Talk:Baldwin-Felts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is part of WikiProject Organized Labour, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to Organized Labour. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. | |
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale. | |
| Low | This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale. | |
| If you have rated this article please consider adding assessment comments. |
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Virginia, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on Virginia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. | ||
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.) |
||
 |
Baldwin-Felts is within the scope of WikiProject West Virginia, an open collaborative effort to coordinate work for and sustain comprehensive coverage of West Virginia and related subjects in the Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, and even become a member. (Usage) | |
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the Project's quality scale. | |
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the Project's importance scale. | |
 |
Please explain ratings you add or change by editing this article's ratings summary page. | |
[edit] Removed Non-POV tag
I removed the non-POV tag for two reasons. First, there was no discussion on this talk page as to why it should be there in the first place. Second, as the references show, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency was notorious for its use of violence against labor union supporters. Asking for a "balanced" view of the Baldwin-Felts agency's work would be similar to asking for an article on Nazi deathcamp guards to talk about the good work the Gestapo did. There may have been isolated instances in which Baldwin-Felts agents prevented violence or destruction of property. But, on the whole, the agency is best-known for its brutality and general thuggishness, and its role in the Hatfield and Matewan tragedies. - Tim1965 15:37, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
I am not certain that I agree entirely. I agree that they were a brutal agency of anti-union thugs. It is also true that they did investigate thefts and murders on the railroads (though some of these incidents were as brutal as their union activities). I think that any time you study the agency you have to take into account that the principals did believe they were the white hats keeping back the deadly "isms" of unionism and communism. While my judgment on the agency is largely in line with your own there are others (see Velke's book) who would disagree. John Adkins 20:25, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
