outlaws--and to-day, gentlemen, he owns a farm as big as Spokane County. We want to hear from him."
When Anderson rose to reply it was seen that he was pale and somber.
Slowly he gazed at the assembly of waiting men, bowed; then he began, impressively:
"Gentlemen an' friends, I wish I didn't have to throw a bomb into this here camp-fire talk. But I've got to. You're all talkin' I. W. W.
Facts have been told showin' a strange an' sudden growth of this here four-flush labor union. We've had dealin's with them for several years. But this year it's different.... All at once they've multiplied and strengthened. There's somethin' behind them. A big unseen hand is stackin' the deck.... An', countrymen, that tremendous power is German gold!"
Anderson's deep voice rang like a bell. His hearers sat perfectly silent. No surprise showed, but faces grew set and hard. After a pause of suspense, in which his denunciation had time to sink in, Anderson resumed:
"A few weeks ago a young man, a stranger, came to me an' asked for a job. He could do anythin', he said. An' I hired him to drive my car.
But he wasn't much of a driver. We went up in the Bend country one day, an' on that trip I got suspicious of him. I caught him talkin'
to what I reckoned was I. W. W. men. An' then, back home again, I
watched him an' kept my ears open. It didn't take long for me to find discontent among my farm-hands. I hire about a hundred hands on my ranches durin' the long off season, an' when harvest comes round a good many more. All I can get, in fact.... Well, I found my hands quittin' me, which was sure onusual. An' I laid it to that driver.
"One day not long ago I run across him hobnobbin' with the strange man I'd seen talkin' with him on the Bend trip. But my driver--Nash, he calls himself--didn't see me. That night I put a cowboy to watch him. An' what this cowboy heard, put together two an' two, was that Nash was assistant to an I. W. W. leader named Glidden. He had sent for Glidden to come to look over my ranch. Both these I. W. W. men had more money than they could well carry--lots of it gold! The way they talked of this money proved that they did not know the source, but the supply was unlimited.
"Next day Glidden could not be found. But my cowboy had learned enough to show his methods. If these proselyters could not coax or scare trusted men to join the I. W. W., they tried to corrupt them with money. An' in most cases they're successful. I've not yet sprung anythin' on my driver, Nash. But he can't get away, an'
meanwhile I'll learn much by watchin' him. Maybe through Nash I can catch Glidden. An' so, gentlemen, here we have a plain case. An' the menace is enough to chill the heart of every loyal citizen. Any way you put it, if harvests can't be harvested, if wheat-fields an'
lumber forests are burned, if the state militia has to be called out--any way you put it our government will be hampered, our supplies kept from our allies--an' so the cause of Germany will be helped.
"The I. W. W. have back of them an organized power with a definite purpose. There can hardly be any doubt that that power is Germany.
The agitators an' leaders throughout the country are well paid.
Probably they, as individuals, do not know who pays them.
Undoubtedly a little gang of men makes the deals, handles the money.
We read that every U. S. attorney is investigating the I. W. W. The government has determined to close down on them. But lawyers an' law are slow to act. Meanwhile the danger to us is at hand.
"Gentlemen, to finish let me say that down in my country we're goin'
to rustle the I. W. W. in the good old Western way."
Chapter V
Golden Valley was the Garden of Eden of the Northwest. The southern slope rose to the Blue Mountains, whence flowed down the innumerable brooks that, uniting to form streams and rivers, abundantly watered the valley.
The black reaches of timber extended down to the grazing-uplands, and these bordered on the sloping golden
When Anderson rose to reply it was seen that he was pale and somber.
Slowly he gazed at the assembly of waiting men, bowed; then he began, impressively:
"Gentlemen an' friends, I wish I didn't have to throw a bomb into this here camp-fire talk. But I've got to. You're all talkin' I. W. W.
Facts have been told showin' a strange an' sudden growth of this here four-flush labor union. We've had dealin's with them for several years. But this year it's different.... All at once they've multiplied and strengthened. There's somethin' behind them. A big unseen hand is stackin' the deck.... An', countrymen, that tremendous power is German gold!"
Anderson's deep voice rang like a bell. His hearers sat perfectly silent. No surprise showed, but faces grew set and hard. After a pause of suspense, in which his denunciation had time to sink in, Anderson resumed:
"A few weeks ago a young man, a stranger, came to me an' asked for a job. He could do anythin', he said. An' I hired him to drive my car.
But he wasn't much of a driver. We went up in the Bend country one day, an' on that trip I got suspicious of him. I caught him talkin'
to what I reckoned was I. W. W. men. An' then, back home again, I
watched him an' kept my ears open. It didn't take long for me to find discontent among my farm-hands. I hire about a hundred hands on my ranches durin' the long off season, an' when harvest comes round a good many more. All I can get, in fact.... Well, I found my hands quittin' me, which was sure onusual. An' I laid it to that driver.
"One day not long ago I run across him hobnobbin' with the strange man I'd seen talkin' with him on the Bend trip. But my driver--Nash, he calls himself--didn't see me. That night I put a cowboy to watch him. An' what this cowboy heard, put together two an' two, was that Nash was assistant to an I. W. W. leader named Glidden. He had sent for Glidden to come to look over my ranch. Both these I. W. W. men had more money than they could well carry--lots of it gold! The way they talked of this money proved that they did not know the source, but the supply was unlimited.
"Next day Glidden could not be found. But my cowboy had learned enough to show his methods. If these proselyters could not coax or scare trusted men to join the I. W. W., they tried to corrupt them with money. An' in most cases they're successful. I've not yet sprung anythin' on my driver, Nash. But he can't get away, an'
meanwhile I'll learn much by watchin' him. Maybe through Nash I can catch Glidden. An' so, gentlemen, here we have a plain case. An' the menace is enough to chill the heart of every loyal citizen. Any way you put it, if harvests can't be harvested, if wheat-fields an'
lumber forests are burned, if the state militia has to be called out--any way you put it our government will be hampered, our supplies kept from our allies--an' so the cause of Germany will be helped.
"The I. W. W. have back of them an organized power with a definite purpose. There can hardly be any doubt that that power is Germany.
The agitators an' leaders throughout the country are well paid.
Probably they, as individuals, do not know who pays them.
Undoubtedly a little gang of men makes the deals, handles the money.
We read that every U. S. attorney is investigating the I. W. W. The government has determined to close down on them. But lawyers an' law are slow to act. Meanwhile the danger to us is at hand.
"Gentlemen, to finish let me say that down in my country we're goin'
to rustle the I. W. W. in the good old Western way."
Chapter V
Golden Valley was the Garden of Eden of the Northwest. The southern slope rose to the Blue Mountains, whence flowed down the innumerable brooks that, uniting to form streams and rivers, abundantly watered the valley.
The black reaches of timber extended down to the grazing-uplands, and these bordered on the sloping golden
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