Published Weekly In The Interest Of TI
So 115
k $s/
<&
No. 45.
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA. Mar. 27, 191©
Vol. I
* A
What tii3 Senate thighs of
the stop-watch and speeding
up- premium method of get
ting the last ounce of sweat
) out of the workers was dem
onstrated when the army ap
] roi'i’iaiion bill was under
discussion. By a solemn
count of heads, which result
ed in 31 to 33, the ‘ ‘great dp
liberative body” announced
its approval of the stop
watch incentive to industry.
By an equally serious poll it
blessed the premium plan,
03 to 27. Now let organized
labor back up and apologize
for having branded these'
n'.etho/is as slavery.
The issue came up because
Tavernier of Illinois had dri
ven the House fo place in Jbe
army api ropriation bill a
special proviso that none of
the fund appropriated should
)dc used for any arsenal or
shop in which the Taylor
atop watch cr premium sys
tem ofprorr.oting the effiejen
cy of employees
, was
maintained. Tim Senate
committee on military affairs
after getting a letter of pro
test tram Secretary of War
Garrison, a thorough-going'
reactionary an.d a petition
from several hundred of the
'employees at the Frandford
arsenal at Philadelphia,
struck out the proviso. Sena
tor Hughes of N. J. moved
that the proviso be vesture.
ad
.c
Against the abolition or
the stop-watch and premium
payment methods the stand
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., does
not want to read the American
Socialist. lie a! o does not wan*
to read about conditions in Col
orado in a working class pewspa
per.
The copy of the American be-]
cialist maned to John D. Rocke
feller, Jr., at 20 Broadway New
York City, last week, has been
returned, and across the face of
the envelope the postal officials
havewritten “refused.”
The letter was registered so
that it repairer] the signature of
the Younger “John D.’’ before
it could be delivered. But “John
D.” must have seen the return
j’address of the American Social
ist on the envelope ar.d so he
told the postal authorities to send
it back.
This issue of the American -So
cialist contained an artie'e by A
dolph Gormer showing how strik
ing miners y/ere being railroaded
to the gallows in Colorado for
daring to revolt against the Rock
efeller rule. By the way, John
D- has not yet made the much
heralded trip to Colorado to in
vestigate conditions for himself.
Congress adjourned on Thurs
day wi'hout bringing relief to
the unemployed. IT REFUSED
to act! Legal murder is bc:ng
’ meted Qut to the revo'tirg mir.
! ors of the Itogkefeller dominions
in Colorado, Rockefeller refused
1 i.o act' It is time the workers RE
I
: FUSED to live longer under tins
' system of political and industrial
onpress’pn!
iis
’ •
W. C. Tharp, Socialist in tin
New Mexico legislature had his
first hill passed by unanimous
vote. It leaves to the jury to de
cide whether the death penalty
shall be indicted for murder in
the first degree.
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
Written for The Socialist Press by Carl D. Thompson Article 20,
The city of Milwaukee owns
its own water works. It supplies
water—and that is one of the ne
cessities of life, even in Milwau
kee—to 400.000 people. The ave
rage rate is 25 cents per family
per month, unlimited service,use
all you want.
Think of it: Twenty-five cents
* per month. It costs just five
times that much in Rac'ne and
Superior—cities in the same
state.
| What makes the difference"
A very simple matter,
Milwaukee owes its own water
works; Racine and Superior do
not,
So then, it is the public owner
ship of water works that turns
the trick. It reduces the cost of!
living to just one-fifth of what it
is under private ownership on
that one item. Meanwhile the
workers have an eight hour day,
trades-union wages and good
conditions.
There are th vty '-it.»■
rica of more than 100,000 populaj
tion and scores of smaller ones
that ewn their own water plants
and while they do not all have as
good a record as that we have
just given, but similar results,
So there is a whole line of facts
to sustain our proposition that
municipal ownership reduces the
| cost of living, increases the re
turns to labor and improves con
ditions.
pat senators rallied for «
whole dry's deba e. Root
took the fiocr lor more than
an hour. Lippi It o!' the wool
en mills was vastly annoyed.
Smoot told of his own heroic
experience in a cloth mill to
prove that the conditions
wore not Lad if the worker
had character. Oliver of Pa.
who told ihe lobby committee
that he cwr.ed 1,000 shares
of lb S. Steel, made a deter
mined stand for the stop
watch. Root,plausible as ever
O A- HUtP
» m3 iSi/ti
v
1 i! k a
k tit aw
r-X'U a u
•*. m: A hf?
i w Im k i W i 3 A
T ie eight hour general n i drg
and labor bill '..'as passed this
week by the house in the face
of determined and bitter opposi
tion of Dan Driscoll. t!;,e work
ingmens’s friend. (?)
It will be next in order foi
is to hear that this mis-fitof a
progressive age, will be working
lard to pass the disreputable
ballot law which his master has
u*ed of in his business of contin
uing to mis-represent Alaska,
it is worthy of note that even
since the proposition was made
for the Socialist party of Alaska
to support the bill there has nev
er been any doubt that the mem
bership wou'd do as they have,
and turn it down hard.
Let workingmen show their
feeling in this matter by voting
for the men below.
I
I
I
was careful fo i^acrs tiie
point made by Hughes, that
‘'any factory superintendent
can get his employees to sipn
a petition contrary to their
inhere
he has
th
power to hire and dismiss.”
Instead of meeting this dial*
jlenge of the much touted pe
liti.n. Eco'- talked of dm
“hope, ambition and alert*
ness” inspired in the heart of
of a working man when 1 c
was followed by an inspector
with a stop-watch in his
hand and a speeding- up bon
us in his left nip pocket.
The minority Senators were,
Ashurst, Chilton, Clapp, Cu her
son, Cl von n a, Hollis, Hughe-,
James, Kern, LaFohette, Lane,
Lewis, Martin, Marline, Uyer'
Norris, fittjr.an, Pcpidexter.
Sheppard, Shively, Swanson,
ihomson. Wa'sh and White.
ifie conference report cn tin;
Seaman’s bill, now at last com
pleted and permitted fo creep in
to the House ana - or,ate
time when the only discussion
possible will bo useless from
stand point of improving the
measure, shows that the Great
Lakes vessel owners have not
sent thoir lobby to Washington
in vain. Nor need Senator Hurt01.
of Ohio, implacable enemy of
.he organized seamen,feel disap
pointed at I js own Wort, lne
report provides that passenger
vessels may pack their decks
with passengers to the limit of
standing room, and that only life
boats and rafts enough to carry
50 per cent of the normal maxi
mum of the passengers aud crew
in case the ship goes down. The
(Continued on last page.)
SOCIALIST CANDIDATES.
For City Council
N. R. KING.
For School Director
M. TAIPALE