In Walla Walla, Washington, eight workers have been imprisoned since the end of the World War, a period of eleven years. For more than a decade they have been suffering innocently, condemned to forty years in prison, because they dared to defend their union headquarters against the brutal assault of the American Legionnaires. The result of this clash was that two people died and a number were injured on both sides. The workers, who were attacked by an overwhelming number of Legionnaires, tried to defend themselves, but lost the battle; many of them were taken prisoners. One of the prisoners, a veteran by the name Wesley Everest, was tied to an automobile by the Legionnaires; his body was torn to bits. Most naturally, true to American customs, the union workers were arrested, terribly beaten, and arraigned in court. The jury, war-hysterical, and the judge, hating the workers, found the prisoners guilty; they were sentenced to serve forty years.

In the fall of 1928, the ten living members of the jury sent a petition to the governor requesting that the eight union workers be set free. They stated that their verdict at the time was influenced by war hysteria. The judge who conducted the trial also sent an appeal to the governor in behalf of these prisoners, as did the captain of that division of the American Legion, who had led the attack against the workers. The governor, however, has refused to hear these pleas, because it is more important to him to please the wealthy lumber mill owners for whom he provides cheap convict labor, than to please the respectable voting citizens.

Gastonia

A repetition of the foregoing incident has taken place in Gastonia, North Carolina, where the textile workers have been on a strike against the textile barons, by whom not only mature workers, but also growing children of twelve and fourteen, are compelled to work long hours for starvation wages. The unscrupulous textile barons forcefully ejected the strikers from the 3company houses and made it necessary for them to pitch tents in the open. Gastonia's brutal police attacked the strikers while the latter were sleeping in their tents, and mercilessly beat men, women, and children alike. The braver strikers resisted the brutal police, who took fright and fired on the workers. When the smoke of the guns had cleared away, the cries of mothers and children were disturbed by the moaning of the wounded and dying. The captain commanding the firing was accidentally shot by his own men, but the authorities held the strikers responsible for his death....Thirteen men and three women are being held on a charge of murder, and their trial will begin at the end of this month.

The Protective League, established in Chicago at the time of the great mine-workers' strike, considers it its duty to hurry to the aid of the Centralia and Gastonia workers. It takes this opportunity to urge the members of all Hungarian organizations in Chicago and vicinity to be at the Wicker Park Hall on Sept. 1, where a mass meeting will be held, which will serve as a 4protest against the trampling of the human rights of the workers of Centralia and Gastonia.....Chicago's Hungarians have always worked hand in hand with the Protective League heretofore; therefore, it is to be hoped that, in this time of need, they will, as true Hungarians, co-operate again.....The proceeds of the gathering will be used to assist the unfortunates.