The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-03
CLEVELAND AND THE
CHICAGO STRIKE OF '94I
Government and the Strike Discussed Before
Princeton University Students

Princeton, N. j., May 2.-Before ont
of the largest audiences ever assem-
bled in Alexander Hall. former Presi-
dent Grover Cleveland delivered the
Stafford Little lecture tonight Of
The Government in the Chicago
| Strike of 1894"
Mr.. Cleveland was greeted with ell
thusiastic applause when PresidelIi
Woodrow Wilson introduced him. say
ing: "Mr. Cleveland stands to-day as
the most prominent man in the United
States. and needs no introduction. es-
pecially to a Princeton audience"
Every word of the lecture was fol-
lowed with the closest attention, and
at it's conclusion the Princeton students
rose and gave a hearty Locomotive
cheer for the lecturer.
story of the Strike.
Mr.. Cleveland opened his address by
briefly referring to some of the seri-
Gus problems which faced his admin
istration during the year 1894, and then
took up his subject in detail:
He explained that the Chicago
trouble had it's inception In q
strike by the employees of the Pull
man Palace Car Company, which be-
gan on the 18th day of May, and
was provoked by a reduction of wages.
The cause of the Pullman strikers was
taken up by the American Railway I'm
ion. Members of the A. r. U. re-
fused to handle Pullman cars or trains
bearing them. At that time three
fourths of the railroad mileage of the
country was under contract to use Puli-
man cars. .
THE same railroad companies, which
had contracted to use these Pullman
cars upon their lines said Mr.. Cleve-
land, had contracts with the United
States government for the carriage of
mails, and were. of course. also large
ly engaged in interstate commerce. 1t
need hardly be said that of necessity,
the trains ON which the mails were car
ried, and which served the purpose OF
interstate commerce were, as a general
rule, those to which the Pullman cars
were also attached"
Difficulties of the Courts.
Mr.. Cleveland described the repeat
ed, but Intellectual attempts by United
States court fnjunctions and the use
of deputy marshals to prevent riots
and the obstruction of commerce and
mails.
The desperate and far-reaching
character of this disturbance was not
in the least underestimate by execu-
tive officials at Washington" Mr..
Cleveland said, land it must be borne
in mind that, while menacing condi-
lions were moving swiftly and accum-
ulating at Chicago, like conditions in
spired and supported from that CEN
trial point existed in many other places
within the area of the strikes con-
ta9ion.
"Of course, it was hoped by those
charged with the responsibility of
dealing with the situation, that di-
rect assertion of authority by the
marshal or a resort to the restraining
power of the courts would prove suf-
ficient for the emergency. Notwith-
standing, however. an anxious desire
to avoid measures more radical. the
fact had not been overlooked that a
contingency might occur which would
compel a resort to military force.
The key to dispatches to the federal
officers at Chicago from the Attorney
General may be found in the self-de-
fensive authority of our nation to d.
rectly overcome resistance to the ex-
ercise of its legitimate and constitu-
tiorlal functions as related to the
transportation of mails, the operation
of interstate commerce, and the pres
ervation of the property Of the United
States, and in certain constitutional
and statutory provisions. II was the