Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-08
PITTSBURG. FRIDAY. JULY 8. 1892.
TWELVE PAGES
THE POSSE CoMITATUs CALL.


The latest phase of the Homestead affail
is the acute issue between the Governor o
the Commonwealth and the Sheriff of the
county. Peace reigns at Homestead, witt
the men in possession; the Pinkerton'
have gone and the rash experiment
of bringing mercenary foreigners will
guns in their hands to assert property
rights for the Carnegie or any other com.
pany is pretty certain not to be repeated
for long time to come. This question
reverts immediatel~ to the shape il
presented Tuesday evening, when it wa:
simply one as to how the Carnegie Com
pany was to obtain the possession anr
control of its property-rights in which
The law, when duly invoked, is of course
bound to secure them.
The Governor says, in effect, that it ha.
TO be done, if at all, by the posse comitatus
summoned and directed by the Sheriff
The Sheriff has thrice or oftener told the
Governor of the trial of the posse comita.
tus on Tuesday and OF its failure, and in
sists that only the State troops will be
equal to the occasion. But, to make a
form of further compliance, he has sum-
moned several hundred citizens as new
posse, with whom, if they turn up at nine
O'Clock this morning, he affects to intend
marching to the scene
This NAV be a compliance with forms,
but it is practically the merest trifing.
Not only are the citizens who are sum-
moned by the Sheriff totally unrepresenta-
tive of force sufficient to dislodge or dis
perse any crowds that might be Illegally
gathered at Homestead, but, as affairs
stand, they are not under the slightest OBJ
legation to undertake such police duty,
which, if they attempted in this instance,
would be more apt than not to simply
invite further futile bloodshed. Had
Sheriff McCleary summoned the same or
a less number of citizens to go up as a
committee of moral suason to talk calm
ly and nationally to the Homestead work
ers, and point out that their best interests
would be served by yielding quiet obedi-
ence to the mandates of the civil authori-
ties, there might be some sense and utility
in it. But the idea of collection of law
yers, editor, politicians and business men
going up with guns in their hands-was it
seriously to be conceived that McCleary
meant to arm them?-is simply grotesque
If they did not shoot themselves ON the
way, by reason of their unfamil-
iarity with weapons, their appearance on
the ground as an armed force to contend
with the thousands of men at Homestead
would inevitably result either in farce or
a tragedy.
Behind the point of issue between the
Governor and the Sheriff there may
though neither OF them has raised it-be
question as to whether the Sheriff and the
posse comitatus procedure is the proper
one by which the Carnegie Company
should regain possession of its property.
Whether in the absence of visible riot and
disturbance at the time of the Sheriff's
visit, prior procedure in Court might not
be needed, is question for lawyers rather
than laymen. But the one thing is sure,
that there is no power at the command of
the Sheriff with which he can contend
physically with the thousands of armed
men at Homestead if they feel disposed to
again resist him.
In a word, the posse comitatGs, an old
common law relic, has in ou, times, and
in circumstances like the present, become
a pure fiction. 1t arose and existed when
each county had its own military
organization, where every man between
the age of q and As was obliged to respond
to the county for military duty, and was
compelled to go into training at least for
one day each year. The organization of
the National Guard closed that period; the
State assumed control of the military; and
the county in time of need was left no re-
source but to call upon the State. The
form and name of the posse comitatus has
but it is mere shadow whose
force and vitality reside solely in
the Governor of the State.
The DISPATCH urges and hopes that
after the terrible and tragic events of
Wednesday the men at Homestead will see
and avoid the inevitable disastrous results
Of persisting in an attitude of resistance
to the law and to the civil authorities, to
which they will commit themselves if they
obstruct any due legal process for the
restoration to the Carnegie Company of
possession of its property. But if any
such obstruction does arise, it is, in the
present state of things, the Governor of
the State who alone has the power to sup
press it, Any attempt by him to shift
citizens of the county into an armed con-
fict with the men at Homestead ranks
little better in point of discretion than the
Carnegie Company's employment of the
Pinkerton mercenaries.
Everyone must sincerely hope that the
men at Homestead will oppose no obstruc-
ion to any further process of law. But |
f they do it is the Governor who must |
ieal with the situation. He cannot shove
he unofficial citizens of the county into |
lrmed police duty for which they have
neither tine inclination nor capacity. He |
,annot hide his own responsibility behind |
he shadow of the obsolete posse comitatus.
The Commonwealth has the actual power |
mot the county.
THE PARTY OF INCONSISTENCY,
The Democratic party has long pos
occad q ror1to fiop for ipoone;cfoy,,- l,,&