The labor standard., 1918-09-01
MAKING HARTFORD
 PARKS SAFE
 FOR DEMOCRACY

central Labor UnlOn SendS COm' mittee to Board of Park Com
 missioners to Request Revision of Park Rules
 HARTFORD - A committee from the Hartford Central Labor Union ap- peared at meeting of the Hartford
 Board of Park Commissioners and re-
 quested the board to so revise the
 rules and regulations regarding the use of Hartford public parks so that
 it would be possible in future to per
 init t@of using a park or a portion of a park for public gatherings and speech
 making. This request on the part of
 the Hartford Central Labor Union was
 brought about by the fact that Park Commissioners had previously denied
 the use of park for protest meet
 ing on behalf of Thomas J. Mooney
 who now awaits execution in Califor- mia, as previously related in detail in regular and special editions of THE LABOR STANDARD.
 The committee appointed by the Hartford c. l.. U. was T. M. Crowley, Robert D. Pyne and Albert P. Krone. MT. Krone being in attendance at the Spanish War Veterans encampment in Baltimore, Md, did not appear, but William H. Partridge, secretary of the c. l.. U., accompanied the committee to the meeting of the park commis- sioners.
 The c. l.. U. committee was very courteous1y received by the park com lnissioners who, incidentally, made use of the telephone in the endeavor to summon one more member of the commission to the meeting in order to make quorum. Superintendent of Parks George A. Parker and s. Wales. Dixon, supervisor of recreation, were also present. and rendered the c. L. U. committee a cordial greeting.
 A quorum of the commissioners hav- ing finally been secured the meeting was called to order and the c. L. U. committee heard MT. Crowley was first spokesman and reviewed the action of President Wilson in regard to the Mooney case, also stating that the rules and regulations regarding the use of the parks had previously been violated by allowing speech making etc., and concluded by saying that he believed that inasmuch as ta,eac was now world war "a ging to make the world safe for democ- racy, it was an opportune time to
 make the Hartford parks safe for democracy also.
 MT. Partridge told of the freedom of parks extended the people of Eng land, saying that it was not an un- usual sight to see as many as a dozen men perched on soap boxes every. Sunday morning in the parks berating those whom the speakers believed to be imposing upon the people as a whole or not doing what they should for the benefit of all the people the king of England and the royal family coming in for their share of harsh criticism and abuse.
 MT. Pyne stated that while the re- fusal of the park commissioners to allow the use of a park for the Mooney protest meeting was primarily the cause of the c. L. U. sending com mittee to them, he was not aware that the Mooneyscase would be dwelt upon to such an extent at this time. How ever, now that the case had been re ferred to by previous speakers, MT. Pyne stated that he had followed the Mooney case very closely through the columns of the daily press, Labor press, pamphlets, and other literature both pro and con, and had come to the conclusion that organzed capital and labor in California had been in gorilla warfare that both had evidently been s'hitting be- low the belt" Continuing, MT. Pyne said that the working people inter ested in the Mooney case felt that they had been discriminated against by the park commissioners, inasmuch as the had allowed speech making in the parks on other occa- sions. He (Mr. Pyne) having himself been a member of a city committee which arranged for speech-making at Colt park.
 After presenting the views of the Q010SdC0S CO C1lC SG11GId Labor Union and working people not members of organized labor, to the park commissioners the c. l.. U. com mittee withdrew.
 According to daily press reports, Mrs. Appleton R. Hillyer, member of the park commissioners, made a motion to the effect that the commis- sioners begin at once to revise the park rules and regulations. The mo- tion was seconded by Mayor Richard J. Kinsella, who recommended the use of the dancing pavilion at Colt Park as an excellent place for the holding of war rallies and patriotic meetings, now prohibited by the rules of the board.
 It was decided that the president of the board, Professor B. Knox Mitchell,