The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-06

WASHINGTON, July 5.-President Cleveland
has sent the following reply to Governor
Altgelds demand for the removal Of fed
eral troops from Illinois:
Executive Mansion, Washington, July ).
"Hon. john l. Altgeld, governor of IL
linois, Springfield Illinois: Federal troops
were sent 10 Chicago in strict accordance
with the constitution and the laws of the
United States. upon the demand of the
Fostofiice department that obstruction OF
the mails should be removed. and upon
representations Of the judicial officers of
the United States that process OF federal
courts could not be executed through the
ordinary means, and upon abundant proof
that conspiracies existed against CON-
merce between the states.
TO meet these conditions, which are
Clearly 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 the local autnorI-
lies 10 preserve the peace OF the city.
GROVER CLEVELAND"
ne following Is Governor Altgeid's tele-
gram:
Executive Office. State of Illinois. July 5
1-tt99on- GroNer Cleveland. president Of the
Chlted states. Washington: Dear Sir-I
am advised YOU have ordered federal
troops 10 80 into service in the state of
dlll.loIs; Surely the facts have not been
correctly presented to you in this case
or You would not have taken this sten
Tor 1t IS wholly unnecessary and as it
seems 70 me, unjustifable. Waving ali
questions OF courtesy. = will saw thai the
Sldle q illinois Is moi only able 10 taxa
care OF Itself, but it stands ready today
70 furnish the federal government any
assistance IL may need elsewhere, oar
military force is ample. and consists 81
as Scoa soldiers as can be found in tbe
SS 8. They have been ordered promnt
y WIeASter and wherever they We're
1.eeded We have stationed in Ghicsoo
%qIoHe thfee regiments of infantry ono
De-l' : ana one troop of cavalry. and
10 better soldiers can be found T'l,aS,
nave been ready every mone1t IN o. -i 8,
GUY, ana have not been ordered cIIt ~
c cssse nobody in Cook county. y-he+ber
Heir seeist private citizen: asked to have
500 eI. 'aIlce, or even intinated in any
NY mat their assistance was dsei,,as,a
or necessary. vas uesited
20 Tar as have been advised tho 1o,.,
oIlclais- have been able 10 49, ~ iCt 1
sllua9on, but if any assista1ca r,,are
760 S.sr,, SIIe safe stood ready to furnish
80 iite4l LOT every man required and stood
No. NJ 70. 70 90 So at Il moments notice
Notwithstanding these facts Ibs 800
So 81 IIient has been applied to nv ma,
" ny .! !Iau PoLtcal and selfish motives for.
" MSaAIInS 20 ignore the state govern mem
w nave just gone through a LONG coal
otIIhe more extensive here than in anT-
=! 4th is state because our soft coal field
Is larger than that Of any other cta+n
We have now had ten DAYS Of he I'll
Loau strike and we have promDfIv FIR
nlshed military aid whereyer tba 1ocal
onlclals needed il OO4i
In two instances +l,a 1-,i+o7
ma rsilaI Tor the southern district If IiIj- |
ntoIe, dppued Tor assistance 10 enable
Tniied 70 s enforce the processes of the
promptly furnished him and he VOC nc
sIsted IN every way he desired. The Ian.
VIII be thoroughly executed. and eysry
III guilty OF violating it during
ne the stfl1e VIII be brought TO Justice. #
me marshal for the northern district of |
IlunoiS or the authorities of Cook co11nfL1 |
leeueQ nlAtaly assistance, they had hut |
state. - iioAl the
A present some of our railroads are /,
Pc a. 1eC, not by reason of distractions |
operate their trains For some raaeoT |
they are anxious to keep this fact from |
lhe PUBIC. and for this purpose are max
rs 49, a. O1IcIy ABOUT DISTRACTIONS in order
70 overt attention. Now I will cite IN |
situation. a &c Vie
Some days ago 1 was advised that the |
business OF one Of our railroads Wac oh
sructed at two railroad ceDters-+l7s+ |
there was condition bordering on an
aIchy, ana was asked to furnish protec- |
III I'm , 50 as 10 enable the employees of |
the railroad to operate trains. Troops |
were promptly ordered to both points |
L hen it transpired the company had MOI /
; s uIilclent men on its line TO operate one |
Train All the old hands were ordered |
out and refused to go. The COMPANY had |
large shops in which worked a number |
OF men who did not belong to the rail- |
way union, and who could run an en-
slne- Ihey We're appealed to to run the |
tram, but fatty refused We were |
oDnged 10 hunt up soldiers who could |
run an engine and operate a train
Again, two days ago. appeals which
Were almost frantic came from officials |
OF anotheT road, sta ting that at an impor-
la1I point on their line trains were for
clply opstructed, and that there was a |
reign OF anarchy at that place. and they
asked Tor protection so they could move
their trains. Troops were put on the
ground IN few hours time when the
oihcer IN command telegraphed me there
was no trouble and had been none AT
that point, but that the road seemed to
nave no men to run trains, and the sheriff |
Ielegrapned he did not need troops, but !
would himself move every train if the
company would only furnish engineers. |
me result was the troops were through
over twelve hours before a single train |
was moved although there was no at
tempt at interference by anybody
II IS true that in several instances
b road made efforts to work few green |
men, and a crowd standing around in
suIteQ them and tried to drive them |
away, and in a few other cases thev
cut of Pullman cars from the trains
but AL these troubles were local in char
acter. and could easily be handled by 1
the stare s authorities. Illinois has more
railro2d men than any other state but as
rule they are orderly and well behaved |
ms is shown by the fact that so very |
little actual violence had been committed. |
only a very small per cent of these men
nave been guilty of any attractions of
the law. The newspaper accounts have
n many instances been pure fabrica tons
ana IN others wild eXaggerations. l have
gone thus into details TO show that it is
not soldiers that the railroads need so
nuch as men to operate trains, and that
the condition does not exist here which
brings the cause within the federal stat
ute, a statute that was passed in 1861
ana was in reality a war measure r
This statute authorized the use of L
FEDERAL troops in a state whenever it |
shall be ilnpracticable TO enforce the laws
u the ~ lted States within such state by
ne ordinary judicial process. Such a
does not exist in Illinois. There :
nave peen few local disturbances, but
lothlng that seriously interfered with the
administration of justice, for the federal
roops can Go nothing that the state /,
foops can not do. ! repeat that you have
been imposed upon in this matter. but
wen II by forced construction IL was
leld that the conditions here came within |
ne letter OF sthe statute, then / submit {
nat local Self-government is a funda-
mental principle of our constitution |
Zach community shall rule itself as long ,
Is IL can and is ready and able to en-
orce the law, and it is in harmony with
ms fundamental principle that the stat
lite authorizing the president to send IL