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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 3, 1909
Chicago, Illinois – St. John Welcomes Spokane Industrial Worker
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of April 1, 1909:
FROM I. W. W. HEADQUARTERS.
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Chicago, March 24.
The initial issue of the Industrial Worker is a credit to the organization in Spokane and will help to prove to the friends and enemies of the I. W. W. alike that the organization is still kicking. Passing Fellow Workers of Spokane bouquets will not be of very much material benefit to them and so, in this regard you can consider that your time and mine is saved and that everything that I could or should say in the way of congratulations has been said.
VINCENT ST. JOHN.
Gen. Secy. Treas.[Inset of I. W. W. Executive Board added.]
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THEY LIKE THE PAPER.
Chicago, Ill., March 23rd, 1909.
The initial number of the “Spokane Industrial Worker” just to hand. Bully for the “Slummists” [or “Bummery”] On glancing-over the paper I’ll find it to contain the right kind of stuff for the worker who wants to learn and know the Industrial Workers of the World, what it stands for now and it’s final aim. Let’s hope that it will continue along the same lines in the future.
The cartoon is a feature which deserves the attention of everybody who has a bit of sense of humor.
The paper stock is fine and the type easy to read.
Words, words, words, “How mighty is the supply of sound behind which lies no support of deeds,” can not be said of the I. W. W. membership on the Pacific Coast .
If there is anything I can do for you, give me particulars.
With success to the “Industrial Worker” and best regards to all the hustlers.
OTTO JUSTH.
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These items may not interest those far away from Spokane and the “Inland Empire,” but for the transient worker this should be the leading article in the paper. There are more men out of a job now than ever before, and how to navigate on the road is a good thing to know. We begin today, leaving Spokane on the Northern Pacific and going west. The first station is Marshall Junction. Nothing doing. It is a small farmer town and the place is hostile and there are two bulls, but you can eat there if you throw out your feet. Don’t stop at Cheney unless you get ditched. The through freights pull right through Cheney unless they take water. Sprague is next. Twenty-five miles from Cheney. This is another hoosier town, and it has been battered to death this last winter. You may eat there, but you will have your troubles. A little ranch work is all in Sprague.
The next stop of any size is Ritzville. The jungles are out at the fair grounds, about a mile west of the town. There is a sheriff in Ritzville, but he is generally out fishing. Chewings are fair in Ritzville. Try and make them believe you are German. Lind is the next stop. She takes coal and water at Lind and there may be a little work on the ranches out of Lind. The dust is fierce and they are a lot of sowbelly ranchers and cheap. The jungles in Lind are about a mile to the east of the station, but you will have to pack your water from the water tank near the station. She’s pretty rocky!
“Keep Your Eye on Pasco.”
From Lind to Pasco there are nothing but jerk stations and hoosier wheat stations and God help the stiff that gets ditched at most of them. Pasco is a holy fright, now there are men there for every tie in the track. Right across the Columbia River from Pasco is Kennewick. It is two miles from Pasco. There is rail road work around there on the Milwaukee and the North Coast, etc. but Porter Bros, and Pat Welch have laid off a lot of men and the jungles all around Pasco are swarming. You can cook or boil up anywhere, almost around Pasco, but it is better down by the river, for there is water and no one to bother.
An I. W. W. card will carry you on almost any freight train west of Spokane and there are several I. W. W. train crews that are all right.
Next week we will have some more detailed information from some of the boys who are out on the road.
[“The Blanket Stiff” added.]
[Emphasis added throughout.]———-
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SOURCE
Industrial Worker
(Spokane, Washington)
-Apr 1, 1909
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v1n03-apr-01-1909-IW.pdf
IMAGES
IWW Exec Board, from Letter by St John of Apr 21, 1909,
-See IUB, Mar 6, 1909, scroll down to bottom
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iub/v2n31-mar-06-1909-iub.pdf
“The Blanket Stiff” by Fowler
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Z6o9AAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA830
See: The International Socialist Review, Volume 9
(Chicago, Illinois)
-July 1908-June 1909
Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1909
https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6o9AAAAYAAJ
ISR-Apr 1909
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Z6o9AAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA736
See also:
Industrial Worker
(Spokane, Seattle: 1909-1931)
Report by Chris Perry and Victoria Thorpe
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Industrial_Worker.htm
Tag: Spokane Industrial Worker
https://weneverforget.org/tag/spokane-industrial-worker/
Industrial Union Bulletin
(Chicago, Illinois: 1907-1909)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Union_Bulletin
Copies of IUB & IW: 1907-1913
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/
The IWW – its History, Structure and Methods
By Vincent St. John
-Edited, with Forward and Epilogue, by Mark Damron, 2001
-Originally Published by IWW PUBLISHING BUREAU in CHICAGO, 1917
https://www.iww.org/about/official/StJohn
For more on St John as General Secretary-Treasurer:
The IWW
A Study of American Syndicalism
-by Paul Frederick Brissenden, Ph.D.
2nd Edition, NY, 1920
(search: “st john”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=5CRAAAAAYAAJ
For more on “bummery”:
Page 213-Chapter IX: Doctrinaire Versus Direct-Actionist (1908)
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=5CRAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA213
Page 220-re 1908 Convention, beginning Sept 21, 1908
-DeLeon v the Western “bummery” (migratory workers):
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=5CRAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA220
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The Tramp – Cisco Houston
Lyrics by Joe Hill