The daily gazette., 1877-08-07
From the ". y sun.
serau,on's Tuan .wesable Argument
Against the Gse OF the Army.


Against the Use OF the Army.
A hastily formed comI any Of forty men, |
merchants. manufacturers, lawyers, and
mechanics, saved the city of Scranton on
the End day of August from the horrors OF
mob rule, instantly restored the supremacy
of law. and broke the strike in and
around that important centre OF industry.
1t was citizens guard" 1t was called
on by the Mayor TO preserve order and pro
tect property In Lackawanna and WASH
ington avenues were massed thousands Of
men, wild, revengeful destructive ready
to repeat in Scranton the devastation which
an imbecile municipal Government suffer
ed to fall on Pittsburg. The forty good cit
liens were fired on with pistols, and show
cred with bricks and clubs. They wheeled
in good order and delivered a volley into
the bowling mass rolling upon them to
beat and trampIe them to death, In TWO
minutes of time. the rioters scattered and
disappeared. They did not reassemble. Not
a sound of disturbance was heard in Scran-
| ton throughout the night of the ID.
This effective work of forty citizens, vol
| unteering to maintain order and project
property, is an appeal against the use of the
| Federal army as "a police in the States and
| municipalities, that should utterly shame
those who have clamored for its employ
| ment. 1t demonstrates that there is no ne
| cessity whatever for the interference of the
| Government in municipal affairs that
every American municipality contains
within itself the power of self protection
that republican communities possess the
| a,,H oil O.,
suppress any combinations whatever
against property and law. This is the val
ne and the boast of democrac Itcan tax,
care of itself 1t rejoices in selfgovernment
j II repels paternal care and int. ference. 5,
true is this, that if the people, through thei
representatives in Congress, should consen
TO an increase of the army to be used in tn
States as police, democracy in America
would be destroyed and our form of gov
ernment would develop into military des
: potism. That act OF Congress would be
surrender Of the principle of self govern
! IN ent.
Il The unceas ing menace to our political in
stitutions by the aristocIatic military or
der has become intolerable. Every mis-
fortune of the country is cause of clamo
:
( ment that shall make it a perpetual and eH
. panding institution. An outbreak in Ida
no of no cheated, miserable Indians is tn
signal to the officers and their families
e cry out against the insufficiency of an arm
of $4,000 men. Secretly and suddenly tn
:, freight train men on the main lines of raj
road IN several States In concert quit worl
the transportation business of the countr
n is suspended mismanagement and foil
2, induce bloody aud destructive riots. tt
% bowling for an increase of the army an
use of it forever as a municipal poll,
- breaks out above all the din on the blocI
s. AIDED roads. This .mercenary selhshne
lie and egotism have gone beyond enduranc
ir The men wao exhibit it are unmanly.
~ such stuff good soldiers cannot be made.
Only place hunters and sinecurists can
10 made out of that material.
er REDUCE THE ARMY TO TEN THoUsAN
NJ MEN.