There has been reference in this book to the Centralia case. No onecan consider that he understands the technique of holding down theReds until he has studied this case, and therefore every friend of"Big Business" should send fifty cents, either to the I. W. W.Headquarters, 1001 West Madison Street, Chicago, or to the"Liberator," New York, or to the "Appeal to Reason," Girard, Kansas,for the booklet, "The Centralia Conspiracy," by Ralph Chaplin, whoattended the Centralia trial, and has collected all the details andpresents them with photographs and documents. Many other storiesabout the I. W. W. have been told in the course of "100%." Thereader will wish to know, are these men really so dangerous, andhave the business men of America been driven to treat them as heredescribed. The reader may again address the I. W. W. NationalHeadquarters for a four-page leaflet with the quaint title, "WithDrops of Blood the History of the Industrial Workers of the Worldhas Been Written." Despite the fact that it is a bare record ofcases, there are many men serving long terms in prison in the UnitedStates for the offense of having in their possession a copy of thisleaflet, "With Drops of Blood." But the readers of this book, beingall of them 100% Americans engaged in learning the technique ofsmashing the Reds, will, I feel sure, not be interfered with by thebusiness men. Also I trust that the business men will not object tomy reprinting a few paragraphs from the leaflet, in order to makethe public realize how dangerously these Reds can write. I will, ofcourse, not follow their incendiary example and spatter my page withbig drops of imitation blood. I quote:
"We charge that I. W. W. members have been murdered, and mentionhere a few of those who have lost their lives:
"Joseph Michalish was shot to death by a mob of so-called citizens.Michael Hoey was beaten to death in San Diego. Samuel Chinn was sobrutally beaten in the county jail at Spokane, Washington, that hedied from the injuries. Joseph Hillstrom was judicially murderedwithin the walls of the penitentiary at Salt Lake City, Utah. AnnaLopeza, a textile worker, was shot and killed, and two other FellowWorkers were murdered during the strike at Lawrence, Massachusetts.Frank Little, a cripple, was lynched by hirelings of the CopperTrust at Butte, Montana. John Looney, A. Robinowitz, Hugo Gerlot,Gustav Johnson, Felix Baron, and others were killed by a mob ofLumber Trust gunmen on the Steamer Verona at the dock at Everett,Washington. J. A. Kelly was arrested and re-arrested at Seattle,Washington; finally died from the effects of the frightful treatmenthe received. Four members of the I. W. W. were killed at Grabow,Louisiana, where thirty were shot and seriously wounded. Two memberswere dragged to death behind an automobile at Ketchikan, Alaska.
"These are but a few of the many who have given up their lives onthe altar of Greed, sacrificed in the ages-long struggle forIndustrial Freedom.
"We charge that many thousands of members of this organization havebeen imprisoned, on most occasions arrested without warrant and heldwithout charge. To verify this statement it is but necessary thatyou read the report of the Commission on Industrial Relationswherein is given testimony of those who know of conditions atLawrence, Massachusetts, where nearly 900 men and women were throwninto prison during the Textile Workers' Strike at that place. Thissame report recites the fact that during the Silk Workers' Strike atPaterson, New Jersey, nearly 1,900 men and women were cast into jailwithout charge or reason. Throughout the northwest these kinds ofoutrages have been continually perpetrated against members of the I.W. W. County jails and city prisons in nearly every state in theUnion have held or are holding members of this organization.
"We charge that members of the I. W. W. have been tarred andfeathered. Frank H. Meyers was tarred and feathered by a gang ofprominent citizens at North Yakima, Washington. D. S. Dietz wastarred and feathered by a mob led by representatives of the LumberTrust at Sedro, Wooley, Washington. John L. Metzen, attorney for theIndustrial Workers of the World, was tarred and feathered andseverely beaten by a mob of citizens of Staunton, Illinois. AtTulsa, Oklahoma, a mob of bankers and other business men gathered upseventeen members of the I. W. W., loaded them in automobiles,carried them out of town to a patch of woods, and there tarred andfeathered and beat them with rope.
"We charge that members of the Industrial Workers of the World havebeen deported, and cite the cases of Bisbee, Arizona, where 1,164miners, many of them members of the I. W. W., and their friends,were dragged out of their homes, loaded upon box cars, and sent outof the camp. They were confined for months at Columbus, New Mexico.Many cases are now pending against the copper companies and businessmen of Bisbee. A large number of members were deported from Jerome,Arizona. Seven members of the I. W. W. were deported from Florence,Oregon, and were lost for days in the woods, Tom Lassiter, acrippled news vender, was taken out in the middle of the night andbadly beaten by a mob for selling the Liberator and other radicalpapers.
