Valdez Daily Prospector
PUBLISHED BY THE
Prospector Publishing Co.
TERMS.
Daily Prospector.
?y carrier, per month....$ 1.00
By mail, per annum. 10.00
The Weekly Miner.
By carrier, per month. 40o
By mail, per annum.$3.00
The Daily Prospector and Weekly
Miner, by carrier, to one address
per month.$1.25
The Daily Prospector and Weekly
Miner by mail to one address
only per year.$12.50
Business Office and Editorial
Rooms, Phone 152.
Advertising Rates on Application.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, DM3.
MINIMUM WAGE—AND AFTER.
There are a few fairly certain
effects that will follow a mini
mum wage which are not gener
ally recognized by the! advocates
of that humanely intended meas
ure, and which deserve careful at
tention.
For one filing, a law forbidding
the payment of a wage below a
fixed amount is necessarily a law
forbidding any one to work for
such lower/wage. Jf it be made j
illegal to give less than 88 a week,
then it must equally be illegal
to take less than 88 a week. The
obvious mode of wading the law
by increasing I he hours of work
will, of course, be included in the
law. The theory of the support
ers of the measure is that a cer
tain sum is needed to meet decent
living expenses; that Ibis should
be paid for a kind and amount of
work which can be performed
without injury to the .worker, and
that the law, on careful inquiry
into the facts, should regulate
both work and pay. No-employer
is to be allowed to give less pay
or exact more labor than the law
sanctions; no worker is to be al
lowed to take less pay or to give
more work. This leaves and must
leave a certain number of work
ers, now employed, without em
ployment; a certain number who
now receive an inadequate wage
and with if secure an inadequate
subsistence without any income
and without any subsistence
whatever. This number, more
over, embraces, roughly, two
classes, those who cannot earn
the minimum wage and those who
will not. (»m* class includes the
incompetent—using that word not
necessarily in any harsh sense—
and the other I he shiftless, the
lazy, I ho shirks.
II is plain I lull il llic si ale in
tervenes In forbid these classes
to work fur a wage lower Ilian
the proposed minimum, the slate
must care for them in some way.
They cannot lie left to starve. If
their c-ase is had now. when they
do not get enough for a decent
living, il would clearly he worse
if they were! prevented by law
from getting anything whatever.
It would uni be safe to assume
that all who now gel less than the
proposed minimum could not
earn, or could not get, more. A
good many employers would
doubtless pay more, with the con
viction (hat they would get more
value in better work. But there
would still remain a large body of
workers without the strength, the
skill, or, perhaps, the will to ren
der service worth to their em
ployers the proposed wage1. As
we have said, they would have lo
be cared for, and any law which
forbade them to work for the
wage their work is really worth
would he a cruel measure unless
provision were in some way made
for them. .Not only is the stub
born malerial aspect of the Ques
tion to he considered. There is
a moral aspect of the deepest ini-,
portance. Provision for workers
who can not, or will noly earn a
fixed 'wage would he a terrible
temptation to shirk. If any con
siderable number of men are to
he relieved of the spur of stern
need which urges them to provide
for themselves and for their fam
ilies, that number will lend to in
crease, not merely at a growing
cost to society, hut to its serious
and increasing injury.
On the ill her hand, il Ihe stale
is to forhid ils eilizelns lo work
for less Ilian a fixed wage il is
plainly the duty of the stale to
do all il ran lo train the children
of its citizens for work that will
he worth at least that wage. And
tljis .must ;he done not \jn the
loose, haphazard, ineffectual way
in which what is now called edu
cation is given, but in a careful,
practical, comprehensive and ef
flcient way. Indeed, our whole
system of schooling would have
to be reformed; its main aim
would have to be changed; its
method, ils teaching force, /its
ideas, and ideals would have sub
stantially to be revolutionized.
An adequate and elastic system
would have to be developed and
organized for the intimate co
operation of (he schools and the
business interests of the coun
try, or of any state adopting the
minimum wage. There could be
retained of the present schooling
only so much as is indispensable
to industrial training, for the
task of fitting the grolat body of
Children for earning their own
!support would be dominating and
imperative. It would be a tre
mendous task, besot with diffi
culties and exposed to great mis
takes, but it would have to lie
taken up. No minimum wage law
could be enforced without incal
culable damage to the commun
ity unless industrial training to
lit the mass of workers to earn
that wage were established and
developed.
These are facts involved in the
new movement which must be
faced and worked out. They
seem to demand at least the post
ponement of legislation until
some means of meeting them has
been devised, including and based
upon education.-New York Times.
AID FOR DELEGAtE.
The delegate came from Wash
ington to Juneau to (ell the mem
bers of the legislature what to do
and how to do it, and now the
Senate has passed a motion to
send four members to Washing
ton to tell the delegate what to
do and how it should be done.
