THE SOCIALIST PRESS.
Published Weekly In The Interest Of The Working-Class.1
No. 3.
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, July 4-, 1914-.
Vol. 1.
4
/
Ex-Operator In From The Outside Says Unions Are Hurting
BUSINESS.
“Throughout the States at
the present time there is
a general business depres
sion, attributable to many
.causes, and it is difficult to
say where it will end” said
E. R. Jesson, upon arriving
in town after having-spent
the winter Outside. “In the
West business is very quiet,
and especially in San Francis
co,” he continued “where
labor unions are perniciously
active.”
“While I was in San Fran
co co, representatives of sev
eral large manufacturing
plants came there to look over
the ground, but before they
had even decided to build,
the unions made all sorts of
demands as to the help and
the r egulations they should
follow. As a result none of
them would consider settling
in San Francisco.”
The above is the lamenta
tion of a gentleman in an in j
ter view published in the,
'limes, who is just in from!
the outside, and who used
lobe an operator on Ester j
Creek. It brings to mind a |
similar plaint made to the ■
writer during; the strike in
this district, several years a
go by another operator who
denounced labor unions as un
necessary, unfair, unAmeri
can, ruinous to business, to
investments etc., etc. This
man stated that he would
shut down his works, throw
ing twenty-five men out of
employment, and would nev
er invest another cent in the
country; that he would take
his money Outside and put it
into some enterprise wherein
he would be assured ol peace
and prosperity. We may re
mark parenthetically that
Lhisman, so far as closing
down and throwing men out
of work is concerned, adher
ed to his program, also that
he kept his word in failing to
invest another cent in the
country, even in wages, for
he failed to pay his men, and
his name is conspicuous on
the list of worthless securi
ties that the receiver of the
Fairbanks Banking Company j
is advertising for sale.
But the point we are gc-t-i
ting at is the universality
of such dolorous cries on the;
Are You One Of The
Socialists who Says
“^tes I am a socialist—been one for many years—always vote
the ticket—but Ido not belong lo the organization.” if you are j
in that class, you should get out of it The only Socialists that j
count are the oneg that pay their
little 25 cent dues per month, and
aid in the work of the party organi
zation. These are the fellows tnat
are making the Socialist Party the
great force for the common good in
America. The capitalist clase won’t
finance our party and we don’t
want them to. Its the.twenty-five
; cents per month from its thousands
^of real Socialists that keep the
'Wheels of the organzation going.
Come on in and find out how we
run things. You will have just as f
much to say as another. We have!
made it easy for you to taka the!
first step—below is a coupon which
you should
Cut Out, Tear Off And Mail Today.'
Io N. R. King, Fairbanks, A. Pozxi, Garden Island or L. Weatenvik
Cleary City. ’
I am convirced that I should be amember of the organization you re- i
present. I lease send some one to take my application.
Name..
Address
1 will be at home
part of men who have money
invested, or have it to invest,
and to ask the question what
are they going to do about
it? Hardly a day goes by but
we hear something of the
be
hazards that beset caoita
cause of the “pernicious ac
tivity” of labor unions.
Wherever poor, oppressed,
harassed capital seeks lodge
ment and attempts to multi
ply itself for the benefit of
its owners by sweating divi
dends out of the hide of the
workers, it finds an ever-in
creasing determination a
mong the workers to stand
up for their rights and de
mand better conditions un
der which t > work and a
grea'er share in the product
of ‘heir toil. Up in this isola
ted corner of the earth, al
most within the Arc ic circle,
where it could be least ex
pected, this determination
was encountered. Here in an
unfavorable environment,
with little experience in con
ducting industrial warfare,
the miners dealt those who
were playing the part of cap
italiit.-. a blow that mane of
of them will long remember.
It is met with in San Francisco
in the mining regions, in the ma
nufacturing centers of the East —
everywhere, As capitalim develops
the people are driven more and
more into two classes, according
to their economic interests—the
exploiters and the exploited.
