The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-08-09
INDIGNATION IN
CREASING


the time that NJ would break lhe A'IlN'.
Had the strike been lost, doubtless no
attempt would have been made to press
the charges But when in spite of all
their efforts TO crush it, the strike was
won and the spectcr of industrial union
ism began to rise ON the horizon in New
England the mill barons began to
clamor for vengeance,
The prosecution came forward, Mt their
hearing, with the claim that Ettor and
Giovaunitti had said things during their
speeches to the strikers that tended to
inflamc them and incite to riot. That
in the course of riot a woman had
been killed, therefore they were "acces-
series before the fact to her murder.
In spite Of the mass of evidence pre-
scented by the defence in rcfutation of
these claims, the grand jury indicted the
men.
Still no protest from the workers who
were still unable to realize how it was
possible for the state to do anything to
the strike leaders. Ettor and Ciovannitti
were thrown into Jail to await trial for
their lives.
Then the biggest financial interests in
America slipped into the case. Encour-
aged by finding a jury sufficiently sus-
ceptible to influence, to listen to the
ridiculous testimony and bring in an in
dictment, James r. Dunbar of Lowell,
attorney for the steel trust and New
England representative of the Morgan
Whitman textile interests declared he
would leave no stone unturned to send
Ettor and Giovannitti to the electric
chair. Since then the prosecution has
been busily building up case, destined
to make horrible example of the strike
leaders for the intimidation of all agi-
tators for all time to come.
Evidently believing the working class
to be asleep they have been bending
every effort to put Dunbar's threat into
execution
But gradually the true facts of the
case are filtering through the nation and
every day that passes as the workers
learn more and more about the cast, the
movement of indignant protest grows in
tense and widespread.
Judging by the letters and reports
coming in from all over the land this
cutlery against the foul plot of the mill
capitalists and their legal hirelings will
soon have reached such proportions as
to make the would-be executors stay
their sand
From Oregon comes a letter which
the workers. The writer enclosing a
clipping from a western paper goes on
to say;
eve are pounding hard on the case
now and are losing no chance to put the
truth before the workers and if they
try to railroad Ettor and Giovannitti
there is going to be a HE'LL of lot of
the people that live in the Golden (?)
West that are going to be asking:
why? And let me tell you there are
some that are going to know the reason
and they will be back there for a per
sonal answer"
Another western correspondent writes
from San Diego, where lawlessness on
the part of police and city authorities
has reached the extreme, saying:
eve, on the job here in little He'll,
send best regards to you and yours in
your little He'll, and wish you Cod
speed They make the hell and they
certainly are teaching us how to fight
like hell"
The growth of these sentiments can
hardly be disregarded by those whose
mad desire for vengeance and bull-headed
determination to crush the labor move
ment by violence is stimulating them in
their efforts to besmirch the name of
Justice with foul judicial murder in
Massachusetts.
Reports of Ettor Giovannitti Defence
league organized in a hundred cities have
come in and everywhere the active work
ers in the organized labor and socialist
movement are busy raising funds, hold
ing meetings, preparing for effective
demonstrations against the continued
imprisonment of the innocent strike
leaders.
In these Defence leagues, A. f. of L.
unions socialist party locals, l. w. w.
locals and wolinbmen's benefit associa-
tions all unite, sinking all differences in
this common cause of all wage workers
Funds, which are needed perhaps more
than anything else at this time, are com
ing in from unions of miners, bakers,
brewery workers, machinists, lumber
workers, building laborers, longshoremen,
socialist locals, worllmen's benefit So
cieties, and many sympathizers from the
professional and business classes.
The press which has generally main
tanned a strict silence upon the case is
gradually giving space to stories of the
case and accounts of the growing protest
mOvouaut