Jack London
The Socialist/November 4, 1906
ln the State of Idaho, at the present moment, are three men lying in jail. Their names are Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. They are charged with the murder of Governor Steunenberg. Incidentally they are charged with thirty, sixty or seventy other atrocious murders. Not alone are they labor leaders and murderers, but they are anarchists. They are guilty, and they should be swiftly and immediately executed. It is to be regretted that no severer and more painful punishment than hanging awaits them. At any rate there is consolation in the knowledge that these men will surely be hanged.
The foregoing epitomises the information and beliefs possessed by the average farmer, lawyer, professor, clergyman and businessman in the United States. His belief is based upon the information he has gained by reading the newspapers. Did he possess different information, he might possibly believe differently. It is the purpose of this article to try to furnish information such as is not furnished by 99% of the newspapers of the United States.
In the first place, Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were not even in the state of Idaho at the time the crime with which they are charged was committed. In the second place, they are at present in jail in the state of Idaho because of the perpetration of lawless acts by officers of the law, from the chief of the state executives down to the petty deputy chiefs—and this in collusion with mine owners’ associations and railroad companies.
Here is conspiracy self-confessed and openly flaunted. And it is conspiracy and violation of law on the part of the very men who claim that they are trying to bring punishment for conspiracy and violation of law. This is inconsistency, to say the least. It may be added that it is criminal inconsistency. Two wrongs have never been known to make a right. Yet the mine owners begin their alleged crusade for the right by committing wrong.
This is a bad beginning, and it warrants investigation and analysis of the acts, motives and characters of the mine owners; and incidentally an examination of the evidence they claim to have against Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone.
The evidence against these labor leaders is contained in the confession of one Harry Orchard. It looks bad, in the face of it, when a man confesses that at the instigation of another, and for money received from that other, he had committed murder. This is what Harry Orchard confesses.
But this is not the first time that these same labor leaders have been charged with murder; and this is not the first confession implicating them. Colorado is a fertile soil for confessions. Moyer, in particular, has been in jail many times charged with other murders. At least five men have solemnly sworn that at his instigation they have committed murder. Now it is a matter of history that when the tool confesses, the principal swings.
Moyer gives the lie to history. In spite of the many confessions he has never been convicted. This would make it look bad for the confessions. Not only does it make the confession look rotten, but the confessions, in turn, cast a doubt on the sweetness and purity of the present confession of Harry Orchard. In a region noted for the rottenness of its confession-fruit, it would be indeed remarkable to find this latest sample clean and wholesome.
When a man comes into court to give testimony, it is well to know what his character is, what his previous acts are, and whether or not self-interest enters into the case. Comes the mine owners’ association of Colorado and Idaho to testify against Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. Well, then, what sort of men are the mine owners? What have they done in the past?
That the mine owners have violated the laws countless times, there is no discussion. That they have robbed thousands of voters of their suffrage is common knowledge. That they have legalized lawlessness is history. But these things have only a general bearing on the matter at issue. In particular, during and since the labor war that began in Colorado in 1903, the mine owners have charged the members of the Western Federation of Miners with all manner of crimes. There have been many trials, and in every trial the verdict has been acquittal. The testimony in these trials has been given by hired Pinkertons and spies. Yet the Pinkertons and spies, masters in the art of gathering evidence, have always failed to convict in the courts. This looks bad for the sort of evidence that grows in the fertile Colorado soil.
But it is worse than that. While the Pinkertons and spies have proved poor evidence-farmers, they have demonstrated they are good criminals. Many of them have been convicted by the courts and sent to jail for the commission of crimes ranging from theft to manslaughter.
Are the mine owners law abiding citizens? Do they believe in law? Do they uphold the law? ‘‘To hell with the Constitution” was their clearly enunciated statement in Colorado in 1903. Their military agent, General Sherman Bell, said: “To hell with habeas corpus! We will give them post-mortems instead!” Governor Gooding, the present governor of Idaho, has recently said: “To hell with the people.”
Now it is but natural to question the good citizenship of an organization of men that continuously and consistently consigns to hell the process of habeas corpus, the people and the Constitution. In Chicago a few years ago some men were hanged for uttering incendiary language not half so violent as this. But they were workingmen. The mine owners of Colorado and Idaho are the chief executives, or capitalists. They will not be hanged. On the contrary, they have their full liberty, such liberty they are exercising in an effort to hang some other men whom they do not like.
Why do some mine owners dislike Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone? Because these men stand between the mine owners and a pot of money. These men are leaders of organized labor. They plan and direct the efforts of the workingmen to get better wages and shorter hours. The operation of their mines will be more expensive. The higher the running expenses, the smaller the profits. If the mine owners could disrupt the Western Federation of Miners, they would increase the hours of labor, lower wages, and thereby gain millions of dollars. This is the pot of money.
It is a fairly respectable pot of money. Judas betrayed Christ to crucifixion for thirty pieces of silver. Human nature has not changed since that day, and it is conceivable that Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone may be hanged for the sake of a few millions of dollars. Not that the mine owners have anything personally against Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone (Judas had nothing against Christ), but because the mine owners want the pot of money. Judas wanted the thirty pieces of silver.
That the foregoing is not merely surprising, it would be well to state that the mine owners have frequently and outspokenly announced that it is their intention to exterminate the Western Federation of Miners. Here is the motive clearly shown and expressed. It merits consideration on the part of every thoughtful and patriotic citizen.
In brief, the situation at present in Idaho is as follows: following a long struggle between capital and labor, the capitalist organization has jailed the leaders of the labor organization. The capitalist organization is trying to hang the labor leaders. It has tried to do this before, but its evidence and its ‘‘confessions” were always too rotten and corrupt. Its hired spies and Pinkertons have themselves been sent to prison for the commission of all manner of crimes, while they have never succeeded in sending one labor leader to prison.
The capitalist organization has been incendiary in speech, and by unlawful acts has lived up to its speech. It will profit by exterminating the labor organization. The capitalist organization has a bad character. It has never hesitated at anything to attain its ends. By sentiment and act it has behaved unlawfully, as have its agents whom it hired. The situation in Idaho? There can be but one conclusion — THERE IS SOMETHING ROTTEN IN IDAHO!
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