The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-07-11
and again ask the immediate withdrawal of
these troops. l have the honor to be yours
respectfully, JOHN p ALTGELD,
Governor of Illinois.

governor OF limos.
To this President Cleveland replied
as follows:
Executive Mansion, Washington.-Hon
John P. Altgeld, Governor of Illinois,
Springfield, H.: Federal troops were sent
10 Chlcago in strict accordance with the
constitution and laws of the United States,
upon the demand of the postoffce depart
ment that obstruction of the mails should
be removed and upon the representation of
the judicial officers of the United States
that process of the federal courts could not
be executed through the ordinary means
and upon abundant proof that conspiracies
existed against commerce between the
states.
To meet these conditions, which are clear
ly within the province of federal authority
the presence of federal troops in the city
OF Chicago was deemed not only proper but
necessary, and there has been no intention
of thereby interfering with the plain duty
Of local authorities to preserve the peace of
the city.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
SPRINGFIELD H., July Elm his an
swer to President Cleveland's telegram of
last night regarding the sending of federal
troops TO Chicago Gov. Altgel1 takes oc-
caslon to severely criticise the action and
assumptions of the national executive. lie
wires the president as follows:
The Hon. Grover Clevean1, President of
Your answer to my protest involves some
startling conclusions and ignores and
evades the question at issue-that is, that
the principle of local self-government is
just as fundamental in our institutions
as that of federal supremacy /. You calm
ly assume that the executive has the legal
right to order federal troops into any COM
munlty Of the United States in the first
instance, whenever there is the slightest
disturbance, and that he can do this with
cut any regard to the question as to Wheth-
er that community is able to and ready to
enforce the law ITSELF and, inasmuch as
the executive is the sole judge of the ques-
ton as to whether any disturbance exists
or not in any part of the country this as
sumption means that the executive can
send federal troops into any community in
the United States at his pleasure, and keep
them there as long as he chooses If this
is the law, then the principle of local
self-government either never did exist in
this country or else has been destroyed, for
no community can be said to possess local
self-government if the executive can at his
pleasure send military forces to patrol it's
streets under pretenSe of enforcing some
law. The kind of local self-government
that could exist under these circumstances
can be found in any of the monarchies Of
Europe, and is not in harmony with the
spirit of our institutions.
2. 1t is also a fundamental principle in
our government that except in times of war
the military shall be subordinate to the
civil authority. In harmony with this pro-
vision, the state troops when ordered out
act under and with the civil authorities
The federal troops you have ordered to
Chicago are not under the civil authorities
and are in no way responsible to them for
their conduct. They are not even acting
under the United States marshal or under
any federal officer of the state, but are act
ing directly under military orders issued
from military headquarters at Washington,
and in so far as these troops act at all, it
is military government.
8. The statute authorizing federal troops
to be sent into states in certain cases
contemplates that the state troops shall
be taken first. This provision has been ig-
nored and it is assumed that the executive
is not bound by it. Federal interference
with industrial disturbances in the vari-
Gus states is certainly q departure,
and it open up so large a field that it will
require very little stretch of authority
to absorb to itself all the details of local
government.
4. You say that troops were ordered into
Illinois upon the demand of the postoffice
department and upon representations of the
judicial officers of the United States that
process of the courts could not be served
and upon proof that conspiracies existed.
We will not discuss the facts, but look for
a moment at the principal involved in your
statement. All of these officers are ap-
pointed by the executive. Most of them
can be removed by him al his will. They
are not only obliged to do his bidding,
but they are, in fact, part of the execu-
tive. If several of them can apply for
troops one alone can, so that under the
law, as You assume it to be, an executive
through any one of his appontees can
apply tc himself to have the military sent
into any city or number of cities and
base his application on such representa-
tion showing as he sees fit to make
ha jpon1 AT RI al uh tbar bo
makes any showing not, for the execu-
tive is the sole judge and nobody else has
any right to interfere or even inquire about
it. Then the executive can pass on his
own application-his will being the sole
guide-he can hold the application to be
sufficient and order troops to as many
places as he wishes and put them in COM
mand Of anyone he chooses, and have them
act, not under the civil officers either fed
eral or state, but act directly under mill
tary orders from Washington, and there is
not in the constitution or laws of the land
whether written or unwritten, any lmita-
ton or restraint upon his power. His judg-
ment-that is, his willis the sole guide
and it being purely matter of discre-
tion his decision can never be examined or
questioned.
This assumption as to the power of the
executive is certainly new and l respect
fully submit that it is not the law of the
land. The jursts have told us that this
is government of law, and not govern
ment by the caprice Of Individuals and,
further, that instead of being autocratic
it was government of limited power Yet
the autocrat of Russia could certainly not
possess nor claim to possess greater power
than is possessed by the executive of the
United States if your assumption is correct
5. The executive has the command not
only of the regular forces of the United
States, but of the military forces of all
the states and can order them to any
place he sees fit to, and as there are al
ways more or less local disturbances over
the country it will be an easy matter un-
der your construction of the law for an
ambitious executive to order out the mill
tary forces of all of the states and estab-
lsh at once military government. The
only chance Of failure in such a movement
could come from rebellion, and with such
vast military power at command this
could readily be crushed, for a rule,
soldiers will obey orders. AS for the situ-
alton in Illinois, that is of no consequence
now when compared with the far-reaching
principle involved. True, according to my
advices, federal troops have now been on
duty for over two days, and, although the
men were brave and the officers valiant
and able. yet their very presence proved
| to be an irritant because it aroused the
| indignation of a large class of people who,
| while upholdng law and order, had been
| taught to believe in local self-government
| and therefore resented what they regarded
| as an unwarranted interference.
| Inasmuch as the federal troops can do
| nothing but what the state troops can do
| there, and believing that the state is am
| ply able to take care of the situation and
| to enforce the law, and believing that the
| ordering out of the federal troops was un-
| warranted, l again ask their withdrawal