The sun., 1919-09-28
ARGENTINA VICTIM
]: !. OF COWARD POLICY
irigoyen Failed Country When
Labor Storms First
i Threatened.
SIX MONTHS OF TURMOIL
Stern Hands Finally Tool;
Control and Tranquility
Again Reigns.

tOFVtcRtfatcfftt
81 BENos AYREs. Argentina. Sept. IL
after six months of strikes and labor
Nfoubles, of disorders which parallel
Ahe most Bolshevistlc scenes of Russia
fuenos Ayres. the capital of Argentina.
Ne once more as tranquil as Is any other
city Of 100000 inhabltanta But in
4fhe period between January / and the
Iniddle OF June its history has been
tuccession of disturbances and riots.
hnd one well named Semana Tragica in
kfhe seven days OF which fully 1900 per-
sens were killed and wounded.
> In tracing the beginnings of the
ytrouble we must look first at the polit-
Meal situation and then cons der one
strike back in August, 1918. Z. sldent
Eipolito Irigoyen, the Radical pa.ty's
successful candidate. came into office in
t1916. Not in all the time from then
Etill now, and he has already served
lene-half of his six year term, has he
done anything to stamp him as a man
0f firm character His usual policy of
isaying nothing has earned him the
sinickname of THE Sphinx" To this
tfeputation he has coupled another char
<ecteristic, that Of doing nothing. The
eworld still remembers his dallying pol
lsicy, his pro-Teutonic or at best neutral
Tendencies, which delayed the definite
&stand of Argentina in the world war.
r-Some charge this attitude to his Aus
trian wife, others to the Radicals pol
ficy of Argentina for the Argentines."
"a Nothing, however, can pallate his at
Ftitude when the employees of the Union
Argentine Railroad went on strike in
August. 1918. President Irigoyen IA
Rored them from the start. He refused
70 allow the police or army to defend
the railroad property. and let the strik-
6rs run riot unmolested Without gov
Hrnmental backing, and after the de-
etruction of more than $4,000, 900 worth
of property, as well as the tieup of the
ySovernment transportation, the officials
ts9f the Central Argentine Railroad had
ITO agree to every demand of the strikers
gConditions became normal.
~ Free Rein for Labor.
L. The example set by the strikers and
Lfhe weak policy adopted by the Gov
Xrnment were not lost upon the other
9eborers. Quietly they made their plans.
krhen, in the beginning of January, the
eppening shot was fired. The employees
Eff the Vasena Iron Works declared a
Htrike. And there was much justice in
aheir claims of poor wages. The own
ters were willing to grant fair increase.
Ebut the foundry men, vain. bold and
ttonfident by the success Of the railroad
Employees, were exorbitant IN their de-
tmands.
~ The Government took no steps, and
1abor disturbances spread. A new ele-
rlent was introduced when the changa-
CORES (the stevedores and longshore-
emen) declared boycott. They refused
s3e, unload goods for any merchant on
Ifheir black list. comprising those who
mad not Immediately acceeded to the
widest demands of their employees.
THE steamship companies, realizing the
lfnpossbility of unloading only part OF
q cargo. refused to allow discrimina-
Gon Thereupon the longshoremen de-
s<lared they would not unload at all.
Ships piled up in the roads, many of
them with fall goods for the merchants.
iQne man told us that he had consign-
iHents on twenty-one ships, for some of
Which he waited five months. At the
End of that time they were unstable
because the season was over. Another
store had $4,000 worth of carnival
ifMardi Gras) stock which lay in the
river till long after carnival.
Still Irigoysn did nothing, although
boycott was an evident violation of Ar
Sentina law. The ship owners, to pro-
ltect themselves, declared a lockout.
Agents cabled their home offices to re
fuse all cargo for Buenos Ayres. Many
vessels unloaded their Argentina ship
fhents in Rio de Janeiro. So many 9TH
Fers left their cargoes In Montevideo
uruguay, a nights journey across the
lr1ver, that the port authorities there
raw their storehouses cluttered up and
s<efused to accept anything more. And
yet there were 200 vessels in the harbor
hoping that the trouble would soon be
Hettled so that they could unload. Any
lumber OF ships turned hack and cut
Buenos Ayres from their port. of call.
The commerce suffered far more set
Backs than a revolution would have oc-
easioned. And the Government still
Htood by and watched and was silent.
Police Leader Afraid.
a. Doubtless the machinery at hand was
not of the best sort to cope with the sit.
'pation. The former chief of police, q
very efficient director, just at the crisis
ghad been appointed Ambassador to Lon
SSion, and his successor was weak and
afraid.
ID Then came the Semana Tragica, the
fTragic Week. The police, tired oi
edoing nothing, had at last been given
fpermission TO use force. The occasion
Fupon which they exercised their new pre-
fFOBdtiNo WAS bcdICely JustludDlei ana Ine
7strikers quickly took up arms. In day
the city had been transformed into the
EEcene of revolution. Automobile loads
sof soldiers armed with machine guns
tTaced up and down Rlvadavia, the prin.
tclpal thoroughfare, firing upon any sus
-picious groups. Strikers sniped from
fhousetops and hurled bombs upon repre-.
sentatives of the law, Ambulances were
the only vehicles seen in the vicinity
M one will ever know the death toll Of
that week of horror. Bodies were throw
ftnto common pits. and people feared tC
report wounded or dead for fear OF being
,thought revolutionists.
q This was the time for the strong mar
70 appear. and appear he did One eve.
ping in the military headquarters of the
city the lights were suddenly turned out
and strikers rushed into the building
When the disorder was at its height
friend firing on friend and foe alike, an
automobile stopped before the armory
and Gen. Dellapianl rushed in. Some.
thing in the personality and force of this
one time Secretary of War quelled the
fumult and order was restored.
Buenos Ayres is, like Washington, 9
iFeQeral diatrip and tha ChfaF 80 uo1to.