The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-07-02


protected in that manner only gave
him two hundred and fifty votes for
an entire district, when he stood for
reelection" Jack interrupted.
"Hw in hell did you find that out,o
Collins asked in surprise. ct heard the
story when l was at Mullen, and
think understand the cause of that
first Cripple Creek strike in 1894, as
well as this later one that caused the
arrest of Meyer and his pals. 1t had
happened when the superintendent Of
the victor mine wanted to raise the
working time Of the miners to niuo
hours, and reduced their wages from
three dollars to two and half per day.
Locke, the superintendent, thought,
that with the influx of men from the
silver mines into the gold camps, and
the influx of unframed labor he could
put it across, but the miners were Or
ganized and gave him his hat, and they
didn't even tell him not to be in
hurry. 1t was then that capital organ
lied posses to terroriZe the miners, and
the battle Of Wilbur was the result.
Here four hundred deputy sheriffs
fought with the miners and several
men were killed on each side. Sheriff
Bowers, now organized twelve hundred
men and descended upon the miners
and would have doubtlessly inflicted
serious trouble if he had been allowed
to go ahead, for he had with him some
of the most degenerate cut throaths,
that were ever turned loose by an in
dolent Providence.
by, the name of K. G. Sterling, de.
tective, who shot and killed hand
cuffed man, simply because he tried
to warm himself at a fire in a tent.
Governor Waite. who by the way, was
a populist, sent the militia, not as is
usual to terrorize the miners, or at
molest their wives and childrens, but to
round up the deputies and disarm them,
and to grant the strikers their de-
mands of three dollars for eight hours
work. Out side Of that one instance,
[ can not recall any case where po-
litieal power has not absolutely prosti-
tuted itself to the money bags. Tho
one thing that has caused me to doubt
more than all others the possibility
of saving the working class from
slavery is the fact that after Governor
Waite had proven himself the absolute
friend of Labor, Labor voted him
down, because capital threatened to
close the mines in case he were re-
elected"
"The Bible tells us that an 'ass
knoweth the crib of it's MASTER and
labor feels dependent on capital for
job"
"But what about the battle of Will
burf" Rudolph interjected, "didn It
that show that labor had spirit. Didn It
that show that they would fight for
their rights in an organized and de-
finite way'"
eyes, they were nearly all Swedes
and Irish. Northern blonde slaves in
which few degenerate instincts of
liberty still survived. That is-wh7r
capitalism- drove them out of the
country, and finally replaced them
with darker and more docile breeds ("
"Oh, for Christ sake forget it.
"roared Collins. "You're a mono
maniac on that stuff. 7 am surprised
at one thing tho that you have gathered
so many data on this matter. am
glad to hear that you have a correct
concept of the beginning of this
trouble in the west, for it is going to
ultimately industrialize the Western
Federation of Miners. And then," he
said triumphantly, "capital had better
watch out" Turning to Jack ne asked,
Have you any more dope on the
development of the W. F. of NJ"
eyes, I had some. Most of it was
on the reverse side of hose notes you
sent away" Jack answered laconic-
ally.
Thus the trio argued and planned
and dreamed at their fire side, and
all the while the letters which came
to them from all parts of tho country
famed their enthusiasm to a glowing
brightness. Meyer, Haywood and Petti.
bone were in Jail for the Cause of
Labor, Debs was touring the country
in their behalf. The appeal to Reason
waged valient warfare. IF you kill
Bill Haywood, million toilsrs will
take up the banner Of labor at his
grave and carry it to victory'' These
words had not yet been spoken, but
their import was in the air. The papers
were full Of announcements Of mass
meetings, protests and demonstrations.
All this electrified Rudolph and Col.
Inns and caused them to begin laying
their plans for breaking camp early
and go on the job, to help tho good
work along. AS the news of the labor
war became hotter and tho appeal To
Reason and 'The Weekly People,
were regular visitors, to tho cabin,
Jack too, forsook his biology and
natural history and followed the tides
of the class conflict. Meanwhile there
arrived the second letter from Olive
Anderson. She too was following tho
struggle in the pages of the Appeal.
How she ever camo in possession Of
that paper is not known In f,ct
great many Vt Is readers never knew
how it happened % come to them.
But it was cviicat thar she studied
the events closely in all their details.
She expressed surprise that ut such
time as this Jack should he hidden
in the woods, whom tho whole world
needed the message he was able to
bring.
She did not realize tiat the boy
whom she had mot was only mentally
and not spiritually converted to the
great cause. It may be that to him
that conversion never came, but 10
her II came and took hold long before
she had an intellectual understanding
of what this world movement meant.