River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-05-13
MADISON LETTER.

which were for four years daily wit
messed upon its streets. The daily
papers have given your readers full
reports Oi the rise and progress of the
sO-called labor agitation in Milwaukee.
Had the issue been one of work or
wages only, there would have been no
necessity for the display of force
which has aroused to unwonted ac-
tiyity the executive and military de-
partments of the State. A "strike'
for higher wages or less hours of labor
in any given factory or shop, under
the teachings of the demagogues and
agitatOrs who appear to control the
labor organization, is not confined to
the particular shop or business di-
rectly interested in the demand. "The
interest of one is the cause of all;
and under this Interpretation of
"union" all operatives, in whatever
business and however well satisfied
they may be with their pay and hours
of labor, must go out. either freely or
fOrcibly, to aid and abet the dissatiS.
fled ones. Further than this, follow
ing the teachings of the anarehical
socialists who have usurped the posi-
ton of leaders, spokesman and teach
ers for the labor organizations, if the
employers do not at once yield to the
demands made upon them their bust
ness must be stopped, and if in no
other way their property must be
destroyed. Such has been the cry of
the mObs in st. Louis, in Chicago, and
more recently in Milwaukee.
Governor Rusk has been a close stu
dent of the social problem as devel-
Oped in other States, and has seen
how the faltering with the mobs and
the delays in taking active measures
for the preservation of the peace has
resulted in the destruction of millions
of dollars worth of property. and is
bringing poverty and distress upon
thousands of innocent men and their
families, who would gladly work if
the mob would permit. He had de-
termined that there should be no such
disastrous delays in the event of an
outbreak in this State. While hoping
that there would be no necessity for
the Intervention of the State, he
quietly prepared for prompt action.
The outbreak of the Polish grain
comprising only 400 or 500
of the most ignorant and brutal of the
workingmen of the city of
was the starting point of
the present trouble. To these were
soon joined all the roughs and hood
lums of the city, who are always
ready for riot and bloodshed. with or
without cause, and the red-dag So
cialists, urged on to plumber. incendi-
arism and destruction by their lawlesS
leaders. AS soon as the outbreak was
to the capital Gov. Rusk
and Adjutant-G General Chapman start
ed for the scene of action. The yari-
Gus Companies of the First Regiment
W. y. G.. were notified to hold them
selves in readiness to march at an
hours notice. This notice came next
day when it was found that the police
and marshals of the city, aided by the
local militia companies, were not suffi-
GENTLY strong to resist the mob. On
Tuesday the Governors Guard of this
city was ordered to report, with other
companies of the First Regiment, at
Milwaukee, and left little after noon
by special train. The Governor and
his staff have remained constantly on
duty at Milwaukee since Monday eve
ming, and by promptly meeting the
rioters wherever they have made a
have afforded protee-
tion to the property threatened, and
to such workers as awaited themselves
of the protection thus afforded to re-
turn TO their labors.
In the performance of this duty the
militia have come into open conflict
with the rioters but once, in which
case it opened fire upon the mob, kill
ing two and wounding a dozen more.
Though the shooting is to be depre-
Gated as an extreme measure, yet it is
after all the most humane course to
take with a mob crazed with excite
ment and liquor and urged on by lead
ers with whom Tapine and murder are
watchwords, and who flaunt the bloody
flag of the Commune instead of the
flag of their adopted country. 1t has
taught them already that the State
guarantees protection to its citizens,
not only in word but in fact. 1t will
lead the workingmen to think and
realize that in seeking TO right their
own wrongs they are not thereby sane.
toned in invading the rights of 9th.
ers, either their fellow-workmen or
their employers, and that if they are
found in law-defying company they
are liable to suffer as law-breakers.
The necessity which has thus been
imposed upon the Executive of the
State to use the militia for the sup
preston of an Instruction which
might almost be termed foreign in
vasion, so alien are the elements of
which its nucleus was composed, will
also serve to open the eyes of the peO-
pie of the State to the dangers which
threaten from the socialistic and anar-
chist element, which has been so long
tolerated in the midst of our metropo-
lis. The war of the rebellion, with
the legislation following its suppress
sion, gave legal affirmation to the
proposition that even free country,
as free in its exercise of speech and
press and action as our own, is yet not
prohibited from the most active and
extreme measures in the preservation
of national life. The same law is ap-
plicable IN the treatment of the red
flag Communists who have so long
e 4 a.