Denver labor bulletin., 1917-09-01
SAM GONIPERS AND BILL HAYWOOD
Editorial in Rocky Mountain News.

Federal military action has been
takei against the /. W. w. leaders in
the Northwest, where they have been
counseling strikes and local revolt
against the constituted authorities. 1t
was high time decisive steps were
taken to deal with this lawless outfit
The l. W. W society is beyond the
pale. 1t is branded with sedition and
treason. 1t is not labor union in the
broadest use of the term. 1t was
formed purposely to destroy trade
unionism, along with all our economic
and social institutions. Its avowed
intent is so to undermine society that
there will be universal revolution. 1t
is in sympathy with the enemies of
the nation, because its leaders hold
that when this country is endangered
from without is the time to strike
from within and overthrow society.
The handspring Of the /. w. w. is
William d. Haywood and his career of
violence is too well known in this state
to make his organization a factor in
this particular section of the country.
1t is claimed that the /. W. w
leaders, when arrested by the military
were engaged in organizing lumber
camps to insure better working condi-
tions. This will not hold water. The
j. W. w. openly is a revolutionary or
der. bent at all times on creating dis
cord between capital and labor. Its
charter announces that there can be no
peace until capital is overthrown. Its
organizers counsel violence to gain the
end sought. They flout the law and
the courts. Just now they are busy
preaching sedition in order to weaken
the fiber of the nation. Present-day
N artivi,iaS mr., lar'a rod hy tho
ment authorities TO be financed by
German gold.
Not n moment TOO soon has Presi-
dent Gompers of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor called upon labor in
the United States to clear its skirts
and separate itself from the sedition-
mongers that are busy everywhere
spreading the seeds of suspicion and
unrest in labor's ranks. More than the
|. w. w. are involved in the Gompers
manifesto. From the beginning of the
war the German propaganda has
sought out labor for its tool and put
on many disguises to hoodwink the
unusupecting. Often it has used the
cause of peace, so-called, to bind labor
to war against itself and the country
that has given il every recognition,
Even before the war the element
that is now shown IN its true colors as
an enemy of American democracy was
busy in the ranks of organized labor
to secure control in the interest of a
foreign power. The Socialist party,
that had its mask torn off somewhat
abruptly within three years, bitterly
opposed Mr.. Gompers and the Ameri-
can party in the federated labor organ
ization for quarter of century
without success. The leaders of this
element were mostly either Germans
by birth or blood ties and make no
secret now of their allegiance to the
German cause.
A new organization has been formed
by Mr.. Gompers and those working
with him as means to offset the dan
gerous teachings of un-American bod
les claiming kinship to labor. The
American Alliance of Labor and De-
mocracy is what its name suggests
true democracy joined with labor in
cooperation. Its aim will be to force
into the open the enemies of the nation