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| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, December 13, 1919 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1919 |
| Notes | In this report to Broussais Beck on December 13th, 1919, "Agent #106" relates the comments made to him by "Bens of the I.W.W." about the trial connected with the Centralia Massacre. Bens says that "the Centralia gang is going to be badly disappointed" to discover that the accused I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) members have a well-financed legal team representing them. Bens notes that many workers outside the I.W.W. are contributing funds because they have heard the truth about the attack on the I.W.W. hall -- as Bens puts it, "their newspaper propaganda did not work this time". He doesn't know that the jury will be fair, but if they are, he is sure that the wobblies will be acquitted of the charges. In a separate conversation, #106 learns from "Wiesfield of the Retail clerks" that it has been impossible to organize in the department stores because the public has not put enough boycott pressure on them. Wiesfield asserts that "it is impossible to convince those married women that they should join a union" because, as they are their household's second income, they are unconcerned about wages and working conditions. |
| 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; Industrial Workers of the World; Clerks (Retail trade)--Labor unions--Organizing--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00887 |
| 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 1/18 |
| 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 |
