Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-11
MORE l. W. W. ACTIVITY.

Fifty-fve persons, most Of whom are said to be
members of the I. W.. W., have been. indicted by the fed
eral grand jury at Sacramento. Cal, on the charge of
being implicated in plots to cause the wholesale destruc-
ton Of shipping, factories and plants of various kinds
in Greer to create a reign OF terror and hamper the ma
ton in its preparation for war. The legal theory is that
a man is to be considered innocent until he is adjudged
guilty in a court of proper jurisdiction. That is sound
law. as we regard it in this country. And the principle
put into effect so far as legal penalties are concerned.
The individu al must be proven guilty before he is re-
quiz ed to pay a penalty.
This is not true in all cases of the attitude of the
public toward an accused person. Not always, but in a
great many cases an indictment or other formal accusa-
ton creates a presumption of guilt. And in a very large
number Of cases that presumption is fair. Take the 1.
W. w. cases for example. 1t is a notorious fact that
crimes of the nature charged have not only been
planned, but have actually been committed. They have
been committed in so many places that the existence of
a concerted movement for criminal purposes is apparent.
The l. w. w. has in the past made no secret Of it's CIR, =
inal purpose. Its leaders have taught crime. They
have insisted on. violence as one of the means to gain
their ends. They have declared their defiance of law.
and their reputation of the idea that other persons had
any rights which they were bound to respect. This All
tude has been set forth in the harangues of I. w. Sc.
leaders. in the literature which has been distributed
from their headquarters. and in the innumerable acts
which members Of the society have committed unde:
the Indictment of this propa ganda.
Evidence has been submitted to the California
grand jury which convinces the members of that bod..
that there is at least reasonable ground to believe the
accused men guilty, and because of their associations,
Eecause of their known character. and because OF tho
abominahle nature of the society with which they are
a affiliated, the general public will most naturally incline
strongly to the belief that they are guilty until they feel
that the evidence to be submitted in open cou,: war
rants some other conclusion.
kota to look the situation over; to observe the outrages
which have been committed against the nation in this
time Of war: to see the utter disregard that the members
of this society have shown for the ordinary considera-
lions which govern civilized men in their intercourse
with each other; and then to recall that it was with rep
resentatives and members of this society that Mr.. Town
ley invited them last year to strike a bargain, that 1t was
the members of this seditious clan that our farmers were
invited to employ on their farms for short days at high
wages, to receive in their homes and permit to mingle
with the members Of their families as men worthy of
trust and confidence, and that it was their refusal to
enter into any such bargain that brought down on these
same farmers the lash of Townley's tongue.