The Everett Massacre: A history of the class struggle in the lumber industrySmith, Walker C.
History
The Everett Massacre: A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry
Smith, Walker C.
Industrial Workers of the World; Lumbering -- Washington (State); Lumbermen -- Washington (State)
With the true logic of the counting-house Cooley admitted that the mill
owners had formed a mob to protect themselves from the rabble, they had
pursued illegal methods to prevent the breaking of The Law, they had
jailed men in order to preserve Liberty, they had even blacklisted union
men in order to give to every man the right to work where, when and for
whom he pleased. There is no escaping such logic if one owns property.
Of course those who possess no property are the natural enemies of
property, and law being based upon property, they are defiers of The
Law, and Society being upheld only by observance of The Law, they are
the foes of Society. It is not best to kill them in too large numbers
for they are useful in doing the work of the world, but they must be
kept in fear and trembling of The Law and made to respect it as sacred
and inviolable, even if we do not. So argued Black and Cooley.
But the whine of Black, the snarl of Cooley, the moody silence of
Veitch, alike served as a confession that "law and order" was a failure.
The plea of the State was that all law is the creature of property and
when the power of the law proves inadequate in its function of
protecting the accumulations of wealth the possessors of property are
justified in supplementing The Law with such additional physical or
brute force as they can muster, or in casting aside The Law altogether,
as it suits their convenience. To the workers The Law must remain sacred
while to the leisure class Property is the thing to worship, for however
much robbery is to be condemned, the proceeds of robbery are always to
be respected.
Their further contention was that the streets are for traffic, for
maintaining commerce, in other words to aid in the gathering of property
and to enhance the property values already cleared. Out of the
graciousness of their hearts the business men and employers allow the
pedestrians to use the streets incidental to the purchase of goods or to
journey to and from their tasks in the factories, mines, mills and
workshops. That the streets might be used for social, religious,
political or educational purposes does not enter their calculations,
their ledgers carry no place for such entries on the profit side. Free
speech is tolerated at times provided nothing of importance is said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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