The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-20
xxxII.

FIN LIE 0lECLE
BY the time Mrs. Shacklett arrived the
peace had been broken az the Mines and
the papers were putting the accounts OF the
events there upon the first page The sner-
ar had telegraphed for militia the first day
the imported miners arrived, and the Gov
ernor had replied that he could not send
soldiers until the posse comitatus had
failed TO keep the peace. Then began a
telegraphic correspondence. and that night
Governor Shacklett had sent Mckee to the
scene of the trouble to make a private re-
port upon the situation. The private Sec
rotary telegraphed that fights were fire.
auent. generally started by a few men who
looked like miners and talked anarchy. but
never attended the miners meetings. how
ever. for he had kept them under observa-
ton.
The Governor went 10 the mines at once,
and his wife went with him. On the way
they talked of nothing but the situation
confronting the State, and the Governor
argued with his wife two propositions. One
was that the mine owners must have clean
hand before they could claim protection
for any imported men, with the resulting
long-continued state of siege; and the other
was that every man violating the laws
u nc P1lAo4C0 GAd(Nly do IL u dAi hoA
happened last summer on a farm, with only
two people interested in the quarrel.
At the mines Governor Shacklett sent for
the owners first, and. after assuring them
that their property should be protected as
1t stood that day, asked for a description
of the existing conditions from their point
of view. They told him that the miners
were a%narchistic and determined to prevent
raRn from Going 20 UOrk WhO wished TO do
so. even if every imported miner had to be
killed. The owners talked Of the right of
contract and other things. and when they
left they were absolutely in the dark as
to what was in the Governors mind.
Then Governor Shacklett sent for the
leaders of the miners. who were the officers
of their union. These talked OF wages not
affording a living and starvation being
pushed off day by day. To this the Gov
ernor sternly replied that it was not the
business of the State to keep wages UP.
even to the living point, in any field of
labor; that If the miners were not satisfied
with what the company paid they had a
perfect right to quit the mines and go to
farming. ditch digging. or In any other en-
pIoyment they chose. where they could
obtain wages 10 suit themselves. The union
committee talked of the right of every man
to a living, and the Governor replied that
he thought every man had a living lying
around somewhere If he would but look in
the right place for 1t. Then they spoke Of
robbery in the truck stores, and the Gov
ernor told them that If the owners dis
charged a nan for buying his groceries
and other goods where he pleased that man
would be put back in the mine If II took all
the soldiers in the State to do it. They
argued against bringing in labor from out
side the State. and Governor Shacklett an
swered that people in less favored States
had as much right To employment as IL
they were fortunate enough to be citizens
of Illinois, but that any owners who took
pains TO import labor would get the strict
Justice of Shylock and no favors whatever.
BY this time the officers of the miners
Union were not sure whether they had a
foxy politician, a crank or a Solomon to
Real with. and finally the Governor said:
az made no reply TO what you said about
your miners being peaceable, and that
forcible prevention of men going to the
mines is the work of anarchistic spirits
taking advantage of the situation, because
my private information is to the same eff
feet. / am going to be frank with you and
play my hand with the cards face up on
the table. This trouble is going to be ended
in. less than a week and have no blank
cartridge business In 1t. 1 might as we'll
kill a hundred men a day for three days
as kill one man a day for a year. There is
one proviso that 1 want you to keep in
mind. but provided only that you have told
me the truth, this is what / shall do. You
can handle your men, for you have been
doing so; I can handle my troops and
Shacklett seized the chance TO give the
president of the federation a warm, mag
netic smile. You are to keep your men
far enough away TO be out of danger. and
I'll send the brute-force fellows to the hos
pital or the ~boneyard. Then III put the
mines in a bottle. with the neck extending
out the old corduroy road, by throwing a
circle OF guards out a half mile from the
shafts. with each end of the line extending
up the side OF the road for a quarter Of a
mile. The only way that anybody can get
near the mines will be down the corduroy
road. and anybody who chooses can pass
there. You're to see that your men don't
choose TO enter my bottle, and you can
have the whole quarter of a mile of road
from the ends of the guard line to the
mouth Of the bottle Itself, at the inner end
OF the road. to try your moral suasion on
the new men. I'll have eyes and ears there
that 1 can trust completely, and at the first
sign OF force taking the place OF proper
argument another plan goes into effect.
1.-The other plan is. to load the new men
on cars out the railroad anywhere within
a hundred miles. and carry them to the
mouths OF the shafts on trains guarded by
troops. sending every man that attempts
TO interfere to join those dead anarchists
sent or before. / won't do anything like
this as long as your miners stick to their
right Of moral suasion and don't cross the
line of improper force-and that'u be a
deadline to them. The owners have a right
to put 10 work every man they can. and
you have a right to properly persuade
every man you can TO refuse their Job. I'm
going 10 give you both a fair show. arrest
every man that uses force, and kill every
man that resists the law. That is simple
enough, and I think you understand 1t.
But I don't want to push the button UNI
til l see for myself what my private
sources of Information have told me. 1
want to go out and get over the entire
ground with my own eyes and ears In a
way that will give me personally an ac-
curate idea Of the whole thing. The first
thing I want you TO do is to bring me a
miners suit OF clothes that / can wear
among the men without being recognized.
/ want one that will fool the manager of