The Alaska socialist., October 17, 1913, Image 1

About The Alaska socialist. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1913-19??

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
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The emancipation of the working
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class miist he the class-conscious work
of the working class. - KARL MAR2C'V^
The Democratic Party took control of
national affairs six months ago, but as
yet the sun of prosperity has shed but
few rays of light upon the brawn and
bone of this eoutiuent. During the
national campaign of less than a year
ago, glowing promises were made, rel
ative to the changes that would come
under the wise statesmanship of the
■edagogue from Princeton, Nearly
' • ,030,000 of sovereign citizens walked
the ballot box last November, and
mowed bv their votes that they placed
confidence in the oratory of the spell
binders, who, from the rostrum, pro
claimed their deathless devotion to
those sacred principles that gave the
names of Jefferson and Jackson, a place
in American history. The people have
waited patiently for six long mouths,
bvmg in hope that industrial gloom
would pass away through the brilliant
efforts of the Democratic statesmen
who, during the national campaign,
were so extravagant in the distribution
of political promises. The gloom of ad
versity still casts its shadow upon
an American sky. There can be dis
cerned, not even by 'lie vision of the
most buoyant optimist, the slightest tint
of that rosy dawn of coming prosperity,
th.-t was predicted by those political
prophets who thundered such denunciat
ions against a preceding administration
t' n pandered to the interests of “pred
.y wealth.” The hungry statesmen
•••.. promised so much and have done
so little are loading their stomachs on
the emoluments of public offices, but
the great mass of the people whose
credulity was imposed upon by expert
political jugglers, are beginning lo real
ize that the capitalist system is no more
fraternal under the disciples of Jefferson
than under those political apostles who
impoverish the English language in
their tributes to the memory of Abra
ham Lincoln.
Congress was called into extra session
to do things and when the message of
Eroftssor Wilson was read to the “high
brows” in our halls of national legislat
ion, the piercury in the thermometer of
hope rose a little in anticipation of a bet
ter day in the not far distant future.
But hope has been supplanted by despair
and men and women who are close ob
servers, are openly predicting that the
hour is approaching when the crash of
another panic will be heard from ocean
to ocean. Congress has frittered away
its tiiue putting patches ou a currency
measure that will meet the approval
of coupon-clippers ami on a tarrff bill
that will meet with'but little opposition
from the industrial Caesars of our “in
fant industries." Reliable statistics
show that nearly 7,000,000 of people in
this country are without steady employ- '
rnent and that 10,000,000 of our people I
have not even the bare necessaries of j
life. There is an unrest and discontent
from tin- Atlantic to the Pacific, and the
signs of the times presage a storm that
m.c ake this nation to its very foanr
Cations. Something must be done and
■ .one quickly, not for tile banker and
industrial Czar, but for tin/ bone and
brawn of this country, ypon whose
shoulders rest the stability!of a nation.
MIX ICR, S MAG AZIN li
Subscribe -for the A|a4ia Socialist
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As during the colonial period, the
majority of the population was encaged
in agriculture, but, except in the South
where the greater part of the labor was
performed by slaves, most of the agric
ulturists in the country were indepen
dent farmers. The wage-earners were
chiefly artisans and were to be found al
most entirely in the North; it is this
class that is referred to in the discussion
of the condition of the laborer. The
Revolution made but little difference in
his lot: after, as before, the ordinary
unskilled workman earned on the aver
age about two shillings a day ; the hours
of labor were from sunrise to sunset.
While poverty was rare, the standard of
living was low, and little beyond the
bare necessities of life was secured by
the laborer iu exchange for his wage.
The westward migration and the- de
velopment of the carrying trade rais
ed the pay of unskilled labor about,
the beginning of the nineteenth century
to between 80 and 90 cents a day.
The picture of the home and cloljhing
of a workingman about 1790 which is
presented by McMaster, shows very un
attractive conditions. "Sand sprinkled
on the floor did duty as a carpet. There
was no china in his cupboard, there
were no prints on his wall. What a stove
was he did net know, coal he had never
seen, matches he had never heard of. . .
He rarely tasted fresh meat as often
as once a week, and paid for it a
price much higher than his posterity. .
If the food of an artisan would now be
thought coarse, his clothes would bp
thought abominable. A pair of yellow
buckskin or leathern breeches, a red
flannel jacket, a checked shirt, a rusty
felt hat cocked up at the corners, shots i
of neat’s-skin set of by huge buckles of j
brass, and. a leathern apron, comprised :
his scanty wardrobe. The leather he j
smeared with grease to keep it soft and '
flexible." The workers of this period'
had, moreover, little intellectual j
stimulus; the environment was local and j
there was little contact with the j
outside world.
--From Economic
History Of The United States By E. E.
BOGART, PROFESSOR OF ECONO
MICS, UNIVERSITY OF IEUNGIS.
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The Lack Of Labor j
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Organization i
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As yet, little or nothing had, been j
done to protect the rights of the laborer i
by legislation. He was paid at irregular ;
intervals,, and if not paid at all was un- !
able to secure his dues by a lieu on the j
product of his labor. The laws of debt
were particularly harsh : forindebted«ess !
in every the smallest sum a man could J
be thrown into prison, and kept there
until his debt and the prison charge^ •
were paid. The wage-earner, without
property did not possess the right to
vote or hold office.
