The labor world., 1898-06-25

indulge in idle moments while either
our camps or our goods we're inside the
danger line. On this side again the nu-
merous lakes were thawing out and pre-:
vious to the breaking up of the ice for
good the trail was in danger OF being
submerged in from one to three feet Of
surface water But luck was with us
and the breaking up of the canon above
LAKE Lindeman found all our goods
safely through. ....... - S
But the difficulties of the trail have
been recounted before and fascinating
as the stories that could be told might
be l will limit my observations to mat
ters not heretofore dwelt upon. #,.
And one of these is the different clas-
ses of people one comes in contact with.
All nationalities and odds and ends Of
all sorts. The most pathetic feature Of
it all, though, is the women who have
chosen to accompany their husbands on
this journey. Here at Lindeman, and
for the past few weeks since the wealth
or has been fine, their lot has undoubt-
edly not been unpleasant. but on the
other side, where it rained from half to
two-thirds of the time, and the roads
we're always slushy. if not muddy, and
perhaps both together, it was different.
And still, saw more than one delicate
looking woman dragging at the sled
along with her husband and under CON
ditions that were enough to sour the
milk st human kindness in the. toughest
masculine heart. s4=I:. Il:
And how cross and unreasonable mon
can be when things get tough. And
how they alwaysa at such times quarrel
with their most intimate friends! Life
long chains, going as partners. quit each
other in disgust, nearly. every man be-
comes convinced that his friends are try
ing to do him, and there is the old Nick
to pay generally. .s. !. 81.
And another is the tariff question.
Ofall the unblushing frauds the mod
erns custom house iee the vorst. g.llsEI l.s
man with eyes IN his face and brains in:
his skull who will pass through the
custom houses on this route and still
vote for protection is beyond redemption.
It cost US from $40 to- 1926 per man toget
our outfits through and neither govern
ment got dollar out Of US. I know Of
men carrying hundreds Of dollars worth
Of new goods, most of them dutiable,
into Canada and paying only enough
duty to enable the custom officer to-
secure his fee. And then tho same
goods were rebilled as Canadian manu-
factures and by gettins around the
American custom officers in Alaska,
eventually reached this country-so far
as the treasurer of both were concerned
duty free. We bought in Canadian
city American goods in almost every
line and at prices that the retailers Of
such goods on the American side could
not duplicate. Is it reasonable to sup
pose that they had paid any duty? And
the American custom house officials at
they not been approached
just right t-would have collected the
government per cent on our American
made goods billed from Canada Just as
as if they had come from
China. But there was certain way to
escape his devastation. Oh, yes! And
in the end the Yankee government got
no more of our cash on our Canadian
goods than the Canucks got on our
goods. We paid, yes, Of course.
but to a bond shark, and not to the gov
ernment. And the bond! It was re-
leased on my goods through a third
party who handn't seen them for weeks,
without inspection and, in fact, three
weeks have since flown and they are
still q dozen miles inside the alleged
American lines. We were supposed not
to open them until we got into Cana
dian territory. -Four men bought So
worth of grub ten weeks ago and are
still living on it. -s.....
In measure this slackness is justifi.
able. Every intelligent man knows the
tariff system to be a humbug which
catches the poor man while the rich i'm
porter escapes with the payment of a
bribe. But more than that, the Klon-
dyke pioneers are not the class of men
on whom any reasonable government
would lay burdens. But why allow the
Skaguay Shylock to- collar the few dol
lars we do have to pay? There is only
one man in the town, so custom
attache told me, whose bond is good at
the custom house. Probably the tale is
stretched in the telling, but the fact is
that one man does all the business and
when we passed through it took more
days to get our papers through than it