immense diversity in labor organi
zations which he admits however
are often more apparent than real
as due to the fact that “no two
types of workers have been subject
ed to the same economic pressure,
the relations between workers and
employers vary greatly in different
lines of business, the possibility ot
displacement by other workers or by
machines, varies from trad • to trade
and from occupation to occupation,
and price levels and standards of
living are subject to rapid modifica
tion. This complex situation is
further complicated by the institu
tional law exhibited by organiza
tions of labor and the influence, con
servative or radical, of the capable
or aggressive leader may not be
overlooked”.
His argument as to the selfish
ness of groups with an allowance
for the altruism of individuals is
not necessarily so convincing. In
dividuals he says may be animated
hy altruism and “act contrary to
their own welfare and happiness in
the interest of others; hut groups,
classes and nations do not”.
But what is altruism? Oftener
than not it is the perversion of self,
hut none the less in being based
upon the satisfaction of self, even
under circumstances that appear
unselfish, it represents selfishness
for all that.
Thus many men have done appar
ently unselfish acts, acts which for
feited them the esteem and praise
and companionship and honor ot
their fellows because they had the
gratification of self to discover in
another world which their faith con
jured up for them. Early Christian
martyrs are a notable example ot
that, and modern patriots like the
Pearces and the Connollys in the
desperate hope of final success and
final esteem of their countrymen,
show an altruism which ultimately
is founded upon the gratification of
the individual ego.
Yet again the exploiters have
been in all ages sedulous cultivat
ors of this perverted ego in those
they exploited. With the promise
of high places in Heaven hereafter
or comfortable positions in the pre
sent with conventional approval or
disapproval, punitive measures or
repressive economic policies, they
begin with youth and carry into the
old age of the exploited this care
ful training so that the exploited
classes may act unselfishly in the
selfish interests of the employers,
iiut they depend for the success ot
this perversion upon the inate self
ish instinct of all human beings.
Nor is this cbnfined to the indi
vidual. The statement that groups
do not act in a manner contrary to
their own interets is true neither
about classes nor about nations, al
ways with the same qualification
that stfch class or national altruism
is merely a perversion of the selfish
instincts inherent in the group or
class. Thus we discover time and
time again craft unions refusing to
act in their own interests by striking
with fellow unionists, and we have
in the action of Belgium in the re
cent war another instance of na
tional altruism which is subject or
course to the same interpretation
as the altruism of the individual.
The ability to persuade masses
that they are ^acting ror the best
when acting against their own in
terest has been conspicuous enough
in the labor movement and instances
need not be repeated.
Professor Campion’s remarks on
the railroad brotherhoods now seem
particularly apt:
“But the members of the railway
brotherhoods who are conservative
and who are very explicit in stating
that they do not intend to disturb
the present industrial order, are in
spite of external characteristics uot
very dissimilar from members of ra
dical unions who are extremely bit
ter in their denunciations of existing
conditions, and who are revolution
ary. The difference between the
viewpoints of these two classes of
unions is not to be explained by re
sorting to some more or less occult
statement of group or social psycho
logy. But it is to be found in ana
lyzing the different kinds of econo
mic environments in which the
groups work and live, and the diff
erent kinds of economic pressure to
which the groups are subjected. The
members. of the railway brother
hoods occupy a strategic position.
It is very difficult to obtain reason
ably efficient substitutes in case of
a strike. But a union of unskilled
men would be perforce compelled to
take another stand or suffer their
places to be filled by strikebreakers.
But the railway brotherhoods face
to face with the menace of the green
hand, with a hostile employer who
is nibbling at wages and who re
fuses to consider granting a stand
ard wage, eliminate their systems ot
insurance, put the members of
these brotherhoods in the position
of many another group of wage
earners, and the much approved set
of ideals will be rapidly replaced
by others not so conservative.
Subject the railway brotherhoods
to the dangers which are and have
been for several years confronting
certain old line trades unions, and
their conservatism and the emphasis
now placed upon sacredness of con-^
tract will disappear with celerity.
The early history of that much ma
ligned organization, the Western
Federation of Miners, furnishes a
fine illustration of social transform
ations. The metal miners of the west
were
.“confronted by a quickly
developed and aggressive class ot
wealthy mine owners. Control of the
mines was suddenly centralized; in
dividual bargaining became futile;
the separate and disunited units of
labor were sweated. The miners
felt themselves to be in the grip of
a new and strong industrial system
.... Under pressure tfce miners
knit together into a strong indus
trial class-conscious and avowedly
socialistic union; and remember,
these miners were individualistic
frontiersmen "(Carton)” Proceeding
'•rofessor Campion says that the
structure of the American Federa
tion of Labor and its constituent
larts is gradually changing, ile sees
he reason in “the changed industri
al situation, the reduction of many
workers to a common denominator
t>y the use of the machine, the fierce
opposition of employers and the
like”.
Now while there may be a trace
of truth in the declaration that the
structure of the A. F. of L. is-un
dergoing some modification on ac
count of these forces mentioned,
Campion overlooks the still potent
perverting influence of the leaders
and the machine within that struc
ture. That is aided by that very |
“group and institutional inertia” to j
which he had previously alluded,
but still more by the perversion of |
the group’s selfish instinct to the
interests of the employers through
the leaders and their subordinates
anxious . to maintain control ot.
power.
And we find a rank and file even
in such a democratic' institution as
the labor organization utterly un
able to rid itself of the incubus o£
leaders of the Gompers stripe and
the Civic Federation ideals which
are nothing but the master class
ideals foisted upon the workers by
these conservative henchmen of the
employing interests.
Acutely observed Campion in his
remarks upon the form of organiza
tion, evidently seeing much more
clearly than the rank and file of or
ganized labor: “The trade union is
an antiquated weapon in the fight
against the big corporations unless
the skill of the trade is still a po
tent factor or some other special
place of vantage remains. To meet
the mighty German army with the
weapons of the Civil War spells
ignominious defeat. To combat for
higher wages and shorter hours with
the defenses of 1866 likewise means
defeat”.
It is certainly an extraordinary
thing that a college professor look
ing at these questions through aca
demic glasses, even if free from the
refraction of partizansrip, should be
able to see so clearly the defects
and the shortcomings of craft union
ism when the leaders of the Amer
ican Federation of Labor, by no
means dull men, should in spite ot
m a o’ s
Cafe
Ol’KIJ DAY AM) NIGHT
Next door to Pacific Cold
Storage.
the accumulating instances of fail
ire, in spite of the tremendous ar- (
•ay of facts showing the utter in
ability of craft unionism to cope
with the industrial situation, still
persist in the upholding of the craft ]
anion ideal. However the modern
general knows his own personal safe
ty depends upon his armies possess
ing the most modern equipment,
ind therefore would scout the no- j
tion of arming his men with flint J
locks when repeating rifles are to |
be had. But the case is reversed ]
with Gompers. The day the struc- j
ture of organized labor becomes ef- i
ficient, that day marks his removal ■
from the scheme of things and it is
good-by Civic Federation banquets,
conferences with presidents and
honorary visitors at a variety of
hen party entertainments to imbue
the workers with up-lift ideals along
lines strictly laid down by the em
ployers. Naturally against such a
condition the Gompers and their
followers throughout all affiliated
unions struggle to the last.
OVERSTOCKED
To the Public:—L
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
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 p.ove it to you.
DARLING & DEAN COMPANY.
For Correctly
Fitting
EYE
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