Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-04-01
Responsibility for the Strike

y
have been tied up for nearly two
weeks, at a loss to the community VI
over one hundred thousands, at the
command of bunch of hobo agitators,
without cents worth of interest
here, is not just the kind of news
we like to see sent out under a Grays
Harbor date line. 1t will require
tons of booster literature to offset
the damaging advertising this region
has been receiving during the past
ten days.
The early citizens of this locality
donated land, money and labor to Sc
cure manufacturing plants, in order
to provide employment for the en-
pected population, and the public
spirited citizens of today are giving
their time and money in an effort
to induce still more manufacturing
enterprises to locate here, only to
find all efforts frustrated by this
bunch of loud-voiced manikins, mani
pulated by wire pulled by Vincent
St. John in Chicago.
The situation is not flattering to
the courage or civic pride of the Alb
erdeen citizenship. The strike is not
an Aberdeen strike. Four-ffths Of
the men now in idleness are so I'M
willingly, and would be glad to re-
turn to work if assured of protec-
ton The strike was forced upon
them by the anarchistic organization
parading under the high-sounding IL
tie of Industrial Workers of the
World, whose lusty-lunged agitators
We're ordered here last fall to work
up this trouble among a lot of men
not long in the country, ignorant
alike of its laws, purposes and Ian
guage, and who in the end will be
the most serious losers.
Wages are as high, if not higher,
on Grays Harbor, than at any other
point in the Pacific Northwest; ow-
ing to a depressed market the lum-
Der mills We're running short hours.
UuI every hLtN tidt tiiCl Z
was an immediate promise of bet
ter demand, and a consequent in
crease in his earnings, so that there
was absolutely no demand on the par
of the workingmen for strike at
this time. For all this somebody or
something is responsible.
What or who it is? The law, the
authorities or the citizenship?
This is a question that Grays Har.
Dor must answer, and when the re-
sponsibility is fixed it must be so rem
To a layman, the law in the case ap
pears all right. Everyone of those
migratory agitators falls within the
purview of the vagrancy law, and
every preacher of disorder is guilty
of disorderly conduct. Every boot
at a man who desires to work con
stitutes the crime of melting an as
sault. to say nothing of threats and
actual violence.
Accordingly, the responsibility fol
present conditions falls upon either
the legally constituted authorities OF
the citizenship as whole, and it is
full time that they get busy. Durinf
the past week, Aberdeen has acted
as if in a trance paralyzed by the
audacity of a handful OF anarchists
yet no community boasts of a great
er percentage of patriotic, flag-lovine
citizens than Grays Harbor, and it is
time they worRe up.
The mills are ready to run, plenty
of men are anxious to return to work
If assured of protection and it is Vi
to the authorities to guarantee that
protection without further delay. If
the job is too big for the legal au.
thorities, they can safely rely on the
citizenship to back them up. To tenn