Class dcmarca'ion becomes more
pro ounced; and capitalism is pro
ducing conditions that forever
force the classes to fight for their
existence. It is said that self-pre
servation is the first law of na
ture. It is implanted in every liv
mg thing. Every living thing will
fight in its own way for its life.
The principle extends to and is
manifest in species, and groups
and classes of men. Men in ship
wreck will insist that women and
children be saved first. We call it
“chivalry” or “bravery,” but ft
is only an instinct looking to the
preservation of the race. A herd
of elephants when threatened
with danger, will form a circle
with *he fema'es and young on
the inside, that the perpe uation
of the species may be safe-guard
ed. A consanguineous group cf
human beings, no matter how
much dissension may have previ
ously existed, will instinctive'y
draw together when assailed by
an enemy. So it is with classes.
Capitalism has developed to the
point where the working class
must fight for its very life, but
the tables will be turned and the
capitalist class forced to fight for
its own life. Even now the capi
talist cl ss is unnecessary, but at
the same time the need of work
ers is bei'-g eliminated. The de
velopment of machinery is ren
dering thn working class largely
r:T.cm.-. It is prophesied by
!■ •' ir. • ; . niton to speak autho
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^ ti n
i
Captain “Jack” Green of;
the White Pass Steamer Yu
kon was arrested a few days
ago on the charge of assault
lag a deck hand for “talking |
back” or for some other in- j
fraction of the many rules
made and provided for the
proper government of em
ployees on steamboats, and
brought before the Commis
sioner’s Court and fined ibe
outrageous sum of $5.00.
The case against him was so
clear that no less a sum
would have been at all com
mensurate with the crime.
This way cf enforcing di .-ci
p'ine among the crew seems
to be a favorite one with
this fresh water martinet,
for he r sorted to the same
method last fail down the ri
ver on the last trip of his
boat for the season; but of
course discipline must be
main ained, and the dignity
of oiiicers protected, and if
ihe dignity of . Green is in
proportion to his size it must
have nur- tery badly to have
i punctured. So under die cir
cumstances many though;
he ought io have been allow
ed ;o go tree, but the Court
ritatively that in the no great
distant future, that all that will
be necessary to produce abundant
ly will be to touch a button o*
throw a lever. What that will
mean to the working class with
the machinery of production pri
vate1 y owned can be easily im
magined. Nothing short of their
practical extermination. Hence a
spirit of class solidarity is sweep-!
ing over the earth and binding to
gether the hosts of labor in a com
mon bond of class interests for
class preservation. Not a year
goes by but labor shows immense
strides toward cohesive action in
fighting its industrial battles.
Craft unionism, having become
impotent in the face of capitalist
development, is crumbling away.
The sentiment of industrial un
ionism-one big union—animated
by a revolutionary purpose is be
coming universal. Unionism par
ticularly in America, is in a state
of transition from one form and
purpose of organization to anoth
er, and must in the near future,
emerge in'one solid invincible un
ion, embracing every worker,
marshalled in divisions according
to the industry engaged in. What
then is brother capital going to
do about it? Capital will be on
the defensive. It will be a fight
to the death.
And again we ask what is capi
tal even now going to do about it.'
It can send up its wails from the
four corners of the earth about
the “pernicious activity” of labor
unions, but what is g ing on now
is but the patter Of the raindrops
before the bursting of the storm
Capital can be driven away from
San Francisco, only to be met
elsewhere by the same condi
tions that It ran away from. It
makes no difference to the work
ingclass. It can be exploited in'
Timbuctoo as well as in San
Francisco. Capital must be repro
duced or it dies. Industry must
| be carried on to supp'y the da-!
■ mands of civilization, If capital
! refuses to do that, the working
class will lose no time in taking
ho d and doing it. The working-'
class is going to do it anyhow,
when they getalitUe wiser. Poor
capital.
eviden ly took a different
view and soaked him plenty.!
: JL*J
Leaves Money
For Socialism.'
.Grand Junction,Colo, Wm.1
Sawyer who died recen ly left
his endre es'a'e of $20,000 to
:hc Socialist par'y upon the
dea h of his sister.