The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-04
STRIKE VIOLENCE EXAGGERAT
The Papers published In the Vicinity
Contradict the spacewriters'
Dispatches.
Literary Digest.

r 5 !. 95zf
Those who have deploreds the violence
In the coal region during the recent strike
will be glad to hear reports from news
papers ION the spot" to the effect that
there has not been so much as reported.
It isn't denied that there has been disorder
and violence; but it is asserted that the
newspaper accounts have been grossly ex-
aggerated. THE wild-brained represen-
tations In the big city papers" remind the
Tamaqua Register of "dime-nov fabri-
cations and the Archibald Citizen COM
plains that every little incident having
tendency to injure the striking miners
has been distorted and magnified SO
shamefully that 1t will take years to wipe
away the stain that has been unjustly
placed on the fair name Of this region.
IF we did not believe all newspaper men
to be scrupulously honest, AYERS the Citi-
zen. I'VE would suspect conspiracy to
wilfully misrepresent conditions here.
The Harrisburg Telegraph and some other
papers compare the order prevailing In the
strike region with the conditions during
the same period in New York. where the
meat riots and the Jewish funeral riot
were added to the usual number Of dis
orders in the metropolis. Says the
Wilkesbarre Daily News:
"The Daily News has insisted ever
since the strike began that the reports OF
lawlessness in the region were greatly
exaggerated: A barroom fight, which
probably had no connection at all with the
strike, was magnifed into a riot The
local papers were fair enough in their re-
ports but the accounts sent to outside
papers were greatly colored-and all hay
ing tendency to bring the cause Of the
| miners into disrepute. The strikers, on
the whole, were well-behaved. That
there were some violent outbreaks can
not be denied. The worst was the dyna-
hitting Of the cattle train on the Lehigh
Valley railroad, in which $50 cattle were
| killed. 1t is believed this dastardly deed
was committed by foreigners. 1t was
condemned by all fair-minded miners who
saw at once that they were bound to suf-
| fer from such deeds, committed by
| thoughtless and reckless men"
The Tamaaua Recorder declares that
I the reports Of violence have been wick
eddy exaggerated Recent issues of the
! Recorder contain the following para
| graphs:
''The lying space writers from Tamaqus
| to the Philadelphia and New York papers
| concerning the strike situation ought tt
| be prosecuted by some Of the alliances
because they injure the communities b.
making the public believe that life o,
| property is not safe. These city dailie
ought to get reputable men to send facts
| not fiction.
THE young men who are sending GU
this false news appear to have no regart
whatever for truth. Their sole aim ap
pears to be to make the dollars that sucl
reports bring. Our town and valley ar
receiving bad name throughout tn
country such as will require a generation
to erase.
1.-THE situation in the valley has bee
very quiet for the past two weeks. An
other city correspondent has arrived
however, and there is no telling whs
may happen now
Says the Freeland Press: , -. y
Certain newspapers and their report
, ers have, for. reasons best known to them
selves, magnif1ed and exaggerated ever
. crime or disturbance which took place
the coal regions and charged it up t
! the miners and their organization.
The United Mine Workers have justl
r complained against such treatment an
: are not willing to be charged with bot
. actual and imaginary crime.
! speaking for our own community an
surrounding towns we are safe in say
Ing that since the beginning of the pres
ent strike ordinary violations Of the la
have been very few and decidedly les
than formerly
This town contains a population
e 'Ver 5000 people. 1t is also the center
o an additional population among the var
Gus mining towns In its Immediate v
7 entity, fully as great.
n During the past five months no Grim
e nor any disturbance worth mentioning
: has occurred. Thousands Of mine strike
- nave paraded and held numerous NEE
:. 1ngs at this, place without causing ar
. disturbance of the peace, or even a sing
" arrest for drunkenness. No record
y robbery or house-breaking exists. Wi
= the exception Of a few arrests for drum
= enness the local police force have hs
very little to do, in fact much less thu
I formerly.
In the adjoining mining towns fe
minor disturbances have occurred, viii,
y is incidental to nearly all strikes and Il
,e dustrlal disturbances everywhere; but le
SO to this strike than formerly-their in
m portance having been grossly exagge
ated.'