The record-union., 1894-10-20
BRIGADIER-GENERAL MERRITT, :,

1 Report OF the CoIf4nF4ander of the De-
partment of the DaSotas.
WASHINGTON, Oct. I9.-In his annual
| report, just published, Brigadier- General
Merritt, commanding the Department of
the Dakotas, says that the movement of
Troop Six in his department during the
last summer was occasioned by two re-
markable outbreaks, which it has been
necessary to control by the use of the
army. In April was the organization
and movement of the so-called Common
wealers, or CoXeyites; the other was the
strike, commencing in June on the
Northern Pacific Railroad, precipitated
iu sympathy with the strike at Pullman.
III.
General Merritt says: "The first of
these developed to the greatest extent in
the farther northwest portion OF the de-
partment, in the State of Montana, being
augmented and aggravated by causes like
to those which made the strike occurring
subsequently of considerable propCr-
! tions, and more or less difficult to control,
The causes are a large floating, mining
and at times unemployed population,
which, being more or less free from the
restraint of law, is always ready to Join
any movement in which idleness, law
Iessness and vlciousness are found. An
other cause is an affected sympathy eX-
tended to the lawless by both high and
low IN office, who depend on the suffrage
OF the less laW-ablding for their positions
This principle of dependency is apparent
among all classes of the community. The
merchant, the grocer, the tradesman and
all who live by the patronage of others
are constrained to openly express SYM
pathy with the violent, and in many
cases with the lawless, because of the
nj 1Tln rs hn
been reduced to science in this newly
and meagerly protected State. While
many communities Of the class of which
| speak privately condemn lawless con-
Duct, the fear that their means of pro-
curing q livelihood will be taken from
them by the boycott places them, so far as
their public expressions of opinion go,
among the worst element. 1t is not Won
derful that under these conditions
lawleSsneSs was IN the ascendant in Mon
tana during both of the outbreaks re-
ferred to. 1t is, perhaps, only necessary
to add that all resistance was made to the
civil authorities. In no instance did the
people included in this outbreak resist
the military when it appeared on the
scene of disturbance. The troops were
used with complete discretion by the
officers in command and the law enforced
without violence
In treating of the great strike, which
stopped every wheel on the Northern
Pacific Railroad and inflicted great loss
and untold inconvenience on the public,
General Merritt says: "It is difficult to
conceive a worse state of affairs than ex-
listed on this road. There was no mail
communication with any point west of
Fargo. Posts situated on this road could
hold no communication with department
headquarters save by telegraph. If the
blockade had been continued communi-
ties living and troops stationed at differ
ent points on the road were in danger of
starvation resulting from the stoppage of
supply trains"
General Merritt tells in detail how he
disposed his forces to meet the emergency
and open up communication, and says:
1t is especially gratifying TO note that all
these movements, which involved in
many instances considerable marching
under the least pleasant conditions, were
performed promptly and in the most
creditable manner. The dispatch with
which the troops moved, without being
cautioned to that effect; the alacrity with
which they reached their several destina-
tions aud the clearness with which orders
were understood and reports were made.
reflect on the soldiery instincts of re-
sponsible officers at the posts and in the
field. | have no doubt that if ample
measures had not been taken in time to
prevent il q great destruction of railroad
property, even to the effacement of the
road, for a considerable time would have
been wrought by the lawless element
whose character has been limited at in the
foregoing"