Sattg Nome Jnbuatrial Worker.
Published Daily except Sunday
By Nome Mine Workers’ Union. No. 340. Western Federation of Miners.
Subscription Price
One Tear..
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Entered as second class matter March 1, 1911. at the post office at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 18T9.
Address all Communications to Daily Nome Industrial Worker,
Box 310 Nome, Alaska. Phone, Black 134
R. Fulton Cutting in a report to !
the Metropolitan Charity Organiza-1
tions complains that the wealthyj
have been extremely slow in coming ;
to theassistance of the needy poor!
who suffered intensely during the
hot wave in New York City. He
scored them, it is stated, unmerci-;
fully.
, That is well enough as far as it
goes, and most will pass up this
item without any further considera
tion except perh ps that they will
extend some praise to Cutting.
As far as one can fairly examine
any question, and consider both
sides of a case impartially, it is fair
therefore to ask why the rich should
contribute.
We certainly see no earthly rea- j
son. They are allowed to acquire j
wealth under the present system of
exploitation from those who are
even now poor and needy, by the
labor of such as those, and therefore
why in the world if that system is
justifiable, if it is sound ethically,
should the rich be expected to donate |
from that which the law, custom and j
convention accords shall be their
own?
We know of no grounds at all for
such donations. Charity? But why
charitv? We are not living any
longer in a say-so age, when because 1
men of other days declared that i
such giving was excellent, it should ;
be esteemed as xcellent. Granted
that there has been sickness and
death. What of that? If the fact
is that society approves the system
which enables some to acquire
wealth by the labor of others, leav- !
ing the latter poor and needy, why
should society expect that under the
system it should be the duty of those ;
who have amassed wealth by per
fectly legal means to surrender of
it to assistthose whose labor pro
-•rJuet They have innet*-1 !
These charity organizations no :
doubt will give elaborate reasons. :
The first w ill be founded upon reli-.
gious teachings. But this day even j
religious teachings are being sub- j
jectea to questioning, and they want
to know why charity, in the accept
ed not the etymologic sense, is
rightly insisted upon. Rightly
enough most of the ethics of any re
ligion have a sound economic prac
tical basis, and this surely is no ex
ception. Religious ethics have been
promulgated as a general rule when
the regilions were close to those in
power in accordance with the in
terests of those in power. It is self
evident for example that if feudal
ism with the sordid miseries which
it entailed upon the serfs and churls
were to be made tolerable, there
must be alms giving to those in
need. And that is what actually was
insisted upon in the Middle Ages
with an intensity and an energy so
that not only monasteries, but even
the) castles of the barons supported
thousands to bed and sup without
any hesitancy or questioning.
With the reformation, which
really had its origin in the revolt of
the bourgeoisie against temporal
and ecclesiastical feudalism, this
system changed, and what had been
a function of the lords spiritual and
temporal, because a function of the ;
bourgeois government. The entire
idea of charity is to still discontent. !
to make tolerable the lot of the dis- !
inherited. The right to receive'
charity cannot be acknowledged any ;
more than the right to demand it is
possible, t'pon the government, ac- “
cording to some modern concepts of j
the relation of rich and poor, de-!
volves the duty 0f providing for the !
population in a distressed condition. I
But the government does not do I
that; in fact government acknow-i
ledges no such duty except theoretic
ally. Government holds that every
individual should be able to take
care of himself ,and if every in
dividual is not, then it is the fault
of the individual. Therefore in
order to stimulate reform on the
part of individuals poverty is held to
be a crime. Poverty is held to be the
greatest of all crimes in that it ex
poses the fact that there is gross
negligence upon the part of the poor
individual to do anything to improve
his condition. The poor are sub
jected to disciplining, and such in
stitutions as vagrancy, laws, chain
! gangs, and other legislative and exe
[cutive measures are taken to Cure
! (he poor of their “disease” which is
' attributed to laziness. ;
Under the development of bour
geoisdom this conception of the
; poor and of poverty has also de
! veloped. Every man is held to be the
I architect of his own fortunes. Witn
energy, application and industry it
! is taught anu upheld that every
. average man can make his way in
the world quite successfully. No
j matter how the practice works out,
that is the theory, and because to- :
day people accepted the theory no
matter how opposite it may be to ac- |
! tual fact, we have charity organiza- ;
| tions and the like, we have demands i
'for • assistance,” and “help’ and ;
“service.” mark the words, to make 1
■ the lot of the poor tolerable.
