Published Tuesday. Thursday, j
and Saturday.
My Nome Mine Workers’ Union, No. 240, International Union of Mine, j
Mill and Smelter Workers.
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"To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or asi
nearly as possible is a worthy object of aay good government’’—Abra
ham Lincoln.
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on day of publication to insure insersion in same issue.
Advertising rates made known on application.
Address all communications to Tri-Weekly Nome Industrial Worker.
Box 210, Nome, Alaska. Phone, Biack 134.
Entered as second class matter March 1, 1911, at the post office at
Koine, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
NOME, AIjASXA SATURIVAV. JULY, 27, 1»18.
NATIVE LABOR
Now that the operators themselves J
thru a certain spokesman have sub-1
mitted as a patriotic alternative the [
project of employing native instead,
of white labor, the subject is open for
discussion.
The whole question is not asj
simple as it looks or as simple, by
any means as those glib interpreters
of the matter as a patriotic al
ternative would seem to intimate.
The Eskimo has back of him no
hereditary inclination tt< accept a
condition of wage or chattel slavery,
and that is the sine qua non of a
contented and efficient worker for
wages as a class.
The existence of a wage working
class presupptfces that there Is a
class which has been expropriated:
that can exist by no other means
than by disposing of their labor
power. A class such as will provide
employers with labor must exist
which has no machinery, landed
property t|- other wealth whereby
it can live without selling its labor
power. The man who works for
wages does so generally because no
other means are open tel him to
make a living. The rancher with
five or six hundred acres does not
go into the labor market: the land
lord of a city block is not rustling
rW/und the employment office for a
job: the owner of a textile factory
or a bank or a saloon or a dry
goods store c|- a judgeship or fed
eral office is not to be found pack
ing his blankets in search of a
day’s work.
lilt? gtCUl I1IOJVI II.J ” »‘vn
tuleo a working peculation is a ma
jority which can only live by the
sale of their labor power.
The Eskimo is not in that cla3S
He can live by hunting, fishing
and trapping. A whale, a seal, c
fox, birds and fish afford him plentj
He will work if he feels like it, bul
if he does net feel like it ho ad
journs from the job sine die. H<
has too opportunities of reindoei
herding and. thanks to a benefi
cient government, may obtain evei
same degree of wealth in that way
It will be argued that native
in other parts who lived off thi
land or by the chase or by fishini
have been induced- to turn wag
laborers and that successfully, whicl
it true enough. But how was i
done?
It may be worth while to tel
the lckal operators how this was ei
fee ted for knowing that most e
them are very ignorant men, the
will need helping out in a histori
difficulty.
Lots' take a few incidents. I
the German South Sea possession
lor example, it was desired to rail
sugar cane, and copra. No oth<
supply of labor was available sa>
and except the native kanakas. Tt
possibility of importing coolies ws
for the Germans attended with coi
s;d rable difficulties, the reason f<
which no d not be entered int<t IB
the natives lived off the broad tru
trees, their yams and their fish ai
as long as this was forthcoming tin
did not care about toiling in eocc
nut. plantations and in the ca:
fields. How ultimately did the plan
ers succeed in getting them H worl
They cut down the bread fruit tree
burned the plantain greves, destro
ed the stock of yams and broi
up the fishing boats. As it was
case of work in the copra groves
the cane fields, dr starve, the nativ
worked. The thing was done.
Africa the native kaffir is a stro
husky. To have him work In t
mines weg a problem which opei
tors faced. The kaffir after worki
a month or so aclild rctiro home
his lcraal and secure enough to 11
■pon by farming and thru his women
folk, to drink kaffir beer and to
smoke dagga for the rest of his
days. The thing to be done was
to cut off this happy sort of life
and Institute the strenuous one in
stead, and it was thru the hut tax
whereby the native paid a tax upon
his hut and his krarl which, tax
was just high enough to make him
go to the mines to live and work.
Take the rubber industry in South
America. The work of getting na
tives to work and bring an rub
be was a constant prciblem to the
rubber magnates of Putamayo. The
natives could get an easy living from
the fruits and nuts and birds and
game of the Amazonian forests. And
it was simply impossible to destroy
this means or any either means of
subsistence they had. So a new
tactic had to be resorted to and
with the ingenuity of the capitalist
| in search of dividends and worthy
! of a plundering army of junkers
I a new tactic was devised. It con
sisted in maiming members of the
' Indian tribe that failed to bring in
j rubber and the warning. grimly
I enough enforced, that such a fate
’ would overtake the tribesmen did
} they fail to come thru with the
rubber that the factors of the trust
demanded.
The story of exploiting capital
and its relations tr< native labor is
one of the reddest pages of humar
history, and it is scarlet with the
blood and tears and sweat and
misery of the unfortunates whe
faced the utter inhumanity of mer
j and corpefrations who sought nothing
| but the dollar.
