The Seattle Star Newspaper, February 4, 1919, Page 1

GENERAL STRIKE PLANS GOING AHEAD __—SEE. PAGE 2 RAR AAA AA AAA AAA AAA RAR AAA PPR APAPR APLAR PRD PLD LP LLP PPP PPP PP PP PPL PPP PPP PPP PPA PPP PPP ===. The Seattle Star “2 ph aAad GREATEST DAILY CIRC GULATIO aN OF ANE TORER IN, we F ACIFIC NC BTHWES A aiken te Service of the News- Paper wots » ened ateanmarlll Association. VOLUME 2M. “NO. 290 SEATTLE, WASH, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1919. Weather Fe recast: re STOP BEFORE _ TS TOO LAT This is plain talk to the common-sense union men of Seattle. 4 You are being rushed pell-mell into a general strike. You are being urg od to use a dangerous weapon---the general strike, which you have never used before---which, in fact, has. never been used anywhere in the United States, __ It isn’t too late to avert the tragic results that are sure to come from its usé You men know better than any one else that public sentiment in Seattle is, the sentiment of the ninety percent of the people who are not ‘dir rectly involved in the wage dispute of the shipworkers---is against a gene a te. You know that the general public doesn’t think the situation demands use of that drastic, disaster-breeding move. You know, too, that you cannot clul 1 ic sentiment into line, and you know, too, that no strike has ever been won without the al support of the public. The people know that there is a decent solution of the issue at stake. And the issue take is merely a better wage to the average unskilled worker in the shipyards. To arge extent public opinion is with these unskilled workers now, but public opinior x will turn against them if their wage issue brings chaos and disaster upon the whole community unnecessarily. Seattle today is awake to the fact that she is on the brink of a disaster, and Seattle ig: EE getting fighting mad. The people are beginning to visualize the horrors that a general tie-up will bring. They se § the suffering that is bound to come and they don’t propose to be silent sufferers. ‘. Today Seattle resents this whole miserable mess. Seattle resents the insolent attitude of the shipyard owners; # Seattle resents the verbosity of Director General Piez, whose explanation does not explain, and just as emphati¢=" \ ally resents the high-handed “rule or ruin” tactics of the labor leaders who propose to lay the whole city strate in a vain attempt to show their power. Let us not mince words. A general strike cannot win unless e of two things happens. Either the ship owners and Piez must yield or else the workers must be able to}} trol the situation by force. The latter method no doubt would be welcomed by the agitators and the babblers|: Bolshevikism. But the latter method is bound to be squelched without much ado, and you decent union men ce it i ; . a é 4 — be ; Seattle will be the sufferers then. A revolt--and some of your leaders are talking of a revolution--to | successful must have a country-wide application. There isn’t a chance to spread it east of the mountains ere isn’t a chance to spread it south of Tacoma and today fifty per cent of the unions of Tacoma have rned down the proposition for a general strike. = *Fi— Confined to Seattle or even confined to the whole Pacific coast, the use of force by Bolsheviks would be, : ™d should be, quickly dealt with by the army of the United States. These false Bolshevik leaders haven’t a. nce on earth to win anything for you in this country, because this country is America--not Russia.