Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1935-06-28

TO Matt Meehan, local dispatcher one
of the principal subjects OF the
Claudia waller-poliee department
LA official espionage conspiracy,
Tanner demanded to know why Our
dirty linen had to be washed pub
licly in the Voice OF Action.
lie wanted to know why the mat
ter could not have been settled in the
Locals meeting, as 1t was being
brought up then. Perhaps, he de-
clared, Mr.. Meehan could tell him.
Matt Meehan, taking little part
in the meeting up TO this point, rose
to his feet and replied that he could
tell them.
Danger Of Open Shop
lie pointed out that the matters
revealed in the Voice of Action were
not pertinent to the Portland ia
alone, but that as employers he
came desperate in their efforts to
combat the growing power OF or
ganized labor, the same conditions
might he prevailing in other I'M
ions.
lie reminded the iongShoremen OF
1921, when labor'S power was smash
ed and the Great American pan
of the open shop was put into elect.
He warned that the Great Ameri-
can Plan" would be put into effect
again if induStrialiStS could succeed
in diSrupting and smashing organ
lied labor.
Matt Meehan confined most OF
his participation in the meeting to
questions directed mainly at K. {.
Tanner, who came to Portland from
Salt Lake City following the Conner
shooting at the company union hir-
ing hall last August, when % ia
members were being held on charg-
eS of murder.
Says AL Sent Him
Asked under whose direction he
came to Portland and associated him
self with the lLA defense, Mr.. Tan
ner insisted that the American Fed
Grafton OF Labor sent him out
Meehan then asked him il he was
in the pay of the ALL Al that time,
and Tanner said he was. He refused
to explain il or when his AL pay
stopped.
Meehan then asked il II was not
fact that b. A. Green met Mr.. ran
ner at salt Lake City. This Tanner
admitted but denied his partnership
with Green, insisting that he came to
Portland officially representing the
AL, limiting that he was sent out
because of LEAKS" to the employers
from the LA, and leaving the broad
implication that Meehan was the one
responsible for the leaks.
Tongue Slips
At one point in Tanners tax,
when he was referring to the riot
which arose when strike was call
ed on the Luckenbach docks last
August 20 when the Luckenbach
Co. Disseminated against lila work
ers, his tongue slipped and he de-
clared that Matt Meehan had sent
the pickets to t4th and Alberta, the
Scene of the riot"
A storm of protest broke loose
in the meeting and Tanner hurriedly
retracted. He also pointed out that
when he first came to Portland he
was under the impression that Matt
Meehan had taken il upon himself
to dispatch the pickets to the docks,
but later learned that Meehan had
gone into conference with two 9TH
er officials OF the Union-CharleS
Peabody and Bob Smith-and that
the conference resulted in the de-
cision that picketing the docks was
the last resort against the union
smashing methods of the Lucken-
bach employers.
He did not explain where he OBJ
tanned the erroneous impression when
B. A. Green contacted him in Salt
Lake City.
Meehan, charged with melting to
riot Immediately after the Alberta
Street episode, kept silence about
the other officials part in dispatch
ing the pickets.
The full text of Claudia Walters
sworn statements, now in the pos
session of the Voice OF Action, were
carried in the June ii issue.