The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-12-13
WHAT is HAPPENING AT elRARo.
ny a. NJ slmons.

bY a NJ. Stmons,
The hattlo.llne of the class is % lonr
one. Il is as long os the Equator or
any of the moridloue But always at
any given moment there ia some
point along that hattlelme whore the
assaults of The enemy are most fierce
and whore a desperate effort is belug
made to drive back the working class
forces and capture some important
outpost that has been gained only by
hard fighting.
At the moment when this is writ
ten that critical outpost seems to he.
located In Girard, Kansas Here. at
this moment are gathered greater.
capitalist forces in moro open hos.
tility than have ever been assembled
nc one place and time in this country.
There is an easy explanation Of this
massing Of the forces of greed, With
the election just passed this locality
became the center OF forces most dam
gerous to capitalism. The compari.
sons ! am about to make are in no
sense intended TO reflect upon other
localities, because I know that each
section presents it's own difficulties.
But only by such comparisons can
the condition here be visuaized
In this congressional district there
are over $500 members of the social
list party. That is a larger member
ship than Is to be found in greater
New York. Chicago or in any two
two other cities combined This or
ganization reaches out into almost
every school district. 1t embraces
nearly every postoffice and every
mining camp. in the counties of Craw-
ford and Cherokee, which are near
est to Girard. This membership has
been growing rapidly since election.
During the campaign this territory
was covered as I believe no similar
extent of territory has ever been Gov
cred by socialist campaigners. Ev-
cry voter who would receive the APP
peal was placed on the subscription
list of that paper for more than a
year before election. Practically ev-
cry voter was visited over and over
again by distributors of other litera-
ture
For weeks prior to election the
district was covered with socialist
speakers, while for months before
moving picture outfits and regular
organizers were travelling into every
nook and corner. During the last
week of the campaign, every impor-
tant place had a meeting every night,
and the halls were crowded. Every
where the work of propaganda was
followed up by organization. In D. c..
Flint, the district secretary, the So
cialists found one of the most eff
cient organizers I have ever met, and
throughout the campaign he served
without a cent of salary, and seldom
worked less than sixteen hours.
The result of the election was a
| fitting reward for such work Two
members of the legislature, one men,
Der of the state senate, almost every
official in Crawford county and prob
ably hundred township officers were
victorious from the socialist ticket
This result brought a nationwide
fight to a focus on Girard All the
rage of the federal court ring, the
Leavenworth penitentiary ring, and
all the other forces that have good
reason to hate socialism and the so
cialist papers that go out from Cir
ard are massed for the attack.
1t is hard to understand that such
nationwide conspiracy can exist in
this country. But the evidence is
conclusive that the fight upon the
Appeal to Reason is directed from
Washington, and that the great CAPT
talists and their political tools have
come to believe that if they can sue
coed in damning at its source the
flood of socialist literature that flows
out from Girard that they will have
struck the socialists a vital blow.
Today this little Kansas town
swarms with spies. Some of these
are so clumsy and so well-known that
they are the butt of the village wits.
Some of them are so ostentatiously
stupid that there is reason to believe
they are but blinds for other shrew-
der ones. Recently a socialist of sew
eral years standing, Comrade A. w.
Lovejoy, who had had a financial
disagreement with Comrade J. A.
Wayland, and was therefore thought
to be susceptible to approach, was
commissioned as one of these detec-
tives After penetrating as far as
possible into the plans of the enemies
of the socialists, he brought all his
information back to the victims of
/ this persecution.
He says under oath, that a certain