Published Weekly In The Interest Of The Working-Class.
NO. 4. FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, July 11, 1914. VQ1. 1.
Independence Day was Fittingly Celebrated
The Fwrth of .July, 1914, was duly celebrated in Fairbanks, and has passed into
.history. We are not referring to the event now as a matter of news but for the purpose
,of indulging -a prof ei&ity for comment, and delving to soipe extent into history, and
.perhaps making of. it incidentally, the subject a preachment.
The day was an ideal -one, and the town was prettily and appropriately decorat
ied for the occasion as befits an enterprising and patriotic citizenry. Great emblems
of freedom were flung from numerous flag staffs throughout the city and floated
grace£tjlly in the breeze, ..while those of lesser dimensions were nailed in endless profit
rsion to post and corner, and stuck in every nook and cranny. Bunting was stretched a
cross the streets and .buildings and vehicles were draped in many fantastic and becom
ing ways. The usual games and races and athletic exercises were indulged in. Ice.
cream and peanuts as well as refreshments of a more stimulating character were liberally
partaken of. The army and navy were extolled in song and God was thanked in prayer
for the flag of our beneficent country.
The reading of the Declara
tion of Independence and the
Oration were listened to with at
tention Acd>4nuch enjoyed, Alto
gether it was a good celebration,
ifratheT conventional, ftijd ev
erybody had a good time
‘But it was a celebration such
as might have .been witnessed in
thousands Of-places throughout
the Union,-.with variations. For
instance we had Judge Erwin
.who delivered the oration.
There is no other Judge Frwin
in the whole United States.
The Judge was at his best. Ho
, ebook his fist at the heavens, lie
, clawed the air and pounded the
, rail. The,Judge.was terribly in
earnest, but he cracked some
aide-splitting jokes just the
game. In fact his whole speech
was pretty much of a joke. His
breaks in reference to all men
l>eing equal before the law, and
«?ery.;man receiving the fuli
product of his toil, were soexcru
ciatingly funny that many in
the audience had to grab their
faces and step on their own
. corns in .order to preserve any
eort of decorum. His joke about
.Thomas Jefferson being tho au
thor-of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, when it is known
that Tom Paine was the real ere
.j&tor of that document, was stale
but good; and-his laudation of
the good old Democratic party
terras amusing, and, thpugh it
might have been somewhat out
of place, was excusable under
the circumstances. Judge Erwiu
has considerable reason for bles
sing the Democratic party, and a
naturally grateful heart will ov
erflow without regard to time
or place. j
And there was another varia
tion. Not every place would te
lectibr a reader of the Declara
tion of Independence, a lady
who would take occasion to re
mark on her own account, that
while the tyranies against which
our forefathers rebelled, were
great, the tyrannies under which
the major portion .of the people
suffer today are fully as great.
That was a dis< ordant note
but it could have been followed '
up and made to swell into a
whole band of charivari, music.
In addition to pointing out some
of these tyianies. it could have
been shown that our Revolution
ary fathers.were not animated
so much for the good of the
whols people as we have been
led to believe, and that while de
Glaring in immortal terms that
all men are endowed with an e
qual right to life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness, they
meant nothing of the sort. Liber
ty they had but little conception
of. They had reference only to
menof .their own class, and kind,
ignoring,absolutely the fact that
thousands of human beings,
black and white, were held in
chattel and indentured slavery,
human property, the objects of
barter and sale like hogs and
cattle. Practically all of those fa
thers were owners of chattel
slaves and indentured servants,
and some of them were specula
tors in articles of indenture like
men nowadays speculate in boivs
and mortgages. The.se articles
carried with them the persons
indentured, making them for
all practical purposes, alaveadur
lng their terms of indenttnre, I
and the masters had a way of
lengthening,out the terms by
fines and otherwise, as the, sys
tem of peonage is today manag
ed in Mexico. Those fathers
were also seemingly oblivious of
the fact that comparatively
fe.w men of their time possessed
political righ e end that they
had no notion 0f extending re
lief in that direction is shown by
the fact that it took years of tur
moil after the revolution hid
hem won,to .secure those rights.
