the dictators of the Central Powers in European waters, on land and in the air, are dependent upon Tampico for fuel oil, gasoline and lubrication.
Because Germany's ally, the I.W.W., operates in Tampico our battleships cruise in Mexican territorial waters to protect this oil basin without which the war cannot be won.
A few months before I arrived in Mexico agents of the Industrial Workers of the World organised a strike along the docks in an attempt to tie up all shipping at the port of Tampico. Money was sent from New York by German agents to Tampico to be used against the oil companies and the Allies. A special messenger carrying fourteen thousand dollars was spotted as he landed. At that time the quick intervention of United States naval officers and the co-operation of the managers of the oil companies and the Mexican authorities aborted the German plot. The strike failed and the I.W.W. leaders were temporarily discredited; but to-day the same plotters, inspired by the same foreigners and financed by the same interests, are working through the Labourers' Union and the Union of Port Mechanics—the I.W. W. in sheep's clothing. I found them preparing the workers for another lockout by urging the men to strike for higher wages, though the wages being paid were the highest in the world for this kind of labour. The I.W.W. propaganda is as lawless as the German agitation in Russia, but always one
