The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-03-12

{, staying throughout the winter in
 Nome, to possess an ever decreasing D lrchasing power and he actually worked for less than be believed and often enough for less than the boss fl gured. His five dollars say in- stead of coming near buying two crates of spuds will not buy one and he is strictly up against it.
 He discovers that the best way to make his wages go furthest and to keep up their purchasing power 1 is by putting a big stretch of con- 1 tinent between himself and Seward Peninsula
 Take the case of a man who comes into Nome in the fall after 1 putting ill an average summer with i three or four hundred dollars in his l pocket. He sits himself down in Barrack Square to figure out
 whether he will go outside or stay l in. He whittles on a piece of stick and he realizes that by going out side he will probably get work dur i ing the winter; his money will then
 maintain it's purchasing power for
 his wages will attempt at least to
 keep step with the higher costs or i living. If he stays in Nome the ] higher costs of living go still higher
 while if he works the wages go
 down. Moreover he probably will
 get no work, and he will then watch
 his scanty pile. insufficient owing to
 continually rising prices, vanishing
 out of sight and he has hard rust
 ling before work open up again.
 Go down to the boat in the fall
 and each year one will note some
 disgustcd old timer packing up his
 bed and walking up the gangplalk
 to the steamship tender. lie has
 been up against il and he gets out
 and takes his Wad that he worked
 hard for with him. And would be
 not be foolish if he did not? Honest Iy and frankly is the worker who
 stays here during the winter not a
 fool for his pains? Is he not q
 sucker to be bled to death simply
 because every line in Nome is over 1 done. and he it is who must pay the . expenses of that oyerdoing.
 There is not a line of goods in i town which is not r-commercial- l ized. There is enormous overhead 1 expenses attached to each individual enterprise even in a retail way. That | comes out of the products as distri buted and increases the cost of liv- l ing and decreases the actual pur- 1 chasing power of the miners wages. These are simple facts. But they are indisputable. They are not af- ! fected by the allegation that none l of the businessmen are getting rich | in Nome You could overdo the buying capacity of New York city in any line ty putting in too many stores in that line. But the fact I
 remains that it is the worker who provides and he is being killed off by the high prices of Nome's un- economic system of distribution.
 Go down and price some of the goods in the |. $. Commissary at Fort Davis and compare them with Nome retail prices. What is the req son? There is a reason and good one It is the idea that unnecessary i expense is eliminated and real ser ] vice is rendered at a minimum of cost Yet one could whack on a decent profit on. those commissariat prices and still undersell Nome ! businessmen several times over. We may talk about conditions as much as we choose. the winter presents every inducement to the workers to get as far away from Nome as poss- | ible if they would make ends meet.