Denver labor bulletin., 1918-05-11
BY LAURENCE TODD

WASHINGTON, May 4.-The Sem
ate judiciary committee has reported
bill which is aimed at the destruc-
tion of the Industrial Workers of the
World. 1t provides that:
ANY association, organization, So
ciety or corporation, one of whose pur-
poses or professed purposes is to bring
about any governmental, social, in
dustrial or economic change within
the United States by the use, with
out authority of law, of force, vio-
lence, or physical injury to person or
property, or by threats of such in
jury, or which teaches, advocates, de-
fends or advises the use, without au-
thority of law, of force, violence or
physical injury to person or property,
or threats of such injury, to accom-
plish such change or for any other
purpose, and which, during any war
in which the United States is engaged,
shall by any means prosecute or pur-
sue such purpose or professed pur-
pose, or shall so teach, advocate, ad
wise, or defend, is hereby declared to
be an unlawful association"
1t then goes on to make it felony,
punishable by ten years imprison-
ment and $4,000 fine, for anyone to
continue to be a member or agent of
such an unlawful association" or
who shall defend its acts.
Problem of Migratory Labor.
Congress has the power and the
willingness to pass such law, and it
probably will be passed and signed by
President Wilson. Then the depart
ment of justice will begin to enforce
it. AS soon as a test case has been
brought into court, the court must
decide whether the I. w. W. does teach
or practice force, violence or physi-
cal injury to person or property" Of
course, it may hold that physical in
jury to property is practiced by the
l. w. w. And then the l. w. w. will
become an outlawed organization. Its
members must quit their membership
and their activities on behalf of the
outlawed methods of the organization.
Otherwise they will be arrested by
the hundreds, tried as rapidly as pos
sible, and when convicted will be put
away in federal prisons.
But there arises at once the prob
lem of the casual and unskilled labor
from which the "wabblies" have
drawn their support. What will be-
come of these men? The Presidents s
mediation commission, in its recent
report, says: "The l. w. w. has ex-
ercised its strongest hold in those in
dustries and communities where en-
ployers have most resisted the trade
union movement, and where some
form of protest against unjust treat
ment was inevitable"
Do Not Understand 1. w. w.
Can the trade union movement now
go in and organize the lumberjacks,
the copper miners, the longshoremen
at various points, and the farm labor
ers in the Northwest and West, who
have been paying dues into Haywood's
organization
Or will these men form independ-
ent unions, disavowing the preaching
or practice of destructive sabotage
The Presidents mediation commits
sion said in its report: Membership
in the 1. w. w. by no means implies
belief in, or understanding of, its
philosophy. To the majority of the
members it is bond of groping fell
lowship. According to the estimates
of conservative students of the phe-
nomenon, very small percentage of
the 1. w. w. are really understanding
followers of subversive doctrines. The
/. w. w. is seeking results by drama
tizing evils and by romantic prom
ises of relief"
There's Difference of Opinion.
As to whether the |. w. w. does,
as an organization, or even to a large
degree, practices destruction of prop
erty, there is a great deal of differing
opinion. Robert Bruere, who writes
on labor matters for the New York
Evening Post and for the New Re-
public, says that some big lumber
operators from the state of Washing
ton told him last fall substantially
this: Every large labor organiza-
tion like the /. w. w. in this state
centage-say 2 per cent-of ire
sponsible men. The proportion OF
such men aligned with the l. w. w
is about the same that we find in
our own business organizations. But
in war-and strike is war-anything
is fair. We have fought the /. w. w
as we would have fought any attempt
of the A. F. of L. unions to control
the workers in our camps. And, OF
course, we have taken advantage OF
the general prejudice against them as
an unpatriotic organization to beat
their strike. To bring the charge OF
violence against the l. w. w. as an
organization is not only wrong in the
face of the facts, but it is unsound
and shortsighted business policy. And
as for the charge that they will not
enter into time-agreements, while il
is true of them, it is equally true OF
us. We have been consistently op-
posed to collective agreements and we
are opposed to the recognition of any
labor organization now"
Will Unions Receive Them?
Those employers were not the usua
sort, or they would not have admitted