Baily Nomk Industrial« Martern
Published Daily except Sunday
Nfim Mine Worker*’ Union, No. 240. Western Federation of Miners.
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"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his lAbor, or as
■earl7 as possible, Is a worthy object of any good government."-^
aoraham Lincoln
Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black ISA
All changes in standing advertisements must reach this offlce at sis I
• clock eich evening to Insure insertion In the following lsaue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
Entered as second class matter March 1. 1911, at the post office at
Nome, ■ Alassa, under the Act of March S, 1879.
$10,00
Norue, Alaska, February -I, 1016.
x.ji ' -
Not all employers are dense
enough to hope to get away with
the talk that one hears both ip la
bor and capitalist circles from time
to time about a fair days work for
a fair day’s pay. They feel that uo
person can name what constitutes a
fair day’s work or a fair day’s pay,
and they know very well that it Is
a matter labor has just as much
trouble in explaining away as has
capital.
The other day a coal baron speak
ing of the possibility of the coal
miners walking out said that they
had got to fight them. It was with
an employer a matter of principle;
just as a constant demand for an
increase had become on account of
conditions, a matter of principle
with labor organizations.
This coal baron said that he
would willingly see a fair day s
work remunerated with a fair day's
wage, but what would constitute
that in a manner satisfactory to
both labor and capital ft>r the life of
him he could not determine. He said
that today wage workers wanted
more wages and tomorrow yet more,
and they could see no end to these
perennial demands of labor.
The employer knew the situation
very well, and while in the end tiie
men's demands for a twenty in
crease may be forthcoming, in order
to prevent these demands being too
frequent, the bosses will fight it and
subject the miners in their struggle
to every possible trouble that they
can devise. *
While workers are in the habit
of throwing bouquets at oue an
other from time to time, we have
got to recognize this fact that labor
conditions are as good as the work
ers are prepared to struggle for. Not
as good as the unionists want or the
radicals demand, but as good rs the
majority of the workers will insist
upon having.
in tiie first place the workers as
workers if united in solidarity are
all powerful, if they are organize!
in a united body and insist upon
their demands being carried out.
they cannot tie denied. There is
no power in tiie horses' lved--. uml
they have all the now.
strong enough m r.. i i united
working class.
When bad conditions prevail
therefore, wo should direct mure at
tention to scoring the workers i::
ul'-ad of scoring the bcsscs.
The boss pays what he has to
pay, and tho less he lias to pay the
better, he likes it.
Ho is net a philanthropist an 1
business has no sentiment.
It is founded upon profit; the
greater the gain the better the
business, and It is morally certain
that when a boss is enabled <o cut
wages he can nearly always put that
workers have any interest in com
own profit.
As an employer he is interested
in paying ns little as ho can for as
much work as ho can got out of
hi; men. That’s li!s clas. interest,
and it’s ret to protend that the
workers have any iuterots in com
mon w'ith that.
Rmployers as a rule ere fully
aware of the fact that if tiie work
ers are organized in compact solio
arity they will havo to concede what
they auk. And moreover they art
fully prepared to concede tho de
mands of tho workers w hen they are
preferred under such conditions.
They have no other option but to do
so.
It may be recognized that tills
condition does not prevail. On the
contrary the condition thee does
prevail is one of disunion, lack o»
organization, absence of solidarity
and a competition among workers so
keou that organization is an ex
tremely difficult matter.
Yet it has to be recognized that
this matter'of organization must de
pend upon the men and not upon
the bosses, and when conditions are
bad and getting worse for labor, it
i3 because the fault lies with the
workers, a majority of whom re
main outside organizations. The
faults is theirs and their wholly and
solely.
Under capitalism we must insist -
ingly recognize the theory of bus
iness enterprise is not founded upon
any humane motive or altruistic in
centive, but upon the foundation of
profits. The condition of the work
ers in any industry therefore is pri
marily no concern of an employer,
and is no concern in any way excel t
as it affects his profits.
The shrewder employers feel that
by affording employees more ample
leisure, by providing bathing and
recreation facilities, by shortening
the work day, by increasing the sa
nitary provisions of employment, by
cultivating health and strength cf
the wage workers, their output Is ra
lativoly Improved and upon such In
vestment as is involved in such
“welfare work”, they reap a per
cent gain which is in itself profit
able.
The boss supports prohibition be
cause he wants his employees sober
slaves who will turn out mere effici
ent work and beeauso the poison or
the alcohol is free from their bodies,
lie doesn’t care three cents for It
for any other lesson. The boss sup
ports libraries and playgrounds and
iho eight hour day because he know.,
that under the stimulus of such
liealtier conditions of life, the work
er becomes more efficient also, anil
turns out a greater and better pro
duct, as he wants it, within a given
time.
