As a Socialist, of course, Comrade Thompson’s hobby is to have the people do their own work, omitting the grafters. He would make a motion that school buildings should be put up by the city; and he would get one vote beside his own—that of the railroad conductor’s wife. The school board had an electric repair shop, and this persisted in making bids on repair jobs which beat all the contractors—to the contractors’ great annoyance. There was one job on which the city’s men saved the city three thousand dollars, or thirty-five per cent of the total cost. The school board admitted that these workers were responsible and did first-class work; nevertheless, the board passed a motion that the repair shop should make no more bids. On December 20, 1921, bids were opened for a large job, and it was found that the Sterling Electrical Company had bid $22,688, while the school shop bid $4,300 less. The board awarded the contract to the Sterlings, by a vote of five to two—the two, needless to say, being Thompson and Kinney. Thompson got a taxpayer to go before a court and ask an injunction, and Mr. Purdy, representative of the Black Hand on the school board, appeared for his colleagues, and admitted that the shop had proved to be reliable and efficient, but argued that the interest of the private contractors must be conserved! The court sustained the majority of the board, and the city of Minneapolis lost $4,300 to the grafters.[G] It is interesting to note that the judge who rendered the decision is that same Judge Bardwell who kept Comrade Thompson and four other labor men in jail for sixty-five days for violating one of his injunctions! ----- Footnote G: Guy Alexander vs. A. P. Ortquest, Nels Juel, Lowell Jepson, et al.; injunction denied Jan. 25, 1923. ----- CHAPTER XXXVII MILLERS AND MILITARISM In order to make a consecutive story, I have shown what Big Business has done in the way of Graft in Minneapolis. Let us now complete our view by taking up Propaganda and Repression. During the war there was formed a “Public Safety Committee,” a lynching society of the Black Hand. One of the first objects of their attention was the school board—with Lynn Thompson daring to defend a teacher who belonged to the I. W. W.! He was a fine teacher, and there was no other charge against him—but he had to go.