There is therefore no consistency
in R. Fulton Cutting demanding
help for the poor but there is every
consistency upon the part of the rich
in refusing to help the- poor. The
I latter contend that the theory which
: is accepted, namely that the
' poor are poor by reason of
themselves, their laziness, their
lack of thrift, and other fail
ings which it is desirable to remedy,
■ shifts all responsibility from them.
I They recognize no responsibility for
the poor being poor by reason of
their being exploited of the product j
of their labors, and they very rightiy j
i hold that to give charity is merely
establishing a bad precedent which !
encourages vagabondage, which
stimulates laziness, and encourages
; thriftlessness and intemperate
habits. If social conditions are such
that the poor suffer. They are merely
. the unfit who are being eliminated.
To this end books, pamphlets and
essays have been written showing
, how degenerating is the effect of
’ charity upon him
1 upon nim who receives alike. Noth
: ing, one will say. is so evil as indis
' criminate giving. Therefore it is
! well that giving be recognized for
the evil that it is.
comes now the socialist with his
iconoclastic views and says that
neither the charity mongers nor the
rich who refuse to give are correst
ethically or socially.
They hold, do the socialists, that
poverty is not a healthy condition,
but it is a condition that will pre
vail just as long as capitalism pre-1
! vails. It is due, the socialists de
i dare, to the fact that the man who
: works for wages and produces every
thing is granted in return but a
j pittance called wages upon which he
can just feed, clothe and reproduce
the species. Sometimes this may be
above the required amount, but just
as often it sinks below that. They
allege that of necessity since the law
of wages prevails on account of com
petition to obtain the means of exist
ence among the wage workers, al
ways a drug on the market and al
ways with the demand less than the
supply, periodic idleness supervenes
for millions during which time they
are suffering the most severe desti
tution. Winter suspension of work,
industrial depressions, financial
panics and the like are inseperable
from present day society, and be
cause they are, poverty will become
periodically accentuated into the
direct want.
Charity will not remedy this state
of things. Charity merely applies
a salve to the social ulcer called
I poverty. Often enough it encourages
i poverty because those interested in
j charity work profit by the work, and
I naturally have no immediate con
i c-ern in seeing its abolition, further
j inasmuch as it tends to make the
| very poor less inclined to revolt it
| has an evil effect upon the social
J system. The symptoms of disease,
I the sickness that supervenes is
| merely a manfestation of the
dangerous condition of the body de
manding that attention be paid to
the disease itself and at once efforts
are made under scientific means to
remove thecause. All the great pro
gress which medicine has made, has
been dne to the fact that physicians
have recognized that fundamentally
no error can be grosser than to
treat symptoms and leave the cause
of those symptoms untouched.
Now that charity workers are do
ing is essentially to treat symptoms.
And that unscientific system of!
treatment will get any of us no-!
where. The suffering of the poor, the
miseries apparent in the social body'
when poverty is rampant are merely j
symptoms of the disease which
afflicts society and which causes
these symptoms. That disease is
capitalism whereby private monopoly '
of the means of existence seperates
the millions of toilers from access
to the means whereby they must
live, and the remedy is therefore to
abolish capitalism and substitute
freedom of access for all the social
organization to the means of produc
tion and distribution.
Primarily it is recognized that one
man has just as much right to live as
another. That is the first principle
of socialist ethics. The second is
that no man no matter what laws,
conventions or customs declare to
the contrary ethically is justified in
living off the labor of another. The
third and very elementary also it is,
is that when a man is unable by
physical weakness by sickness or by
any other reason to support himself,
society owes it to him to extend him
that support.
Society is responsible for the wel
fare of its individual units, but the
individual units are no less res
ponsible for the welfare of society.
Every individual is entitled to live
his own way according to his will
and wish provided the living of his
own way works no hardship upon
the other members of society. No
man who will notlabor at socially
necessary productive or distributive
labor, or who will not with society
agreeing devote himself to some use
ful pursuit shall be entitled to live.
I
The man who will not work will be
entitled to nothing whether he be
a tramp or whether he be a milion
aire. Labor is that which, whether
we will or no, gives value to all
things useful to society, and as labor
is the criterion of value, labor alone
will be entitled to the means of sub
sistence.