His viewpoint as a businessman is
the profit view point, and his ledger
is the infallible guide to the effi
ciency of his industrial schemes.
What alarms the employers is the
fact that they can, like the coal
baron referred to, sec no end to la
bor's demands. Today they want
this, tomorrow they want that, and
the next day still more. No in
spired man is going to come like the
god from the machine to- say what
is the remuneration which will be
perpetually satisfactory to the work
ers. And the coal barons know this
very well. Therefore they fight :\nd
resist and struggle against every ef
fort of the workers to better theii
condition, knowing that they at
least postpone the inevitable in
crease in so doing.
Employers very well understand
the power of the workers depends
upon organization. Anything to di
vide the workers is desirable. They
know, they cannot help seeing it,
that the worker, have one great ob
stacle to overcome in organization
lack of jobs. There are not enough
to go round. They know therefore
that those out of work in order to
live must work for what they can
get, and they use these as n club to
pay lower wages and to prevent
successful organization.
Moreover, the workers thaf are
organized oft'm enough play right
into the hands of omplayers. In
stead of making an Injury to one
the concern of all they mouth that
ranting rot about a community ot
interest between employer and em
ployed, while all the time the em
ployer has the man without a job
as a club to beat dowrt*the employed
into submission.
Just as the workers arc respons
ible for conditions in thoir lack ot
solidarity, so also the remedy is only
to be found among tho workers.
Jt’s all nonsense to be blaming
employers. They as employers do
thoir full duty to their class. It is
tho workers who fail to do theirs.
They will not organize: they make
common cause with employers, iden
tify their interest with the Interest
of the boss, and where Ihoy do or
ganize, they fall for that stuff about
a community of intorst betwoen em
ployers and employes which enable.)
a few dozen labor fakirs to enjoy
an oasy thing taking caro of that
community of Interest at Civic Fe
deration banquets ana the like. The
blame should be placed where 1'
belongs. And it belongs with the
workers, organized or unorganizea
who fail to promote absolute solid
arity of the working classt
Everything else is moonshine;
solidarity is everything that the
worker needs. Acting together,
massing their individual power in
one big union, Inspired with a com
mon purpose and imbued with the
notion of Indissoluble unity, they
can accomplish everything.
Why, in the absence of such solid
arity what right have workers whe
are accessory to such, to condemn
the most rigorous acts of the em
ployers: the hangings, the shootings,
the railroadings, the miserable work
ing conditions and all the other dis
abilities (hat sicken and dismay not
less because they are avoidable and
because they are so easily destruct
ible if the workers had a mind to do
It.
Herbert Spencer said somewhere
that the institutions of any age were
those best suited thereto. That may
be all true enough; but we can !;e
quite sure that the workers will ob
tain just that amount of industrial
freedom and industrial betterment
that they are prepared to demand
and fight for. The labor conditions |
that prevail in any country are just
such conditions as the workers in
mass are ready to fight for: there
may be a few who want it better
and will fight for its being better,
but on the whole they are such as
are adapted to the desire and the
will to have that the workers pos
sess on an average.
That’s the reason that it’s no use
peddling salve to the working class
or why we should think that as a
class they are being done an in
justice, that is denied redress. Re
dress is in our own hands, not in
the bosses’, not in employors', not
in governments’, not in Heaven’s.
We are what we are because it is all
that we will fight and struggle and
give our body and soul if need be,
j to be. Of all the utterances that
wo favor from the Bard, that re
mark of the lean Cassius to Brutus
appeals to us as absolute truth:
“Our fault, dear Brutus, is not in
our stars, but in ourselves that we
are underlings’’. That's true as
truth itself. “Who would be free ’,
said Byron, “himself must strike the
blow”. It is because the workers
fail to work towards a clasq solidar
; ity and complete and absolute unity
j of action, and fail to organize they
tare what they are: ill paid, out
raged and exploited underlings.
As it is, with such poorly orga
nized material as is ready to fight
for better conditions, the employ-rs
face a serious condition, inasmuch
as they know instinctively that the
radicals organized in solidarity, will
ever demand more and more. They
cannot concede anything, for they
feel that to concede only renders
easier the plan of campaign of the
workers organized to tako and hold
—they know that it would be onlv
a matter of time until the workers
would by steadily increasing de
mansdasks the impossible on their
profits.
And this condition is openly re
cognized by the anthracite magnate
whom we quoted. You cannot fool
him as to the objective of the for
ces in the labor movement, because
his perspective is circumscribed by
no near by illusions of platitude like
a fair day's work for a fair day s
pay. What the boss wants is pro
fits; what the worker wants is what
the boss wants. He cannot get it
just now because a whole lot of the
workers dont know what they want,
and a whole lot know they onlv
want a job and dont care how they
get it.
