The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-03-05
PHILADELPHIA :: ::
| ! !, is IN THROES !: !:
3 = ! OF BIC STRIKE
Estimates Vary as to Nun.
Der Of Men Who An. !. .
/ Swered Call.
BOYCOTT ALSO ORDERED

Labor Leaders Plan Monster Demon.
stratIon In independence Square
This Afternoon, but Director Clay
Says Police viii Club All Working
men Who Approach square-Peope
Fear Riot and BIoodshed In Ken
sIngton District.
Philadelphia, March 5.-The unions
IN sympathy with the carmen struck
Vt midnight last night. Simultaneous
" 1t became known that every Ma
tional Guard regiment in the state of
Pennsylvania has received orders to
be ready to entrain for Philadelphia
at an hours notice. General Clay,
head Of the police force. denies 1t. 1t
happens, however to be true.
Promptly at midnight. union orches.
tras playing in the leading hotels and
cafes picked up their instruments and
started for their homes. Union cab
drivers and chauffeurs also abandoned
their posts and the hotel and railroad
crippled The drivers of eth taxicab
services in the city are members of
q union and refused to take out their
machines after the strike had gone
into effect.
Just how many union workmen
failed to show up for work when the
factory whistles blew this morning is
n0t-known, estimates varying greatly.
Labor leaders are shouting exultantly
that 100000 men have lined up with
striking motormen and conductors.
Policemen who have conducted hur-
We'd canvass of their beats assert that
not more than 10000 men are idle as
aresult Of the general strike order.
Conservative estimates place the
number at 10000, a little more or less.
The outlook is ominous even to the
most cheerful observers. So much
bitterness has developed in the past
few days that the people of .Philadel-
phia are preparing for any kind OF
trouble. An hours walk in sections
OF the city, such as Kensington. where
the feeling is the most intense, is suf-
hcient for anyone 10 understand 1t is
smoldering. Kensington, where two
leaders Of the union men live, will
be the seat of the trouble. The police
are preparing for riot at the very
outset. The committee Of ten of the
Central Labor union issued call to
all union men to assemble for a
peaceable demonstration at 3 O'Clock
this afternoon In Independence
square. The committee count on
$4,000 men to attend the meeting.
Henry Clay, director Of public safety,
has forbidden the meeting. lie said
that there would be 1000 police in the
square and that these men would
have orders to club the heads of any
men who attempted to gather In the
square. Clay said that there had to
be q showdown. and 1t might as well
come quick. The Central Labor union
committee declined to rescind the or.
der for the meeting.
II remains to be seen how many
strikers will drift to the neighborhood
of Independence hall and how far the
policeJ,will go in handling them.
The labor bosses spread the prom
ise that no union man would throw a
brick or participate in any resistance
to the police or the militia. The
promise was accepted for just what 1t
Is worth. With 10000 men idle and
more because they were drawn into
a general strike, no one supposes that
the leaders can keep the peace. II
anyone had confidence In the police
force the prospect would not be SO
unpleasant. But nobody has, not even
the commanders. Rioters have taken
the policemen OF the city by the neck
and wiped up the back streets with
them.