Charity, therefore contend the so
cialists is a raw bunk from start to
finish. Four-fifths of those who are
subjects of charity are victims of
capitalism and even the remaining
one fifth, if it is examined closely. It
will be found are also in the condi
tion they are because of the profit
system.
If the rich acquire tueir wealth
by ethical means than no ethical con
sideration, no matter what the plea
may be, can justifiably extort it
from them.
MEN WANTED!.
It takes more than one dry season
to close our plant. We need men
every day. The “Senator" brought
us over 250 of the latest designs in
suitings, vestings and overcoat fea
tures. Our rain coat patterns are
past masters of the weather mans
art. Why go to the Shushana coun
try when prosperity is at your own
door. We need 1,000 good loyal
N'omeites to keep our demonstrator
busy. See the samples and be con
vinced.
XOME TAILORING CO.
Between .Segerstrom A .Hagens
and Zelhner’s Jewelry stores.
Cleaning, Pressing and Repairing
our specialty.
AT THE EAGLE.
Fresh Oyster Cocktails made daily
This space reserved
for later
announcement
HOLT’S
TELETHOMS MA1S IW
411 FRONT ST.
NOME BAKERY
AND
COFFEE HOUSE
OPEN DAY AND NIGHT.
Best Bread, Pies, Cakes and all kinds
of Dainty Cooking
Next Door to Hill’s Pharmacy JOSEPH SMUT, Prop.
■ AflDMlI I V DmTE OUK friends
C UUnUIALLT TO CALL and INSPECT
OUR LINE OF UP.TO. DATE GROCERIES. COCRTE
■ ■ OUS TREATMENT.AND PROMPT DELIVERY WILL
MAKE YOU A STEADY CUSTOMER. OUR PROOES ARE AS
LOW AS FIRST CLASS GOODS CAN BE SOLD FOR. VISIT
OUR STORE, AND WE ARE SURE YOU WILL COME AGAIN.
MOLLER & INCE
211 FRONT STREET.
PHONE, MAIN 08.
GO TO THE
North Pole Bakery
For Freeh Bread and Pastry.
•***»«**«•
THE BEST 8QFFEE IN TOWN.
S. S. Senator
WILL SAIL FOR
SEATTLE
Friday, Aug. 29
F. J. O’CONNOR,
Commercial Agent.
JOHN J. SESNON CO.
Agents at Dock
agraaaBraaraaaaaaggaaghjfiflfiaaCTiflaHia^^
LEAVES SEATTLE
Victoria .Aug. 20th
Victoria .Sept. 17th
Northwestern.Oct. 1st
Victoria .Oct. 18th
LEAVES NOME
Victoria . Sept. 6th
Victoria .Sept. 28th
Northwestern . . . Oct. 13th
Victoria
Oct. 29th
Victoria leaving Seattle September 17th calls at Solomon.
Company reserves the right to change sailing date without
notice.
; FRONT STREET AND STEADMAN’ AVENUE.
R. A. CARROLL, AGEXT XOME
m
HELLO! IS THIS RED 1-2-6? VES.
Can yon furnish me with pare soft Arctic Spring Water delivered
dally? Yes, with pleasure w« will try and do oijr best.
All customers taking oTer 100 backets per month, 16 for $1.00
those under 100 buckets, 12 for $1.00 Barrel Rate 60c. per.
A. D. POTEET
Phone RED 126
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| Have just returned to Nome and they have brought with them
i one of the finest selected stocks of
The Kracower Bros.
GENT’S FURNISHING GOODS
that ever came to this city. Call and examine all the latest styles
and patterns that money could buy. Always remember there la
only ,
One Cheap John’s Store in Alaska
and they are still located at the
Nome.
same old stand on Front street
tfafafiuzfnniii!jafi!fEfEjiiR’janLn!jiyafi»fafgfaUfa»aR’
REXALL ORDERLIES
Many people suffer from constipation. Rexall Orderlies are a guaran
teed remedy. To be bad only at
BUTLER, MAURO & CO.
THE REXALL STORE PHOXE, BLACK 55
ON A HOT DA Y
Drop in where the
NOME BEER FLOWS
and get refreshed. 3 bottles 50c.
6 bottles for $1.00
5c. per Glass
‘*m**a^*»**^^^^*^^***- ^-^^|-^oru-u-u-u^rtnj_Ln nnnjT_nrtruutinnj~i_n_ri-ii_>
NORTHERN SALOON
Mala 144