Now frankly speaking u>
! native-- labor possible to local opera
I tors certain things have got to b(
dtfcie. It is impossible to «ducati
i the present generation of Eskimo:
into the belief that it is a hoi:
I and blessed duty that they owo ti
! their white employer that they shov
el in an ounce of gold and get ii
: return a bare subsistence. Yew ma:
get the white worker to swallow
that but the native—nohow,
i You cannot persuade the nativ
. that life spent in stinking hunk
, houses after ten or twelve hour
, labor is a thing of beauty and
; jety for ever. Only the born wag
I slave can possess that cultured men
tatity, and as long as the stream
carry salmon and to the sea fis
and the hills and tundra, game, til
native is not going to worry abon
work or ta pack nlankets from cam
to camp in search of a job. He ho
his salmon steak and his fish ehov
der and his seal oil and his wha
meat and his reindeer roast to con
t'ort him.
If it is held that the primal ccfi
deration of this country is tl
operation of the mines, and that
the native will not work he hr.s to 1
mad • to work, certain steps w
have to be taken to) make him i
so which will have to radical
chang • liis mode of life. You mu
iirst annex his reindeer; by hone
or chicane methods you have
separate him from his herds. 1
large licenses y<\|u can separate hi
from the right to fish in the se
The killing of seal and the takii
of whale may be prohibited. T
right to hunt may be accompani
by such financial difficulties that
is no longer open to the aborigi
When y^u have stripped him to t
bone of his right to hunt, to he
and to trap and taken away eve
means of subsistence from him, if
a race he is not exterminated, t
residue is in the way of being ma
quite reasonably a race of wa
workers. They will gradually <
velltfp into a class of pooned work<
and the operation of mines a
dredges in this section be accc
laned with no labor troubles and
he way of the operator is made
motith where hitherto it was rough,
r,d the work of uplifting the native.*
Kgun with all the frills that lss
ially mark that highly Christian ac
.ompkshment. But—is it a pat
•iotie alternative?
THE MENTAL CHANGE
People say the war has changed!1
radically the mode of thot of most
people. It is reasonable to believe
so, for ideas coming not from the
Heaven nor from within but from
our environment, with an altered
environment the manner c|f thot of
men must change. And therefore
it is reasonable enough that It
should be held that in Europe the
greatest change is noticeable.
Men are turning from cut and
dried conceptions of things, dogmati
cally stated in science and religion,
to penetrate the life within the outer
husk and endeavor to find something
which will give inspiration to their
cicViduct and strength to their way
of living.
O, this is not an entirely religious
matter by any means, for it is no
ticeable that it affects radical con
ceptions in economic and industrial
life as well as in religious circles,
or miefre correctly to an even great
er degree.
The mechanistic materialism that
was natural enough where one class
labored for the profit of another
and smaller class, is not entirely
satisfactory to men whd arc engaged
in the task of killing other men
either for love of country or fear of
their rulers. That demands a sanc
tion that is not to be mt t in the
accepted philosophies which after all
went no further than to explain by
some inductive process the why
of things, and. to leave the matter
I of justifying conduct to either the
j supernatural of the unknown and
1 unknowable.
The world in arms becomes un
consciously pragmatist: that is, il
' insists that its aeticn must be
j justified by beliefs that will pro
foundly affect it for the better.
It is self evident that dogmatic
conception os to science or religior
I will not ease the world’s soul in this
i predicament, and nothing can bring
relief except the thot that after al
[ the world will be a better worlc
j and the human lives happier lives
• for what they have done. Thai
seems simple enough: but to eonsidei
it a minute one perceives that i
,is dynamic with possibilities. I
moans for example that the Englisl
soldier will no longer go back to ha;
warren in the tenement, to hi:
sweat shop in the slums, to hi:
workhouse or foundry where life wa
1 a thing between starvation and i
j pittance. It moans that the Frond
| worker who has fought with i
nobility the age of chivalry neve
manifested in all its pages, will m
longer become the brute that mad
a sodden subject for the pen of :
Zola or the crayon of a Millet. I
means that the War will not cm
the struggle if it is the simp'e no
: tion that while political fre~dor
1 j may here or there be enlarged, in
iustrial freedom and the larger vi
sion of lifo will be as a tiling re
mote. An eminent New York critic
Swelling upon the fact that in Eng
land Chesterton is the spokesman
of the new philosophy points it out
as not without significance that he
is a revolutionist as against the
evolutionism of scientific socialism
and that he should be a syndicalist
and yet a Catholic.
There have always been two views
held on public things: one, say, in
religion, that the Sabbath was made
for man or that man wa3 made
for the Sabbath. In politics the
one held that man was made for
the State and the other that the
state, republic or monarchy, was
made for man. These two views
are now finding each other put to
the test in the field of battle and in
the social organism. But both will
have opportunity to account for
themselves both in this war and
after it. It is a question whether
man or the created of man is to
obtain the mastery in sanction from
men, and men. are to live in fear
of or devotion to that which they
thelmsolveH have constructed for
themselves.
