p
L>Class.
NO. 40,
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, Feb.6' 191s?
Vol- I
EUROPE’S
A GLOOMY
FUTURE
We read and listen .to the mo
,ral flambuqyancies of those who
t?K us that this is the last war, j
that front it is to dutp the over
throw of the military castes of
Europe, that from the destruc
.tion of the Berlin War O.fice the
Peace Temple of the Hague is to
come into real being. It is a 1
moonshine. Far more likely is it
that this war is the beginning of
a new military despotism in Eu
rope: of new alarms, new hatreds
and oppositions, new menaces
and alliances; the beginning of a
dark epoch, dangerous, not mere
!y to democracy, but to civiliza
tion itself.
To prevent this we must work;
with might and niain, and our
success will be pleasured by our
e’earness pf sight apd c ourage in <
explaining to our people now how'
this war has come, what it really!
means, and how it is to be ended, \
WARRING
NATIONS
PLAY BALL
The higher up3 in Europe
wont agree to any truces. But
the news dispatches claim at
least that sorp$ of the German
ftnd British soldiers had a truce
all their own. The report says:
" I he German army authorities
hav<e issued a general order pror
hibiting in the future troops in
the field from fraternizing with
forces of the enemy as they did
:at several points in the western
theater of the war at Christmas.
“To such an extent was this
fraternising carried out that at
one place where the Germans and
Britisn played footba 1 Christmas;
day they agreed to suspend hos-1
tilities for two days more. ’*
The ruling class has always
■tried to prevent the exploited
.class from enjoying a truce.
Peace means an opportunity for
the workers to organize and to
challenge the power of the ex
ploiters. While Europe was at
peace the workers won new
strength. This was one of the
big reasons why the ruling class
brought on the present war. It
is the big reason why they do not
Want a truce now.
1
Organized Capital Seeks Control
liy George W. D^wn*ng, California jState
Perhaps the boldest recent
act of organized capital $
the sending out of parked
copies of^ome of tbsjir rpost
subservient sheets.
The reason offered is that,
to vote for labor legislation
would mean defeat at £he
next election.
To prove their point they
cited the defeat of labor
candidates at the last ejec
tion and even went so far as
to boast of the election of
Penrose in Pennsylvania,
Ag.hin and again in the
three-column articles d;d
they repeat th^t labor legis
lation was unpopular, arj4
that all who favored such
measures were doomed to
defeat.
Let us see how unpopular
labor laws are. Twenty-five
years ago there was noj
labor legislation worthy of.
the najTie in the United
States. Today \ye find labor
laws on every statute book.
Backward nations have no
such measures. V he mark
9! rank in rations is the
'amount and quality of labor
legislation.
Practically ail the laws
that make for a wider dem
ocracy were first advocated
by the forces of labor. For
instance, workers had a de
mand for the initiative, ref
erendum and recall when the
forces of organized capital
thought thre initiative was
something that grew in the
garden, A well known cap
italist paper today calls the
initiative and referendum
the f ‘banner \yith the strange
device.”
So popular are all great
democratic measure* anc |
laws inaugurated by organ
ized labor, that when such
measures are Reined, the parties
yie with each other in claiming
the credit pf securing them.
Legislators need ha.ve no fear
of popular approval on this acore.
Re-election is not the highest
motive for determining one’s
votes. It may b(e the only ground
■know# tp some papers and to
organized capital, bp,t a legislator
should have the public good as
his test.
To test, the measures of organ
ized labor and organized capital
,w,e hjiye £p but compare;
1. Labor asks for safety ap-i
pliances in t-h.e work because it
would save life and limb.
Capital opposes safety appli
ances because it takes from the
profits.
2. Labor asks for the abolition
of child-labor; it saves the child
ren of the poor and leaves the
(Continued on Page 4)
The P urpose Of Socialism
Written for The Socialist Press by Carl D. Thompson Article 13.