--Frdm Bogart's History.
A Rat
Some of our loving Democratic pol
iticians are beginning to see the nigger
in t'ne wood pile. They claim that they
were sold out by their delegates at the
Valdez Convention, at least Joy the two
that got jobs.
According to an article hi the Alas
ka Citizen of the 6th iust., they fear
that Henery Roden or Judge Wicker
sham is likely to be the candidate
of the Democrats, its candy to dough
nuts than the Democrats, will recog
nize as they did last fall that all diff
erences existing between the old pol
iticial parties are imaginary only, and
will all support the same candidate
which, in all likelyliood, will be Wick
ersbam, the local Democrat politicians
notwith handing.
Of course the regular Republicans,
as usual, will be expected to have a
candidate in the field s-. that the foll
owers and hangers-on can participate in
the distribution of the black sack which
Shack and his pals generally sends
aroupd.
The old parties will* to try to
get the workers excited, and att
ract their attention away from the main
issue, probably put a dummy in the
field as on former occasions, or prob
ably two.
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Away Your Vote
The old party, candidates during cam
paign season tell the workers not to
throw away their votes and if thev vote
the Socialist ticket they will be throw
ing away their vote. Those two hun
dred and ninety odd votes that Major
Clum got were surely thrown away and
what about those few that Martin Harr
ais got? They certainly were thrown
away.
Too Many Shoes
“Wljy do- you not put on. your shoes,
my boy. you will catch cold?”
”1 have no shoes.”
“Why does not your father buy you
some shoes?”
“He is out of work.”
“Why is he out of work?”
“Tile factory’s closed.”
“Why is the factory closed?”
“Too mg-uy shoes.”
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I The man who shouts for harmony,
j knowing graft t.o be rampant, is noth
ing less than a first, class grafter and
will use any method from peddling bull
ccm to running a poker game to fleece
his victims,
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In 1S37 the journey from Philadel
phia to rittsbai*•- > . one
half days. Now it takes than
nine hours.
The workres built the roads, but
t they do not own them ; Rocky and his
| pals own the roads. While the workers
were listening to Rocky's orators and
singing patriotic songs Rocky was
swiping the railroads, so now the wo
i
rkers. have to walk.
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i It is said that John Hancock, one
! of the signers of the Declaration,
I was the great-grandson of a Scotch
Presbyterian minister, and at the time
of the signing of the famous docu
ment was engaged in, a, big deal of
smuggled booze.
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A w o k e r. to-day, by the aid, of
; machinery produced by other workers,
| produces more wealth than fifty vor
I kt rs did sixty years ago, j et he re
mains, as formerly a wage slave.
The workers- must own the tool:- of
I produetion’^then, and not until then,
will they be tree.
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Is Now In !
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g'V'VU'. tf
A tetter rvas received a tew days;
ago, by a comrade from Comrade Raz- j
is Krauczunas, first candidate cf the j
Socialist Parity, for Deicg. i to Congress, i
Comrade Krauczunas oll
ows: I have received several .l
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elv. asking me if 1 would be a candid-:
ate in the coming election for Delegate.;
to Congress. You may tell aJJL the
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comrades that I am positively out of it..!
But I shall always do what I can to !
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help the comrades and the party. I
You have plenty of good timber for !
candidate for Delegate to Congress,
Give my regards.to all the comrades,
and with happy recollections of our
first campaign, I am, your comrade,
KAZIS KRAUCZUNAS. |
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MUST MAKE
ROOM FOR
In the act paused by Congress on
the 13th iiist. twenty two deputy coll
ectors and fifty five deputy marshals
in the State of Washington and Al
aska were taken out of the civil ser
vice.
The Civil Service is a branch of the
Government Service that has been
kept clear of the whims of political
appointees. A holder of a civil service
petition was not affected by a new pol
itical party getting into office,, but now
the Democrats, by a'n act of Congress- „
have changed that, for you see there
is a horde of hungry Democratic office
seekers whose appetites for office mast
be appeased.
There are several Federal positions
in this district h-Id by men who refuse
to sit behind a jackass when they can
ride in an electric car, and it is rum
ored that the local Denis will comm
ence att attack on. the holders of ihc.-e
positions by llie underground method.
Some there are among them who
think they could be a judge, others arc
under the impression that they could
be a prosecuting attorney, and in that
direction the Democrat can feel the
smell of mamma ; still others among
them, without any previous experience .,
■would like to experiment with the
mails for you see the Denis have bee:;
a long time out and are very thirsty.
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What has the Socialist party, since its
advent in Alaska, done?
What it,has done and wh it it has nut
done will be. told iu a future issue. An
article is now being written that will
tell in detail all. about it. It vvill also
tell how many adventurers, thinking
there were plums to be picked, flocked
to the party. We will.also tel! all about
tiie schemes that the “contrails” in ti e
vicinity of Fairbanks have on hand, and
it,will prove inlet esting to the student
of economics as well as to the woiking
class in general.
When they wsire experimenting with
iron during the revolutionary period,
with the view of introducing it in mak
ing plows, the old hill billies setup the
plea that iron would poison the soil.
Speck’s saws will not poison vevr
wood as the old timers claimed. lie
has sawed ail the wood on the creeks
and is now in tov. n with two saws. Calk
him up at the, FAI.RVj.FW R’OTIj,