The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-07-27
CLEANS
Up EXTREMISTS
Patriotic Organization Does
Effective Work i'm
Argentina
ENDS STRIKES AND
SABOTAGE BY UNION
Many Agitators of Foreign Birth Are in
Jail and Some i'm HOspitals-General
Strike Against Patriotic League Fails
Government too Easy.

Government too Easy.
BUENOS AIRES. July 27-Like the
Fascist of Italy the Argentine Patriotic
league. scmi-military organization, has
undertaken the task of putting down the
anarchists Communists and the extrem-
ist elements generally of Argentina, par
ticularly in Buenos Aires.
The leagues first attempt has resulted
in what its leaders declare an unqualified
success. The league was backed by vir-
tually the entire business interest Of the
capital which had become tired of I'M
patriotic manifestations by Communists
labor unions. what they considered to be
cauSeless strikes and sabotage. the haunt-
ing of red flags, bomb outrages. and more
particularly by the decentralization of
commerce caused by n strike Of a Com
munist union Of Steyedores which had tied
up the port for two weeks.
Government Too Lenient -.' ftn'
The seemingly benevolent attitude of
the government toward what they held to
be the unwarranted demands of the union
had tried their patience and they We're
determined to- take matters in their own
hands to the point of armed intervention,
II necessary.
Today several score of the extremist
element. including numerous agitators of
foreign birth, are in Jail. some are in the
hospital. several hundred others have
been under arrest. a general strike called
as a protest against the strong handed ac-
tivities of the Patriotic league. has fallen
TO pieces and the port services have been
released from the heretofore almost com
plete control of the StevedOreS' union.
bn nj = no of IN
ward many Of the activities of radical syn
dicalism to which the interests behind the
league objected changed almost overnight
to one of stern suppression of any attempt
to deny the right of free labor to work or
to upset the peace of the country. What
the Patriotic league set out to do the gov
eminent did itself.
Forced to Protect Nom Mon Men.
The conflict centered upon the issue
whether the government would give pro-
lection to non-union truckmen to whom
the members of the stovedores' union de-
liver the goods they unloaded from the
ships. On this point the Argentine Pa
triOtic league was backed up by the Labor
Protective association and the Centre de
Navigation, an association of steamship
agents representing the overseas steam
ship lines of foreign nationality.
The refusal of the stevedores' union to
deliver any goods TO non-uniOn truckmen
was aimed at a so-called ''outcast' union
of truckmen.
The various steps which led up to the
victory of the anti-radical elements have
been previously reported by cable. but il
is only by considering them together that
their significance is appreciated
Anti Radicals Force Issue.
The anti-radical organizations forced
the issue by sending non-union truckmen
to the waterfront, but found it closed by
"a Gordon of police and marines and the
stevedOres on strike. For two weeks it
was completely tied up while the govern
ment endeavored to reconcile the differ
ences of the labor unions. This failed.
1t was then announced that the govern
ment would exclude all outcast or nom
union truckmen VINO were not allied with
the striking stevedoreS. but this decree
was never issued for the Centre de Nave
gacion sent n strongly worded note to the
government threatening to boycott the
port of BuenoS Aires by withdrawing their
ships if the StevedoreS' union was permit
ted to dominate the situation
At the same time the government
learned that British and American meat
packing plants which buy most of Argeu-
tinas cattle were in sympathy with the
steamship companies and were planning
to close down.
Demand Free Labor.
Five thousand members of the Labor
Protective association sent a demand to
government officials for the right to en-
ploy free labor in the port In answer
the government guaranteed this right
However, when non-union truckmen re-
ported for work at the piers next day
they were fired upon by union steyedores
the police asserted. The labor association
then demanded police protection.
Then came an event that almost set
Buends Aires on fire with patriotic indig-
nation On May -. Argentina's most i'm
portant national holiday. there appeared
on bill boards and in radical newspapers
a manifesto signed by the officers of the
chauffenrs' union calling a strike in pro-
test against what they described as a
''bachanal of drunken bourgeois patriot
ISM
This aroused the wrath of the patriotic