Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-09-21
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" GRILLED.


cisco Chamber of Commerce, and NOV
ing spirit in the business mems ST.
100000 "law-and-order" committee
will long remember Mayor Rolph's
reply to the charge by Roster that he
(Rolph) has failed to preserve law
and order during the street car strike
Roster is spokesman for a small
group of blind and unreasonable anti
unfonists who favor. as Mayor Rolph
said, Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot"
every time workers dare to strike.
Neither you, nor the law and order
committee" said the city's executive,
"has earned, by any conspicuous de-
votion to law and order, the right to
lecture me or the police department.
ION the contrary, the attitude and
activity Of you and your particular
group, have done much, in my opin-
ion, to engender the Industrial unrest
and class hatred, eliminating on a
few occasions in turbulence and vio-
lence which have lately distressed this
community.
II am quite as strongly opposed to
lawlessness and disorder as you and
your committee can possibly be; and
am, moreover, opposed to everyform
Of lawlessness and disorder, whether
committed by corporation, striker.
or strikebreaker. and whether that
lawlessness takes the form Of bribery,
perjury. or any sort of chicanery, or
the more violent form Of assault and
murder.
mo one can regret and resent more
intensely than do the murder COM
mitted or the occasional violence
which has occurred the last few days.
and disgraced the street car strikes,
and which you say that I, as mayor,
and the police department have not
done everything in our power to main
tain order and prevent violence and
crime, and when you intimate that
we have not in fact succeeded in pre-
venting violence and crime as well as
1t can possibly be done under the cir
cumstances, you utter q falsehood
which may be based on ignorance or
prejudice, but to me appears deliber-
ate.
1T is particularly difficult for the
police to prevent all violence in .
street car strike, teamsters' strike,
railroad strike, or any out-of-doors
strike Of that character. No police
department in any city, so far as I
know, has ever succeeded in main
tanning perfect order in a bitter and
prolonged labor dispute of that kind.
No one except a fanatic or fool
would expect such a perfect result.
'since the commencement Of this
strike the whole police department
has been doing extra duty and exer-
cising the greatest vigilance and dill
gence to prevent disorder. Policemen
have been recalled from their vaca-
tons. a great many of the policemen
on special details as clerks In head
quarters have been put on patrol duty,
and the whole department is working
on 12-hour instead of S-hour shifts,
seven days a week.
Doubtless you are disappointed
because the police have not yet
yet turned machine guns on crowds
in our streets and killed few dozen
strikers. including the customary
number of innocent bystanders; but.
with all respect to your opinion, I
think the police do we'll to enforce
law and order as firmly as they have
done, but without any quick or wan
ton slaughter of the people. Violent
and bloody repression has never main
tanned law and order so effectively as
firmness, coupled with moderation
and common sense.
"It is unfortunate that so many
persons of your type in this country
are 80 incurably stupid and ignorant
about business and industry, the very