Because a whole lot of labor offi
cials have achieved the heights <jt
cushioned ease, be-diamonded control
and highly salaried intercourse and
leisure shared with the leisured
classes, they would limit the objects
and the ends of the labor move
ment. But they might as well hope
by sitting upon a volcano it would
not erupt.
CITY BATH HOUSE.
Moonlight Spring Water. (Boll
ing HSt).
M. «. MUOlia,
WHEN IN TOWN
lirop Into the
MERCHANTS CAFE.
Tiie Home of Good Eats.
PROFESSIONAL CABO.
Dr. A. F. Heimlich
PHYSICIAN & SURGEON.
Office & Residence:
OVER HILL’S PHARMACY.
Office Hours: 2—3 and 7—8 p. m.
Phone—Night or day, Main 20.
“For Your Dog's Sake99
DR. DELANEY’S
VERMILAX
Supreme Dog Remedies
ECONOMICAL
RELIABLE
ABSOLUTELY SAFE.
Compounded from tlie private formulas of Dr. T. Delaney,
Yeterlnurian and Eminent Authority on the Diseases of Dogs, Ver
milax Supreme Dog Remedies have proven tlieir supremacy in
the most famous prize winning kennels.
HILLS PHARMACY
REGISTERED DRESt IlIDTIOMSTS
NOME, ALASKA.
I THE NOME INDUSTRIAL INKER
I is prepared to handle
£ all kinds of
HliifiUgnUBliiliifiUlUiUHiWBMfiilHHMiBfBRfi!
JOB PRINTING
Let us figure on your
work. Call up Black
134 or call at
IDE INDUSTRIAL 1AKE6 OFFICE
IMMIIIWBIBIDWBWniaWliaaElWIBBIiMHMWIIIIWMWBIMaiWHIBHIIIIMMI
NOTICE
We have been appointed agents
for the
Dodge Automobile
The popular, fully-equipped,
pleasure car that satisfies all
ALASKA U6HTH 5 COIL 80.
am
aaaiiaaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaiaaagft
Cheap John Store
FOR GENT’S FURNISHINGS
FLANXEL SHIRTS WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY TO
SELECT FROM.. A COMPLETE STOCK OF GENERAL MER
CHANDISE, TENTS. TARPALINS. CANVAS, ALL SIZES.
HIPPERS, EURECA AND U. S. RUBBERS & SHOE PACKS.
WE CARRY THE SIWASH SOCKS. ’
SEE CHEAP JOHNS STORE BEFORE BUYING. OUR
PRICES ARE ALWAYS THE LOWEST IN TOWN.
/
Kent Transfer Oo. j
General Transfer & Freighting
Goal & 011
.. .. Mr —\
Phone Main 139.
For Summit and Greenhood!
Shirts, Midlicott and Stady Un=
derwear and Sox, the best ever
sold for the money.
MURPHY HAS THE COOPS
PHIL MIIBPHY
ARTIC SPRING
WATER
Always at your Service.
Prompt delivery— ltllzzard or
Shine at usual Rates 16
Ruckets $1.00. l>0c. a Parrel.
A. D. POTEET.
Phone Red 126.
INDEPENDENT
MEAT MARKET
Wholesale and Retail Dertler
> in Beef, Pork, Mutton, Veal,
Ham, Baron Poultry and Fish
Game in Season. All fresh
Stock. No old or damaged.
W. H. Webb prop. Phone M.13
A FEW SPECIALS
OX OUR BARGAIN COUNTER THIS WEEK.
QUAIL BRAND, BERRIES, Gal. Cans, (15c. per can.
QUAIL BRAND PEACHES, Gal. Cans, 45c. per can.
QUAIL BRAND APRICOTS Gal. Cans, 45c. per can.
QUAIL BRAND, RHUBARB Gal. Cans, 40c. per con.
SEA PORT PEACHES ..$4.00 per case.
FORCE.8 Pkgs. for $1.00.
SHEEDED WHEAT BISCUITS. 8 Pkgs. for $1.00
MOLLER’S GROCERY
PHc/nK MAIN M an FRONT STREET
ARB YOU SEEKING A PATENT?
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rates ot the Industrial Worker on
publication ot application therefor.
Bring your forfeiture notices to the
Industrial Worker.
Bet as
to «■ gow Work
"i-HV&r
\VE CAN DO IT.
For first class work and prenpt
delivery ph *ne Main lfit and On
People’s Steam Laundry ar!U a H
and get yonr laundry. %
Wi J. WILUiMND Prep*’
CUT TUB NEWS RIGHT. %!Ui
THE WOKKElt.