A Spokane Judge Said the Mayor Couldn't Silence the I.W.W. While Letting Everyone Else Speak
Judge Mann struck down a street-speaking ordinance that favored the Salvation Army and political celebrities, even as jailed Wobblies weakened on a hunger strike.
Spokane, Wash., Nov. 8.—Judge Mann, of the municipal court, ruled that the mayor and his officials were unjustly discriminating against the Industrial Workers of the World in absolutely prohibiting them from speaking on the street corners, when the Salvation Army, the President of the United States and William Jennings Bryan were extended that privilege, together with police protection. He repealed an ordinance that gave the mayor power to permit regularly organized religious bodies to use the streets for their meetings, and to withhold that privilege from others.
The hunger strike continues in the city jail and many are growing miserably weak and their collapse is feared.
Jack Donovan, a wealthy pioneer resident of Spokane, was arrested and placed in jail for attempting street speaking in behalf of the Industrial Workers of the World in their free speech fight.
The names of the I.W.W. members arrested during the present agitation in this city will be sent to the Washington, D.C. authorities. The plan is an innovation in the combating of the trouble, and marks the beginning of Uncle Sam's appearance in the game. The fight in other cities of the West has been entirely between the city and state governments and the I.W.W.
“Judge Mann ... ruled that the mayor and his officials were unjustly discriminating against the Industrial Workers of the World in absolutely prohibiting them from speaking on the street corners...”
The Spokane fight was part of a nationwide battle over who may use public sidewalks for protest—and whether permits are handed out evenhandedly. Then as now, the answer often depended on which speakers City Hall considered respectable.
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