Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-09-20
THE lESUEUR LETTER
GIVEN OUT BY PUBLIC SAFETY
COMAd1SSION-LESU 8 EX-
PLANTATION

nation of the public,'' the Minnesota
Public Safety commission has given out
the following letter from Arthur LIE
Sueur, secretary of the Nonpartisan lea
que, to Big Bill Haywood, the 1. W. W.
chieftain, recently convicted in Chicago
Of violation of the espionage act, and
sentenced to twenty years at Fort Leav-
enworth:
THE PEOPLES COLLEGE,
Fort Scott. Kan. April S. 1917.
Mr.. VIM D: Haywood,
1874 w. Warrington st..
Fellow Worker: Have just returned
from Des Moines. Iowa. and am very
glad to be able to report that all OF the
snS the the Seys are at Serty think
Defense Committee is satisfied with the
handling Of the case. OF course. 1t was
not one in a9d fhs the ght
NY expenses for the trip were sS4;3O,
and ii you will send me check for tna'
it will clean the matter Up, up tho Minne-
sofa proposition. l hope you oon a}nired'
anything until the year mas eH ;p.t e. ~
This damned war business is GONE nr,5. ~ NJ
make it mighty hard to do good organ ~
;zation work or good radical work OF OF
any kind, but think the tght snou,d y
be now centered against spy olll9 o'A'
Have YOU heard from pennsylvania
with Powers Of Attorney:
Your for industrial freedom. co,r
Letter Identified
This letter, written three days after
President Wilson made his historic
speech to Congress asking for decla-
ration of a stare Of war with Germany,
was one of the government s exhibits
in the recent [. W. w. trials in Chlra-
go. H.,
AS the result Of those trials. Hay
wood, and n;ncty-two OF his le'loW l.
w, WIS. vrr, fc"nd guilty Of Nlo!at-
ing the cspion;t"" act. During his ties,
timony at the trial Haywood ldentlhcd
LIE Sueur s letter as genuine.
At the offices of the Nonpart1san
leader this morning a long typewriter
statement from LIE Sueur was given out
"explaining' how it happened that
Secretary LIE Sueur had written the
foregoing letter to Haywood, in which
he speaks of "this damned war; and
expresses the opinion that "the fight
should be conferred against spy bills and
conscription."
Explains Minnesota Case
LIE Sueur says that he wrote to report
on the results of case he defended
for three I. w. WIS. charged with muir.
dering a policeman in the railroad
wards in Des Moines. The reference
to the Minnesota matter, he says, is in
The cases of three Mesaba range miners,
members of the I. w. w. whom, ne
"volunteered' to. defend.
He says that these three miners, VINO
are now serving indeterminate SEN
fences at Saltwater for murder, are not
guilty. but simply pleaded guilty 10
settle all prosecutions still pending as
the result Of the strike.' -,
The reference to "this damned war,
it is explained by LIE Sueur, was made
11before our declaration.' While this
is technically correct-since war was
formally declared on April 6, the day
after lie Sueur wrote this letter-it is
actually incorrect, since the PRESIDENT 8
decision was announced to Congress
April 2, three days before LIE Sueur
wrote.
Opposes Spy Bills
LIE Sueur says that he was "opposed
to spy bills to be used to prosecute or
qanized workers and organized farm
ers.O and with reference to his state
ment concerning CONSUMPTION, says that
he was opposed to that because he "un,
derstoodO it was to be the orthodox
CONSUMPTION law under which "the poor
devil was spirited away while the rich
man paid his way out Of it,
He says that he has supported the
present CONSUMPTION law because it
ism It that kind Of law, and Of course
he adds that he had "ample cause' for
war against Germany although he says
that he chopped some other way out
might be found.''
The statement contains character
istically bitter attack on Governor
Burnquist and the Safety commission.