Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1918-06-07

true to the creed OF American dig
business, made the most of the inevi-
liable confusion of an eleventh hour
rush. We had the Hog Island scan
dial, to mention the most conspicu-
Gus; and we had, and still have, other
scandals. The nation must pay in
delay and lives, that the American
creed of profits shall continue to op-
crate; must pay, until we purge this
creed from the fiber of our souls.
And all the while our dollar-a-yeer
men were busy, the press agents of
big business beat the tom-toms on
patriotism" and sought to discredit
labor and the farmers and all the
little fellows. and carry forward.
under another guise and from diff
ferent angle, the program decided
upon when the old dream Of financial
and commercial world supremacy was
rising toward contamination; the
program, which included the control
of state legislatures to wipe out all
remedial labor, industrial and eco
nomic legislation; to destroy union
labor, to prevent organization of
farmers and all other organizations
of the little fellows for self-protec-
ton; to destroy cooperative efforts
and to give back to big business all
the freedom to plumber it enjoyed in
the old days.
But as the days moved swiftly, and
flame high all over the world, a new
fear arose in the greedy souls of the
exploiters of the fullness of the
earth: the fear of new economic
democracy which would overturn the
world And right away began the
propaganda, the clever, subtle, hid
den alignment to save financial and
economic autocracy from disaster.
And it is fooling lot of people.
They are having their attention dis
tracted by many things--chiefly a
hysterical demand for sedition laws.
and denunciation of farmers organi-
cations, and the lying reitcration of
disloyalty on the part of labor and
farmers and everybody and every
thing except big business.
There is a subtle propaganda Of
encouragement and commentator Of
mob law, subtly directed, to inflame
public opinion, to encourage the
revival of the Ku Klux and other
secret organizations through which
fear and terror can be spread. and
freedom of speech and action be de-
stroyed, so that none dare raise their
voices against the secret program of
the financial autocracy.
The attempt to substitute the mil
itary for the civil court in the espion-
age bill was another move of the pro-
gram. which received the unqualified
support of large section Of the press
and such rabid patriots" as MCGEE
of Minnesota. But public opinion
had not been inflamcd sufficiently,
and when President Wilson spoke his
demand. the military court provisions
were stricken out-for the present.
The I. w. WIS of the carefully
tailored brand-the MCGEE brand; of
the Ku Klux brand; Of the Knights
of Liberty brand; Of the Yellow Dog
brand-are much more dangerous to
our nation than are the unwashed,
half-baked anarchists we are trying
in Chicago, end will convict and pun
ish as they should be punished.
Mob law in the name of patriot
ism" Is no better than mob law
against patriotism.
And mob law is being invoked to-
day against men in many states, and
encouraged by the press to the point
that the attorney general Of Montana
was obliged to demand police protec-
ton to enable him to prosecute the
leaders Of mob who attacked a cit
izen who was interested in organic