The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-11-20
CHAPTER FROM DARK AGES

OHAPTER FROM DARK AGES.
CONTINUED from Page -
opened his cell, took him out and
walked him mp and down the corridor.
Hour after hour, and day after day.
this march was kept up until the sun
rolled four times around the earth,
viewing this tragedy. They bumped
Suhr against the walls, and the cor
ners of the cells to keep him awake
80 Suhr says, was crazy
He found in his pocket his safety
razor, which probably had been left
there for that very purpose. He got
out one of the blades and tried to cut
his wrists and throat, and then broke
down.
80 All during his arrest, he
demanded that he be allowed to see
Austin Lewis, his lawyer, but these
fiends prevented him from having his
legal right of legal defense"
There is much more to the story,
and it would be well for every reader
of this to get a copy of Solidarity and
read the whole revolving tale.
But what l particularly want to
know is, when are we going to put
stop to this kind of thing? Just about
how long is 1t going to be before we
get busy and really attempt to do
something for ourselves? Is the work
ing class composed of men and women,
or are they a bunch of spineless jelly
fish? These are pertinent questions,
and | would like to have them an
swered. l for one am getting awfully
tired
Readers of this paper will remem-
Der that / have from time to time agi-
tated for the organization of a "de-
Tense league" 1t is thing that has
got to be done, and the sooner we get
into action the easier it will be for
us to accomplish that which we are
organized for.
While we, out here on the Pacific
coast, have been talking, and dream
ing, the comrades of the Middle West
have been acting The defense
league" has been organized, and is act
ing. If YOU, dear reader, will do
what you ought to do, and what your
conscience has been telling you to do
for 10, these many months, you will
get out and see what can be done to-
ward getting that league started.
Write to Mrs. P. Rieman, 1877 Bell
avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. She will
tell you how to organize, and give you
all the particulars.
This league is composed of l. W. W.,
Socialists, A. f. of L., anarchists, and
any one else who is any kind of a
revolutionist, and has the courage OF
his convictions, and is determined to
put a stop to the persecution of work
ing-class prisoners of war.
And they are prisoners of war, and
nothing less. For this is war we
are engaged in, and most bitter one.
In wars between nations the prisoners
are usually treated pretty decent, for
the captor knows that if they are
brutally treated the enemy is likely TO
retaliate if by chance he should be-
come victor for awhile. Let us there
fore recognise that it is war we are
engaged in, and let us adopt the GUS
toms of war. Let us impress upon the
enemy the necessity of treating pris-
oners with common decency, lest per-
chance we should forget ourselves and
pay them back in their own coin.
Get busy, comrades, and do some
thing. Our comrades now in the
clutch of the enemy are suffering, and
they need our help. The case OF Com
rade Suhr is not a peculiar one by any
means; in fact, it has become quite
the common thing to treat working
class prisoners in this way, especially
if they show any of the earmarks OF
a reyolutionist. Get busy, comrades,
for the sake of those who are dying In
YOUR cause. GET BUSY!
JOHN McSLARROW.