Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

were not wanted, and, in fact, any man who would not work for a living was not wanted, and would not be endured; and I have not the slightest doubt that the future historian of the interior of Alaska will say of this country, as Bancroft said of California when it was in the hands of the vigilance committee, that it then possessed the best government it ever had or is ever likely to have.

During the days when miners' laws prevailed no man was allowed more than one mining claim in a district, and that not more than 500 feet in length, and he was required to work his claim for a full month during the working season, and if he was not on his claim on the first day of the month designated and every other day during the month, the claim was liable to forfeiture, and anyone else that wanted the claim could take it. As for a patent or title to a placer claim, no one ever thought of or wanted one. The honest, hard-working miner neither asks nor cares for anything more than to be permitted quietly and peaceably to work out his claim, and when he has done this he cares no more for the claim than the burglar cares for the safe he has just robbed. After a creek has in this way been worked out the United States mining laws could be enforced with perfect propriety, as all future work would have to be done by the capitalist, and the speculator might then be allowed his opportunity.

This statement is worthy of careful consideration, for it undoubtedly voices the unanimous opinion of miners of the old school and all others who have studied the subject from an unselfish point of view. It is just as undoubtedly true, however, that but a small percentage of those who decry the abuses complained of are proof against temptation when the opportunity arises to do likewise. Even the honest old man who made the foregoing statement, when asked whether or not he would stake a few claims for his relatives if he had an opportunity, scratched his head thoughtfully for a moment and then replied, "Well, I never thought of that; perhaps I would-if I had a chance." This frank answer suggests the remedy. No man ought to have a chance to locate more than one mining claim in a district. Of course no mining regulations which might be adopted by the General Land Office would entirely correct the evils existing in this region, for everything in sight, from the edge of the sea to the distant mountain peaks and far beyond, has been located, and in many instances "jumped." But proper regulations would be of incalculable benefit to the pioneers now turning their faces toward the undiscovered country to the North and East. A placer-mining law practically embracing the following features would give general satisfaction to the miners of northern Alaska: The establishment of mining districts by natural geographical boundaries; a system of recording under the supervision of the register of the district land office; the limitation of the size of creek, bench, and tundra claims to 500 feet square, and of beach claims to 50 or 100 feet along the beach; a restriction of the number of locations by one person to one claim in a mining district and five claims in a land district, and a requirement of at least sixty days' actual work on a claim during the open season.

The question will naturally arise in the mind of the reader, "Is Nome a second Klondike?" It does not as yet appear that any creek in the Nome district is as rich as Eldorado; but many experienced miners who are familiar with both districts express the belief that Anvil, Glacier, and Dexter creeks and Snow Gulch will produce as much gold as any like extent of creek diggings on the Klondike, and that the ultimate output of this gold belt will largely exceed that of the Klondike district. But the two districts, owing to widely differing conditions, are not comparable from an economic point of view. On the Klondike the gold as a rule lies under frozen muck at a depth varying from 15 to 40 feet, and the cost of extraction is therefore enormous. On account of the royalty exactions and the great cost of operation, claims showing a gross output near the $100,000 mark have been worked at a small margin of profit, while many others can not be operated without a large initial outlay of capital. At Nome the conditions are entirely different. Bed rock is found on most of the creeks at a depth varying from 2 to 5 feet. When stripped of its covering of moss and exposed to the hot summer sun the ground quickly thaws to bed rock and can then be shoveled into the sluice boxes at small cost for labor. The average expenses of operation of claims on Eldorado are probably fully 50 per cent of the gross yield. The owner of a rich claim on Anvil reports that his expenses last season, when much dead work was done, were less than 10 per cent of his gross output, and this percentage will hold good in many other localities. Freight from Puget Sound can be delivered on the beach at Nome for less than $15 per ton, and the creeks are easily accessible from the beach. These advantages place the Nome district far ahead of the Klondike with respect to the cost of production and insure the rapid extraction of its placer deposits. It seems quite probable, therefore, that long before the Klondike miner shall have thawed out the glacial drift which clings with icy grasp to the attenuated extremities of his pay streak the gold from the superficial deposits of Nome will pass through the mints and enter upon the performance of its ordained function as an integral part of the circulating medium of the nation.

ST. MICHAEL, ALASKA, March 15, 1900.

LABOR DAY.

BY MISS M. C. DE GRAFFENRIED.

Thirty-six States of the Union and the District of Columbia make Labor Day a legal holiday. This wide observance gives the celebration almost a national character. No other country sets apart by law a similar festival. Its sanction by 36 State legislatures and by Congress for the District of Columbia shows the general agreement as to the great value and importance of the idea for which the holiday stands-recognition of the rights and dignity of labor. This open, legalized recognition is one of the many results of the evolution of the workingman from a condition of bondage and serfdom into a higher civil and industrial grade.

