100 years ago in Spokane: Idaho governor takes in “rant” at Wobbly rally

Idaho Gov. Moses Alexander stood in the middle of a throng of Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World), on the corner of Main Avenue and Stevens Street, and listened to a “rant.”

Alexander was traveling through Spokane on the way to Coeur d’Alene to assess various Wobbly strikes in the lumber, mining and farming industries. For the most part, he went unrecognized and listened without comment.

What he heard was often startling. One Wobbly street corner orator commended the Russian workingmen for “what they did to the slimy curs, the gunmen and the stool pigeons of the capitalistic class.”

“They bumped them off,” said the Wobbly. “They sent them up to say, ‘Good morning, Jesus.’ ”

Another orator said that the Elk River logging camp superintendent’s wife was a “scab” who “fell off the (log) boom,” prompting a wave of laughter from his audience.

The governor privately commented, “That man went too far.”

The governor had been traveling in Washington for a week on other business. He and his entourage stopped in Spokane and he went out on the street to listen and gather more information about the Wobbly position and situation. He purchased three Wobbly booklets from a man on the street.

He said he was headed to Coeur d’Alene to attend a meeting of the Idaho state defense council, which was investigating the Wobbly situation, or “menace,” as the papers routinely called it. He said he would have more to say about the situation after his meeting.