THE I.W.W.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 9, 5 October 1917, Page 5

THE I.W.W.

INDICTMENT BY WELL-KNOWN

NOVELIST

MRS. ATHERTON'S INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THEM

(From tho "New York Times.")

home years ago—l thing it was in 1918 suspecting Unit our most menacing ynomy was not across tho Pacific, but within our own borders, 1 sont for one of tho I.W.W. leaders and induced him to talk to me for three hours. Ho was flattered, of course, and talked very freely, laying many of his cards boastfully on tho table. What he thought he was concealing, however, was even more significant. Ho left me with no doubt in my mind that he nnd his tribe were merely waiting for tho United States to become involved in war (Japan at that time was their main hope) to organise themselves from one end of tho'country to the other and endeavour to seize the reins of Government. I wrote nothing about it. then, as nobody, in this country, at least, ever listens to warnings, and you aro a fool for your pains. German agents have been watched for three years byour admirablo Secret Service and police, and since we entered the war havo lain low, biding thoir time. On.the other hand, the I.W.W.'s, the most pestiferous growth that ever menaced the stable and cultivated products of any country—a l ! that represents progress—were allowed to .fhoot forth their sticky, miasmatic tendrils from one end of the country to the other. Their purpose is civil war, with all tho soldiers in Europe. They aro merely organising and recruiting now, spreading discontent, making suro of an "army when tho moment comes to strike. It is possible that their pockets may be full of German money, for such a spirit iri an enemy's country would assist the (><'> man machinations incalculably, but the spirit was ready made: the Germans are not responsible for its creaUon-unless, to he sure, thev begun v™ uncanny foresight Tears ago; but as/hoy are thirdrate .diploma! ists and always give themselves away, this possibility may lie'dismissed. _ The I.W.W. Boast. This man's boast was that the I.W.W. would induce strike after strike, year in and out, until the employer, who could afford no longer to raise wages, would throw up the sponge, and hand tho business over. Then from an eight-hour dnv there would be a six, then a four, then a two. "quite enough for any man to work." I mildly assed— watching this large, £ross individual, whoso colossal vanity and egoism seemed to me the natural complement of the heavy "magnetism" which nature has bestowed so impartially upon the wise and the foolish leaders of mcn-if two hours work a day would not demoralise strong moil that they would not work at all. In'that caso we should all stjrvj. Would not all tl\B great businesses and industries fall to pieces nnd the population be forced to turn itself out to grass? But he fatuously insisted that, with the. Government in' the hands of tho "idealists, as ho called them, and money abolished, there would bo no necessity for any business but what was nctnally needed lo sustain life. There would be no rich nnd no poor, nnd everybody would be forced to bo happy, whatever his private inclinations-or so I inferred. It was plain to be seen that m the act.ro bit painfullv -limited intelligence ot the IW W (well nick-named the I Avon t Works), tho goal of mortal ambition was idleness. An earthly Paradise, with the world stock still. . . T I had my own unuttered opinions as t listened to'these fine-spun dreams, v\'.rked out in every detail (for these i™dy details I hive no space), and although I was inclined to believe at times that the man reallv did think he had high ideals, which had been dreams for the hf-neht of the human race, bo was a lnußhablo object; for ho was, quite salicntly. a bully and a tyrant. These men may fool themselves,; and, knowing that there is no limit to human credulity, even when introspective, let us concede they do. Nevertheless, what they really want is power-unlimited power. I ascertained shortly after tluv.durmg strikes induced bv the I W.W.'s, when the men and tteif families were almost starving these "lenders" would be consuming large red bpefsteaks (their favourite torm o nourishment, as I took- the trouble, todiscover) and the money for their three big ' square meals a day camo from the fees of the deluded men who were covering their ears that they might not hear their : children'scries for bread.

The Lust for Power. Power-power-to seize the wealth of the world, to.administer this wealth as thev see fit, to force the great trperla in, •business to work for them at t hatever salary they choose to pay. Also tteir worker brethren. They may abolish poverty but on their own terms. I afketl t midly if I mignl be allowed to write rinder the new regime, and he answered amiablv: "Oh, dear me, yes. W woUd aC that you had no other duties, m. fact But you would have to. write booU that please the majority. Inn disdain the masses and write for the few— I told him that I should like nothing better than to be a widerly popnlar author but that my books seemed to appeal only to a limited public. ' That, '* «.*!*. Willi surnrisim: acumen, "is because only a limited public travels and snjoys to advantages of this . world-understands them. TJnder our form of government Ml will travel and all will demand your best." It certainly had its attractive points, this astounding' system of tho TWWs, and there were moments when I liked the chief exponent, .ilthougli mv prevailing sensation was a mental arid physical repulsion and a -.-esentment that I was forced to sit in the Game room with' him. It .seemed to me that I locked through a shadowed glass at the it.ost hideous future toward which any ceun. trv in tho course of history could be swept. Even tho Germans have not given men since that evening • a profouudor sense of foreboding and abnoirence. ... ~, „„ Now nothing is more positive tl-nn that there ore hundreds like this man (who, for the most part, skulks like a spider in his web and sends m; filaments invisible to the WB«P«>tinß American eve), and that from the moment thev 'believed tho time was ripe thev have been systematically working upon tho ignorant minds of the proletariat with the object of bringing .ibout in our weakest moment, a general strike, ■\ few vigilant local authorities have taken them in hand, but for the most part, they merely figure honourably as "news." A Trench officer told ine last vear when I was in Paris that duniig the first week of the war 300 '"f" flf » the Midi were stood up against he wall and shot for trying to persuade then comrades not to fight. These men were syndicalists, of course (same breed as I'WW/s), but in every instance a posti card was sent to their parents v wives covered with these words in,largo .letters, that more than the family might read: "Tour was shot this morning for cowardice." That ended it. The remaining syndicalists promptly turned a somersault and became patriots. We arc a weak-kneed race where punishment i.« concerned, and no doubt will content ourselves with putting the I.W.Y\. ringleaders in gaol, and then go to slc-er, until now ringleaders, after lying low for a while, squirm through the cnuntrj again. When a farmer finds a nest o rattlesnakes on his place does ho vail for them to bite his family, or does h exterminate them at once? The worst o| the I.W.W.'s against whom a clear esse of conspiracy can bo-proved should be shot, and tho rest, deported en masse tc a desert island-where there would b an aristocracy in less than a month, th weaker working for the stronger and plotting rebellion.