El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-09-15
SEATTLE SHOWS
GREAT UNREST
Presidents Party Is IN
easy During Its Entire
Stay in That City.

CONTINUED from unEe L.
pie had been promised seats in tbs
arena, and they all came wearing
these badges aforementioned ant
I while a few were admittec, somehow
/ or another, the police CcJll not fine
rom for the great majority OF tnt
! others, and the meeting INSIDE con
lsequently was peaceful.
Nothing so disrespectfuI 70 the
! president has occurred I'm any pre-
vious journeys Of Mr.. Wilson OF
any other American president and
the prcemptOry character of the
demand made by the Seattle labor
] leaders for n conference with the
! president on the Sunday after
noon when he was resting in Sc
attic was also not lost upon east
] ern observers
] Back in the Atlantic states, where
] controversies rage as to whether labor
! unions affiliated with the American
| Federation of Labor should be recOg-
nized. conditions seem TO the west
{ erner quite tame. For instance the
] Seattle Times. the wealthiest news
paper here. which could no more be
/ suspected Of an interest in disorder
/ than the New York Times, had a lead
I ing editorial today practically JUSTIFY =
I ing the complaint OF eastern lsborers
who want the unions 10 be recognized
in the steel industry
They're Real "Rndicals.s
So far beyond the stage Of merely
recognizing labor unions has the Pa
cific coast situation gone that il is
here largely question of standing by
the American Federation Of Labor 10
prevent the l. W. VS. from getting
complete control, and that, it is
feared, would mean direct action and
bolshevism. But Il cannot be said
that all the men in the American Fed
OF ion Of q hm mnmEew=
vatives. Perhaps IL is the contaSion
Of radicalism or the desire to prevent
their OWN authority and position
from being uprOoted by agitatlng rad
president Wilson at his hotel Sunday
talked as some OF the radicals might
have talked.
They presented arguments concern
ing the release Of what they termed
political prisoners" and their per-
sistence along lines which the radicals
have agitated gave an impression not
wholly different from their more az
EressiYe brethren But the hope and
confidence Of Seattle seems 20 be de-
pendent upon the wisdom Of such men,
for the present. anyway, because they
are for law and order and differen-
tiated from the direct actionists.
Strong TinEe Of BoIshevism-
But Seattle IS not like eastern cities.
Labor conditions are entirely differ
ent The labor group is much more
audible and Influential For instance
they publish daily newspaper which
c1rculateS among hundreds OF thou
sands OF workers in this section. On
the front page OF the Seattle Union
Record, Ia boris organ. there was printed
In flaming letters on Mr.. Wilson's ar
rival 4 series Of questions, full Of in
nuendO and d6Alanding the immediate
repeal Of the espionage law, the re-
lease Of Tom Mooney and other "pO-
iical prisoners" the withdrawal Of
American forces from Russia, and eX-
PLANTATION Of the refusal Of passports
TO Americans wishing 10 visit Russia
support Of the Plumb plan and finally,
this query: why do you not fire
BurlesonZ" There follows a long edi-
tOrial demanding the retirement OF the
postmaster general for dismissing en-
ployes from the postal service for
activity in organizing unions and a
long discussion Of supposed griev-
ances Of American labor and causes OF
social unrest in the Pacific northwest.
But, CuriOusly enough, not a little
space is given to the Russian situation
with plain undercurrent Of sympathy
with the Russian bolshevists.
Seattle OTerrun With Propaganda.
The people Of Seattle have been
overrun with propaganda about the
Russian question. and responsible peo-
pie here tell me that they have been at
a Joss TO know how TO fight il be-
cause Of the uncertainty Of the Amert-
can governments position President
Wilson's plain speaking on his west
ern trip. his denunciatiOn Of the rule
OF the 81 bOlsheviki commissioners in
Petrograd and Moscow, therefore has
lad an affirmative effect here. Il has
stimulated those who are trying 10
States and give them the impression
that they viii have the full force Of
the federal government behind. IL nee
essary- The president in his speech
at Helena talked about radicalism1 ana
said plainly that agitation which had
for its object the curing OF existing
wrong by political means should not
be molested, but should be encouraged
Some Of theNneWspaper men travelling
with teh president thought this was
plain stimulus 20 the lawless elements
as an excuse for their campaign OF
agitation, Inquiry in Seattle reveals
that what one might have supposed
would be food for the radicals. or at
least. good headlines for the labor
papers here, was carefully buried and
ignored.
1t f. IabOr's policy to keep the
rank and file distruStfuI Of the
president and CYNICAL Of his prom
ises nor are they for this same
reason putting much emphasis on
the capital and labor conference
TO be held in Washington.
The L ". WIS and large bodies Of
the other iaboring men are apathetic
about that conference. a typical
question addressed to president Will
son. which reveals the attitude Of the
main labor paper in Seattle, for in
stance. is this:
why do you not occasionally sug-
gest TO employers that they pay the
wages or grant the conditions de-
manded by labor pending the calling
Of an industrial conference, instead OF
continually asking labor to make the
sacrifices2'
Try to Make Him Out Tory.
The average easterner would prob
ably argue that president Wilson had
been very friendly TO labor through
out his administration and II is be-
cause Of that fact that he IS so often
criticized by conservatives in both the
Democratic and Republic parties. But
out here the editorials and speeches Of
the labor group make Mr.. Wilson out
to be Tory Of the most tyrannical
stripe, suppressing free speech. tor
turing" political prisoners, offending
the workers OF Russia, and participat-
ing in an alleged miscarriage of Jus
tice with respect to numerous labor
This, then. Is the atmos-
phere IN which president Wilson found
himself in Seattle, an atmosphere of
class friction with an apprehension OF
and anarchy that is not mag
mary. but real.
Presidents Speech Disconnected.
Perhaps IL was the turbulence of the I
mob. friendly though IL proved TO be.
which threw Mr.. Wilson off his steady
poise, for his speech in Seattle was
disconnected and devoid Of any new
argument. II was at Tacoma that the