The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-03-24
MARTIAELAW TO
CRUSH STRIKES,
IS POLICE PLAN
Meaning Behind Fight
for State Cossacks
(Continned from nara 1l

(Contintfed from page ~
Berks county. But the workers of
Reading and other Berks county COM
munities raised such storm of pro-
test that Governor aPinchot was forced
to countermand the order. The work
ers of Berks county do not want any
of the cossacks quartered upon them.
The brutalities and assaults against
workers committed by the Pennsylva-
MIA state. police have already become
household stories in every industrial
town in the state.
Foster Cites Brutality Of cossaeks
During the great steel strike of 1919
the anti-labor reign of the Pennsyl-
vania constabulary. was particularly
bloody. William 2. Foster, leader Of
the steel workers in that titanic strug-
gle, cites example after example to
show that the state troopers acted
virtually as hired gunner of the steel
trust, stopping at nothing to interfere
with the successful course Of the
strike. - sfe
Fosters testimony is confirmed and
supplemented by the report Of the
commission of inquiry of the Inter
church World Movement, headed by
Bishop F. ]. Mcconnell.
State Police Condemned Even
by Church
The interchurch report which con-
tains hundreds Of afidavits showing
constabulary violence states on page
ITS:
I'm Monessen, where the strikers
held out solidly for a long time, with
the exception of the arrest of many
Russians on vague charges Of rad.
icalism' the policy of the state police
was simply to club men off the streets
and drive them into their homes.
In Braddook, however, where some Of
the mills we're partly operating, the
state police did not stop at mere.
beating" s
An interchurch commissioner spent
half an hour talking with strikers in
a little room in Braddock used as
union headquarters. A moment after
his departure, state troopers rushed
into the place demanding that speak
er" and threatened to close the head
quarters because "a meeting" had
been held.
Charges of assault brought against
the state police in Butler, declares the
report, come not only from strikers,
but from non-strikers and business
men as well. And in Clarion, on the
Sunday before the strike. numerous
men and women were attacked by the
state constabulary and arrested while
they were attending mass meeting
for which permission had been given
by the local authorities; workers in
the uniform Of discharged soldiers
were among those at the meeting rid
den down by the state troopers.
State Police Assault War Veterans
Capitalism respects no uniforms
which are not directly in its service!
Discharged soldiers no longer form
part of the capitalist state machinery.
And when they attend strikers meet
ings they even become "un-Amer-
ican." St 1G
Afidavits charge that men were
thrown into cells and kept there sew
eral days before they were given
hearing. This occurred in practically
every strike center. In Donora the
constabulary rode into the headquart-
ers Of the strikers, drove the men out
and placed the sS men present, in
GLIDING the local organizer, under ar
rest, refusing to release them on less
than $500 bail each.
still later veidence comes from the
coal strike of 1922, during which the
reckless anti-labor exploits of the
Pennsylvania troopers attained such
notoriety that Governor Pinchot was
obliged to appoint an investigating
commission.
Union Organizer Against State Police
William Broad, a union organizer Of
Indiana, Pa, swore to the following
story before the commission:
"On April 16, 1922, at Marion Center,
Pa, while engaged on my work as or
ganizer for District No. 2 U. M. w. of
A., was halted by three state police
men as l was about to call mass
meeting on an isolated piece of ground
away from the mines. These troopers
went from house to house and pre-
vented men from attending the meet
ing. The troopers refused to arrest
the drunken men who were interior
ing with the citizens on the. street,
after had requested them"
This testimony could be swelled by
a multiplicity of affidavits covering all
sections OF the state affected by the
strike. Every scrap Of evidence goes
to show the troopers usurping all au-
thority and acting as Judge Gary's
private army. There are no instances
of the constabulary favoring the work
ers