Arizona republican., 1917-02-21
WOMEN STORM
CITY HALL, DEMANDING
FOOD AT LIVING COST
Republican A. p. Leased wirel


NEW YORK, Feb. 2O.-Following
many clashes between the police and
women food rioters at the city hall ard
in congested tenement districts today
Joseph Hartigan, commissioner of
weights and measures, announced that
he was doing everything in his power
TO stimulate the flow of foodstuffs
into this city from all parts of the
country.
Reports received by the commits
sioner indicate that the situation has
reached an acute stage which, he as
serts, calls for the establishment by
congress of some sort of food control
commission to meet the per capita
consumption OF food in the United
States
While retail shopkeepers and push
cart peddlers have been forced to bear
the hrunt of the assaults of the angry
housewives here, the bureau of weights
and measures announced that the alb
normal expectation of foodstuffs and
the subnormal production are the un-
derlying causes of the advance in
prices
So desperate have the women in
some parts of the city become, it is
said that hundreds of food peddlers
have locked their pushcarts in stables
and suspended business. A number
of these dealers who ventured out on
the upper East Side today were set
upon by a mob of housewives when it
was found they We're selling onions at
fifteen cents per pound and potatoes
at nine and ten cents per pound. The
peddlers were driven from the streets
into Railways of tenements where the
women tore their clothing and scratch
ed their faces. Meantime. the push
carts were demolished and their con-
tents strewn about the streets.
Mrs. Ida Harris. president of the
Mothers Vigilance League. issued
statement today in which she declared
| it had been decided to keep children
away from the schools until the price
of food is lowered. This step, Mrs.
( Harris asserted. was justified on the
grouno that the poorly fed children are
in no condition to profit by schooling.
Several hundred women from the
/ tenement districts stormed the city
I hall screaming: we want bread" 8"
f, They came to place their plight before
Mayor John p Mitchell Many car
ried babies. They swarmed up the
the building. Policement on guard
shut the gates and from the basement
where there is police station. reserves
rushed up and restored order. The
women were informed that Mayor
Mitchell had not yet arrived.
Mrs Harris and three other women
were allowed to enter and await the
mayors coming.
I'VE are starving" Mrs. Harris told
the mayors body guard. we demand
help from the mayor. We viii not be
/ responsible for what happens if we
don't get it"
The leaders We're told that the mayor
would not be at his office today but
would arrange a meeting later. Sweet
Marie Cans. one of Mrs. Harris com
panions, addressed the women from
the city hall steps and was arrested
charged with disorderly conduct.
/ When the police took her from the
| city hall station for arraignment in
court group of women attempted to
/ rescue her They charged the police.
/ scratched their faces and tore their
! clothing. The police fought them off
and guard was thrown around the
: city hall
/ The women remaining near the spot
! continued to shout I'VE are starving
/ until mounted police scattered them.
I Meanwhile mob Of women gath
cred around a produce market on the
east side and began to overturn push
/ carts. Three of them were arrested.
! Food riots continued throughout the
+ day in various parts of the city. On
/ the east side shop keepers were at
tackled when they refused to distribute
(Continued on mage t,vo,