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| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, June 5, 1919 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1919 |
| Notes | In this report to Broussais Beck on June 3rd, 1919, "Agent #106" begins by describing the "joy in the I.W.W. camp" at the Labor Temple over the news that James Bruce had been acquitted. #106 notes that Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) members are using the acquittal as evidence that "the I.W.W. organization is a lawful organization and that anybody can now join without any fear." He then speaks to Jenkins, an I.W.W. member who is also part of the Soldiers & Sailors Union. Jenkins tells #106 that the union's 250 "class conscious members" are more effective than the 3, 000 "uninterested members" of the Soldiers & Sailors Council. He assures #106 that, despite the Legion of Liberty's intentions to "swamp" the union, they will be able to prevent a sudden influx of members very easily. #106 then speaks with "Weiscup of the Central Labor Council and some members of the I.W.W.". Weiscup predicts a likely future of arrests and police actions against labor, as injunctions are useless against the police. He suggests that "the thing will have to be fought out on industrial lines". Another man refers admiringly to "Williams, who was on the witness stand for Bruce", a veteran who had been wounded in the war on three occasions and who was elected as the secretary of the Butte local of the I.W.W., as an example of "true Americanism". |
| Contextual Notes | Broussais Coman Beck (1886-1936) was a prominent Seattle businessman and rowing enthusiast. He was educated at the University of Washington and at Yale, graduating from the latter university in 1911. He returned to Seattle later in the 1910s to work as the store manager for the Bon Marche. In the wake of the Seattle general strike of 1919, Beck paid spies to infiltrate the labor movement in Seattle, and received frequent reports from his agents (often accompanied by clippings or ephemera relating to labor organizations) in 1919 and 1920. Due to the information acquired through these reports, the Bon Marche was centrally important to the alliance of Seattle employers who organized against labor, a group called the Associated Industries of Seattle -- and, consequently, the Bon Marche became the target of increased pressure and boycotts by organized labor in this time period. |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Beck, Broussais C., 1886-1936; Labor movement--Washington (State)--Seattle; Labor unions--Washington (State)--Seattle; Business intelligence--Washington (State)--Seattle; Union busting--Washington (State)--Seattle; American Federation of Labor; Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity; Industrial Workers of the World |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00859 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or inquire about permissions contact: photos@u.washington.edu. |
| Digital Collection | Pacific Northwest Historical Documents
|
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division. |
| Repository Collection | Broussais C. Beck papers. Accession No. 0155-001. Box 1/5 |
| Object Type | Typescript
|
| Physical Description | 1 leaf; 28 x 21.5 cm. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original text or image at 150 dpi saved in TIFF format, resized and enhanced using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm software's JPEG2000 Extension. 2011. |
| Restrictions | For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Reproduction & Use page: http://content.lib.washington.edu/sc-use.html |
