take active part in the I. W. W. labor troubles, and this part
of its work is described at some length in the Chief's report:
Thousands of I. W. W.'s drift here at harvest time. Their
jungles sometimes contain as many as one thousand men.
They take charge of whole trains, and force railroads to carry
them wherever they wish. They have forced the city authorities
in small communities to send them a specified amount of
food, and have defied the authorities of larger cities to control
them. By their methods of sabotage, murder and arson
they have terrorized certain sections of this state and destroyed
millions of dollars' worth of property. In the summer
of 1917 the annual influx started. The A. P. L. was called
on for assistance, and decidedly effective measures were
adopted. Home Guards and citizens were organized—later
called by a D. J. officer "the Klu Klux Klan of the Prairies."
Anyhow, this section of the prairies was soon clear. In consequence,
a strike was declared by the Minneapolis branch of
the I. W. W. and some of their gunmen were sent out. The
property of the Chief of Police at Aberdeen was burnt. In
less than two weeks four of these men were under arrest and
two of them are now serving sentences in the Federal Penitentiary
at Leavenworth. The methods adopted by this branch
of the A. P. L. have proved efficacious. Thousands of dollars'
worth of property have been saved.
As Aberdeen is located in one of the Non-Partisan League
districts, and as reports have come from nearby towns denoting
a large percentage of pro-Germanism, it may be well
to quote further from the report of this division. The
Chief says that one family living in Hecla, strongly pro-German,
declared they would never be taken alive. The A. P. L.
took over the case. One man was shot resisting arrest. Five
members of the family were arrested and two were convicted,
while one remains to be tried. "This stopped pro-German
utterances in that community," says the Chief, "and materially
aided in the sale of bonds."
In December, 1917, Fred H of Aberdeen was interned for pro-German utterances. His wife turned state's evidence on members of the local German club where members had been fined for speaking the English language. Four of the leading spirits of this club were taken into custody, one of them the publisher of three German language news-