I. W. W. vs. K. K. K.

I.W.W. vs. K.K.K.

One spectacle that the enterprise of motion picture producers has not yet exploited is a fight between the Industrial Workers of the World and the Ku Klux Klan. But the city of Port Arthur, Texas--population 22,000--staged for the public the thrilling battle of I. W. W. vs. K. K. K.

In June an organizer of the I. W. W. named Holland, and two other I. W. W. were arrested. When the police made an effort to photograph and fingerprint Holland, he resisted and later claimed to have been " beaten up" by the police. His charges were referred to the Grand Jury, but it has done nothing (not being in session during July). However, the three I. W. W. were released and, as they left the jail, were kidnaped by a group of men. According to some reports they were "beaten up," according to others, murdered. Holland, at least, was not killed. From a hospital "somewhere" he filed a $50,000 libel suit against a Port Arthur paper for a story printed about him when he was arrested.

The I.W.W. decided to even scores with Port Arthur for its treatment of their members. Their plan was ingeniously simple. Orders went forth from headquarters in San Francisco, Chicago, New York for footloose I. W. W. to start for Port Arthur. It was claimed that 20,000 were on their way. They were to be arrested for vagrancy, and once in jail, "eat the town out of house and home."

Officials of Port Arthur announced that they would be put to work on the roads, where it is difficult to get laborers to work, on account of heat and mosquitoes. The I. W. W. plan did not sound very promising, because the organization only claims 35,000 members, and to assemble 20,000 of them from all over the country including many points over 2,000 miles away seemed a large order.

Meanwhile Ku Klux Klan posts in neighboring towns had notified Port Arthur officials that they "sanctioned and approved" the town's action. The Texas Commander of the American Legion telegraphed that the Legion would support the town in all lawful ways.

Shortly afterward, however, I. W. W. officials announced that the invasion of Port Arthur had been canceled, and that a short "demonstration" strike in Gulf ports would be substituted as a protest. Other I. W. W. officials denied this change of plans, but the consensus of opinion among the I. W. W. officials seemed to be that the original plan was abandoned.

The Secretary of the Marine Transport Workers (I. W. W.) wired to the Port Arthur post of the American Legion that in their efforts to establish law and order, the Legion and the I. W. W. were at one.