The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-08-11
A PATRIOTIC LETTER.
Gov. shaw's Stirring Reply to San
Francisco Agltator.

Gov. Shaw's Stirring Reply to San
Francisco Agitator.
DEFENDS THEIOwA BOYS
Not Buns but Gentlemen and Patriots
Shaw Adds to His Laurels Throughout
the Nation.
The labor organizations of San Fran
cisco object to the Fifty-arst Iowa be.
ing mustered out in that town, and
Secretary Rosenberg Of the San Fran
cisco labor council, in letter to Gov.
ernor Shaw, sets forth the following:
Mr.. Roscnburg's Letter,
burg was written on the letterheads
affiliated with the American n deratlon
OF Labor, 1859 Mission street, San
Francisco. LII is dated July %, and
| follows:
TO the Governor and Citizens of
Iowa-Dear Sir and Fellow Citizens:
The war department has decided to
muster out all the returning volunteers
at San Francisco, and requests and APP
pealS of the people OF The respective
states who asked that the troops be
disbanded in the states they came from
| having been disregarded, now the San
Francisco Labor Council, the fedora
ton of the trades unions of this city,
calls your attention to the evils ineviJ-
able the result should the war depart
nent adhere to its announced policy,
| IN the hope that public sentiment will
be aroused strong enough to compel
| the administration to listen to common
sense and plain reason.
! The strange actions of the depart
ment in this matter can be explained
only by inferriDg the following motives,
which conditions compel us to note:
! First, the desire to unduly flood the la
Dor market and thus check the struggle
OF the workingmen for improved con-
| dltiOns; secondly, to compel the volun-
| teers, driven by want and restitution,
to re-enlist thirdly, to prevent the re-
turn of the volunteers to their homes,
where to their friends and relatives
they would undoubtedly give the true
version OF the people, the climate and
| the general conditions in the Philip
pines, as produced by our war of con-
quest.
| Temptations for the Volunteer.
The great majority of the returning
volunteers. when paid off, will quickly
spend their money-they have the sol
dler spirit and desires and are young,
and San Francisco has the reputation
of being able and willing to furnish ITO
the stranger within Its gates'' irresist-
able attractions. With money gone,
the destitute soldier will be compelled
to seek work, which they in most cases,
will not be able to find. Then want
and suffering will be their lot; for the
conditions OF securing employment in
San Francisco and vicinity are different
from those in the eastern and middle
states, there being no other industrial
centers within easy reach that could
absorb surplus labor. 1t is hard to
beat the trains in the west, the rail.
roads putting off men, compelled to
steal ride, on mountains and in des-
erts, where they often miserably perish.
1t is certain that the railroad corpora
lions will show no more pity for the
soldier tramp than they do for the
workman tramp. And those fortunate
enough to secure employment here will
have to take It at lower wages, throwing
out OF work the local workmen, who, in
most cases, are with families osup.
port. and in turn would become tramps
and sufferers. twenty-five thousand
NIL thrown onto San Francisco in a
few months will cause a congestion of
the labor market, with its inevitable
hardships; distributed through the re-
spective states they would be useful
and beneficial to themselves and their
fellow citizens.
Many of the volunteers, if discharged
here, will die. Destitute, without fam
| lily ties and the sentiment of the majo-
rlty of the people turned against them,
when it is found that they are under
| bidding local WOrkmen, the soldiers,
enfeebled through the hardships in q
deadly climate, will miserably perish in
cheap lodging houses, in overcrowded
hospitals and on lonely country roads.
''Some, driven to desperation, will re-
I enlist, in a useless and endless war.
Then Philippine swamps and Philip.
pine bullets will finish the work of de-
structiOn.
1.-THE censor in the Philippines now
forbids the publication of all news that
would show up the horrors of the war,
and the tremendous sacrifices the PEG.
pie Of this country will have to make to
conquer warlike people. solely for the
exploitation by carpet baggers and cor
porations. Returned to their homes,
the volunteers would quickly make
known to the American people the real
conditions in the Philippines and a
death knell would soon be sounded on
the un American policy of conquest and
bluster.
Appeal to the Governor.
.'Mr. Governor: Will the people of
your state permit the war department,
to add This crime to the horrors oil
Camp Chickamauga, Camp Merritt and
of embalmed beef? Let us assure you
that these horrors will pale into insig-
nificance with those to result from the
disarmament of all the volunteers in
San Francisco. We ask you to use your
utmost influence ON the adminisf ration