Imperial Valley press., 1912-04-11
THE /. w. w. INVASION

There are thousands or men on
zhe coast, members of the Industrial
Workers of the World who are NOV
ing in many detached bodies to the
southwark with the apparent and whis-
pered intention of invading Lower Cal
ifornia. and there establishing an in
dependent republic to be conducted on
s0cialstic lines.
II is foolish TO look upon such an
incident as merely a demonstration OF
total depravity of human nature. Such
episodes do not occur except with
some adequate cause. and yet it is
Just such an incident as has peopled
the whole earth.
The sons of Shem, Ham and Japhe1h,
becoming respectively the Semites,
Ethiopians and Aryans, We're driven
forth from a common ancestral home
stead by the propelling forces of hun
ger and the predatory activity Of the
increasing numbers as the race multi
piled.
II was hunger coming from increas-
ing predatory population that brought
the successive waves of humanity from
Asia and drove the Celts into the
northwest OF Europe and the GOths
and the Gauls into the southwest, then
piled upon the northwestern people
successive strata of Angles, SaXons,
Danes and Normans.
The story of the human race is but
a succession of such incidents as the
Berber migration TO Africa. the North
mems taking of Greenland and Iceland,
the japanese seizure of their archi-
pelago. Always the peoples of the
earth have been forced on and on by
hunger, and ever in the rear there
has been some predatory organization
of their fellow men TO WELD the lash.
Such episodes as the l. w. w. mi
grafton are not accidents. Back OF
il all is a cause as much natural
law as that which has compelled every
other revolution in human history.
Such movements do not come as a
result of reason. They are a response
to necessity and the guiding hand is
fnstinct-the instinct which just now
is forcing the people OF Japan, of Ger
many, of Southeastern Europe, to mi
crate to lands where the pressure OF
population is less felt. II is as direct
IL a response 10 natural law for hu-
manity 10 seek uninhabited regions
as il is for water 20 flow toward the
depressiOns Of earth.
In this case We cannot say. as
Grover Cleveland once said, 1T is a
condition and not a theory that con-
fronts US" We cannot hope TO solve
this problem wisely unless We recos-
nize that we are confronted by both q
theory and a condition.
The peoples who have been driven
forth to find new places in the world
have not been guided by any fne-spun
codes Of ethics. and the one novelty
in this movement is that We have in
the American people a body of men
who ia this must pit man-made law
against natural law and seek TO guide
by statutory and treaty enactments
the acts of those who respond TO the
instincts, deep planted in human ma
kure. which demand opportunity Tor
she individual
IL is a difficult problem which is
presented with these thousands OF in
sistent men crowding toward empty
acres i'm a practically uninhabited re-
gion of a foreign country.
throughout our national life, free
hand on the frontier has been "tne
safety valve of industry That valve
is now sealed There is no longer
an escapement from the alternative
of work or starvation. As the press
ure becomes great on the impounded
humanity there is tendency for some
men 10 become desperate, and the soly-
ing OF the riddle OF governing natural
law by human law, of making the finite
set the limitations on the infinite, IS
the greatest problem America has yet
discovered.
The migration of the |. w. w. is not
an incident apart from other affairs.
gt is but one of the many symptoms
indicating that there is serious INDUS
trial disease in this and other nations,
which nature, through human instinct,
is seeking TO correct, and this same
human feeling in different degrees is
ampelling the several political parties
TO take new ground for the coming
election. There are those who would
make no concessions, who would ut
aerly ignore the human instinct and
Auman rights, as there are others VINO
would make no effort to regulate the
acts done in response TO that instinct.
On either extreme there is the essence
OF anarchy. while the best welfare OF
man demands that the race respond TO
the emotions that come from natural
laN. but be Kept within The limitations
cf wisdom as guided by experience.
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