The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-05-13
A REVIEW OF THE RECENT
STRIKE TN PHILADELPHIA
Grand Old Man Characerzes Brothey
dent Philadelphia Crisis in Cty Industrial Life Failed
Develop Single Leader Among Business and Profe
Men Who Were Able to Cope With the Situation

oPiIhS 9IeeLS' hundred VardS from
the United States mint, and hooted the
passengers and crew of every car that
passed.
"The intersection became blocked and
a riot call was sent in. Mounted pc
lice in a few minutes came gallop'ag
up and drove the great crowd east in
Spring Garden street and into Broad
street, the city's main thoroughfare.
While this was going 81 there came
from the windows of the shops a hail
storm of rivets, bolts. nuts, iron bars,
and almost every small thing that goes
to make mp locomotive.
with this flanl, movement in T. cir
support the rioting crowd became bolder
and the police realized they were in
for a battle. Out came the revolvers
of the mounted men and the half hun
dred foot policemen and general
fusillade of revolver shots rang through
the air. Every policeman hept his
nerve. and under direction of the lieu-
tenant in charge pointed his revolver
upward. The shooting scared cnly a
few of the man and there was no gen
eral break for cover Il seemed to be
more of a happy, ieerirg crowd, thai
mob bent on vcn~eance. ard they
slowly retreated.
Suddenly there bolcned forth the
hoarse roar of Baldwin's ~gcat whistle,
and there was general break for the
entrance to the plant In two min
utes every man was within the confines
of the work. The police marched off,
and the engineer who witnessed the af-
fair remarked with n laugh;
q can do more with my whistle
than all the cops in Philadelphia
'When it came to counting the casu-
alties it was found that one man had
been shot in the foot"
All that this incident amountc, to
was the manifestation by cro~l Of
hardy unorgauized workers to their
sympathy with the strikers. There
were ieers some harmless throwing of
missiles, good-natured retreat from
the police, and a laugh, How many OF
the outbreaks" and "act of violence"
were about on par with this one?
The most spectacular and disgraceful
incident during the whole strike was
the wanton brutality of the police
while preventing the demonstration of
the people in their march to the city
hall to protest against the course of
the street car company and the pro-
hibition by the city authorities of an
open air meeting on priva Q grounds
rented for the purpose We herewith
put on record the action of the police
on this occasion as described in the
Washington Post:
"The police fought and whipped 20,-
600 strikers and labor union sympa-
thizers in the heart Of the city this
afternoon. Broad street from the
Philadelphia National league ball park
to the city hall was a battle-ground for
two hours The great thoroughfare
was choked with men and women, who
struggled to break down the polio,
barricades and surround the city hall
They were leaderless, and their progress
resembled a stampede of cattle.
Hundreds of them were pounded to
bn - troy nj al Nv nd
horses, kicked and cuffed and whirled
headlong to side streets 1t is i'm
possible to say how many were hurt,
but after the mob was driven helter-
skster into the mino. thoroughfares
you saw scores of men, now and then
woman, whose heads had been cut open
by savage blows of a club; whose faces
were bloody, or who were nursing an
arm paralyzed by the smashing impact
of the policemen's mace.
"Broad street was curious spectacle
after the battle; for squares the asphalt
was Uttered with lats- mems and
women's-which had been crushed and
swept away in the driving rushes of
the policemen \ truck load of dam
aged millinery might have been gather
ed up. There were shoes that had been
torn off by their owners and thrown
at the police, and many of them were
women's. Occasionally one came across
a coat OF an overcoat that had been
ripped off its owners back in the melee
More intimate garments were found in
this strange spread OF debris
This incident illustrates that the po-
lice of Philadelphia are under a chief
whose incompeteney is fittingly con-
spieuous with that of the rest Of the
city's officials.
The phase Of the strike furnished by
the strike-breakers is thus treated in
the Scranton Times:
"These strike breakers are not men
in need of employment; they are made
up of the scum and worst elements
who can not hold steady job, and who
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