The Weekly People's Forum from Lawrence, Kansas • 1

DiM Entered as second class matte; at the post office at Kavmas Uty. 1 Sept. under act of Match 3d. 1878. 405 North 6th Kns-s City, Konsai.

VOL. 1. NO. 33. KANSAS CTI7V KANSAS.

-tin THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1919. Y7. Jfiritt! A NEW UNION OF PACKERS THE CARDS ARE STACKED AGAINST KRIEGER. Prejudice is admitted by many witnesses; but Change of Venue Is Denied. some magnitude.

Sensational aB the character of this evidence was on the face of It, the reporter eeemed to have missed It. At the same time there was a news Item giving in full the names of the men and women who signed the affidavits for the defense, data which could not have been secured without some effort. Notoriety for those who sought to tell the truth rather than for those who' Illegally Mdnapped, robbed, and beat the I. W. Betrayal Of Workers By International Officers Results In Revolt Of Rank And File vinnHnnnil ifen natnoa rf YY CiT imnlf.l cated in the outrage, and asserted that behind the actual participants were men of influence who had perpetrated me anair.

ne express ui i that essentially public opinion was not elated over the treatment accorded to, the 16 I. W. bdt that those who; would protest were suenceu oy me (By Eugene Lyons.) Tulsa, Oct. 8. Charles Krieger will be tried in the oil capital of the Mid-Continent Belt.

He will be tried not only by an oil lawyer, but before a jury chosen from among men predominantly dependent upon the oil interests for the right to live and labor. Testimony purporting to show that the public mind of the County of Tulsa was so bitterly biased against the I. W. W. as to make a fair and impartial administration of justice in the case of the accused organizer impossible was heard for more than two days.

The story of drastic persecution of the I. WW. which reached its high-mark in the tar and feather party, was rehearsed in' detail, Judge Cole finally admitting that the public officials of the city and the "patriotic citizens" had co-operated in the feai of business ruin. The story was one Charles for Mr. brown was suostanuaiea Chicago, Oct.

13, The Stockyards Labor council, a combination of the various trades employed in the packing houses of Chicago, brought the beef trust to terms in 1918, soon after it was formed, with the assistance of the Chicago Federation of Labor, has been suspended by Dennis Lane, secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of America. As a result of this family quarrel among the packing house workers of Chicago, about 40,000 men are confronting a dual council which the chiefs of the butchers' international organization has formed as New District Council No. 9. The cause of the conflict was the refusal of M. P.

president of the Stockyards Labor council; J. W. Johnstone, secretary-treasurer, and John Kikulski, an organizer of the. American Federation of Labor, to sign a new agreement with the packers which was unsatisfactory to the rank and file of the workers in fto packing industry. As ballots for a referendum on the matter of approving or rejecting the agreement were being prepared, Lane, representing the butcher work Charles Richardson, who had found trial Rnd ftt present note attached to his door which read concerned about a full' and unbiase(i in effect: "Mr.

I. W. don't let the investigation into the facts of that im-sun rise on you in Tulsa!" Richard- prisonment. The twenty-two months-son had had the temerity to defend cultiVation of patience made him more Dozens of witnesses, drawn from many walks of life, agreed that the prejudice against the organization was paramount. Their evidence was supported by fifty-odd affidavits asserting the impossibility of a fair trial.

Several bluntly stated that "them I. W. aren't entitled to a trial." Change of Venue Denied. But the motion for a change of venue was denied twice. After the first decision, Fred Moore secured permission to produce additional evidence.

And he did produce it. However, the court was obdurate. Granting that there was a strong bias, the judge nevertheless insisted that the bias was universal and no more marked in Tulsa than elsewhere. A panel of 150 men was drawn this afternoon, from among whom a jury will be picked beginning Monday, the 13th, when the actual trial begins. Throughout the progress of the investigation into the state of msndir) countyythe courtroom-was trowded; primarily by businelnen and members of the local legal profession.

The discussion inevitably drifted to fundamental economic considerations, AID FOR STEEL STRIKERS 1,000 Affiliated Unions May Be Involved In a Gigantic Sympathetic Walk-Out Pittsburgh, Oct. 13. A call for special conventions of the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor and the labor unions of Pittsburgh was authorized at almieetlrig of the Tittsbur ghc'entral labor council here last night for the purpose of uniting all the labor forces for a general strike to regain civil liberties for the workers in the steel districts of the state of Pennsylvania. James H. Maurer, president of the Federation was present and promised to lend his full support to the movement and last night sent out telegrams calling the federation's executive committee men and some other international ad herents signed the agreement, caus ing a rebellion in the ranks, it is as serted.

