The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-01-30
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The Strutwear situation in Minnesota
is a striking example of communistit
racketeering, aided and abetted by
sympathy and overt acts on the part Of
misguided labor organizations, anc
made possible and protected by the
misuse of governmental agencies, Local
and state.
The result is that industrial Mime
apolis is dominated by mob rule. Men
have been beaten and women abused
property has been destroyed, innocent
lives have been Snuffed out Industry
desiring to give work under wages and
conditions satisfactory to its employees
is denied the opportunity to do So
workers eager to earn living at wages
and under conditions against which
they have no complaint are forbidden to
work. but are told. by the mob and by
the state alike, to take their places in
the bread lines.
The government of Minnesota is di-
rectly responsible for bringing about
this condition and is today actively sup
porting it continuance.
In the summer of 1884 state troops
took possession Of the streets of Mime
apolis, not for the purpose of protecting
citizens in the lawful use of their prop
erty, nor for the purpose Of protecting
citizens in their right to work, but for
the purpose of preventing work and en-
pigment until arbitrary demands of
outside mobSterS were agreed to by en-
ployers and workers alike.
Today state troops are at this very
hour, and have for some time, been re-
lieving these outside mobSterS of the
necessity Of picketing the StrutWea~
plant in Minneapolis. Soldiers with
loaded guns and fixed bayonets prevent
more than LOO Strutwear employees
who want to go to work from entering
the plant and authorities have intim-
ated that the plant will remain closed,
with never wheel turning and never
a workman on the job, until the owners
have come to an agreement with the
mobSterS.
When the state troops were called out
and sent to Minneapolis in the summer
Of 1894 10 assist certain labor unions
in compelling certain employers to
unionize, labor was highly pleased with
this remarkable show OF friendlneSs on
the part of the state government and in
the hastings of 1884 it pumped en-
Enthusiastically for return of the state
administration to power.
Labor racketeerS regard the state adj
miniStration as a friend at court, ready
to wrest the law to the support Of
labor'S desires Nevertheless labor is to-
day beginning to sense the fact that it
would be better to win on its merits
and not by the strong arm of urSurped
authority. Men who want to work are
today denied the opportunity because
the state has encouraged mob rule. In
duStry is stalled, men are denied the
right to work, prosperity is prevented,
misery is multiplied, because the law of
the club and the fang has been re-
sorted to and state troops have been
called out to uphold it. Troops seal
the doors of the Strutwear plant, bay
onets bar the workman from the bread
that his family needs, the mobster rules
with the backing of the state, and the
Terror stalks the streets Of the city.
Workmen have the right, and all gov
eminent should uphold them in it, to
organize as they please, but workmen
are no better off when they are COM
PEELED to organize under terms dictated
by rioting and violence than they are
when coerced by selfish employers. In
fact, in the first instance they are worse
off, as employment and terrorism and
labor racketeering in Minneapolis today
appallingly demonstrate.
When government wrestS the law to
a wrong purpose, even those, for whose
benefit the law is prevented, are in the
end more injured than benefited.
Terrorism and labor racketeering are
not benefitting labor in Minneapolis
today and they will never benefit labor
there or anywhere.
What are the facts with relation to
the Strutwear situation?
The Strutwear Knitting Works in
Minneapolis has regularly employed
though no demands had been made
upon the company by its employees, or
by anyone. with respect to wages, hours,
working conditions, or anything else,
the company nevertheless learned on
August 18th last that it plant would be
picketed the following day. A dis
orderly mob surrounded the plant the
next morning and employees coming to
work were told by strangers in the mob
that they could not enter the plant,
that they must not go to work, that If
they did, when they came out they
would be killed. Those who attempted
to enter the plant were assaulted.
Police promised protection and employ
eeS again on August 18th attempted to
enter the plant. A mob of 400 to 500
men surrounded the plant, hurting in
suits, bricks and pieces of concrete.
Disorders continued throughout the day,
and the employees, most of whom were
young women, became terrified and could
not work. They were finally escorted
by the police from the factory, march
ing down the street, surrounded by
mob hurting epithets and abuse at
them. After this experience the COM
pany decided that it would close the
plant until complete protection was
given, and LOO persons who had no
grevience against the company, were
thrown out of work
In November the company decided to
work a number of its employees in
branch plant at st. Joseph, Missouri.
The attempt to move some of the ma
chinery of the plant again resulted in
rioting and the machinery was finally
moved by the United States Marshal