behind the scenes.

Why should the beautiful city of Centralia tolerate the hated Union hall
any longer? Other halls had been raided, men had been tarred and feathered
and deported--no one had ever been punished! Why should the good citizens
of Centralia endure a lumberworkers headquarters and their despised union
itself right in the midst of their peaceful community? Why indeed! The
matter appeared simple enough from any angle. So then and there the
conspiracy was hatched that resulted in the tragedy on Armistice Day. But
the forces at work to bring about this unhappy conclusion were far from
local. Let us see what these were like before the actual details of the
conspiracy are recounted.

There were three distinct phases of this campaign to "rid the woods of the
agitators." These three phases dovetail together perfectly. Each one is a
perfect part of a shrewdly calculated and mercilessly executed conspiracy
to commit constructive murder and unlawful entry. The diabolical plan
itself was designed to brush aside the laws of the land, trample the
Constitution underfoot and bring about an unparalleled orgy of unbridled
labor hatred and labor repression that would settle the question of
unionism for a long time.

The Conspiracy--And a Snag

First of all comes the propaganda stage with the full force of the
editorial virulence of the trust-controlled newspapers directed against
labor in favor of "law and order," i.e., the lumber interests. All the
machinery of newspaper publicity was used to vilify the lumber worker and
to discredit his Union. Nothing was left unsaid that would tend to produce
intolerance and hatred or to incite mob violence. This is not only true of
Centralia, but of all the cities and towns located in the lumber district.
Centralia happened to be the place where the tree of anti-labor propaganda
first bore its ghastly fruit. Space does not permit us to quote the
countless horrible things the I.W.W. was supposed to stand for and to be
constantly planning to do. Statements from the lips of General Wood and
young Roosevelt to the effect that citizens should not argue with
Bolshevists but meet them "head on" were very conspicuously displayed on
all occasions. Any addle-headed mediocrity, in or out of uniform, who had
anything particularly atrocious to say against the labor movement in
general or the "radicals" in particular, was afforded every opportunity to
do so. The papers were vying with one