The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1894-07-21
CIVIL AUTHORITY OR FEDERAL
EMACY-WHICH!.

and Cook county, Illinois, when the
rioters were burning and devastating
railroad cars and property, President
Cleveland presumably at the instance
of the Post Office Department and
urgent appeals of prominent and in
fuential residents of Cook county and
vicinity, declared martial law in Chi
cago and ordered that Federal troops
be sent to Illinois to assist in maintain
ing order, preserving the peace and
to prevent any unlawful interference
with the transportation of the United
States mails. Against this act on the
part of President Cleveland Governor
Altgeld of Illinois vigorously pro-
tested, and sent a communication to
the President denying his right to in
terfere in local matters unless called
upon by the local authorities. In an
swer to this protest questioning his
authority under the circumstances,
the President replied that in obedi-
ence to the requirements of law he
was simply doing his duty, that inter
State commerce was INSTRUCTED, the
transportation of United States mail
impeded, the public peace threatened,
public business and traffic unlawfully
suspended, law and order disregard
ed, and the city of Chicago under the
influence of rioters and mob law.
To this Governor Altgeld sent anoth-
other ringing protest and demanded
the immediate withdrawal of the Fed
eral troops from the State of Illinois,
that their presence was constant
source of annoyance and irritated in
stead of lessened the existing difficult
ties. Governor Altgeld evidently be-
lieves that the sending of Federal
troops to Chicago by the President is
a fragrant violation of the principle
of local self government, the princi-
pie of which is just as " sacred and
fundamental as that of Federal SUI
premacy." Governor Stone of Mis-
souri, also calls in question the Presi-
dents right in this regard and says:
I" the policy of making interference
with mails and interstate commerce
pretense for setting aside State au-
thorities without giving them an OPP
portunity of asserting themselves is
an outrage" There seems to be no
doubt as to the authority of the Pres
ident to order Federal troops into any
State or community provided there
be good and sufficient reason for so
ordering. Section 8, of Article 1, of
the Constitution of the United States
says: That Congress shall have pow
or "to provide for calling forth the
militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress instruction and re-
pei invasion. " In accordance with
this constitutional provision, in 1892
a law was passed, and amended in
1895 authorizing the President to call
out the militia for the purposes
specified, as he might judge nee
essary. This law is still in force.
Under this law the militia has been
called out three times. The first in
stance was to suppress an instruction
known as the "whisky rebellion" in
Western Pennsylvania 1894; the
second was to ''repel invasions" in
the war of 1912; the third was in 1861
in the war of the rebellion. 1t can
readily be seen that from the above
provisions and precedents the Presi-
dent had ample authority to order out
The troops-if he deemed his interior
once necessary, and it is apparent that
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