The I. W. W. taps labor strata not only lower than those of the trade union, but still lower than those from which Socialism generally gets recruits. It appeals to youth, to the most detached and irresponsible, to those free to follow a life of adventure. It appeals to those who rebel at the discipline of the trade union. It easily becomes a brother to the tramp and the outcast. Nor is there one of these traits that is not a source of temporary strength from its own point of view—that of rousing and educating discontent, of hectoring and obstructing the solidities of capitalism. Every difference which a heterogeneous and unassimilated immigration means for the United States will advantage the I. W. W. We have consented to and encouraged the conditions out of which these frondeurs come. They are now integrally a part of us. Abuse and lawless rigors among good citizens will enrich both their material and emotional resources. As with the trade union and our more ripened socialism, this new and more refractory contingent must be understood. In spite of deliriums, it too holds its heart of truth. If it brings the plague, it also brings suggestion. For the classes more safely lodged, they are hints rather in the form of news that we ought to know; news like that which a scout brings in, untested, but with forewarnings that the wise do not ignore. We shall safely exclude no man on the firing line of social change.
If, in these grave concerns, we are to create a saving statesmanship it must have first of all the courage of open-mindedness, willing to listen even to I. W. Ws.: to know their leaders: yes, even to work with them