Some of the noblest spirits in
the modern world would have
given themselves hearts and souls
to the cause of socialism. One of
these was Frances E. Willard,
for many years the president of
the Woman’s Christian Temper
ance Union. At the national con
vention of the organization, held
at Buffalo in 1807, she declared
herself a socialist. The following
is part of her address on that oc
casion dealing with the subject
of socialism The quotation is ta
ken from the official record of
the proceedings of the conven
tion of 1897, as we found them
at the IS ational Headquarters of
the W. C. T. U.
‘ Look about you, the products
of labor are on every hand; you
could not for a moment maintain
a welL-ordered life without them;
every object in your room has in
it, for discerning eyes', the mark
of ingenuous tools and the pres
sure of labor's hand. But is it
not the cruelest injustice for the
wc ilthy, whose lives are surroun
ded and embellished by labor’s
jWCrk, 10 have a superabundane*
of the money which represents
the aggregate of labor in any
country, while the laborer him
self is kept sp steady at work
that he has no time to acquire
the education and refinements of
life that would make him and his
family agreable companions to
the rich and cultured.
The reason why 1 am a social
ist comes in just here.
I would ta<e, not by force, but
by the slow process of lawful ac
quisition, through better legisla
tion, as the outcome of a wiser
ballot in the hands of men and
women, the entire plant that we
call civilization, ail that has been
achieved on this continent in the
400 years since Columbus wend
ed his way hither, and make it
the common property of all the
people, requiring alt to work e
nough with their hands to give
them the finest physical develop
ment, but. not to become burden
some in any case, and permitting
all to share alike the advantages
of education and refinement. I be
lieve this to be perfectly prapti
cal, indeed, that anv other me
thod is simply a re'ic of barbar
ism.
I believe that competition is
doomed. The trust whose single
object is to abolish competition,
has proved that we are better
without it than with it and the
moment that corporations control
the supply of any product, they
combine.
“What the Socialist desires is
that the corporation of humanity
should control the supply of all
production. Beloved comrades,
this is the frictionless way; it is,
the higher way; ite’iminates the
motives for a selfish life; it en
acts into our everyday living 'he
ethics of Christ’s gospel. Noth
ing else will do it; nothing e’se
can bring the glad day of univer
sal brotherhood.
“Oh, that I were young again,
and it would have my life!
It is God’s way out of the wilder
ness and into the promised land.
It is the very marrow of Christ’s
gospel. It is Christianity ap
plied.”
GULL THE ’
JOBLESS
WORKERS'n
In Indiana, Lid., as well as in
other cities the Capitalist papers
are telling the story that big fac
tories and workshops are opening
up ana employing thousands of
workers. This is not true in any
case, The newspapers told the
workers recently that the New
York .Central shops at Beech
Grov.e (near Indianapolis) would
employ 2,400 men. Five thou
sand paid fares on Big Four trains
to get the jobs, but not a map.
was hired and the Officers of the
shops said there was no work
to he had. In the evening the
same papers said 1300 men had
been put to work. But not a man
was hipecl. A car load of men
jobless returning on electric lines
to Indianapolis refused to pay
fares. Two were arrested and
placed in jail over night. One
man was realeased hut the other
is stiU in jail and will likely be
fined and sent to the works. Big
business has admitted shat 85
per cent of the workers are out
of employment. They continue
to say miills ace opening when
there is not a word of truth in
the stories. Big business must
be afraid the workers will rebel
and the stories of opening of
shops they hope will cause the
workers to live quiet on hope.
BEEF TRUST'
SUPPRESSES
“ SUNGLE”
The Famous P ayers’ Film Co.
has gone to a tremendous ex
pense to produce "The Jungle,
written by Up tor Sinclair. For
some unknown but suspicious
reason the company is refusing
to exhibit the him in Chicago al
though this is the best paying
center for the ' movies.
Chicago socialists have m"*de
repeated offers to the company
to allow the production of Sin
clair’s novel but the company is
said to be s’anding nat. It «
charged that the beef trustee -
ceeded in squelening the produc
tion of the play in 1906 and it ap
pears to have repeated the