The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-03
CLEVELAND GOES
BACK TEN YEARS
lectures to Princeton Students
on the Government and
Chicago Strike.

ffeSIQent Cleveland delivered the Stat.
ford Little lecture tonight on 4The
Government in the Chicago Strike or
1894"
Mr.. Cleveland was greeted with en-
thuslastic applause when President
woodrow Wilson introduced him, saw
ing; Mr.. Cleveland stands today as
the most prominent man in the United
states and needs no introduction. es-
peclally to a Princeton audience"
The balcony was packed with I'M
dergraduates and townspeopIe. while
the seats on the lower floor were re-
served for professors and their wives.
together with prominent visitors. Ev-
cry word of the lecture was followed
with the closest attention and appre-
cation by those present, and at it's
conclusion the Princeton students rose
and gave hearty locomotive" cheer
for the lecturer.
Mr.. Cleveland has held this lecture
ship on public affairs at Princeton for
the past four years, but he has not
been able to deliver an address since
his speech on the Venezuela trouble in
1901.
Problems of 1894.
He opened his address by referring
to some of the serious problems which
faced his administration during the
year 1894; then taking up his subject
in detail. he said:
In the last days of June, 1894 a very
determined and ugly labor disturbance
broke out in the city of Chicago Almost
IN night it grew to full proportions of
violence were its early accompaniments:
and 1t spread so swiftly that within a
lew days 1T had reached nearly the entire
Western and Southwestern sections OF
the country. Railroad transportation was
especially involved III its attacks The
carriage of United States mail was in
corrupted Interstate commerce was OBJ
sructed. and railroad property was
rlotously destroyed. Attorney General
Olney, in his official report, correctly de-
ilned the purpose and design of this out
break in these words: ITO compel a set
tement of disputes between the Pullman
company and a portion of its employees,
notnlng else was meditated aimed at
than a complete Stoppage of all the rail-
road transportation of the country state
and interstate, and freight as well as pas
senger."
The speaker further sketched the
conditions, and went on:
The officers of the American Railway
union established headquarters in the
city of Chicago; and from there gave di-
fecu0nS for the maintenance and man
agement of the strike. Reports soon came
from various quarters that the mails were
completely ObStructed. trains were seized
and destroyed and other violent disorders
committed. TheTeupon the attorney gen.
eTal Immediately sent a dispatch to the
United States district attorneys instruct
ing them to see that the passage of reg
ular trains, carrying United States mails
IN the usual and ordinary way, be not
DISTRACTED.
Wherever there was interference with
the mails or restraint of commerce the
United states courts were appealed to for
relief. In Chicago the United States mar
Shal was authorized to employ special
deputies and special counsel for the gov
eminent. In a letter to this special cOun-
sci the attorney general in making sug-
wrote: 1T has seemed to me that if the
rights of the United States were vigor-
ously asserted in Chicago. the origin and
center of the demonstration the result
would be to make it a failure everywhere
else, and to prevent its spread over the
entire country, and in that connection
he indicated that it might be advisable,
instead Of relying entirely upon warrants,
issued upon criminal statutes against per-
sons actually guilty of the offense of OBJ
structing United States mails. that the
courts should be asked to grant injunc-
tons which would restrain and prevent
any attempt to commit such offense.
Intellectual Iniunctions.
Mr.. Cleveland then described the re-
peated but Intellectual attempts by
United States court injunctionS and
the use Of deputy marshals to prevent
riots, and the obstruction of commerce
and mails He said:
The desperate and far-reaching char
acter Of this disturbance was not in the
least underestimated by executive officials
at Washington, and it must be borne in
mind that, while menacing conditions
were moving swiftly and accommodating AZ
Chicago, like conditions inspired and sup
ported from that central point existed i'm
many other places within the area OF
the strikes cOntagion.
The strike situation grew rapidly worse
Utter defiance of court orders lawlesS-
ness and rioting eliminated in the formal
request of the United States marshal,
supported by the judge and attorneys of
the federal court, for federal troops. This
request was at once met by orders to the
war department and soldiers from Fort
Sheridan were soon on the scene. The
dispatch containing the direction of this
procedure concluded as follows: 1.-THE
mere preservation of peace and good or
der in the city is, of course, the province
of the city and state authorities"
An executive proclamation issued by
the president calling upon all to refrain
from unlawful obstruction combinations
and assemblages, together with the wise
use of the federal troops and the enforce
ment OF the processes of the federal
courts. resulting in the arrest of the Of
ncerS of the A. K. u, stopped the rioting,
the strike ended, and commerce and the
mails proceeded unobstructed
Correspondence With AItgeId.
Then followed a most interesting part
of the address, the reading Of the cor
respondence which passed between
President Cleveland and Gov. John p.
Altgeld, Of Illinois. Of him Mr. Cleve-
land said:
This official not only refused to regard
the riotous disturbances within the Dor
ders of his state as a sufficient cause for
an application to the federal government
for its protection against domestic ViO-
lence under the mandate of the cOnStitu-
ton, but actually protested against the
presence of federal troops sent into the
state upon the general governments in
itiative and for the purpose of defending
itself in the clearly defined exercise of its
legitimate functions.
"This," said Mr.. Cleveland, ''closed
a discussion which in it's net result
demonstrated how far ones disposition
and inclination will lead him astray
in the field of argument"
Settled for All Time.
Mr.. Cleveland concluded with a ref
erence to the legal proceedings which
grew out of this disturbance land
finally led to the adjudication by
the highest court in our land, estab-
fishing in an absolutely authoritative
and for all time, the power Of
the national government to protect it
self in the exercise Of Its functions"
In sustaining the action Of the United
States circuit court which ordered the
of Debs and his associate
officers of the A. r. u. for disObeying
it's injunctions, Mr.. Cleveland said:
The supreme court of the United
States has written the concluding words