welcomed in IWW halls, where they could sleep, socialize, and discuss organizing plans with others. The Agricultural Workers Organization In 1915, a new branch of the IWW was established: the Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO) No. 400. The AWO focused on organizing workers in the agricultural industry in the Midwestern United States, doing so by sending "job delegates" to work alongside other workers and introduce them covertly organize them. By 1916, due to a series of small-scale but effective strikes and an increase in demand for grain in Europe caused by World War I, the AWO successfully helped workers achieve higher wages, and their membership grew to about 20,000 by year's end. In late 1916, the AWO (which at the time was headquartered along Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis) sent job delegates into the lumber camps in northern Minnesota. The IWW offices in Bemidji served as the AWO's local headquarters for these efforts, while other IWW offices in Duluth, Gemmell, Minneapolis, and Virginia also helped with the drive. The AWO planned for the organizing effort to last through 1917, at which point they felt they would have enough support among the lumberjacks to call for a strike. Prelude to strike action Through late 1916, IWW organizers discussed working conditions and organizing with millworkers and began to plan a strike action. One of the most vocal advocates for a strike was Jack "Timber Beast" Beaton, an IWW member and long-time lumberjack from Wisconsin. Beaton was a popular leading member of Local 490 due to his fiery oratory and militant stance on issues regarding strike action. This put him in disagreement with Jacobson and other IWW organizers, who were more cautious about the prospects of a strike. In December 1916, tensions between these two sides were exacerbated after five nationally known IWW organizers who had been arrested during the miners' strike on charges of murder were released as part of a deal that saw several rank and file union members charged with manslaughter. Some of the more militant unionists such as Beaton viewed the deal as a sellout by the IWW, and acting without direct approval from the national union, they began to prepare for a strike. On December 24, several dozen organized millworkers met with Beaton at the Finnish Socialist Hall and drafted a list of demands to be submitted to the mill operators. The demands included a flat pay increase for all