The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-12
'ENRlGHT SAYS HIS
MEN OPPOSE UNION
They Cheer Chiefs Disclaimer
Of Sympathy With Strik-
ing Boston Force.
ASSURED OF MORE PAY
Drastic Action Would Follow
Labor Affiliation, They
Are Warned.

Are Warned.
At the Police Campfire meeting held
last night at Sheepshead Bay the Boston
police strike was one of the leading topics
OF discussion. Police Commissioner En-
right and Judge McAdoo talked of 1t In
this friendly atmosphere and what they
had to say was heartily Endorsed by
speakers drawn from the police ranks.
The men applauded when Commissioner
Enright said:
"I believe I am undertaking the num-
Der when / say that fully 80 per cent Of
you men have assured me that you are
not in sympathy with the striking po-
licemen of Boston"
second and even louder burst OF APP
plause followed the statement of the
Commissioner that he had asked for a
raise of salary for the police, bringing
the $1,000 year now received by new
appointee to 1880 and the maximum to
$500 from $3.50. These were the fig
ures asked by the men year ago when
their agitation for raise was ably sec
onded by THE SUN, which resulted in the
salaries as they now stand. Commits
sioner Enright said that he had good
reason for optimism in regard to the adj
ditional raise.
ITO wreck a record like the New
Yorks Finest one built up by years
and years Of faithful effort would be
shame" said the Commissioner to a
SUN reporter Just before he went down
to attend the Campfire. IT have only
one word to express my opinion of such
an attempt being made by any body in
the department. and that word is that ut
is unthinkable"
There are agitators in the police
force, but they are new men. and while
noisy enough, they carry no weight A
great advantage has been gained for the
policemen and for the city by the camp
fires and other social organizations
which form an outlet for the more or less
grouchy feelings that are engendered by
the policeman's job. It is harassing,
this police harness. worn for 365 days in
the year, and it is natural that the men
should grow restless and the restlessness
should get on their nerves. believe the
opportunity to meet their fellows and
discuss the events of the day as they
affect policemen in this and other Ncities
| is worth encouraging.
Raps Noisy Agitstors.
/ Moreover the noisy agitators as well
as the dreamers and impractical men
who get up to talk in these police meet
ings have their arguments severely scru-
tinized and they have to be very logical
indeed II they get away without having
! the feathers in their brains picked away.
There have been other occasions be-
sides the current one when the men
have heard arguments in favor of ex-
listing strikes as we'll as for unionizing
the police force. These occurred in the
Liverpool and Toronto strikes and this
| one OF Boston brings out nothing new.
| Now, as then, there Is no sympathy ex-
pressed by our men. at least by the bulk
! of them. for unlonizlng a police force.
4 Their own arguments are all against It.
/ am strongly so. The idea of a police
union is to me repugnant.
What does 1t convey? That men
who have been organized as citizen SOL
diers to protect life and property are to
be false to their duty? That sworn
officers of law and order should refuse
the function for which their own people
have so long honored them by placing
it in their hands?
''In asking these questions of my men
as I have so frequently done of late,
have found only absolute agreement or
their part that to lay down these powers
shamefully would be an act of utter
recreance. There is no hesitancy on the
F, part of the men to admit this.
81 shall say TO the men again to.
night, as I have often said, that what.
ever weakness of purpose shall be dis.
played by the police force of any
American city, law and order. as 1t Ii
understood in this republic, will be en-.
forced. Should you refuse to do your
duty, shall tell them. the National
Guard will be called out to take YOU
place and after them the Federal troops
Law and order, at whatever cost, will bt
preserved.
ION the question Of labor unions fol
our police guard, I feel and speak al
warmly. Not because 1 believe II 1.
necessary. for / have found that thu
great majority of the men are averse L
the union idea. They say themselves
that ii offers nothing to a policeman
am convinced that the arguments of tn,
agitators whom I have referred TO hav'
fallen in New York city on stony ground
Unions See disadvantage.
From the men themselves lear
that the labor unions are not DESTROYS
of affiliating our police force. The!
recognize the folly of tina. affiliatiol
and how far it would weaken themselve
in times of strike. AS one policeman
the military do"
And what this officer said Is true
The police force of New York clty~is
civil law enforcing organization mad
up of citizens Their homes are in New
York, where the strikers are their neigh
b0-s The police don't feel hard towar
their law abiding neighbors, and In tn
days when these nelghbors are on strik
the police force holds a just and cvc
balance between the strikers and thei
employers They may carry them of =
prison and break up their rioting. bu
they do it with a nightstick and nc
with machine gun. The military ar
strangers they come from distan
States or at least from other States, an
they feel no neighborly sympathy 10
their mistaken fellow citizens their &C
lions are apt to be drastic and deadly.
"As I said, the labor unions recogniz
this fact and their efforts to unionize tn
policeman are not sincere or strenuous
I'm this statement / refer to Me-
York. I am In receipt OF letters froI
the police officials of other cities whic
Indicate another state of things Their,
: The most recent of these came from I
r. Burge of the police board of Lo