In an article almost a year later, The Outlook commented about that occasion and pointed out that the speech of the young Finn had revealed to what abuses the wage system could lead in practice, when a portion of a man's wages was withheld only to guarantee that he would remain on the job until the end of the year. In addition, the young Finn had complained that the workers suffered further loss in that they had to buy their own dynamite and detonating caps in the mines and had to pay a high price for them.

Among the men who belonged to the Federation, optimism prevailed during the early days of that strike. Once they had brought all work in their mines to a standstill they began to arrange parades and protest marches, far and wide, and one of the strikers, Konsta Marttila, of Virginia, described their activity: "We started out at 4 in the morning to go to Eveleth, some five miles way, and the Socialist Party band spearheaded the march. We marched silently out of the city, in order not to wake up any of our friends, but once we were in the open country the band began to play workers' marches in brisk tempo. We reached the Eveleth mine just as the workers were due to start their day, but when we explained what was up they joined us, carrying their lunch boxes with them. From Eveleth we marched on to Sparta, and there the results were the same, and so marched on to Elba and then McKinley, with the enthusiasm of the marchers increasing the more the ranks were swelled. Once we reached the Norman Pit we stopped for a rest, while our leader, Alex Ohrn, went on to the Hibbing mine to tell them that a strike had begun. The bosses there did not believe the story at first, but when we were given the signal to march to the mine the bosses saw us, an army of 800 men, walking around the entrance to their mine and their administration building. We proved our case, and after that their men were told that a strike had begun, and once more our ranks were swelled."

As soon as word had been spread to all the mines that the strike had started, the pickets became active, having already received their order the previous day. With so many involved whose English was weak or even non-existent, they had been instructed to learn three words : "No work - strike." There were workers of many nationalities involved in the strike, of course, but the biggest and most solid group was that of the Finns. Since they also took part enthusiastically in picket duty and in demonstrations, they also had to face the more serious countermeasures of the employers. As soon as the strike began, the workers were

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