The Connecticut labor news., 1924-10-25
Mayor Peters Had Con- trOversy A d ju S t e d When the Then Gov ernOr Intervened at Suggestion of "Open Shop" Leaders.

The Boston police strike made" Cal win Coolidge. From an inconsequentia politician-a sub-lieutenant in Murray
 Cranes Massachusetts old guard he became overnight a national figure
 Millions of people were made to be-
 l1eve he was strong man who met a
 dangerous situation with quick decision
 and unyielding courage,
 The facts are secured by impartial
 investigator who devoted weeks to the
 task are herewith presented in the in-
 vestigator's own language.
 The Boston police strike of Septem-
 Der, 1919, was the only police strike in
 the civilized world which resulted in
 street massacres and death; a series of
 disorders, in which Governor Coolidge's
 state guardsnen, 12,OOO in number and
 heavily armed, under orders of @sShoot
 to kill if necessary" shot down 12 in
 nocent bystanders and 100 others. A public expense bill of approximate 1 ly $6,500,0O0 resulted from the gover- 1 nor's handling of the strike situation, and 1,135 loyal policemen, whom the governor and his police commissioner forced out of their positions BECAUSE THEY HAD JOINED THE POLICE UNION, were forced to hunt work else where. Moreover, the city lost $1 ,125,- 900 more property by theft the follow l ing year with green police than had been usual.
 To read Governor Coolidge's speeches afterward, the reader would get the inn pression that he had saved the state from "bolshevism, anarchy and chaos" But when one studies the plain facts, as revealed in the statements of Mayor Peters and his Citizens Committee, which had arranged for peaceful set clement, agreeable to all parties, it be- comes clear that Governor Coolidge and his commissioner were mostly to blame for the walk-out and the disorders that followed.
 Here is the way it happened, in chro- nological order:
 1. Boston patrolmen were t1e lowest paid police in any American city. They received $1,l00 to start with, about 50 per cent. of what Boston street-sweepers received. Their station houses were mo- toriously ratty and lousy. Often sev- eral patrolmen slept in the same bed, taking turns as they came off duty. After the strike even Governor Coolidge and the police commissioner admitted these facts.
 2. Boston police worked almost double the hours now thought to be the American standard Day-duty men worked g hours a week; night-duty men worked 83 hours; and wagon-men worked o8 hours.
 } For a year, these men had tried to get living wage for their families and had been unable to get proper hearing of their grievances. So when in July, 1919, the American Federation of Labor at its annual convention voted to receive applications of police unions, 1,200 members of the Boston force i'm mediately signed a petition, asking the chartering of their union. They be- ieved they could get better wages and working conditions with the help of or ganized labor behind them.
 4 Boston hremen at that time had union charter from the A. F. of L. And no city official had hinted this was disloyal or illegal In fact that time there were 216 city hremen's unions with labor charters.
 5 City police in 37 other American cities had formed unions with labor charters, and there had been no trouble about it, and they had been able to inn prove their wages by unionizing
 6 So the Boston police felt they were entitled to unionize. They felt they had right as American citizens to look after the welfare of their families as best they could. They discovered that the street sweepers and house inspectors and municipal clerks and a total of IA other city employees union had been formed and affiliated with labor.
 7. July, 1919, 1,2OO members of the Boston Policemen's Social Club signed a petition asking the American Fedora ton of Labor for charter
 8. August, 8, 1919 Frank Mccarthy, New England representative, of the A. F. of L., notified the police the charter had been granted and the new union officers would be installed the next week
 9. August II, 1919, Police Commits sioner Curtis, an appointee of the gover- nor, issued an order forbidding any member of the force to "join any orga- club or body composed of pre- sent or present and past members of the force affiliated with or a part of any