A Fake Labor Endorsement Backfires
A mysterious 'open letter' from supposed labor advocates is exposed as a fraudulent campaign tactic by the Walla Walla Trades Council.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The attempt of the machine to stampede the union labor vote of this city for Frank Kees by an 'open letter' to labor unions, signed by the alleged 'Friends of Organized Labor,' proved to be a boomerang. The president of the Walla Walla Trades Council yesterday affixed his signature to a statement witnessed by several prominent labor union men, declaring that the council had never authorized the letter published in the morning paper and distributed as a circular on the streets. The fact that the 'open letter' was not signed by any union labor man should have been proof enough that it was a campaign fake, but its repudiation by the president of the trades council stamps it as a transparent fraud.
“The fact that the 'open letter' was not signed by any union labor man should have been proof enough that the letter was a campaign fake.”
Political 'astroturfing'—where campaigns manufacture fake grassroots support—remains a staple of modern electioneering. Just as in 1903, the reliance on digital or circular misinformation often depends on the hope that voters will not verify the source with actual community organizations.
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