The Butte daily bulletin., 1919-06-07
When the Boobies" of the
British Isles Demonstrated
A Correspondent in COMMON SENSE.

BY some chance | attended huge |
meeting held by the Police and Pris- |
on officers union in Trafalgar square |
last Sunday. AS the newspapers |
failed to give an adequate idea either
of the magnitude of the demonstra-
tion or of the opinions expressed
there my impressions perhaps will
not be unWelcome to your readers. |
Some thousands of people had al
ready assembled in the square before
a long procession of policemen and
warders in plain clothes was seen
coming up Whitehall, They were led
at regular intervals by brass bands.
four in all; banners told off each
section. Here, for example, was the
city of London branch of the metro
politan police and there the Cantar-
bury branch of officers; other BAN
ners proclaimed to the public ''tyI-
amy is not discipline we are out
| to kill Prussianism, "Macreadr
make ready to GO Before the speak
ers mounted the plinth the square
was a dense mass OF people, extend
I ing from the steps of the National
gallery to the upper end of White.
hall, and the traffic was temporal:-
ly suspended or deviated from it,
route.
| was at the previous demonstra.
ton which the police held at Tower
Hill last August, and one could not
fail, on this occasion, to notice Il
marked change in their attitude. In
August their protest was nervously
made, and their claims for more
wages We're mixed up with demands
for clearing all enemy aliens out of
t1tr
parently dispensed with an irre!e-
want and no longer popular issue.
They boldly defined--whether right
ly or wrongly ! do not attempt TO
say-their aims and their status wis
a Wis the laboring classea. lner
organization, comprising police and
prison officers in England, Scotland
and Wales, plus an increasing num-
ber of the Royal Irish constabulary.
claims to be recognized as a union
on much the same footing as any 9TH
er trade union. Only thus could
they determine, within reasonable
limits. of course, their own condi-
tions of work. If all other means
failed they were prepared to strike
in order to achieve their end. First
and foremost they demanded that all
arbitrary punishments should cease:
and in this connection the immedi-
ate reinstatement of Constable
Spackman, who. it was said, had
been summarily dismissed for not
taking part as ordered, in an elec-
ton to a representation board which
the government had set up as a sub
stitute to their union. Again, as a
union, they were pledged to preven:
the use OF firearms in the police
force, the Introduction of which they
seemed to fear I'VE know what
would very likely happen" said one
speaker. Would we not be called
upon to shoot down the workers ?"
But this was not the only grievance
against militarism, and | listened
eagerly as the police spokesman OBJ
jected to Sir Neville Macready, their
high commissioner, on the ground
that he was general transferred di-
rectly from the war office to take
charge of trade he had never
learnt, but probably wished to trans
form, with the assistance of "a few
majors in high police Offices The
speakers demanded that these high
posts should be filled by men pro-
NOTED from the ranks.
| was astonished to hear these
constables addressing such plain Ian
guage to their high commissioner.
who was, we We're told, rubbing
shoulders with the crowd WAS
still more astonished to hear guar
dians OF law and order decIaiming
against the inhabitants of Mayfair
and the members of the lords, and
) commons, whom they accused of DOS
sessing the bulk of the property of
the country and of making laws to
protect their own interests. The
propertied classes and the govern
ment may be to blame for these SEN
timents, SO new and strange to our