The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-09-16
MOB SPIRIT SEEN
AT SEATTLE GIVES.
PRESIDENT WORRY
CONTINUED From First Page.)

a silent protest against the imprison-
ment or men Ike Eugene Debs and
ftulett Wells, who were convicted I'M
der the espionage act OF attempting 70
obstruct our success In the late war.
ana, as II the true Americans want
ed to show Mr.. Wilson that Seattle Is
loyal, that 1t is a population not diff
terent from the populations Of other
american cities, the demonstration of
enthusiasm for Mr.. Wilson, the symbol
of authority, was by far the most re-
markable tribute he has ever gotten In
this country. Confirmation Of this was
TO be found in the way the audience at
the Auditorium leaped TO its feet and
shouted with almost frenzied enthusi-
asm as the president, after descrfb-
ing the pitful condition OF the Russian
people, and the terrible rule Of the mi
nority Of Bolshevist ~autocrats, spoke
with dramatic emphasis this sentence:
MY fellow citizens, ! am going to de-
vote every influence I have and all the
authority ] have from this time on to
see to II that no minority commands
the United States"
Outside the hall we could hear the
crowd yelling In loud chorus, I'VE Want
Wilson," but on investigation | found
that the crowd wasn't merely trying to
get in to hear the president, but was
trying to get an opportunity to heckle
him about the political prisoners"
Three hundred Of these labor people
had been promised seats and they all
came wearing these badges aforemen-
toned and, while a few were admitted,
somehow or other the police couldn't
find room for the great majority Of the
others and the meeting inside cOnse-
auently was peaceful.
Disrespect Great.
Nothing so d%isrespectful to the presi-
dent has occurred in any previous
tnpFnaU oF Mr. NLlfann 49, a,u aNHnr
American president and the peremptory
character Of the demand made by the
Seattle labor leaders for q conference
with the president on the Sunday aft
ernoon when he was resting in Seattle
was also not lost upon Eastern observ-
ers. Back in the Atlantic states, where
controversies ragged as 10 whether la
Dor unions affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation Of Labor should be
recognized, conditions seemed to the
Westerner quite tame,
For instance the Seattle Times, the
wealthiest newspaper here, which could
no more be suspected of an interest In
disorder than the New York Times, had
a leading editorial practically justify
ing the complaint of Eastern laborers,
who want the unions to be recognized
In the steel industry. So far beyond the
unions has the Pacific coast situation
gotten that It is here largely a ques-
ton Of standing by the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor to prevent the ]. w.
WIS from getting complete control and
that, 1t Is feared, would mean direct
action and Bolshevism.
But 1t cannot be said that all the
men in the American Federation OF
Labor out here are conservatives. Per-
haps II Is the contagion Of radlcalism
or the desire to prevent their own au-
thority and position from being up
rooted by a~gitating radicals but the
men who want to see President Wilson
at his hotel on Sunday talked as some
radicals might have talked. They pre-
scented arguments concerning the re-
lease Of what they termed political
prisoners" and their persistence along
lines which the radicals have agttated
gave an impression not wholly differ
ent from their more aggressive breth-
| rem. But the hope and confidence OF
Seattle seems to be dependent upon
the wisdom of such men for the present
anyway because they are for law and
order and differentiated from the direct
| actionists,
But Seattle is not like Eastern cities.
| Labor conditions are entirely different.
| The labor group Is much more audi
BILE and influential. Fol- instance, they
| publish a daily newspaper which cir
! culates among hundreds OF thousands
of workers in this section, On front
| page OF lHe oehttle CHloH iNSNo'" :"
boris organ, there was printed IN flam-
ing letters on Mr.. Wilson'S arrival a
series Of questions full OF innpendo and
demanding the immediate repeal Of the
espionage law, the release Of Tom
Mooney and other political prisoners, '
the withdrawal Of American forces
from Russia and explanation OF the
refusal Of passports to Americans wish
ing to visit Russia, support of the Plumb
plan and finally this query; WHY do
you not fire Burleson?F There follows
a long editorial condemning the post
master general for dismissing employees
from the postal service for activity in
organized unions and a long discussion,
supposedly of grievances of American
labor and causes OF social unrest In the
Pacific Northwest, blu ~curiously
enough not a little space Is given to
the Russian situation with a plain un-
d~ercurrent of sympathy with the Rus