Immediately the" outlawed council Ibegan an active organization cam paign, with the result that within the last three weeks 8,000 new members were added to the rolls. New demands have been formulat ed by the independent council on behalf of the packing house workers and have been presented to Samuel Alschuler, the arbitrator between the workers and the packers. The Chicago council is taking the fight into the locals of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America throughout the country in order to fight the one man rule which they charge is responsible for the disruption of organization in the principal packing center in this country and has already caused dissension in other centers of the meat industry. The packing house workers want the 44-hour week and $1 an hour, and it is the opposition to this demand on the part of the international officials that brought about the break. citizens and the outlawing of the labor organizations in the steel country, which will be sent throughout the state to get the militant action desired.

Probably 500,000 workers in- the state of Pennsylvania will be involved in the movement. "Let's go now while we have some strength, for if the steel strike continues much longer your railroad men will ave to quit soon anyway and thei automobile industry is on the verge of shutting down," Maurer asserted in his address to the delegates. The result of the action of the Pittsburgh central labor council will be presented to Chairman W. S. Ken-yon of Iowa, of a committee of United States senators that is investi gating the steel strike at a hearing in Pittsburgh today.

TRADES ON of the $14 demanded by the rebellious New York locals. It is pointed out that this is one of the first instances jn the history of the labor movement where employers try to specify the organization which an employee may or may not join. The compositors, while declining to vote for an official participation in the strike, inasmuch as they are still good-standing members of the A. F. of are nevertheless bring-ing about a virtual sympathy strike by quitting work individually, or resigning "to take a vacation," as many of them put it.

The industry is thus virtually at a standstill, especially in so far as national magazines of the type of "Metropolitan," "Good Housekeeping," "Hearst's," "Cosmopolitan," are concerned. however, many smaller independent concerns are settling, much to the discomfiture of the publishers' association, which is finding that even the threat that no electro-typing firm would fill orders for a concern that makes peace with the rebels, does not work. W. seemed to be the policy of the judfl0 Gets Impatient AfJ the evidence grew in weight the judge gIW peevisn He objected ftgain and agaJn consumptlon of Mme eUcitl mformatlon. A hl twenty-two months behind the bars toierant than the judge of the unfor.

tunate J. Edgar Pew, oil magnate, whose house Krieger is accused of having dynamited, was in almost constant at tendance in the court. There were others in the oil business in court, if the interest in all matters pertaining to the subject is a guide. Krieger's Friends on Hand. But one row of spectators the very front row usually provided the contrast to the well-groomed, well-fed, slick oil men.

These smiled upon Krieger and those associated with the defense. They fidgeted on their bench when slanders against the organization were volunteered by witnesses. They itched to correct misrepresentation, to set the prosecution right on iti economics. This one row was a proof that even the prospect of starring could not keep members of the Industrial Workers of the World from the trial of a fellow worker. Endorse The Soviet Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Bolshevist regime in Russia was indorsed by the Utah State Federation of Labor at its fifteenth annual convention recently concluded here. The delegates went on record by a vote of 4 to 13 favoring the Soviet Government, and demanded that American troops should withdrawn from Russian soil. James P. Bales, who was "elected president of the federation at the convention, in speaking in support of the Bolshevist Government, addressed the delegates as "Brother Bolsheviki." The convention adopted a resolution against the invasion of Mexico and indorsed a "hands off" policy in dealing with the Mexican situation. Other resolutions were: that convicted profiteers should be sentenced to 20 years in prison without the option of a fine; for continued federal control of railroads; abolition of the contract system between employers and employees; the raising of the blockade of Russian and Austrian ports; recognition of the "Irish Republic;" protest against the "railroading" of Thomas J.

Mooney and War ren K. Billings to the penitentiary in connection with the San Francisco Preparedness Day bomb outrage, and higher pay for postal employees. Larkin Going Back Dublin. According "to a message sent to the "Voice of Labour," Jim Larkin, general secretary of the Irish Transport Workers' Union, who has been an exile in the United States for several years, is about to return to his native land to continue his labors there. His message reads: "To the Old Guard of the I.

