The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-02-28

sITUATI0NAT
LAWRENCE
SAID TO BE A CAMPAIGN OF
STARVATION OF WOMEN AND
cHlLoREN-MILL OWNERS ARE
BACKED UP BY ALL OF The
AUTHORITIES.

LAW hENGE, MdSSt sreuff So' <AANSt
a personal investigation into the action
Of the authorities in arresting women
who were sending their children to
other cities to be cared for, United
States Senator Miles Poindexter, Of
Wellington, prepared the following
signed statement for the United Press;
BY United States Senator Miles poin-
dexter.
Il is evidently q campaign OF starva,
tIon Of women and children. The mill
owners, backed up, strange to say, by
| the police, the militia, the prosecuting
attorney and the local judges, are max.
lng a concentration camp Of Lawrence.
The only parallels know OF were the
Spanish concentration camps in Cuba
and Kitchener's Boer campaign In
which the British empire extlnguished
the liberty of a people by starving
their women and children. The man
merlin which the order was carried out
| In Lawrence, the rough handling OF
women and children, throwing them
struggling into Jail, all without war
rant or even the forms Of law, forclb-
| ly reminded one of the Russian and
Turkish brutalities TO Jews and Ar
monians. Tie fact that such a thing
occurs in America is startling, and
shows how far our institutions have
been degraded by ayarice.
The women and children were per-
tectly peaceable when they we're fore;
ibly stopped In their attempt to board
a railroad train, In some instances
they were cursed and abused by the
police, dragged by force to a patrol
wagon, the women thrown into jail and
the children incarcerated at the poor
farm. t.he police contention that these
people did not have the right to send
their children In the care Of friends
|.t6 otter cities Is simply fidtcnlons:
They have the same right to do SO that
any one does. The true significance
Of this proceeding is not simply its
effect on these people, but 1t is an
assault upon the rights OF every Amert-
can citizen. A good many aulogies OF
the constitution are heard nowadays
This affords an opportunity to test
their genuineness. If crowds of peace
able people can be. assaulted by Off.
cials OF the government, brutally treat.
ed, and incarcerated without any
charge of violation OF law being made
or sustained against them, instead Of
being a constitutional government Of
liberty under the law 1t becomes one
ofmoney and force. and people every,
where will soon be adjusting them
selves to this new condition.
1t is OF the most vital significance.
ItIn exercising the right to the peace.
full pursuit OF their domestic affairs
these people can be arrested without
warrant, and without any pretense
that they have violated the Law, then
any OF us are liable to be treated in
the same way whenever it suits the
interests of those having the physical
power to do so. If We can be confined
in this way within the city We can also
be deported forcibly from the city
when 1t is desirable for these aston
ishng authorities to do SO.
IIthese people can be forcibly kept
in Lawrence at the pleasure Of the
mill owners, to work at starvation
wages, or starve, then they are in real
ity slaves, and It is not desirable for
any OF us that slavery should be re-
established in this country.