[399] A few weeks later the editor of the _Industrial Union News_ wrote (in the issue of Nov. 9, 1907, p. 2, col. 1) that the I. W. W. "accomplished the organization of a body of metalliferous miners, nearly 3,000 strong, in the far-off territory of Alaska since the third annual convention which adjourned September 24." [400] "Reflections on the Third Annual Convention," _Industrial Union Bulletin_, Oct. 5, 1907, p. 2. [401] "The I. W. W., its Strength and Opportunity," by "The Commentator," _Solidarity_, Feb. 25, 1911. [402] _Industrial Union Bulletin_, Oct. 24. 1908. [403] Rudolph Katz, "With DeLeon Since '89," _Weekly People_, Dec. 4, 1915, p. 2, col. 4. CHAPTER IX DOCTRINAIRE VERSUS DIRECT-ACTIONIST (1908) For a period of nearly two years following the financial panic of 1907, the I. W. W. had a precarious and for the most part uneventful existence. The organization made practically no headway with its recruiting and propaganda work. Indeed, it probably lost ground. There was a falling off in the number of locals in the organization and, at least for 1909, in the number of local union charters issued. Vincent St. John, at that time General Organizer, said in his report to the fourth convention: The big majority of the locals that have disbanded can be traced to the inability of the general organization to finance the number of organizers needed to see that the membership of these locals have a thorough understanding of the aims and objects of the I. W. W. before leaving them to their own devices. There are several cases where the disbanding of locals is the result of the combined opposition of the employers' associations and their zealous allies, the officials of "harmony of interests" organizations which call themselves labor organizations for no other purpose than to better accomplish their task of deluding the workers.[404]