Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1920 — GOVERNMENT IN FIGHT ON REVOLT [ARTICLE]

GOVERNMENT IN FIGHT ON REVOLT

Strike Raid Seen as Move to Nip Soviet Rule In the 11. S. RED ORGANIZATION POWERFUL Gained Control of $50,000,000 of Imerlal Russian Money In America and Have 35,000 Speakers. Chicago, April 16.—The first move of the government in an open fight against revolutionary groups whose avowed purpose is the overthrow of tho constituted government of the United States, substituting therefor a “rule of the proletariat” patterned after the Russian soviets. Is seen in the Issuing of warrants for the arrest of “outlaw” railroad union officials for violation of the Lever net. It is known —has been known for some time In official circles, due to the vigilance of certain volunteers esplonorganlsatlons centered In Chicago—that an attempt at revolution was to be made In the United States May 1,1920. The date was originally November 10, to follow the unauthorised steel strike. It was a month to follow the tleup of the coal mines; then it was set for May I, to follow a general tleup of the country's Industry through a nation-wide railroad strike —the country Is In the midst of It now —all unauthorised by the international labor unions. ‘ The power of the old labor unions to hold the radical groups In check Is lost. The preambles to the published platform books of the various "outlaw” labor organizations—bound in red paper—state that the purpose of their existence Is to form a grand lodge of locals, independent of the' International brotherhood of railway workers. Powerful Organization, Claim. The organization is powerful, according to William R. Moss, chairman of the committee on Americanization of-the Chicago Association of Commerce, who has been touring the country speaking before business men, manufacturers, bankers and , employees' associations, trying to warn the country of the proposed attempt at revolution. “Ambassador David R. Francis, upon his return from Russia," said Mr. Moss, “showed that the soviet organizations In America had gained control of $00,000,000 of Imperial Russian money In this country. The revolutionary groups are not poor. They have 30,000 speakers and organizers scattered throughout the country. The country should be aroused to this attempt by the minority to rule the majority. It is not a time to get excited, the thing is going to happen. This is the time for every man who Is an American and who has the nerve to say so, to stand upon his own feet, to talk sanely, to act sanely, for the situation Is one that calls for the sanest, coolest, clearest thinking heads In America. “The situation is grave and cannot be overestimated. The revolt movement can be defeated if the American people—by that I mean the people who believe In this country—can be brought to realize the peril. Radicalism as well as bourbonlsm, the two extremes that are causing the trouble, must be corrected. I can only refer for corroboration to the book on syndicalism by Earl C. Ford and William Z. Foster, who engineered the steel strike, published in 1912.” Business Thrown Into Confusion. The situation is known to business men, contractors, bankers, etc. It is next to impossible to get a contractor to make blds upon work now that cannot be completed before May 1. Bankers are considering methods of refusing more deposits. Business is chaotic. “This Idea of revolution Is not a scarehead one,” said a man, who cannot be quoted for the reason that he is one of those who have been looking Into the unmabked red of the volcano and reporting Its seething. “It began In Seattle more than eighteen months ago. The Industrial Workers of the World, the Friends of the

American Revolution, organizations of propagandists from Russia, Germany and elsewhere and numerous other groups have been slowly harmonizing. The Seattle attempt failed not because Ole Hanson put his foot down but because the people behind that attempt were using It simply as a means of learning their power. They learned that society in America is dependent for its existence upon basic industries, the utilities. little more than a year ago It was tried in Winnipeg with a general strike that tied up the city for more than a month. They learned tben,that ‘lt could be done. Bit by bit they tried their power, first with the steel strike, then the coal strike, then came strikes called sporadically at the public utility plants; policemen and firemen were called out; now we have the railroad strike.”