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| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, April 6, 1920 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1920 |
| Notes | In this report to Broussais Beck on April 6th, 1920, "Agent #106" describes a meeting "down the Skid Road or south of Yesler Way" with O'Hanrahan, who states that injustice in the Centralia Massacre trial was expected, and therefore the convictions are no surprise. He comments wryly that the "Pluts" are giving the workers a better education in the need for organized labor than they could otherwise get. He adds that the actions of "the Lumber Barons and the Chamber of Commerce" have given the A.F. of L. a stronger commitment to supporting the I.W.W. than ever before. Later, #106 meets "Morgan of the Shipyard Workers" who describes the attempt to "save the situation for organized labor" in Seattle's shipyards. He tells #106 about the movement to elect shop stewards and delegates to the Central Labor Council who are "on the job every day" and can therefore be better representatives. Morgan believes that choosing representatives who know the conditions in the yards will be more effective than choosing "those that can talk the most". |
| 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; American Federation of Labor |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00900 |
| 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 1/22 |
| 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 |
