Evening star., 1921-10-06

the mill lounging about the polls.
| The chances OF corruption. either
| through threat or through bribe.
| which are latent in this possibility
are obviously large.
I'm short. the prestige and power
Of the dominating industry Is so great
| that political opposition rarely grows
beyond its primitive stages. An OBJ
server Of long residence in Pittsburgh
declared that the only thing that
would make the steel workers inde-
pendent in politics was a union ca
pable Of protecting them from dis
charge"
An important element in the whole
situation, asserted the commission.
was the question of naturalization. as
many of the workmen never had be-
come citizens, because Of their lin
ability to learn English and attend
|, to civic duties while working twelve
hours day. seven days a week"
Accused Of SuppressinE Truth.
The press was charged By the COM
mission with suppressing the truth
about conditions in western Pennsyl-
vania during the strike.
Local newspapers suppressed what
they knew and for the most part did
| not ~ to find out what was happen
| ing to the hunkie strikers" said the
report Correspondents Of out of
town newspapers signally failed to
investigate"
; The afHdavits made public by the
| commission deal with the alleged per-
| secution by public authorities of
strikers in Pittsburgh Braddock, But
| Ter. Clarion, Donora, DuQuesne. Far
rell. Homestead. Johnstown. Mckees-
port. Monessen. New Castle. New
Kensington. Natrona and Woodlawn.
| Conditions were contrasted with con-
ditions in Ohio and West Virginia.
where civil rights, 1t was stated. were
| not denied and no violence attended
| the strikers exercise of their rights.
Assault and Murder.
The commission said that the
charges brought against the state
| constabulary. deputy sheriffs and
company police. in aftidavits and
statements to it's Investigators. deal
! with the murder of men and women
i one as he was in his own yard
and the wounding of hundreds of
+. others, the. clubbing of hundreds: the
iaSSaultinG of men n;.while they Were
/ lawfully and peacefully pursuing err
| rands on the streets. and of prisoners
! cells: the arresting and holding Of men
| and women for long periods in the jails
I and police stations without provoca-
| tion and even without definite charges
| being lodged against them: the ex
cessive punishment meted out to these
! strikers by the different justices of
| peace, burgesses and police courts,
| and the frank discrimination of the
! courts between those who were at
| work and those who were out on
and its administration by public au-
thorities to local company officials.
+; "In a few towns the public officials
made fiat denials of the charges of
! unwarranted arrests and assaults. as
was done. for example. by the head
J . hrtl. Iro
f: dock to a member of this commission:
| other officials, such as the sheriff and
chief Of police of Newcastle, admitted
| that Of about 100 persons arrested
during the first week Of the strike at
| least forty were held without bail as
would be held until the strike is
over, even II we have to build a new
house to house them"
Free Speech ana Assembly Denied.
The report found that denial Of the
rights Of free speech and assembly
to workingmen was practiced in
Pennsylvania before the strike began.
Local regulations and state laws. 1t
was stated. were such as to facilitate
In Pennsylvania steel towns. fire.
Quently were steel mill officials as
we'll. The denials, it was asserted.
long before the strike were based on
the reasoning that meetings would
lead to unions. unions would lead to
strikes and strikes to violence; there
fore meetings should be prohibited.
After describing certain peaceful as
semblages Of strikers after the strike
started. the commission said:
'That the claim of the public OFF,
cials Of Pennsylvania that meetings of
avoid disorder and violence was not
borne out by the facts. is even more
clearly brought out by survey of the
strike districts in the states of West
Virginia and Ohio, made by the COM
missions representatives during the
tenth and eleventh weeks of the
strike"
The way in which public officials and
private interests seemed to work to-
gether in western Pennsylvania, said
the report, "gives color to the view of
the union men that a concerted effort
assembly in their towns for the pur-
pose Of defeating the organizing cam
paign and helping to break the strike"
Unwarranted Search.
After the strike began. the commits
sion said. the rights Of the strikers
were invaded by wholesale raiding
and arresting on flimsy and no public
ly recorded charges" The affidavits
charged long list of acts of 'unwar-
ranted SearCn ana destruction IN
strikers homes" Wholesale and in
dividual clubbings. principally by the
state constabulary, were detailed, and
it was charged that the court meted
out fines to the strikers when they
would not go back to work.
In Clarion, the commission said, ac-
cording to affidavits, the state con-
stabulary rode down workmen in the
uniform Of discharged soldiers and IAN
American flag carried by the dis
charged soldiers was torn down and
trampled by the state police The
Donora affidavit charged armed negro
strike-breakers with shooting strikers.
Referring to the situation at New
Castle, the commissions report said:
Unlike the other towns in western
Pennsylvania. the terrorization here
was done entirely by the hired guards
of the companies, while the state police
behaved with fairness, and. according
to report, arrested a number Of depu-
ties. The number of people deputized
varies from the strikers estimate of
1900 to the admission of Sheriff Boyd
Of Lawrence county that he had depu-
tized over 500 men, 1855 members of
the board of trade and the rest ex-
soldiers" in addition to the police
sworn in under coal and iron police"