The motion was defeated in the
House.
While the Prospector is sure
the delegate would welcome any
aid (he members might be able
to give him, yet it would only
make for more confusion and dis
cord, and therefore it was (he
wisest thing to defeat the bill. Of
course it may have been merely
an attempt to teach the delegate
bis place.
Governor Strong will have sev
eral good appointments to make
—nine mining inspectors and a
territorial treasurer.
1
“Each man kills the thing he
loves”—if it will let him.
IHUitNGS OF THE GENTLE
CYNIC.
Some men are more sensitive
to (he touch than others, as many
a chronic borrower has discover
ed.
We can get used to anything.
The longer a man is married the
less ho seems to mind it.
The fellow who blows his own
I horn is always a soloist.
Charily begins a I. Imme, even
when the home doesn’t need il.
Many a woman regards a hus
band simply as a necessary audi
ence.
Kven tile continual changing of
one’s mind is apt lo wear il out.
Tell a woman that distance
lends enchantment to the view
and she will al once become dis
tant.
Betting is a fool's argument,
hul we don’t realize il until we
lose.
A woman’s husband doesn’t so
often come up to her ideal as her
ideal conies down to him.
The people who are quick lo
lake offense have no difficulty in
finding a plentiful supply.
II’s a good thing to make your
monny grow, hul a dollar always
looks largest when il’s the only
one you have. !
If \v<“ had our lives lo live over,
it would enable us lo make our
mistakes easier.
The theatrical managers who
are scouring the country for
plays might try scouring a few of
(hose they already have.
Success is always due lo our
own efforts; failure we can blame
on some one else.
Even the people who itoalize
that the wages of sin is death
console themselves with the
thought that pay day is a long
way off.
Travel will broaden some fel
lows almost as much as a padded
coal will.
Marcia Rica Cigars
VALDEZ MOST POPULAR SMOKE
INTEGRIDAD’S EL SIDELLO’S
BELMONT’S REPRESENTA’S
VAN DYKE’S " OPTIMO’S
SMOKE CRAFT’S LOVERA’S
Direct From The Factories.
IN GRAM & BUSH
EXCLUSIVE CIGAR DEALERS.
Independent Laundry Co.
Satisfaction Ouaranteed
Telephone 66
Foot Keystone Ave
Rough Dry 10c lb.
Valdez Dock Go. m^w.
JOBBER IN
COAL, HAY and GRAIN
AGENTS FOR
Alaska Steamship Company
Alaska Coast Company
FOR SALE
2 1-2 H. P. Stationary Gasoline
Engine
A BARGAIN
K«,i't«n7Lck Valdez Iron Works
STEUX^QN
\VTE pride ourselves
** on carrying ad
vance styles. Our new
selection of Stetsons for
Spring is now on view—
1913 blocks in Soft and
Stiff hats — the latest
touches of style, and the
sound quality that is as
sociated with the Stetson
name by smartly dressed
men everywhere. Come
see them today.
Geo. f. white
The Assayer
Assaying and Ore Testing
CORRECT RESULTS
No More, No Less
VALDEZ. ALASKA
MILK-MILK-MILK
Fresh Milk and Cream
VALDEZ DAIRY
Telephone orders to Phone 187
New York Life
Insurance Co.
W. H. CRARY, Representative
Valdez, Alaska. Phone 41
THE SALESMAN
makes more sale6 and
makes them with greater
facility if his work is re
enforced by Electric Light.
ft shows his goods to the
best advantage,and colors
may be readily matched
under its rays.
A brilliant electrically
lighted store stamps a
merchant as a hustler.
And trade follows light.
A. W. L. & T. Co.
Dougherty & Ferguson
GENERAL
MERCHANDISE
The best groceries received
on every boat,
Fresh vegetables, fruits
and nuts.
Copper River
Draying Co
Freighting and passengers to all pans
of the interior. General Trucking
fcld. Wood, - Proprietor
McKimej St, Valdez
Steam Heat Electric Ligtita
THE COPPER BLOCK
Finely Furnished Rooms All Modern Conveniences
Good
Goods
THE BUFFET
Good
Goods
Copper River Lumber Co., he.
Native and
Puget Sound
ALL KINDS OP
LUMBER
and Building
Material
CONSTANTLY on hand
Prices Right W. M. FINICAL, Mgr. Phone 18
Patronize a Home Industry
VALDEZ DRUG CO.
Drugs and Druggist Sundries
PRESCRIPTION SPECIALISTS
Telephone Orders Solicited Free Delivery
We do a
general
Banking
Business
' , • . -j|
£»■-> toK. --ywgfej.^ sa^ J^frv^E-r *« Sg^r |
Bank in
rear of
mercantile
department
We Pay 4 Per Cent Inter»xt an lime Certitient*s •/ Deposit.