The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1916-09-22

San Francisco, Cal.-OuC mere
in the big West, a whooping,
yelling mob of "vigilante" business
men is trying to wipe out the last
labor union. Hiring an army of
bristling gunner for a spy and strike
breaker system, they have slowly ad-
vanced from conquered Los Angeles
to the siege of San Francisco.
The opening fight here was to force
labor against it's will, into a pre-
paredness" parade. Every organized
man refused to move, and the parade
for military tyranny was cut down to
handful of the unorganized who
were bulldozed into line
Organized labor victorious, was
satisfied and completely through with
the affair before the day of march.
But some individuals fired by the
wild propaganda for military violence,
sent hundreds of warnings through
the mails, saying that they would
blow up the parade with bomb. EN-
ployers and newspapers tried to keep
this quiet, but organized labor men
discovered it and requested their fol
lowers to avoid any chance for such
thing to be laid at their door, by alb
staining from all activity and treating
the parade with silent contempt. This
was done.
The ranks of the unorganized
marched down Market street behind
their employers and society women,
unaware of the warnings. A bomb
exploded, which killed six people out
right, three more dying later. A prom
inent Chamber of Commerce man was
heard to remark: This is a fine
chance for the open shop"
Immediately the Chamber of Com
mecce, through it's tools in public Of
ioie Wooped down on it's most hated
en-, As in organized labor ranks.
They took the leader of the recent
attempted street car strike, Thomas j.
Mooney (as well as his wife, an in
offensive music teacher), ignored his
complete alibi and charged him with
heading conspiracy" The chief of
pickets of the recent Machinists'
strike, Edward d. Nolan, was taken
for vengeaance's sake, without evil
dence, and they announce in the pa
pers that they have the hemp
stretched around the neoks of all"
Israel Weinberg, prominent in the
Jitney Bus Operators Union, which is
troubling the United Railways, was
jailed and accused of murder. Warren
X. Billings, past president of the Shoe
Workers, was charged with the actual
dynamiting, and an eyewitness who
saw an altogether different man
place the supposed suitcase bomb was
assaulted in the office of the prose
cutor.
Five conspicuous enemies of the
employers were thus caught and ap-
parently doomed. The warnings in
advance that had been received
through the mails, were thereafter
. ignored. Direct evidence of eye
witnesses was ignored. The Chamber
of Commerce had the men it wanted.
Every newspaper blandly declined
to print word without approval by
the Law and Order Committee"
Several newspaper men working on
the case came secretly to us to
whisper that they knew the men were
innocent, but "for Gods sake don't
mention us One detective working
for the prosecution told a member of
the International Workers Defense
League that the men were to be con-
victed on fake evidence, now being
cooked up but not to let on who told
you" Only by keeping the men from
having any defense could they be con-
victed, so the prosecution had the in
decency to try to prevent any promi-