The Desert of Wheat

It was a dry, high country, noted for an equable climate, with cool summers and mild winters. And

great, pale-red ball, hot at sunrise, and it soared blazing-white at noon, to burn slowly w

imprints of a pedestrian's feet; bits of newspaper stuck fast to the hot tar. Down by the gorge, where the great green river made its magnificent plunges over the falls

st sure disaster to the wheat-fields, and of the activities of the I.W.W. Eve

state. Spokane was awakening to the menace of hordes of strange, idle men who came in on the westbound freight-trains. The railroads had been unable to handle the situa

rmers, and bade them come to Spokane to discuss the situation. They met at the Hotel Davenport, where lunc

sembly of clean-cut, square-jawed, intent-eyed Westerners were: "Gentlemen, we are here to discuss the most threatening and unfortunate situation the Northwest was ever called upon to meet." His address was not long, but it was stirring. The Chamber of Commerc

e that year, a fair yield was expected; that wheat in the Bend would be a failure, though some farmers h

rial Workers of the World drew the absorbed attention of the meeting. Dep

y, a prominent and intelligent rancher of

is nothing less than rebellion, and the most effective means of suppressing rebellion is

-box. They are against the war, and their method of making known their protest is by burning our grain, destroying ou

ore drastic measures would have been taken. The Westerners were handy with the rope and the gun

bels,' but at least we could intern them. The British have found it practicable to put German

ld help to save the crop of Washington to the nation in case of labor trouble. Steps already had been taken to mobilize workers

ith a statement of the number of days they were willing to wo

the Blue Mountains, s

been engaged in logging that land until our operations have been stopped and our business paralyzed by an organization which calls i

n threatened with physi

s who camp out in the forests and who

that our works, our logs, and

meetings, and in the literature of the

y, will be paralyzed by this organization, by the destruction of property u

illing to work are fearful of their lives and are subject to abuse, threats, and violence. Our camps, when in operation, are visited by individuals belonging to the said organization, and the men peaceably en

n danger of disastrous fires. The organization and its members have openly and repeatedly asserted that they will burn the logs

heir very presence is a fire menace. They are engaged in no business except to interfere with the ind

es. We are now helpless, and place the responsibility for the protection of our property and the pro

ch he had heard made to a crowd of three hundred workmen. It was significant that several m

clared the I.W.W. orator. "You know what the working-men did there to the slimy curs, the gunmen, and the st

d another silence the presiden

of him. His people were pioneers. He was born in Washington. He is a type of the men who have made the Northwest. He fought the Indians

s pale and somber. Slowly he gazed at the assembly

n' a strange an' sudden growth of this here four-flush labor union. We've had dealin's with them for several years. But this year it's different.… All at once th

t. No surprise showed, but faces grew set and hard. After a pause of su

rip I got suspicious of him. I caught him talkin' to what I reckoned was I.W.W. men. An' then, back home again, I watched him an' kept my ears open. It didn't take long for me to find discontent among my farm-hands. I hire

wboy to watch him. An' what this cowboy heard, put together two an' two, was that Nash was assistant to an I.W.W. leader named Glidden. He had sent for Glidden to come to look over my ranc

ng anythin' on my driver, Nash. But he can't get away, an' meanwhile I'll learn much by watchin' him. Maybe through Nash I can catch Glidden. An' so, gentlemen, here we have a plain case. An' the menace is enough to chill the heart of every loyal citizen. Any way

he country are well paid. Probably they, as individuals, do not know who pays them. Undoubtedly a little gang of men makes the deals, handles the money. We read that ever

own in my country we're goin' to rustle