Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-06-15
TIE FARMER AND TIE 4 y. y.

Inc FAkh0kk AND lHE /. w. w.
Four dollars a day for harvest labor. and SEQ q
month for all general farm labor-these are the MIMI
mum prices demanded by the Kansas City convention
Of the I. w. w., and these demands will be supported
by the committee which the convention will send to
confer with a committee from the Nonpartisan league
in North Dakota. This conference was agreed to by the
convention after having been urged by Arthur Lesuer,
who has appeared on various occasions as an attorney
for the Nonpartisan league or its prominent members.
and who has also acted as spokesman and attorney for
various Socialist and /. W. w. groups and individuals in
the past.
1nasmuch as a committee has been sent to Washing
ton to urge tho government to fix a minimum price Of
$3.50 per bushel for wheat, which IL all Of three times the
average price for years. and close to the high point reach.
ed in a period when the ingenuity Of man has been put
to the 'est to devise means to lower prices rather than
to raise them, the I. w. w. people doubtless think that
the time is opportune for them to get their share. What
Is sauce for the goose Is sauce for the gandsr.
1t may be we'll for the farmers Of the northwest to
study a little the nature Of the organization with which
they are invited to open negotiations. Tho society known
as the Industrial Workers Of the World is q rather loose
organization which has been active in many sections Of
the country, but whose character and purposes are but
vaguely understood by many persons who have been
brought into contact with it. Those Of its members who
are actual workers are chiefly Of the unskilled class. They
belong to the ranks Of what is known as common labor.
In addition to this. membership in the order has been
found a convenience by thousands of professional tramps,
whose desire is to enjoy the fruits Of labor without per-
forming any of It.
At the head Of the society, and in actual control of
lie WORK., Are men VINO, by reason OF their
education. native shrewdness and other qualities. have
been able to place themselves in positions Of leadership.
and who seek to do in the ranks Of commo labor what
Townley, Bowen and their associates seek to do among
the farmers Of tho country.
These men have preached to the laborer the same
sort Of doctrine that Townley 10 preaching to the farm
err. They have assured him that he is abused and down
trodden. that the hand OF every man 10 against him, that
he is a slave as truly as the negro was . slave before the
war, and that 1t is both his right and his duty to employ
every means. of whatever nature. TO wrest from those who
are now his masters that which belongs to him.
While the demands Of the J. w. W. are more or less
vague and varied. because, as in the Socialist body, every
orator has a panaeea Of his own for the ills of mankind,
the propaganda of this society is based on certain funda-
mentals in support Of which all Of Its prominent expo
nents are agreed. Labor. these men tell us. is entitled to
all that 1t creates, and, as everything Of value is created
by labor, labor 10 entitled to 1t all. The right Of the in
dividual to tho possession and use of accumulated prop
erty. no matter in what form, is absolutely denied. The
factory. the farm, the railroad, every institution which
represents any measure Of the accumulation of wealth,
is merely the result Of the grinding of the faces Of the
poor and underpaid laborer. hence the ostensible own
or Of this property has no rights which the laborer Is
can obtain. no matter by what means of extortion and
intimidation, still falls short Of being a reasonable wage.
Only that is q reasonable wage which gives to the laborer
everything in sight and leaves the employer nothing.
In order to obtain this alleged Justice laborers are
taught that they must use every weapon that comes to
their hands. They are to strike whenever a strike will
be effective. They are to destroy property whenever that
will aid In accomplishing their ends, for the property is
theirs. and not the property Of those who hold 1t. They
are to make contracts for the highest possible wages, and
then. at critical times, to break those contracts without
conjunction and demand still higher wages.
These are some Of the doctrines which have been
preached openly and urgently to the laboring! men Of the
country, and to those who pose as laborins men. by or
ganizers Of the society with which the farmers Of North
Dakota are asked to enter into solemn negotiation. Many
kota are asked to enter into solemn negotiation. Many
Of our farmers know too we'll how the policies advocated
have In the past been carried out in this state. They have
hired men for wages as high as they could afford to pay,
and just when delay was likely to be fatal, they have been
subjected to new demands on pain Of having their crops
destroyed. They have learned that the threats Of prop
erty destruction have not been empty ones, for when
they have been tardy in yielding to the demands made
upon them they have found bricks in their grain bundles,
their machinery has been tempered with. their stacks
have been fired. and they have been subjected to all
sorts Of injuries and annoyances.
What q combination-the Nonpartisan League ana the
/. W, WI