T. W. "Stand fast I am returning. Take no side in this fratricidal strife going on in the Union. You and I' will settle the matter as we solved more serious problems in the past.

This quarrel is but the growing pains of the lusty young giant. While the muscle-stretching goes on plan out work for these boys, and you tell them to get it done. "Remember what we set out to do in 1907 to organize a class the working class, the Irish working class. "And Save a Nation. "To your task, then, and he who will not serve that class has no place in our ranks.

despite the heroic efforts of Judge Cole to restrain the trend. Stark, ugly-faced ignorance of the philosophy underlying the Industrial Workers of the World was flaunted in court again and again. Unthinking prejudice, naive in its newspapers and street-corner origin, was solemnly sworn to again and again. At several points In the proceed-; ings the atmosphere became tense 'Krieger is innocent." To which the things of which are generally dis-' social worker responded, as he says, cussed undor one's breath were "told." with a remark that the defendant had Revelations were made which could confessed that much to other men. not but discomfort a number of self- She then asked him whether he owned satisfied respectables.

Men and an automobile, whether he would like women of standing In the community to, and intimated that he could get one were summoned to the witness stand, if he would agree to having heard a and questioned by the defense to that confession of guilt, that "the Carter extremely courteous, but painfully per- Oil Company will see that you get tinent manner characteristic of the along." counsel for defense. Among the wit-. 0ne portJon of the tesUmony ln. nesses were men like L. Brown, volved the name of the judge and who happens to know the tar and br0Ught the Ire tQ an unbecom.

feather story well enough to make ing pltch Curren recounted an un. himself unwelcome in town; Vernon Bolicited lnterview wlth a former Smith and Eugene Lorton, editors of deputy sherlff Beagleyi whQ was ghot the Tulsa "Democrat" and "World" under pecullar circumstance8 about a respectively; Charles Page, one of the month ag0 FaUing tQ ghake th(J boy richest oil men In the section; Charlos in his hUpf 1n innnponnD together to send out the call to 1,000 affiliated unions. The Farmers' Grange and the Railroad Brotherhoods. "On or before Oct. 26," was the date set.

The conventions will be held in Pittsburgh, the local converi- tions probably one week before the state convention. Assurances were received from the Pittsburgh district of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, through a committee of five, from the Railroad Shop Crafts Federation and District Six, International Association of Machinists that they were ready to go out any time. A comprehensive resolution was adopted reviewing the numerous atrocities committed upon the striking steel workers and the denial of the rights of free assembly and free speech, the invasion of the homes of 11 supposed vagrants in me ponce court. Ed Boyd, one of the victims, put the finishing touch to the reciting the details of the crime, uentieraen. Judge Cole eventually said, "there's no use spending any more unie on the question.

It is an admitted, undisputed fact by this time mat the tar and feather party took! place, and that it was done with the co-operation of the city officials the police." The pathetic feature of the testimony was the statement by a Mr. Farral that the I. W. W. were not entitled to a fair trial, that if Krieger were found guilty he should be hung because Farral, almost alone among the witnesses, was a workingman.

"Spiritual" Leaders Prejudiced. The crowd in the court was touched to the quick when Morris Gebelow, a newspaper man, told of his experiences in interviewing the spiritual leaders qf Tulsa in an effort to gauge public opinion. He had talked to six representative ministers Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc. and found an uncanny unanimity in their views. They all agree that the public mind was decidedly prejudiced against the I.

W. prejudiced to such an extent that a member of the organization coming to' trial on any charge starts with a tremendous liability. Most of these interpreters of the gospel of love justified the prevalent hatred. Only one, the Catholic Father, showed any sympathy with the cause of the workingman. "The sooner the I.

W. are wiped off the face of the earth the better. And I hope it will be This from Rev. Dutt, Christian preacher. Referring to the tar party this godly man commented "They got off mighty lucky at that." Gebelow requested several of the ministers to permit him to address a select group of their church members on the question of the I.

W. in order that he might display to them a side of the picture which they did not know. He was refused consist ently, "I know the men who were instrumental in pulling off the tar party," declared Charles Richardson, "and I know that they will convict this man if they can!" Even the lawyer for the Carter Oil Company, who is directing the prosecution, was not spared in the piling up of testimony. Flint Moss was called to the stand by Mr. Moore.