It is just for this very reason
that the fact that this war has be
gun to excite within men a question
ing which insists for a justification
and a sanctioning as of even great
er importance than a mere ex
planation from the point of view
of science, that the two sets of
views must stand to be tested and
to be weighed.
It is the old struggle to be sure
between freedom for the masses or
license for the sovereign or the
state. But it goes further than that.
Here is an article that says that
every man will have to give an
explanation, of justification after
the war why it is he is richer when
it is over than when it began. He
will have to explain not alone to
his own conscience but to the peo
ple how it is that while they suf
fered and sacrificed he fared better
than ever he fared before.
Isn't that a suggestive idea?
Could it be possible to put it for
ward before the war? Yet assured
ly there stands even now the terrific
interrogation how did you get it and
why?
Human nature and human indi
viduals are to search themselves
and give an accounting, the profiteer
no less than the patriot. The
latter has his answer ready in iiis
discharge, the fulfilment of his duty,
in the face of the crisis his corr
j rlele service if not his comp’.-te
, sacrifice. But the profiteer, by
. j what rule of conduct shall he jus
, I tify his acts and by what explana
i * tion can he sanction his continuance
L as a profit-taker in society.
t These are troublous times end
l strenuous—but it is after the war
. that the «<counting in the nations
, themselves will really begin.
, PISH BARRELS, NETS, PIX)AT8,
t LEAD LINES. INDEPENDENT
, GROCERY.
’j IK YOU DESIRE BUTTER AND
J EGGS OF THE VERY BEST GO
TO LEHMANN’S.
Nome Bakery
Victory
BREAD
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Conforming to orders of Pood Administrator; on sale nt all timesyj
WE RECOMMEND OUR SPECIAL HEALTH BREAD FORtff
FAMILY USE g
bS
Wc guarantee the best cup of coffee in town i£
IVe serve Hot Cake, Ham and Eggs etc. frovti ? X. M. to 1 I*.
Lundies from 12 Noon to 7 P. M. Eveny Day. W
ifi
XVe are in business to satisfy our Customers. ifi
JUUL & NELSON, Propritors.^
**■****++**K********>•**+-*****■*•»(+-M<*********-Mi *-*** +
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Milo’s Cafe
OPEN DAY AND NIGHT
NEXT DOOR TO PACIFIC GOLD
STORAGE COMPANY
^♦♦♦•K-Mt-Mk+Mt******,********************************
M Jr ****** .kr * *** m m . k -* -it -k <k -k -k. k -At* if * + Jf 4- 4- if Jfr Jf ♦ 3^
ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO.
S. S. VICTORIA
Sails for
SEATTLE
via Seward and Cardova
August 3rd
R. A. Carroll Agent, Nome
S.S.ABM. WATSON
Sailing Schedule Season 1918
Leave
Seattle
July - - - 24th
Aug. - - - 20th
Seqt. - - - 17th
Last South Bound Sailing: Oct. 1st
Schedule Subject to Change Without Notice
Through Ticktes to SAN FRANCISCO,
LOS ANGELES and SAN DIEGO via Admiral
Line Steamers,
Hake Reservations Now
Pacific S. S. Co.
L. C. Wolfe Agent—Nome
Leave
Nome
Aug. - - - 4th
Sept. - - - 3rd
Oct. - - - 1st
Charles L. Ross
Milling, Lumber, Contractor
HAVING TAKEN OVER THE FREIGHTING A TRANSFER
BUSINESS OF W. STEIGEL MAKER AND OF LEO KENT,
FREIGHT ORDERS AND TRANSFER CONTRACTS WILL RE
CEIVE PROMPT ATTENTION.
8RD AND B STREET. PHONH BLACK 181.
I t
1 Miners and Merchants Bank!
if ->.
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Noma, Alaska
Capital $100,000.00
Workingmen’s Accounts Solicited.
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+ •Jr v •Jr ^ ^ •!• •%• *1* ^ *r* ^ •Jr 'Jr •Jr*I- v •I* ^ 4* *1* v ^ ^ ^ ^ v ^ v
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* .^L MV JUT V? KJ^y RlL JLJLVJ VV^ JL *
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+ (Includes TI1L DAWSON, GREEN TREE and THE LINCOLN) •!•
!The Dawson Hotel!
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Finest Rooms In Nome
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*1* JL Jl-WV/iHW i 'I V1LIV *f
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. HOMELIKE AND COMFORTABLE QUARTERS FOIt TUANS- ,
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IENT OK PERMANENT GUESTS. ...
BY DAY, WEEK OR MONTH. .j.
-I* BARNEY GIBNEY.Proprietor *1*
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•j* *?« »j« *|« *j* *;« *j< *2* *2* *2* *2* *J* *2* -J* *J« •!• *j«
North Pole Bakery
& Coffee House
BREAD
15 cents per loaf
2 Loa\ es 25c.