It could also have been shown j
that manyof these revolutionary j
fathers had private rod persoanl
reasons for severing allegiance
to the British i Ciown. Many of
them were in imminent danger
of being haled before courts of
British law. George Washington
himself was invo.red in an un
lawful land scheme, and the ve
ry day that the Middlesex far
mers drove the,British red coats
out of Lexington, John Hancock
was to bo placed on trial for de
frauding the British customs.
We,have always been, led to be
lei re that the Boston tea party
was composed of highly patriotic
men who threw the cargo of Bri
tish tea overboard as a protest a
gajast ? tax levied .oiuj-ea, when
as a, mutter of fact it was tlio
work of smugglers, and it was
done not because a tax had b.en
laid on tea but because it had
been taken off
1
Erwin's Machine Put- On Slink
After much spurring and
manoevering for _ advantage
the two Democratic factions
clashed at their primaries last
Tuesday, and it seems that
the result was a crimp in Mar
shalEr,win's political schemes
Twenty delegates to i he Skag
way convention were elected,
and of these the Big Chief
secured eleven, and it is said
that some of the others are
not so loyal to Erwin as they
might-fce. Out.of the large
Democratic population only
44 votes could be rustled up,
so it is evident that there is ip
shameful lack of interest in
the Democra'ic scrap or else
Democx*ats did not feel like
going up against tha't
famous pledge.
Because of tariffs placed on ar
ticles of commerce great smug
ling conspiracies had grown up.
British tea merchants especially,
felt the competition, and prevail
ed upon their gova;r..r,ent to re
peal the tea t; x. This reduced the
price and flooded the market thus
working a hardship on American
tea smugglers, who in a spirit of
,,retaliation organized the famous
tea party over which we are wont
to sw'ell with pa1 riotic.pride.
And so there.were other causes
than those named in the Declara
tion of Independence that
brought on the Revolution. Smug
gling was general. Land schemes
of anytiilawful nature and other
illegal money making, entangle
ments in which many prominent
men of the time were involved,
were afoot. These men were anx
ious to secede from the Mo then
C untry to escape prosecution,
and to secure the advantages that
would accrue to a rulhvf; class,
through the formation of a new
government, It would seem a
shame ‘o tear the ha’o from the
heads of men we have been
taught to revere, but why hot
know' the truth. The Revolution
• was not a .popy’ar uprising. The
army was recruited with the gre&
test difficulty during the first
years of the war and desertions
were wholesale. It was a ruling
class war, and as in most wars,
the rank and file who toils part
were hoodwinked into beleiving
that it was their’s as well.
And row under present condi
tions. although we possess politi
cal rights within limitations aru
some privileges that the people of
Revolutionary times did not have
the, mass of the people are no
better off, and in some resi ects
not so well off. They are being
mo'.e mercilessly exploited by i.r -
duatrial masters as time goes by,
and are becoming more depend
ent. The struggle for existence
is getth’o mono into»oo nnd raWl
lious workers are being more bru
t^f.y suppressed. As for liberty,
real liberty there is rractically
none and th-re is sufficient capi
talist law and it is invoked as ihe
exigences of capitalism r-quit's,
to jail or hang .any man wfm
dares stand up, ^.attle f°r
mar.righ's. So it is entirely
that the major portion of the peo
pie today suffer under tyrannies
as great as did those prior top 1 re
Revolution.
Are Yon One Of Tiie
Socialists who Sms
"Yes I iyn a socialist—been one for many years—always vote
the ticket—but Ido not belong to the organization.” If'you #.ve
in that class; you should get out of it The only Socialists that
count are the ones that pay tbeir
little 25 cent dues per month, and
aid in the work of the patty oigani
zaticn. These are the ft Hows that
arc making the Socialist I’jjrly the
great force for the common good in
America. Theca) italist class won’t
finance our party ar.d wo don’t
want them to. Its the twenty-live
coots per month from it& thousands
of real Socialists that keep tho
wheels of the organ'sation going.
Come on in and find out how we
run things. You will have iust as
much to =ay as another. Weliavo
mace it e isy for you to take .'-the,
first step—below, 13 a coupon which,
you should
Out Gut, Tear Off And Mail Today.
To N. R„Kirigi Fairbanks A. 1’ozza, Garden Island or,L.. Weetenvik,
Cleary City.
I am convit ced that I should ho amember of the organization you.ro*
present. Pleaso^scui tome one ta tajte my apj licatiun.
"Name.. ' V
Address..... “
1 will* be at homa