Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-05-09
CONSTAbULARY FOR
LAW AND ORDER
Pennsylvania Police Troopers
Defended by Two Com
manding Officers.
MADE UP OF SOLDIERS
HONORABLY DISCHARGED
Not Recruited From Degenerate
Class-Industrial Commission Told
Men Not Allies of Corporations.

The organization and activities of the
Pennsylvania constabulary were dis
cussed in detail before the industrial
| relations commission, at the Shoreham
Hotel. yesterday afternoon. by Maj.
John c. Groome, superintendent of the
j constabulary and Capt. George F. Lamb.
deputy superintendent. They replied t"
| criticisms of labor men alleging brutality
on the part Of the troopers and Partially
to the corporations.
Mai Groome told the commission that
he had served for years in the National
Guard and as ma jor of the cavalry in
Porto Rico during the Spanish -Ameri-
can war OF the 22S officers and men
in the consta bulary, he said. %? had
served in the regular army Of the
United states and had been honorably
discharged.
No Degenerates Recruited.
1T is easy to see from this that we
do not recruit from the degenerate
sons of the middle class. as some of our
critics have said" declared Maj.
Groome.
The consta bulary. he said, was or
ganized in 1905. 1t is made up of four
troops. established in barracks in the
four districts of the state, where there
has been the greatest record for crime
and rioting.
"Of the total number of arrests made
by our men," said Maj. Groome. 80 to
| 90 per cent result in convictions. which
speaks we'll for the justice of the ar
rests and shows the knowledge which
| the troopers have of the laws.
He testified that he had never sent
| men to the scene of a strike except on
the urgent call of the local authorities.
Nine of our men have been killed by
rioters and seventeen have been Grip
pied for life he added. None of our
men has ever killed a man unlawfully.
On mob duty, it has never been proved
that one of the troopers killed a man."
Many other Duties
Maj. Groome told the commission that
| the activities of the constabulary in
the case of strikes was only small
part of the duty performed by the
troopers. He showed how the troopers
were used to run down every kind of
| malefactor successfully He said that
$50 arrests for murder had been made
by his men and that convictions had
resulted in a large percentage of these
cases.
He pointed out the value of body
of disciplined men, trained in the mat
ter of handling riots. He showed that
in cases where the local police and the
National Guard had failed
When the big street car employees
strike was on in Philadelphia, the
| mayor of the city appealed to the gov
| ernor Of the state for the National
| Guard. claiming that the $500 local
! police could not handle the situation
The governor refused, said Mai.
| Groome, and offered the state con-
stabulary. In terse but graphic Ian
4 In4 - ~ SA
! of troopers had taken part in handling
| the situation.
Two Strikes Handled.
THE day after the consta bulary ar
rived on the scene the street cars were
| running, and they kept on running"
| said Mai Groome
At the same time the big car strike
| was on in Philadelphia, there came a
call for the troopers from Bethlehem,
| where the strike was on in the steel
works and 5000 strikers were creating
a disturbance.
Il eventually sent total of eighty
| men to Bethlehem" said Maj. Groome
THE troopers proved able to cope with
the situation there, too
His testimony showed that the troop
ers were quartered In the car barns in
erty owned by the steel works.
Don't you think 1t would have been
better IL the state police had been
quartered in property that did not be-
long either to the corporations or the
strikers. asked Commissioner Gar
retson.
Mai Groome replied that, in every in
stance, where it was possible the
troopers were always Quartered in
buildings not the property of either
side to labor controversy.
Room Only in Car Barn.
There was no place for us to go in
Philadelphia except the car barn." said
he. We were assigned to the Kensing-
ton district. There wasn't another
building there capableof quartering
200 troopers and their horses"
John G. Sebald, cement worker of
Erie Pennsylvania, told of the molders
strike there two years ago. He de-
clared that the constabulary there mis-
treated the strikers.
Tho cossacks, we had Them" said Sc
bald. "were called In by the sheriff
and the mayor although there had been
no violence. He told how various
troopers had threatened to knock his
block orr though he was doing moth
ing
Capt. George F. Lsmb. the deputy
! superintendent Of the constabulary
| told the commission that the Pennsyl-