The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-03-08

ucw condition and were mono the
wiser. Fortunately the change from
one social order to another docs oot
depend ON the superior IGNORANCE Of
ON, class nor the pig headed intoiI,
roncc OF another class. For that lct
us rive praise to all the gods, mclud
,rr the god Of war Look what is
happening in Europe. Even the brass
bound bourgeois government of Eng
land is Matchmaking one industry
after another, not because they wish
to do SO. but because they must. It
has become an economic necessity,
and whether the intelligence OF the
British empire is for or against gov
eminent ownership is immajCrial,
wholly immatcrial. Isn't that just
what Socialists have been saying for
half "A century? The wealth Of ma
tions will be concentrated in the
hands OF government, the proletariat
will get control of the wealth by seiz-
ing the political power of the state,
politics will be absorbed by econo-
mics, and instead of government Of
men we shall have an administration
Of things.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn spoke here
Thursday night. Her manner Of
,peaking has improved since ! heard
her some eight or nine years ago.
| She talked one hour and thirty min
,uLes, with the highest clearness,
without hesitation or a limping SEN
tence. There isn't much sense in her
talk, and just why her charming gar
rullty should be considered danger
Gus is beyond me. 1t would be diff
cult to find more entertaining
speaker, and impossible to find one
more absurd. As a sample Of her
sweet and innocent logic, most ad-
mire this; she referred to the news
dispatch of Thursday to the effect
that one Of the Everett prisoners had
made a confession, had turned states
! evidence. "Thcre are seventy four
young men in prison at Everett"
said Miss Flynn; 81 do not know
them all, and perhaps some may be
detectives" Now, with generous
candor, ! ask: Is it possible that this
gentle shepherdess doesn't know her
own sheep? Is it possible that de-
tectives and |. w. WIS are so like
they cannot be distinguished one
from another? According to Miss
Flynn, they cannot With woman
like simplicity she tells US that every
|. w. W. does the work Of a detec-
tive though he may not receive the
pay Of detective. 1t may be true;
| think it is, and | had long suspect
ed it before | heard Miss Flynn tell
about it. | have read the list Of
killed, wounded and prisoners, and
note that all are quite young, and
there is none | have known or ev-r
heard Of. Naturally one would in
quire, where were the well known
persons of both sexes, preachers of
the propaganda of physical force
where were they on that Sunday aft
ernoon at Everett? 1t is a pointed
question, and they should give their
reasons for not being at the front.
1t is almost immaterial whether riots
are conducted by detectives or by
misled worlingmen. Either way the
result is the same, as the forces of
reaction find in such episode an ex-
cuse for enacting all sorts of ordi-
nances and laws against free speech
and free assembly. AS the net result
of the Everett incident we now have
Senate Bill 264, which practically
forbids all public discussion of the
grievances Of workers in this state.
| do not know whether the law will
be enforced against the Socialist
party, since it is claimed that the
law is directed only against doctrines
of criminal syndicalism," as defined
in the senate bill. Ny Bellinghan
comrades often blame me for nv
pitiless and prosaic coldness toward
what they call "the revolutionary eco
nOmic organization" But before thew
condemn me too harshly for my re-
fusal to reverence and admire, I
think they should remember the
sentimental tommyrot against which
Iall men of sense in our movement
have had to strive, all the grandilo-
quent comrades and gushing affin-
tiles, all the sweetstuff folderol and
senseless sulking against capitalist
laws. Like many other persons, |
have grown weary of these iackass
methods Of fighting capitalism. What
is more, the longer we harbor or
countenance such methods, the firm
| er will capitalism be entrenched in
the political state from which thew
derive all power. They will continue
to hamper us with all sorts Of harsh
and cruel edicts until such time as
the working class has sufficient sense
to seize the political power and
change the laws, especially the laws