Hattg Nam? 3niwstrial Worker.
Published Daily except Sunday
Dy Nome Mine Workers’ Union, No. 210, International Union of Mine,
Mill and Sm elter Workers.
Subscription Price
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Entered as second class matter March 1, 1*11, a* the post office at
etome, - Alaska, under the Act of March I, 187*.
“To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as
ee»:!y as possible, Is a worthy object of any good government.”—
Abraham Llncola
Ail changes in standing advertisements must reach this office at all
o'clock each evening to Insure insertion in the following Issue.
AdverUslng rates made knowo on application.
Address all Communications to Dally Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 210 Nome. Alaska. Phone. Black 1*4
Nome, Alaska, October 22, 1017.
LABOR CRISIS.
The strike of the eoal miners in
Illinois is an example of conditions
-which prevail in the labor world
in a eo ’d many sections.
The wages will not now procure :
: - ‘ssifies of life. While food |
prices have been sot at figures I
vholly above normal, there has •
o n not even an effort made to ap
proximate whims thereto. Vior e
tt. i-r it seems to he considered |
■a i.!iv unnc'cessarj to uo so. tt.at
it is part of the duty and tir highly:
patriotic privilege of the workers to
dig veoal and work at other labor
ior ilic sene wages and consequent
ly for insufficient food and nec-es-'
.-aries during time of war.
Unfortunately it takes energy to
dm eoal and it takes food and food
in abundance to keep that energy
going. It will not come from hot
air nor food economy circulars. It
must come from hard cash paid in
the form of wages. The worker is
in a position that is not understood
hy those who try to shape things
for him. Only by putting then
selves in his place can his position
lx: understood and that of ail
things they will not do.
The officials of the miners orga
itzation. of the government and the
employers had very full and com
plete e juft rences. There was to
be an adjustment but in the mean
time no increase in wages. So Ilic
strike broke out and more are said
to be likely to follow.
The employers take the view
that government has regulated the'.r
<oal price and that regulates the
wages to be paid. They cannot
think of altering the relation to
production costs of wages and pro
fits.
Anu before such a crisis what is
to be done.
Eliminate the profit system? But
that would make business unpatri
otic and that cannot be thought of
.apparently.
GREATNESS.
Alaskan papers can blow theli
horn with any musicians that ever
came over the pike or across the
water, and when it comes to putt
ing on the fortissimo note they arc
I here with bells. Thte metaphor is
mixed, but you know what we
meian.
Just now we have been celebrat
ing Alaska Day. or some of us have.
And we are naturally inclined to go
hack to those early days when t'i6
nation acquired Alaska..
Uncle Sam, it is pointed out, got
a real bargain, and all the papers
inside and outside Alaska thereupon
sound the keynote of Alaska s
greatness. We have listened to
this keynote sounding for many a
voar, and we find that it may be all
summed up in dollars and rents.
The fisheries of Alaska eital so
many millions. The gold produc
tion of Alaska reaches such an ar
ray of ligures. The other metals,
the fur, the lumber, the coal, the
this, that and the other thing are
equated in dollars and cents, and
we are all dutifully overcome with
the- swelling grandeur of Alaska’s
greatness.
is there no other thing? Must
•everything on God s green or white
earth he equated in terms of doll
ars and cents before men will he
, fitly tilled with a proper idea of its
true greatness? is nothing else
worth thinking about, certainly
worth talking about and toasting
about than the riches in dollars
and cents of the resources of the
country?
Not a word about human happi
ness; not a word about social co
operation; not a word abou. mutual
aid; not a word about building up
a people in tiie north, strong, happy
free. self reliant, kindly, open
hearted; not a word about the hu
man factor at all—nothing but
tjsrt which can be summed up in a
row of ligures long, rotund and ap
polling; with the dollar mark tack
ed in front to make them smile in
the eyes or' men.
Whenever we read a word about
Alaska's greatness we know very
well that we are going to hear what
a great bargain Seward made wli t.
be got a way with a country worth
m.'tty billion--- nu r than the mill-)
tors he !••• id i'r.” it. We do r.ot r.-ad !
a soli . word : to how much i
is going to make men happier . mi j
b 11 r. it how much it is going to
m k. nu n richer.
i'iiai'.- the note that is sounded I
mid it is he netd that falls like
choices: mr.-ir on t:. ar when
turning loose upon Ala k. .
