Next comes the question of the open shop, the most important in the world to our National Manufacturers, who have been active in putting anti-union propaganda into the schools, and in spying on those who deal with unions. We have seen this going on in city after city—Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Detroit; and now we discover the central source from which these impulses come. The National Association of Manufacturers maintains an “Open Shop Department,” with a huge campaign fund, and Mr. Noel Sargent as manager. Mr. Sargent obtained the distribution of his anti-union literature to every school child of New York, and when he was challenged about this he explained quite innocently that “the association wished merely to see that students and teachers understood its view-point.” The American Federation of Labor made protest to the school authorities; but it happened, amusingly enough, that at this very time the big labor chiefs of New York City were doing their best to elect the Tammany ticket—the very gang under whose direction the distributing had been done! Cross the continent to Stockton, California, and observe the local branch of the Black Hand, known as the M. M. & E. (Merchants, Manufacturers and Employers), engaged in strangling the high school paper, the “Guard and Tackle,” because the student publishers committed the crime of accepting the lowest bid for printing the paper—which bid happened to be made by a concern employing union printers! The editor of the “Forum,” an independent newspaper of Stockton, is greatly distressed by this action; he thinks the M. M. & E. is drawing the class lines in an artificial and fantastic way. Secretary Baker of the M. M. & E. admits that he has caused advertising to be withdrawn from the school paper, and admits the reason, but declines to put the statement into writing, so that his organization would be legally responsible. It appears that Professor Reed, financial adviser of the school boys, is a canny gentleman, who advised the boys, at the time they made their contract with the union concern, to reserve the right to cancel the contract in case of interference by the business masters of Stockton. So the work was taken from the union printers; but six months have passed, and the school paper has not yet got back its lost advertising!