St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-20

the conditions surrounding the SWltcnlueh ,
strike at Minneapolis will convince any
fair-minded person that the Republican
leaders are attempting to take advantage OF
the situation for political purposes, and to
give to it dirty partisan coloring. This
effort is so apparent and so disgraceful in
its inception that the public is already dis
gusted with the iendiSh attempt to make
political capital out of serious cOmplica-
ton. which threatens a disturbance Of the
public peace and the destruction Of prop
erty. What is the situation? Fairly
stated it is this: Because of re-
fusal on the part of the railroads to &C
cede TO their demand for an increase i'll
wages the switchmen struck. Because of
the threatening aspect which labor strike
always presents the mayor of Minneapolis,
who was absent from the city, was recalled
and Immediately issued a series of prOcla-
nations in which he asked that the parties
TO the controversy should submit their diff
ferences to arbitration, and at the same
time proclaimed that the peace of the city
should not be disturbed, and that no acts
Of violence would be tolerated within the
CITY limits. The result has been that the
city has been quiet and orderly. There has
been no infractiOn of the city ordinances,
and no disturbance of the municipal peace.
There isn't to-day a more orderly CITY on the
face of the earth than the city of Minnapo-
is. And, while during the past week there
has been apprehension of a riot, 1t
turned out to be a groundleSs fear. There
has been no trouble, no violence, no viola
ton of the city ordinances. The mayor is
at his post, the police department is on duty
as usual and on the alert and there is not
single reason why reflection should be cast
upon the city government. But how about
the state and county officials? Have they
manifested the same fidelity to duty and the
same disposition to preserve public peace
that the city authorities have exhibited?
Not by large majority. The state laws
have been violated and they have taken no
steps to redress the wrong. The ordinances
of Minneapolis do not make it a
misdemeanOr for a striker to pull coupling
pins and diScOnnect cars. If they did the
city police would arrest the offenders and
bring them to punishment. But the state
laws do make it an offense, and the state
officials are specifically charged with the
duty of enforcing the state laws. Why is
it then that the sheriff of Hennepin county
was not on the ground with his posse when
the trouble occurred along the railroad
lines? 1t was his sworn duty to have been
there and to have offered protection to The
property of the railroads. and to have pro-
tected the traffic of the roads from inter-
ruptiOn. It is like pleading the baby
act when the Pioneer Press enters
the plea that the county officials did not
have a sufficient force at their command to
enforce the state laws. The entire popu-
lation of Hennepin county was subject to
the order of the sheriff. The law empowers
him to summon the posse cOmitatus to aid
in its enforcement, and every citizen Of the
county is subject to the CALL If the emer-
gency mad required it. and he had been dis
posed to do it, the sheriff of Hennepin
county in less than an hours time could
have had posse consisting of one hundred
thousand men to have aided him in enforcing
the laws of the state. If for any reason
the posse, when summoned, had refused to
obey it would only have taken the
sheriff one minute to have telegraphed
to the governor, and in enc minute more
there would have been an order issued cali
ing out the military companies in Min
neapOlis and st. Paul to the aid of the
sheriff, and in an hours time, or less the
crack militia regiment of the United States
would have been at his disposal. These
ale the facts as they are known by every
one who cares TO take the trouble to in
vestigate the matter. In view of these
facts the only rational conclusion that one
can arrive at is that there has been DELHI
crate, cold-blOoded scheme planned by the
Republican bosses. and apparently cOnnived
at by some Of the railroad managers, to pro-
woke riot and bloOdshed at Minneapolis in
the expectation that political capital could
be manufactured out of it against the mayor
Of that city, who is the Democratic cand-
date for governor, and the bold aggressive
enemy Of monopolies. 1t was a dirty piece
of business that merits the popular indigna-
ton which it has evoked.