Out of professional courtesy Krieger's counsel abstained from asking too many questions, but he did direct the attention of the court to several statements made by Mr. Moss. Most sensational was this, vouchsafed only a few days ago: "After I prove he's an I. W. Mr.

Moore, It will be up to you to prove that he is innocent." Of course, 'the oil lawyer denied a distinct recollection. Eugene Lorton, editor and owner of the "Tulsa World," was another of those who admitted that this was the largest and most influential newspaper in town. Ho expressed a fond desire to put an end to strikes, which he believes "would be a fine thing for the country." He pleaded Ignprance of the W. W. doctrines, other than their propensity for violence and red-flag Waving.

He disclaimed responsibility for the news policy when Moore called bis attention to the following highly Illuminating circumstances: In that day's issue there was not a word about the revelations made the night before by Li A. Brown, wherein the names of prominent citizens were mentioned as implicated in a crime of TITANIC CONFLICT OF Richardson, attorney for the men charged with "vagrancy" who were later tarred and feathered; etc. Sensational Evidence. The most sensational evidence, how ever, was introduced this morning. It was unexpected by the prosecution and landed like a thunderbolt.

A flat denial, exaggerated in its flatness, was made, but did not succeed In erasing the impression of a candid tale from the mouth of a lad of 18. The boy, Curren, is a native of Lowell, and has been in Tulsa for the last 10 months. He had pro- cured a high school education in the East, and had even attended some courses of university grade. He came here In search of opportunity, and un- wittingly was drawn into the case. In answer to an advertisement in the newspaper he called to see Miss Bet- tex, a social worker with an office In the Court House, and made arrange ments to teach elementary subjects to Beasley had said In a "bully" voice, to use the witness's phrase, something to this effect: "Oh, Krieger is guilty! and Judge Cole will find him The boy, Curren, was ambiguous on the question of his college studies, ap- parently forced Into an exaggeration by a juvenile conceit.

The state at- torneys and the judge himself pounced upon this point and hammered away as if it were the basis of the whole trial. When Miss Bettex was called to the witness stand she denied the conversation about Krieger. Cross- examination brought out the facts that although drawing a monthly salary of $160, and even that only since a recent dale, she owns a 1200 car and lives in fine style generally. To every question, bearing upon Curren's alle- gations she replied with an overdone "Absolutely not!" The repetition of the phrase soon was not only ludi crous but sigiflcant. Although the change of venue was not secured, the testimony produced nesses, and they came and went in rapid succession, made statements worthy of publication.

We muBt con- fine ourselves necessarily to the more Important ones. The Tar and Feather Party. L. A. Brown, now a public official of Kansas City, and formerly connected with the Industrial Relations PRINTING New York With the sole exception of the newspaper offices-, a general cessation of work began on October 1st in the pressrooms of the printing plants of this city, thereby making necessary the suspension of more than 200 magazines and trade publications and laying idle some 8,000 men.

Book publishers have also joined in the fight, and there may soon be a shortage of school books. When the Association of Employing Printers found that the pressmen, paper handlers, and job press feed-ers of New York, who have been expelled by their respective Internationals, were firm in their determination to go on strike for a 44-hour week and a flat weekly increase in wages of $14, they anticipated them by locking them out and issuing an ukase proscribing that only such men as are recognized by their respective Internationals will be accepted for employment This readiness to recognize the Internationals, it will be remembered, is due to the fact that the presidents of these organizations have bound themselves to leave the question of a 44-hour week until 1921 and to accept a $6 increase instead such prisoners as were willing. She in support of the motion is now a mat-explained that there was no remunera- ter of record and will be of value dur-tion for the work, but he agreed to lng. the trial. Every one of the wit- give up some or nis time to tnis tasK through genuinely altruistic considera tions.

She mentioned Charles Krieger specifically as the one who would be most anxious to learn. According to his testimony unshaken by the ferocious grilling of the prosecution he had occasion to see Miss Bettex again about a week later. She inquired, after some general conversation, whether Krieger had said he was guilty. The young teacher said, Commission, told of having On the contrary. I believe that gated the tar and feather party.

He "JAMES LARKIN.".