The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-26
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

| 7 ME real test of the new deal will como
"nen IL IS translated from the realm of a
benevolent dream to hard practical reality
winch JabS the pocketbook nerve of selfish in
uuSCIla1lSCS VINO nave learned nothing from the
depression. - '--o
Especially will this be true of the labor
clauses of the NRA which strike at the nm
peheVaply stupid and Anticipated opposition of
American employers to collective bargaining
and reasonable wages
A4ready there has been an outbreak of vio-
Ience IN the labor field unprecedented in recent
years. In a survey of conditions attending the
reIatlons between workers and employers under
the new deal, the American Civil Liberties
Union sets forth the following startling facts:
At no time has there been such widespread
violation OF workers rights by injunction,
troops private police, deputy sherifs labor spies
and vigiIanteS.
More than fifteen strikers have been killed.
two hundred injured, and hundreds arrested
since July l. More than forty injunctions of
| sweeping character have been issued against
miners, agricultural workers, bakery workers,
shoe and leather workers, food workers and hotel
workers (this in spite of the Norris anti-iniunc-
| ton laW)
Troops have been called out in half a dozen
strike districts Criminal syndicalist charges
again are being used against active strike lead
erS. The national labor board and it's regional
boards have lacked the will or the power to
overcome the defiance of employers. Only where
labor has been well organized and has struck
with determination have it's rights been re-
spected"
TN executing violence against Iaborers in the
l. past, the most effective instrument utilized
by employers has been private detectives and
private police. The most notorious example of
this abuse has been the system Of coal and iron
| police in Pennsylvania recently suspended by
! Governor Pinchot. Therefore, we may welcome
as especially timely and relevant the thorough
study of private police in Pennsylvania by DR..
j. P Shalloo of the University of Pennsylvania
academy Of Political and Social Science, Phila-
delphia, $2).
The notorious coal and iron police were
brought into existence as the result of an act
passed on February 2, 1865. They were first in
troduced into the anthracite district and later
into the bituninous fields.
Incredible as it may seem, the state commits
stoned these officers and then turned them over
to private employers to be used at the discretion
OF the latter subject only to prosecution for muir
der and assault. 1t proved extremely difficult to
| convict them when so charged.
During the nineteenth century a veritable
private army was created by the state and given
the supreme police authority of the state without
determining definitely the necessity therefor its
duties or functions, or even whether the names
submitted were not in reality those Of criminals"
ME result was very literally, the creation of
feudal domain in every company town
in the state Of Pennsylvania. It was law unto
itself and order was maintained by private SOL
dlerS under system of localism approved bv
the state.
Under such conditions it is not surprising
that veritable reign Of terror was maintained
In company towns in times of industrial disc
order. The coal and iron police were given to
shooting Unfortunately into crowds, frequent
~ firing into school houses attended by miners
children. Another favorite recreation was to
drive heavy motor trucks rapidly through the
streets, scattering the workers and their fami-
lies and crushing those who failed to escape in
time.
The conditions during the famous strike of
1928 were thus described by senatorial investi-
eating committee, composed of Senators Good
ing. Pine, Metcalf, Wheeler and Wagner;
Mrs. Englert told the story Of the iron and
coal police shooting into group of school chill
dren in which two of her children were coming
home from school. The brutality of the coal
and iron police shocked every member of the
committee.
Everywhere your committee visited they
found victims Of the coal and iron police who
had been beaten up and were still carrying scars
on their faces and heads from the rough treat
ment they have received.