The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-05-17
GOVERNMENT BY A MOE.

C"eeu HeuoeFs VI tue emp as
ISOLATION and representatives of laboI
unions have been held the past week
but no basis of settlement satisfactor
to both parties has been reached, Tn
latest news is that certain classes q
transfers who have not been involved
in the strike will be called out thi
week, in an attempt to ~paralyze tn
commercial life of the city.
In the meantime there are daily re
ports of mob violence in connection
with the strike, one Of the news item.
relating to this feature of the troubl,
stating that members Of 30 organized
gang of sluggers, hired to assaul,
non.union workmen, have been placed
under arrest. In view Of what has
happened during the progress OF the
strike, and the probability of further
rioting II the trouble continues for
any length of time, these scathing re.
marks by the st. Louis Globe Demo.
crat appear to be justified:
1t is safe to say that no other i'm.
portant town in the United States
would allow for t%wenty-four hours
the outrages which have been perpet-
rated every day in Chicago. Destruc.
ton OF property and obstruction of
business are mixed up with riot and
murder in every days orgies. A
mayor who is a coward or a dema
gOgue, or both, watches these pro-
ceedings with stupid stolidity while
his city is losing millions of dollars
in trade every day, and while it is los.
ing Il credit for order and sanity
which is worth even more to it than
the immediate money loss which is
entailed. a chief of police who is an
incapable and a rabble sympathizer,
or both, declares in the midst of these
Outrages that he has the stu alton we'll
in hand. Mayor Dunno refused to
call out the militia for fear that this
use of force will harm his socialistic
and anarchistic fad for the munich
pal control Of the street railways and
other public interests. Chief of Pc.
lice O'Neil declines to let the police
ride on the wagons Of the employers
lest he be accused of showing parti al
ity to the business, conservative aud
law-abiding element of the city, and
is thus, intentionally or unintention-
ally, giving aid or comfort to the
worst mob that has disgraced Chicago
since the Haymarket anarchist out
break of 1886.
This is the spectacle which the coun.
try sees in its second largest city.
Two millions of people are at the
mercy Of a mob OF a few thousands,
melted by a strike of a few hundreds.
In the greatest town on the American
continent outside of New York there is
a complete paralysis of authority.
The men who are technically in charge
OF Its aft airs, and who are paid what
Is presumed to be fairly good salaries
for doing the work assigned to them,
have apparently surrendered their
functions to q handful of law breakers.
A mayor possessing ever the most ru.
dimentary qualifications for his post
could have stopped this reign of ter.
ror IN q day. A head of the police
who had any of the attributes which
are called for by a mar in his posi-.
ton In a crisis OF this sort could have
crushed in twenty.four hours this in.
surrection against the city authority,
and done it SO completely and so eff.
f~ectively that the feat would be a de.
torrent on lawbreakers in that city for
all future time.
Gov. Deneen is appealed to by hun.
dreds OF Chicago business men to call
out the troops. In the absence of a
request OF that sort from Mayor Dunno
the governor is naturally 10th to act.
Dunno not only refuses to ask for
troops, but he says they are not neces.
sary. The men at the head of the
Chicago city government are respon-
sible for the enforcement OF law and
the preservation OF order in their
town, and if they are unable or uu.
willing to do this they ought t O be de-
posed. In the meantime food and fuel
are advancing in price and millions
are made to suffer for the gratifc alton
OF the few evil ~propensities or the van
ity of a few lawbreakers. If Chicago
at the present moment were fairly rep.
resentative OF the entire country-and
happily and emphatically it is not
then popular government in the Uni.
ted States would be Il sham and a
crime.