Labor Day could never have existed but for the moral force of universal manhood suffrage under democratic institutions. Advancing civilization and our general industrial progress aided the movement. In each State where the holiday is legalized, bodies of organized workingmen helped to bring about the enactment by influencing public sentiment in their respective localities. Where no date has yet been set apart for this celebration the State governments will doubtless soon fall into line, for no serious opposition to the measure has been displayed even by legislatures which refused to enact other laws in the interests of labor-clear proof that the significance of the fête appeals to the popular heart and mind.

Much preceding legislation in behalf of the workingman led up, it is true, to the consecration of one day in the year as distinctly a holiday for wage-earners. The principle that government has a right to regulate in certain respects the conditions under which men and women toil and to secure them time for rest and recreation had already been established by the adoption in many States of factory laws and factory inspection. The ten-hour working day for women and children had been gained. Employment for young children in the mill and workshop had been restricted, and previous schooling for them required. Machinery had been rendered safer by guards and frequent inspection. Wages were paid oftener and paid in money, not in "truck" or orders on a company store. Legal observance of the Saturday half holiday had begun. Industrial schools had been established. Convict labor had in part been withdrawn from market competition and eliminated

from trade.

Bureaus of statistics of labor had been founded to investigate and describe the industrial situation.

In line with advanced labor legislation is the celebration of Labor Day. The trade unions which helped so greatly to secure the beneficial factory codes, through the same influence obtained the September holiday. All the great labor organizations in the United States contributed to this result. Agitation for the holiday began in New York in 1882. In September of that year the order of the Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, convened in general assembly at New York City. An independent organization, the Central Labor Union of New York, contained many bodies affiliated with the Knights, and the union chose for its annual parade September 5, when the Knights would be in session. The general assembly of the Knights was invited to review the parade of the Central Labor Union from the grand stand at Union Square, and accepted. A recess being taken, the members of the general assembly witnessed the parade. As the various organizations passed, Robert Price, of Lonaconing, Md., said to the general worthy foreman of the Knights of Labor, "This is Labor Day in earnest, Uncle Dick." The event was afterwards referred to as the Labor Day parade. In 1883 the organizations of New York paraded on the first Monday of September. In 1884 when the Central Labor Union discussed the date for its parade, George R. Lloyd, a Knight of Labor, offered a resolution declaring the first Monday in September to be Labor Day. The resolution was adopted, and steps were at once taken to secure an enactment making this a legal holiday, known as Labor Day. Not until May 6, 1887, however, was the law passed in New York.

Meantime, in other States great labor organizations and local unions made common cause with the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor in efforts to secure general observance of this day as a legal holiday. Oregon was the first State to enact the law, February 21, 1887. New York was the first State to introduce a bill to that effect and the third to enact the law, New Jersey being the second. Other Commonwealths and the District of Columbia adopted the measure at different dates, as shown by the table below.

Two significant features of this celebration are, first, that differences and animosities among the great labor bodies are laid aside; second, that of late employers are invited to meet with the workers in discussing topics relating to the welfare of the industrial class. In other words, the standpoint of the laboring man is constantly becoming less and less alien to that of the employing class, and the worker on his one day of leisure in the year is glad to share the point of view of men with a broader outlook than himself. Mr. Powderly well remarks: "Those who discuss the questions of the hour before meetings of industrialists on that day should be educators-they should be teachers of the gos

pel of humanity and its needs. Those who address such meetings are burdened with a weighty responsibility. It is their duty to teach a doctrine of independence of thought and action."

No better social measure of advancing civilization exists than the share taken in public fêtes by the laboring classes. From the circus and arena of the ancients, where slaves and captives were pitted against wild beasts, the next step was in feudal times to the lords' fêtes and celebrations, at which the lowest serf might be a looker on. Later, in the middle ages, the tenant became even a sharer in games and feasts provided by the lord, but strictly set apart for the peasantry and laboring classes. Under the present wage-earning system, the workingman arranges his own games and feasts, independent of master and employer. If progress continues, Labor Day, which is now class legislation, will in time give way to a broader anniversary in celebration of a universal labor fête based on the common achievements, not of one rank of society, but of all mankind. The cycle of change is not complete, nor the social millennium at hand. A truly national labor holiday will embrace the whole commonwealth, since all its members by hand, brain, virtue, influence, and service will contribute on equal terms to the national existence and welfare.

The statement following shows the States in which Labor Day is a legal holiday and gives the dates of approval of the original acts creating Labor Day:

[blocks in formation]

a Present law. Under the original law, approved May 23, 1893, the first Monday

in October was observed.

« AnteriorContinuar »