Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-08-08
WHY T. 3. ACTED

Because President Roosevelt inter
ceded for peace in the Pennsylvania
coal strike does mean that he will see
fit to respond to the appeal of the
packing house strikers.
The reason for the presidents use.
not of official power, but of the enor-
nous moral influence of his office. in
the Pennsylvania coal struugie. was
~fat the Eastern cities were stricken
with fuel famine
And fuel famine is as serious
as dearth of food.
No matter what its origin might be.
f@would behoove the highest officer
of the nation to avert public calam-
ity. If he could or alleviate it. If the
calamity had come.
Two attitudes presented themselves
to the president in the not less than
awful issue of coal famine
In his official capicity he could hur-
ry the United States army to the Goa.
fieLls. with orders to suppress, alb
solutely. any iterierence with the oper.
alton of the mines.
Such action wuld have caused a
dreadful number of strikers to lose
their lives through desperation, or
through failure to comprehend pc
cular fact.
1t should be remembered that the
greatest and freest republic in the
world, which has, by far, the smallest
military establishment OF any govern
ment, in comparison with the popu
lation and wealth and geographical
magnitude and which subordinates
its troops and keeps them out OF
sight-nevertheless has an army
unique among armies,
In Europe the armies are conscript-
ed and represent the general run ol
the youth OF the country, while In
America the soldier is peculiar
man.
Nor does the United States army
correspond with the mercenary troops
OF past times, who served any fiae
Tor spoils.
On the contrary, the American reg
ular army feels that 1t is simply the
arm OF the United States government,
that the government it serves is the
nearest approach to righteous power
that exists, and that, when called up.
on, the army must be invincible. i'm
personal and without object or aim
except to ylndicate he irresistible MAJ
esty OF the United States.
The bulk of the strikers in Penn
sylyania were foreigners, who had
never seen an American regular sol
dier and who felt no conception Vi
the United States army.
They would have expected soldiers
to sympathize with them, and, upon
being disappointed, would have been
seized with the blind fury OF freemen
against mercenaries.
1t would have been a sad chapter
That was what the mine owners
and the railways wanted.
They expected to force the presi
dent to send the army into the Goa
fields.
They looked forward to an awfu.
and decisive end of labor troubles
that would render great strikes i'm
probable for a decade.
Neither the mine owners nor the
strikers had consulted with the pres
ident.
He is the man. to whom capital
and labor looks, when in extremity
but never asks beforehand.
But Roosevelt saw way to avoid
bloodshed and spare the country II
hsudder and yet restore the coal sup.
ply
He made an appeal to reason.
1t cost him the enmity of capital
And ii has cost him more.
The labor unions, when strikes are
resulting disastrously, demand his in
feryention. and thus the only Amerl
can president that ever did anything
for organized labor is cursed by botl
labor and capital.
Thee is no doubt that, If the cities
were threatened with famine, Presi
dent Roosevelt would act, officially
or unofiicially. to save the helpless
aPl the innocent from starvation.
Ne acted. in the Pennsylvania crl
sis, to keep people from freezing to
death and to keep the factories and
machinery going.
The point is: The president has
declared that he had no reason to
do what he did in Pennsylvania ex-
cept to spare the PUBLIC from calam-
ity.-Denyer Post.
REVIEW OF SAN