It is the ideal which we all know
It's the only ideal that a good
mary of u know. Its Jie ideal
that all wiil appreciate. It's the
: lard by which all men between
men re rj praised. Not how hap
py be i o' how clev r he 's or help
ful he is or how kindhearted he is
or how kindly he is, or how wise
he i- or lew >e nrkc ; others happy
bui hew rbii ho is, what wealth he
has got. whin power he possesses,
how many men he can liire and fire,
how far he can control the com
munity, how influential he is
through his wealth.
That's the standard. It s the
ideal of capitalism. It’s the recog
nition hy the withered soul that
money talks.
And money talks in Alaska just
as elsewhere. And Alaska talks
about money just as elsewhere, and
organizations are formed for the
express purpose of talking about
Alaska resources in terms of dollars
and cents from one end of the
world to the other.
Not that in this we are any diff
erent to any other section of Moth
er Earth. Alaska is net. But just
to show thrt our standards of great
ness today arc all embodied in the
figures that one is able to tack after
a dollar mark on white paper.
Go back over human history since
it was first written and glance, even
superficially, over thore nations
which left their impress behind
upon human society. Inquire, as
naturally one will inqyi-e, what it
was that so impresesd itself upon
human society and affected the na
tural course of human life in the
line of evolutionary progress to this
day.
It will be found that the very
least lo impress of all those things
that have ’eft their impress behind
was money, gold that "hard food
for Midas” as the poet calls it. But
the ethical system of the Hebrews
still is manifest widely in all out
civilization today; the Sermon on
the Mount still affects 1 uiran socie
ty as when first it v .v- spoken
words; (he philosophy of Greece ’s
still an inspiration to men, the la
bor. the tenacity of purpose, the de
termination. the laws and literature
of Rome still impress our modern
civilization.
In not one particular has (he
wealth of the Hebrew nation in all
its glory, of Greece at its zenith of
commercial greatness; of Rome is
all the tremendous aflluence that
rotted the liberties of the Roman
citizens, in the least impressed our
modern civilization.
We only recollect the evils of ex
ploitation in those ancient nations
as things to be avoided and the
struggle has been always against
the class that exploits in the history
of human progress.
In these days we are wiser in
our generation. Intellectual abil
ity, poetic grace, technical ability,
inventiveness, industry, kindliness
—what are all these things worth
but as they can be capitalized and
used in (lie accumulation of dollars?
Not the least bit in the world. So
away with the folly of endeavoring
to teach youth that anything else
is worth while but the adoration of
the dollar—but the cult of gold,
and the respect due him who has
attained it.
it's not the Declaration of Indc
pondence then that has mads Amer
ica famous? It's not the embattled
farmers and (he revolutionary
fathers generally who sacrificed
lives to tl. ir ideals of liberty and
happiness? 1< is then, the wealth oi
a Rockefeller, of a Morgan, of c ]
Schwab? On to the rack with de
mocracy—on to the throne with
plutocracy and lot us fail down and
worship it!!
So to with Alaska. It's not the
gold that makes or will make Al
aska great—not the tremendous
| wealth of its fisheries. It’s the
1 worth and the kindliness of tin
men and women of Alaska and
I whose worth and the kindliness is
■ in no Chamber of Commerce circu
1 lar and no publicity agent's pamph
let. It is the worth that dares the
blizzard to save partner or stranger
alike. It is the worth that feeds’
the hungry and clothes the naked
as a duty and not as a charity. It
is the worth that did as men did
last winter spend days and nights
in storm and stress in searching for
the body of a lost one that they
might find it to give comfort 1o the
living ones In their sorrow. It is in
the up-building in Alaska not of rich
men but of happy men, not ol pow
erful men ! ut of square men, not
of men ready to intimidate and to
reduce to submissiveness every man
of independent thought. That's
what will make Alaska great and
which will in the fullness of time
leave its impress behind upon our
civilisation. just as it lias i’:
i very rgc.
It’s a peculiar tiling that it is
the smr.Mei foices infinitely numer
ous that are infintely powerful.
