Page:The web (1919).djvu/140

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whose whole theory from the foundation has been that of the rights of man, who fought in all her wars for the rights of man and has asked only in this peace the recognition of the rights of man. Ah, they were so wise, these ruffians!

But now they ran against our espionage law and its new teeth. Secretly watched for months by the many agents of the Government and its auxiliaries, the I. W. W. was at last found with sufficient goods on it to warrant the movement of the law's forces. The charges were made that I. W. W. members had violated the espionage act; that they had fostered strikes to delay the output in war munitions; that they had spoiled industrial material; that they had been guilty of acts of violence against men not of their views; that they had violated the postal laws; that they had violated the statutes against conspiracy. The indictments were framed on those general lines, and the long arm of Uncle Sam, not that of any state or county or city, reached out for the accused.

By this time the agitations of the I. W. W. had covered Montana, Arizona and Colorado, were reaching into Utah and Nevada, and had Minnesota and Michigan next on the list. But pari passu with the I. W. W. activities had gone on those of certain other alphabetical organizations, to wit, D. J. and A. P. L.

Mr. Clabaugh, the storm center of the Chicago Bureau of Investigation, worked long months with the Government attorneys. Mr. Frank Nebeker, the trial lawyer, was an assistant U. S. Attorney General of Salt Lake City, and he was on this case for over a year. It was he who directed the raids. He was assisted by Mr. Claude Porter, of Des Moines, Iowa, U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa—now Assistant to the U. S. Attorney General in Washington. Mr. Porter came on as Special Assistant in place of Mr. Frank C. Dailey of Indianapolis, who had resigned. These men and their aids brought together, as has been said, the most elaborate legal records ever known. That they had the evidence is proved by the results of the trial—ninety-seven convictions out of the ninety-nine accused and tried. The A. P. L. got the evidence.

These men and Mr. Clabaugh were all in conference with U. S. Attorneys all over the country from Detroit west,