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Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, November 13, 1919
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| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, November 13, 1919 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1919 |
| Notes | In this report to Broussais Beck on November 13th, 1919, "Agent #106" refers to the day as "a day of excitement at the Labor Temple", owing to the raid by government officials on the offices of the Seattle Union Record, and the arrest of the newspaper's officers. Radicals immediately call attention to the fact that, once the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) is pushed out of the way, the A.F. of L. becomes the target. Aulman says that "they" had been looking for an opportunity to do this. He points out that the Union Record is charged with advocating that voters "use their heads" and support "their own representatives", and with calling on its readers not to judge those accused in "the Centralia affair" (as the Centralia Massacre was then being referred to) until all is known about the event. Aulman argues that calling such positions "seditious" is the most egregiously wrong action the city's authorities have ever taken against the labor movement, and that there will be electoral consequences. At 5:00 p.m., word spreads that the Union Record will re-open, now that the authorities have removed any documents they were looking for, and the printers hastily assemble to put out an evening edition. Charles Doyle, of the Central Labor Council, emphasizes the importance of not taking action or stirring up protest, lest Seattle's labor organizations be associated in people's minds with "the Centralia affair". Bill Short, president of the State Federation of Labor, shares Doyle's position, and notes that he saw "the other side" at the Mayor's office, including among them Frank Waterhouse. Short feels that, if labor can avoid creating trouble, they will be able to do more in the future. |
| 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 movements--Washington (State)--Seattle; Labor unions--Washington (State)--Seattle; Business intelligence--Washington (State)--Seattle; Union busting--Washington (State)--Seattle; Seattle union record (Seattle, Wash. : 1918) |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00883 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or inquire about permissions contact: photos@u.washington.edu. |
| Digital Collection | Pacific Northwest Historical Documents
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| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division. |
| Repository Collection | Broussais C. Beck papers. Accession No. 0155-001. Box 1/16 |
| Object Type | Typescript
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| 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 |
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