And it is the kindly forces, which
are Insensibly exerted, that leave
their impress behind when most of
everything else is forgotten.
Pilate was a much greater man
in his day than Jesus Christ. He
had the wealth, the power and the
pomp of Rome at his back. The
Court that decided Socrates must
die had all the greatness of that
age in Grecian history. We might
go down the line indefinitely and
cite analogous cases to show that
there is nothing more illusive than
the concept that greatness and
wealth are really synonimous. They
do give power but they make no
superman. The power is in the gold 1
that men have approved should ex- ;
ploit the bodies and the souls of
men. The purse shifts from one j
man today to another tomorrow
and the power shifts with it. Pro- j
perlv changes hands and with pro- j
perty goes the power. That is the j
madness of the sons of men that |
they should endow with power the j
things that they have made them- j
selves to enslave them, and the l
astonishing fart is that they fall j
down themselves and adore the j
image that, they themselves have j
graven, and which they insist every
manner of man shall worship in j
their manner of doing so.
So it is when we apeak of Al-|,
lea’s
o' all to the human factor, but the j |
factor that being Brought into be- i
ing by human labor may still en
slave labor. Wo reckon it not in
human virtue Hut in monied power
and say that it is so great a coun
try that, see it was bought by
Seward for a song, and now has
proved itself rich and great be
yond the dreams of avarice.
Reasonable prices, and first class
workmanship at the Nome Tailoring
Company. _|
Army Shoes
EARLY LAST SPRING WE PLACED AN ORDER WITH
ONE OK THE GOVERNMENT CONTRATORS FOR ARMY
SHOES MADE AS PER GOVERNMENT SPECIFICATIONS ON
THE “MUNSON" LAST. COME IN AND LOOK THEM OVER.
YOU MAY SOON BE FURNISHED WITH A PAIR BY "UNCLE
SAM" BUT WHY WAIT?
RUBBER BOOTS ft RACS
"ARE NOW MADE BY THE NEW VACUUMf
PATENT
PRESSURE\
PROCESS
V!«f
rfr frrfffP Tl' ifrtiiniT
PATENT
PRESSURE
‘ PROCESS
THOI I^ANn^ OF WEARERS AFTER EXPERIMENTING WITH ’^r-, inri/A'C
.mUU3HINU3 _ OTHER BRANDS HAVE COME BACK TO EUREKA 3
t «—-A— -&;
GIVE THEM A TRIAL NEXT TIME AND YOULL#SOON LEARN
r -f. WHY THE OTHER FELLOW SWITCHED BACK- j
At ALL FIRST-CCASS DEALERS
^ OVER FIFTY-FIVE THOUSAND EMPLOYEESI
ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO.
S. S. VICTORIA
Last Sailing of the Season
LEAVES NOME OCT. 26TH.
Via Sew;%"d and Cordova Without Additional Charge.
SAILING SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
R. A. Carroll, Agent, Nome
LAST SAILING OF SEASON
1917
From Nome
For Seattle Direct
ft
ALASKA L. & C. CO.
AGENTS
At Dock.
flams uu.
F. J. O’CONNOR,
Commercial Agent.
Front St. and Steadman Ave.
iririeLrtr-an>n»;>i rwwrtrvrMnrw<.M'M:finy!r1»tg»
mms&
Charles L. Ross
Milling, Lumber, Contractor
HAVING TAKEN OVER THE FREIGHTING & TRANSFER
BUSINESS OF W. STEIGEL MAIER AND OF LEO KENT,
FREIGHT ORDERS AND TRANSFER CONTRACTS WILL RE
CEIVE PROMPT ATTENTION.
3RD AND B STREET. PHONE BLACK 162.
S. S. Standard
Sails every SIX DAYS to
DIME AND WAY POINTS
weather permitting
From Snake River.
CHAS WECKMAN.
INDEPENDENT
MEAT MARKET
W. H. Webb prop. Phone M.1B
r .rn-trir infifLriri
jrjIJbT 3191317171.
FOR SALE
ONE 8 HP. Corliss Kugine.
ONE <1 HP. Fairbanks-Morse Engine.
Alaska Lighterage Comercial Co.
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
IHE INDUSTRIAL WORKER OFFICE