on the stand.
Mahler told of the lumber workers' convention and the sending of
organizer James Rowan to make a survey of the industrial situation in
the lumber centers, Everett being the first point because of its
proximity to Seattle and not by reason of any strikes that may have
existed there. The methods of conducting the free speech fight, the
avoidance of secrecy, the ardent desire for publicity of the methods of
the lumber trust as well as the tactics of the I. W. W., were clearly
explained.

Cooley cross-examined Mahler regarding the song book with reference to
the advocacy and use of sabotage, asking the witness:

"How about throwing a pitchfork into a threshing machine? Would that be
all right?"

"There are circumstances when it would be, I suppose," replied Mahler.
"If there was a farmer deputy who had been at Beverly Park, I think they
certainly would have a right to destroy his threshing machine."

"You think that would justify it?" inquired Cooley.

"Yes," said the witness, "I think that if the man had abused his power
as an officer and the person he abused had no other way of getting even
with him and that justice was denied him in the courts, I fully believe
that he would be. That would not hurt anybody; it would only hurt his
pocketbook."

"Now what is this Joe Hill Memorial Edition?"

"Joe Hillstrom, known as Joe Hill, had written a number of songs in the
I. W. W. Song Book and he was murdered in Utah and the song book was
gotten out in memory of him," responded Mahler.

"He was executed after having been convicted of murder in the first
degree, and sentenced to death. And you say he was murdered?" said
Cooley.

"Yes," said Mahler with emphasis. "Our contention has been that
Hillstrom did not have a fair trial and we are quite capable of proving
it. I may say that President Wilson interceded in his behalf and was
promptly turned down by Governor Spry of Utah. Hillstrom was offered a
commutation of sentence and he refused to take it. He wanted a retrial
or an acquittal. When the President of the United States had interceded
with the Governor of Utah, when various labor organizations asked that
he be given a retrial, and a man's life is to be taken from him, and
people all over the country ask for a retrial, that certainly should be
granted to him."

James P. Thompson was placed upon the stand to explain the principles of
the I. W. W. The courtroom was turned into a propaganda meeting during