workers of 25 cents per day, eight-hour shifts on Sundays and Saturdays, an end to Sunday night shifts, shift changes every week, and an end to union suppression. The workers then elected a committee of six individuals to present these demands on December 26, with a deadline of noon on December 27. Jacobson was opposed to the idea and telegraphed IWW General Secretary-Treasurer Bill Haywood, who told Jacobson, "a successful strike at the present time in the Virginia mills would be hopeless. Must wait until better organized. Continue with organization work". Despite this, the meeting with mill management went as planned on December 26, and Jacobson reluctantly agreed to officially sanction the possible strike action. The demands were submitted to Chester R. Rogers, the manufacturing superintendent for the company, who rejected them. During their meeting, Beaton also stated that, if their demands were not met, lumberjacks would also go on strike in an act of solidarity, though Rogers dismissed that possibility. Shortly after the meeting, Rogers hired a large number of guards for the mill and requested St. Louis County Sheriff John R. Meining to deputize them, which he did. Additionally, Sheriff Meining deputized Rogers and placed him in charge of the deputized group. As December 27 passed with no official response from the company by noon, the workers began to prepare for the strike. That night, Beaton oversaw a meeting of about 700 workers at the Finnish Socialist Hall, where a strike resolution was passed. At the same time, Beaton and Jacobson organized a "flying squad" of about a dozen men to travel to the logging camps throughout the area to spread the word of the strike to the AWO job delegates and convince the lumberjacks to stop working as well. The IWW organizers had worked with individuals who were familiar with the conditions on the logging camps and had created a list of demands for the lumberjacks as well, which included no discrimination against union members, a 9-hour workday, a $10 per month pay increase, a minimum wage of $40 per month, negotiable salaries, better food, and improved sleeping, toilet, and cleaning facilities. Three lumberjacks from each camp were to submit these demands to the camp foreman. The demands from both the mill workers and the lumberjacks stipulated that both groups would remain on strike until both sets of demands were satisfied. Course of the strike Early strike