The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-05-26

Nome as q distributing point is now advancing to heightened oportun- ties.
 With the development of the Koyuk, a liberal policy upon the part of the Nome merchants and policy directed towards the over coming of the obstacles with which such youthful camps have to con tend against, the town of Nome ought literally to radiate trade with all such young camps and be the great distributing center for the Seward Peninsula.
 Passing from this survey which may not be regarded as very cheer- ing, but which is not without cen siderable hope for the future, we may turn to a consideration ut the labor situation.
 The well being of labor in Nome as elsewhere is the bed rock upon which all others fasten and fornd their prosperity. With good wages, good living conditions and assured employment no person ever yet failed to witness general good times all around. But where labor is poorly requited and where living conditions are poor and where everyone is trying to make labor the goat for their own getaway stake. the camp is bound to be on the high road to disaster.
 This season it is frankly very hard to tell what the summer will be for labor. In the first place the war has complicated matters and one does not know whether tho in- fiux of labor here will be too much or too little. It is very hard to con ceive that too few would come UT here, because so limited is the field now open to wage workers that there are enough on hand at the present writing to perform alrlosI all the work projected.
 On the other hand the draft law may encourage men to leave Out side states as they left the States for Canada to escape conscription If such did suppose that they car come up here to escape the draft il is extremely likely that they would not get away with it. A man can lose himself in a big city and a tliickIv populated settlement i'ut , the man of military age who would come to Alaska to nvoid the draft | would be like man leaving 2 trench to run across an open plain to avoid being shot at. He gets right within the range of vision and is certain to be taken up.
 It is likely then that the workers who would escape being drafted are we'll aware of this and hence will avoid Alaska. But in any case this is likely to have very little at all to do with the number who will or who will not come here.
 The really important factor in the labor situation is the point that men are now in higher demand and are actually paid more highly than in ten years outside. Like staying here, coming up here upon the part of the working men is more or less a risky speculation. They may get work and they may not. They may put in a full season and they may not. They may be out their trip money and not even make tra- yelling and living expenses or they may make fairly reasonable stake during the short summer season. But the fact that outside they are certain of lots of work: that outside they are certain of getting better wages than in ten years will most certainly deter quite good many of those others who come up here annually without a job certainly ill sight for them,. from visiting Nome.
 Every year now for a good many years there has been good deal less employment. This is true of the summer as well as the winter. The opportunities for work which were ahead of g working man in this sec tion years ago are not here now.
 For that reason the men who have jobs outside and for which they are being paid wages approximating