The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-08-18

tiyitiCs which are considered by en- pl9yers as highly anti-social, for the employer always regards himself and his class as society.
 Suppose that the desire of the De- partment of Justice is to end the strikes and the labor agitation that. have been proceeding, and that no doubt is the intention of the orders issued. is it not self evident that the Department takes it for granted that in this way such strikes and eco- homie agitation will end. And this, we say, is the same old conception of the function of punitive treatment that the historical facts fairly well controyert.
 The foundation of good citizenship is social comfort, prosperity and economic well being. Good citizen ship is not the cause of these things
 it is the effect of these things. The man who has every need that natur- ally arises gratifed is hardy likely to be one to stimulate economic disconteut and industrial agitation. In fact it may be stated as fact, the one true way to remove economic discontcnt is by directly considering it as the effect of an easily ascer- tainable cause, and removing the scause.
 The law takes little or no cogni- 2ance of the economc circumstances surrounding any delinquency. And the law makers very seldom consider the conditions which are likely to oc- casion lawlc5sucss.
 II is this fact that accounts for quite a number of crimes and which will continue to ac- count for them, quite regardless of any such thing as prosecutions.
 We take it that special laws are to be made use of to prosecute the In dustrial Workers o; the World, as an organization. They have been in ex- istence since 1906, and now eleven years later it is considered necessary to destroy them.
 What we say should commend it. self to the Department of Justice and to any thinking person and it is this: The Industrial Workers of the World are born by reason of the so- cial conditions which exist. They dc not exist by reason of some espe- cially malevolent inspiration for evil which arises spontaneously in the human heart. That belief is a de- scendant of the current belief in the Dark Ages when a Temper staiked behind Man and urged him to com nit crime. But as the descendant of that view of human frailty, be- yond any manner of doubt, it colors all criminal jurisprudence to this day.
 If we consider the question more extensively we may cite the colOniza- tion of certain sections of this earth. They were peopled by convicts from the older countries. They were po- pulated by men who were stignatiz- ed as wholly evil and vicious and de- prayed. They were thieves ard rob bers and desperadoes: Ishn:aelites with every mans hand against them and theirs against every man. They were transported from the oid coun- tries beyond the seas and today the finest stoc in the world bar none. The reason for that is not that the Evil One did not follow. them to the New Lands ana urge the n to obey to the fullest ex- tent the depravity of thei? basest impulses. It was something far simpler. The men were transpaited from evil and foul slums. from sor- did poverty and foul smelling misery of life to the free and untairtel air where productivity waited upon labor and opportunity was given both The cause of their former careers of crime was removed and then they resumed their normal instinct to de- velop themselves naturally as fear less, able bodied, determined men, feeding, clothing and sheltering themselves because of ample oppor- tunity to do so. They were given access to free land to hep them selves, and just as naturally they lid sn