"We charge that members of the I. W. W. have been cruelly andinhumanly beaten. Hundreds of members can show scars upon theirlacerated bodies that were inflicted upon them when they werecompelled to run the gauntlet. Joe Marko and many others weretreated in this fashion at San Diego, California. James Rowan wasnearly beaten to death at Everett, Washington. At Lawrence,Massachusetts, the thugs of the Textile Trust beat men and women whohad been forced to go on strike to get a little more of the goodthings of life. The shock and cruel whipping which they gave onelittle Italian woman caused her to give premature birth to a child.At Red Lodge, Montana, a member's home was invaded and he was hungby the neck before his screaming wife and children. At Franklin, NewJersey, August 29, 1917, John Avila, an I. W. W., was taken in broaddaylight by the chief of police and an auto-load of business men toa woods near the town and there hung to a tree. He was cut downbefore death ensued, and badly beaten. It was five hours beforeAvila regained consciousness, after which the town 'judge' sentencedhim to three months at hard labor.
"We charge that members of the I. W. W. have been starved. Thisstatement can be verified by the conditions existing in most anycounty jail where members of the I. W. W. are confined. A veryrecent instance is at Topeka, Kansas, where members were compelledto go on a hunger strike as a means of securing food for themselvesthat would sustain life. Members have been forced to resort to thehunger strike as a means of getting better food in many places. Youare requested to read the story written by Winthrop D. Lane, whichappears in the Sept. 6, 1919, number of `The Survey.' This story isa graphic description of the county jails in Kansas.
"We charge that I. W. W. members have been denied the right ofcitizenship, and in each instance the judge frankly told theapplicants that they were refused on account of membership in theIndustrial Workers of the World, accompanying this with abusiveremarks; members were denied their citizenship papers by judgeHanford at Seattle, Washington, and judge Paul O'Boyle at Scranton,Pennsylvania.
"We charge that members of the I. W. W. have been denied theprivilege of defense. This being an organization of working men whohad little or no funds of their own, it was necessary to appeal tothe membership and the working class generally for funds to providea proper defense. The postal authorities, acting under orders fromthe Postmaster-General at Washington, D. C., have deliberatelyprevented the transportation of our appeals, our subscription lists,our newspapers. These have been piled up in the postoffices and wehave never received a return of the stamps affixed for mailing.
"We charge that the members of the I. W. W. have been held inexorbitant bail. As an instance there is the case of Pietro Pierreheld in the county jail at Topeka, Kansas. His bond was fixed at$5,000, and when the amount was tendered it was immediately raisedto $10,000. This is only one of the many instances that could berecorded.
"We charge that members of the I. W. W. have been compelled tosubmit to involuntary servitude. This does not refer to membersconfined in the penitentiaries, but would recall the reader'sattention to an I. W. W. member under arrest in Birmingham, Alabama,taken from the prison and placed on exhibition at a fair given inthat city where admission of twenty-five cents was charged to seethe I. W. W."
Finally, for the benefit o
f the reader who asks how it happens thatsuch incidents are not more generally known to the public, I willreprint the following, from pages 382-383 of "The Brass Check,"dealing with the "New York Times," and its treatment of the writer'snovel, "Jimmie Higgins":
"In the last chapters of this story an American soldier isrepresented as being tortured in an American military prison. Saysthe `Times':
"`Mr. Sinclair should produce the evidence upon which he bases hisastounding accusations, if he has any. If he has simply written onhearsay evidence, or, worse still, let himself be guided by hiscraving to be sensational, he has laid himself open not only tocensure but to punishment.'
"In reply to this, I send to the `Times' a perfectly respectfulletter, citing scores of cases, and telling the `Times' wherehundreds of other cases may be found. The `Times' returns thisletter without comment. A couple of months pass, and as a result ofthe ceaseless agitation of the radicals, there is a congressionalinvestigation, and evidence of atrocious cruelties is forced intothe newspapers. The `Times' publishes an editorial entitled, `PrisonCamp Cruelties,' the first sentence of which reads: `The fact thatAmerican soldiers confined in prison-camps have been treated withextreme brutality may now be regarded as established.' So again Iwrite a polite letter to the `Times,' pointing out that I think theyowe me an apology. And how does the `Times' treat that? It alters myletter without my permission. It cuts out my request for an apology,and also my quotation of its own words calling for my punishment!The `Times,' caught in a hole, refuses to let me remind its readersthat it wanted me `punished' for telling the truth! `All the Newsthat's Fit to Print!'"
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