The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-23 00:00:00

THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS AND LORD
MAYOR'S DAYS
Colonel Sir James Fraser, the Commissioner of
the City Police, has caused the following letter to be
addressed to the Secretary of the Social Democratic
Federation:—

"2G, Old Jewry, Oct. 18.
"Sir,—The Commissioner of Police has received a
letter addressed to him by you on the 14th inst.,
copies of which had, before it reached him, appeared
in several of the public prints. You state therein
that the General Council of the Social Democratic
Federation' have instructed yodto inform him that,
'having exhausted every means of drawing the atten-
tion of the authorities to the great and increasing
numbers of the people out of employment, through no
fault of their own, they cannot abandon a project
they have been reluctantly compelled to adopt by
the continued indifference of the authorities, and
that they therefore see no reason to alter their decision
to lead along the wider thoroughfares a demonstration
behind the Lord Mayor's procession of such magni-
tude as will convince the Government and the muni-
cipal authorities of the absolute necessity of taking
immediate measures to organise the labour of the un-
employed, and to alleviate the distress on the lines of
the proposals which,' you add, were printed and
published in November, 1883.' With the object
which, as explained by you, the council of the Federa-
tion profess to have in view in organizing such a
demonstration, the Commissioner is not concerned,
but he desires to point out to the council, as strongly
as he did to a deputation that waited on him some
days ago, what the inevitable result must be should
they persist in attempting to give effect to their
declared intention on the particular day they have
selected for that purpose. The Commissioner assumes
that the several sections of the proposed gathering
must be collected from different parts of
the metropolis; and the whole of them assembled at
some spot to be fixed upon. It is necessary, there-
fore, that those per Eons, at whose instance you write,
should understand that on the 9th of November the
thoroughfares within the City through which the
Lord Mayor's procession has to pass will, with the
streets leading thereto, be closed to wheeled traffic at
an early hour in the day. Immediately on this being
done, the whole line of route will at once be occupied,
as is usual, by vast crowds on foot, and the mouth of
every approach to the line filled by people closely
packed, and backed by vehicles brought there tor the
convenience of sight eers, all cf whom would certainly
resent and resist any attempt to dislodge them. It
must therefore be obvious that all efforts to pass
peaceably through any of these channels would be
ineffectual. But assuming that the various sections
designed to take part in the demonstration might
succeed in reachinc, by more circuitous routes
the place appointed for the general assembly,
the difficulties to be encountered in endea-
vouring to follow the Lord Mayor's procession
would be of a nature which, it is clear to the Com-
missioner, the organisers of the demonstration fail to
realise. At the moment when the last carriage has
passed along, the enormous crowds collected and
packed on both sides rush forward and completely
fill the roadway, and sightseers and roughs become for
a time wedged so closely that mounted men are un-
able at once to force a passage through them. The
Commissioner thinks that under these circumstances
it should be apparent to those who propose to orga-
nise a demonstration of the character indicated that
any attempt to follow the Lord Mayor's procession
would necessazily lead to grave disorder, and would
most probably be attended with serious rioting and
danger to life, and he consequently considers it to be
his duty to make this clear to those who have in-
structed you to write to him, as in a previous commu-
nication they expressed through you their willing-
ness to do all in their power to help in the mainte-
nance of order,' an object which, in the Commis-
sioner's view, can only be attained by the abandon-
ment of their present intention. In the event of its
being adhered to they must be prepared to bear the
full responsibility of all the mischief which their ac-
tion will directly create.—Yeur obedient servant,
"JOSEPH SOUNDY, Chief Clerk.
"Mr. U. W. Lee, Secretary, Social Democratic
Federation."