“Open threats have been made that our works, our logs, and our
    timber will all be burned.

    “Sabotage is publicly preached in the meetings, and in the
    literature of the organization it is advised and upheld.

“The open boast is made that the lumbering industry, with all other industry, will be paralyzed by this organization, by the destruction of property used in industry and by the intimidation of laborers who are willing to work.

“A real and present danger to the property of my company exists.  Unless protection is given to us it will probably be burned and destroyed.  Our lawful operations cannot be conducted because laborers who are willing 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 engaged in them threatened with death if they do not cease work.  All sorts of injury to property by the driving of spikes in logs, the destruction of logs, and other similar acts are encouraged and recommended.

“As I pointed out to the sheriff of our county, the season is a very dry one and the woods are and will be, unless rain comes, in danger of disastrous fires.  The organization and its members have openly and repeatedly asserted that they will burn the logs in the woods and burn the forests of this company and other timber-holders before they will permit logging operations to continue.

“Many individuals belonging to the organization are camped in the open in the timbered country, and their very presence is a fire menace.  They are engaged in no business except to interfere with the industry and to interfere with the logging of this company and others who engaged in the logging business.

“We have done what we could in a lawful manner to continue our operations and to protect our employees.  We are now helpless, and place the responsibility for the protection of our property and the protection of our employees upon the board of county commissioners and upon the officers of the county.”

Next President Riesinberg called upon a young reporter to read paragraphs of an I.W.W. speech he had heard made to a crowd of three hundred workmen.  It was significant that several members of the Chamber of Commerce called for a certain paragraph to be reread.  It was this: 

“If you working-men could only stand together you could do in this country what has been done in Russia,” declared the I.W.W. orator.  “You know what the working-men did there to the slimy curs, the gunmen, and the stool-pigeons of the capitalistic class.  They bumped them off.  They sent them up to say, ‘Good morning, Jesus.’”

After a moment of muttering and another silence the president again addressed the meeting: