The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-11-17
SCOTT NEARING
and FOUR OTHERS
ARE ARRESTED
Police Raid Meeting at Wood
man Hall; No + edera| Sane
ton for |ntenup tion.

The meeting under the auspices of
the local branch Of the Peoples
council held at Woodman hall last
Monday evening was raided by Chief
McKercher and a squad Of forty po-
licemen, who dispersed the crowd of
500 in attendance, and arrested Prof
Scott Nearing Of New York, president
of the Peoples Council of America, for
Democracy and Terms of Peace, who
was the principal speaker, and w. E.
Reynolds, Mrs. Laura Reynolds, Miss
Marie Baxter and Joel Lichten, local
Socialists
All were taken to police headquar-
ters, where the latter four were
booked under the vagrancy ordinance
passed at the behest of the State Pub
lie Safety commission, while no
charge was placed against Prof.,
Nearing.
Tuesday morning at police head
quarters, Chief McKercher stated
that he did not know why the arrests
were made, and it appeared that
there was considerable misunder-
standing on the part of the police au-
thorities. Commissioner Silberstein
was also unable to give any Informal
ton.
No Federal Laws Violated.
Representatives of the federal de-
partment of justice were in attend
ance at the meeting, and John Kenny,
attorney for the department, stated
that no federal laws had been VOL
ated, and that the raid was made
without federal sanction.
The newspaper reports published to
the effect that admission to the
meeting was. by secret admission
cards only were untrue, as the
gathering was open to everyone with
absolutely no restrictions.
Nearing Pleads Guilty.
In municipal court Tuesday AFTER
noon, Prof. Nearing consented to
plead guilty to disOrderly charge so
that he might gain his freedom and
leave for New York to consult with
other members of the executive COM
mittee of the Peoples Council on i'm
portant matters. He paid fine of
$50 and costs. The other four ar
rested pleaded not guilty and their
trials will be held Nov. 81 They
were released on 500 bail each.
Scott Nearing is widely known as
a college professor who was dis
charged from the staff of the Penn
sylvania university because of his So
cialistic expressions. Later he was
dismissed from Toledo university, and
for several months has been at the
head of the Peoples Council. His
speech in Duluth was one of a series
he was making while on tour to the
Pacific coast and return through the
South. It is not known whether the
tour will be resumed.
Discusses Economic Setting.
Prof. Nearing had spoken only
about 20 minutes when interrupted by
the police, during which time he made
no seditious statements. He confined
his remarks to describing the Geo.
nomic setting for the war, showing
that the business interests had been
in control of the affairs of this coun-
try for the last fifty years, which
domination had proved an utter fall
ure. He read several quotations from
President Wilson's New Freedom"
substantiating his assertions.
He also averred that the New York
mayorality election was significant in
that it represented a protest by the
| people against big business through
the reputation of the latter's candi-
date, John Puroy Mitchell. He made
the prediction that the war would end
before another year.