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| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #17 to Broussais Beck, December 5, 1919 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1919 |
| Notes | In this labor spy report given to Broussais Beck on December 5, 1919, "Agent #17" describes his work auditing the books for the Industrial Workers of the World, as a part of an audit committee of three ("Allen" and "Strand" are the other members). He informs Beck about the amount of money taken in by the I.W.W., where it was spent, and how it was received. #17 notes the amount of money spent to assist I.W.W. members "in jail in Centralia", as well as the number of members jailed in Seattle. He informs Beck that the most active delegates, E. W. Trainor, Roy Samuelson, and Frank Parker, are all in jail, and that the "places that the Wobblies hang out in" are generally quiet. |
| 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 |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00947 |
| 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| Digital Collection | Pacific Northwest Historical Documents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 2/1 |
| Object Type | Typescript
|
| Physical Description | 1 leaf; 28 x 22 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 |
