The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1916-08-03
RI0T0US L0AFERS
How the l. w. w. Agitators Exploit
the Deluded Miners on the
Iron Range.
Scathing Denunciation By the Leading
Labor Newspaper of
Minnesota.

That the miners on the iron ranges
have grievances that should be re-
dressed is highly probable. That they
are justified in striking to enforce
their demands, if every other means
fails, will not be denied by any one
who has a genuine friendly feeling for
the cause Of labor. Nor will it be
disputed that for the protection of
their interests organization among the
miners is necessary.
AS a general rule the sympathies of
the great bulk of the general public
are with the members Of organized
labor in their efforts to better their
conditions, especially as is the case in
many instances, when those conditions
are intolerable. But when the strikers
resort to violence, attempt to take
human life and destroy property, they
Immediately lose the sympathy of the
public
That the miners on the iron range
and their employers could and would
have arrived at an amicable under
standing long ago had it not been for
the pernicious l. W. w. agitators is
the opinion of those who profess to
understand the situation. But these
professional labor agitators fatten on
trouble, and the longer the trouble
lasts the fatter they get. This ex-
coriation of the mercenary I. w. w.
bosses and their methods is not taken
from the columns of corporation
owned newspaper, but from the Min
nesota Union Advocate, one of the
ablest and cleanest labor journals in
the United States:
"The rebellious and riotous organiz-
alton which calls itself the industrial
Workers of the World seems unwill-
ing to leave unused any opportunity
to show the cloven hoof-to demon
strate that the two impelling forces in
its activity are greed for money and
love of strife, the latter always bring
ing some temporary notoriety and
causing an, outpouring. of COIN. !,
''It is the custom of this lawless and
daredevil organization to send it's
agitators to places where there are
groups of foreign workers ignorant
of our language, our laws, our insti-
buttons and their own rights there
under. These agitators stir the work.
ers up to revolt and frenzy against
their employers. Then, when all the
money the workers can raise is safely
deposited in the pockets of the agita-
tors, they leave their deluded victims
in helpless restitution and at the
mercy Of those same employers.
Il W. w. agitators did this in Law
renee, Mass, where the courts had to
be invoked to compel them to dis
gorge thousands of dollars they COL
lected for the benefit of the strikers
and kept for themselves. They did
the same thing at Little Falls, N. Y,
where they put the whole community
in serious straits and then fled to
other fields of exploitation. They are
now causing disastrous strife in the
harvest fields of the Dakotas against
the wish of both employers and work.
ers whereby the harvests of golden
grain are left ungarnered, while their
own harvest of golden grain is steadily
gathered in.
"These birds of evil omen have re-
Gently spread their darkening pinions
over the iron range in Minnesota and
started reign of terror there. Many
miners on the range quit work to
force improvement in their working
conditions, which had become in
tolerable to them AS soon as the
strike started the I. w. w. agitators
hocked into the region and took
charge of the situation. Miss Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn, notorious member of
this class, was sent to act as general
of the miners in the conflict, and she
announced in blood-curdling terms
what would follow. Meanwhile, Will
liam D. Haywood Of odious reputation,
secretary treasurer of the organiza-
ton, began collecting funds ostensibly
for the relief of the strikers, and he
is now living in luxury in Chicago, far
from the scene of strife