The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-11
STRIKE LEADERS SEE
 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
STATEMENT OF ATTITUDE OF
 CHICAGO TRANSFERS.

1 Spoken at. All of the Use of Federal Troops-Knows Nothing of Merits of ! Dispute and Has Not Been Ap- l preached Regarding Use of National , MiIitia-Against Violence. , ! Chicago. May 10.-A committee of la
 bor men appointed to call on President
 Roosevelt and lodge with him a pro-
 test against the employment of fed
 eral troops during the present team
 sters' strike was granted an audience
 late this afternoon. The committee
 consisted of Cornelius P. Shea, presi-
 dent of the International Brotherhood i of Teamsters; Charles Dold, president ] of the Chicago Federation of Labor;
 Joseph O'Neil, vice president of the | Chicago Federation of Labor; T. P. Dunn, a member of the Canvassers'
 union. and T. Rickert, president of the Garment Workers International union. ] The members of the committee, Presi- dent Roosevelt and Secretary Loeb, { were the only persons at the confer ence. The following account of what
 passed in the room was given out by ! Secretary Loeb:
 | "After presenting the protest to the
 president, MT. Shea, acting as spokes-
 man. said:
 We are here as a committee to ! present to you a statement, presenting
 our position in this controversy be- tween the Employers association and l the Teamsters' union. We had under stood that they had asked your aid for
 bringing troops to Chicago. We want ito present our position to you
 l Mir. Quinn said:
 i " Tt will take about ten minutes; perhaps we had better leave it with you.'
 The president said that he would read I it at once, and after doing so said:
 | I have read the petition you have ! presented to me. the conclusion of (which is request for a hearing be- ] fore any action be taken by the federal
 president relating to the Chicago
 strike situation. As yet, no suggestion
 of any kind has come to me from any
 source that I should take any action.
 Of the merits of the case am wholly
 ignorant have no Knowledge of what
 the situation is or of what steps should
 properly be taken to end 1t. feel,
 however. that in view of one state
 ment, or series or statements, in your letter ought to say this: I regret that
 you should in the letter have spoken at
 all of the use of the federal army as
 you have spoken. No request has been
 made to me for action by the federal
 government, but at the same time, MT. Shea, as you have in this communica-
 tion to me brought up that fact, I
 want to say one thing with all the emphasis in my power I upholding the law and order. in doing what he 1 Is able to do in suppressing mob vio- lence in any shape or way, the mayor
 of Chicago, Mayor Dunne, has my hearty support. am glad to be able l to say it to you, gentlemen, before I
 said to to another body. Now let me
 repeat that I know nothing of the facts
 of the situation. I know nothing of 1 the right or wrong of the points at is-
 sue. What have to say is based pure ly upon what regard as the unfor- tunte phrasing of letter presented to the president of the United States
 have not been called upon to interfere
 in any way, but you must not fnisun-
 derstand my attitude. In every effort
 of Mayor Dunne to prevent violence by
 mobs or individuals. to see that the
 laws are obeyed, and that order is pre- served, he has the hearty support of the president of the United States, and | in my judgment he should have that 1 of every good citizen of the United States. Now, gentlemen, it has been a great pleasure to see you and am glad to have had the chance to say this to you
 .Mr. Quinn, who knew the president | in his youth, said: - "tMr President, what prompted me I to come to you with this statment is that for the last two or three weeks there has been continual howl for the federal army. have known you long l enough to know that you would not re-
 spond to a one-sided demand, that you will not respond until you have thor oughly investigated the case''
 "The president replied: "Mr. Dunn, as yet the mayor of
 Chcago has not made any appeal to the governor, and therefore, of course, the
 governor has made none to me; and, as yet, nothing in the situation has de,
 manded action by me- President Shea of the Teamsters' union then said: "'Let me explain that. The governor l has been requested by committee of
 the employers to dsmand federal troops; the statement has been made in the ] papers, I immediately telegra pfled Governor Deneen that we would allow him to appoint commission. Regard less of that I want to make our posi- tion known to you in regard to mob violence. Every time a mob congre- gates, every act of violence performed by either a union man or sympathizer reacts to our detriment. I think we are skilled workinen enough in our par ticular craft to demonstrate to our bus mess men of Chicago that it is to their interest to employ us. There is nothing at stake but the unemployment of citi-
 zens of Chcago who have been forced out their positions. Acts of violence AL AZ. i =