100 years ago in the Inland Northwest: The Wobblies make waves

The Wobblies – members of the radical union the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW – were making news around the region.

They had already called for a strike in the region’s lumber camps. They also issued a statement in Coeur d’Alene saying that they would not yet attempt a strike in that city’s lumber mills – but they might later. The Wobblies said they had a membership of 200 in Coeur d’Alene.

“We will have to demonstrate our strength in other places first,” one of the local leaders said. “The strike will only be in the woods for a while.”

Meanwhile a Wobbly strike of railroad laborers in Odessa, Washington, was short-lived after the Great Northern agreed to an eight-hour day.

However, back at the Spokane Wobbly headquarters, agitation was gearing up for the lumber camp strike. New posters warned men to stay out of the Cascade lumber camps.

“We’ve got the lumber camps tied up,” one Wobbly said. “And this time, the workers can hold out longer than the bosses.”

These strikes were especially controversial in wartime, since they were perceived as a threat to national security and defense.

The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial titled “Steps Taken To Combat IWW Menace,” in which it endorsed a plan to suppress the activities of “defiant men who are lacking in patriotism.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1787: English historian Edward Gibbon completed his six-volume work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”