Evening star., 1937-06-18
M0NROE'S STRIKE
F0RMULASTUD|ED
Success Of VigiIantes in
Keeping Mill Turning
Not Expensive,


Daniel A. Knaggs announced he would
permit peaceful picketing. was read
avidly up and down the valley of
steel that stretches from Buffalo to
Chicago.
For Monroe has developed formula
for strike breaking that is now
stamped with the seal of success and
is suitable for export. Other COM
munities battling the tide of unionism
are beginning to f1irt with it. Their
flirting is not at all coy. Monroe's
success has rushed to their heads,
and in Canton, Youngstown, Niles
and other cities, groups are rushing
to embrace the formula with head
long ardor.
II the formula is adopted, it means,
impartial observers believe, that blood
will flow in increasing tide down the
Mahoning Valley and that much of
the record of 1875 spanking, stream
lined steel strike, with its flying
squadrons and precision picket lines,
will be written on hospital charts.
Bill From $4,000 to $4,000.
The formula, calling for citizen
army to break picket lines and keep
them broken, smashed a strike that
was costing Monroe about $4,000
a week for comparatively small sum
of money. Exactly how much, no one
knows, but the Mayor said that, II
events continue peacefully and there
Is gradually diminishing need for
the army of vigilantes, the citys bill
for the whole affair will be between
$4,000 and $3O,N0. Both these
eventualities are now confidently ex-
pected by everybody here.
The actual amount expended thus
far is something over $4,000. Fifty
five gas shells. costing So each, were
fired to break the picket line. 1t
it costing the town about $3.50 a day
to feed its vigilanteS, approximately
300 of whom have been on active
duty since Thursday Other incl
dentals, such as digging bitches in
two roads and refilling them later,
buying ammunition, renting truck,
Installing a field telephone, putting
the whole street cleaning department
to work for an entire day covering
stones along the road to the mill
with sand, and the large item the
Mayor calls "etcstera" do not, it was
declared, add up to more than $1,000.
The ammunition, explained the Mayor.
Is not an actual cost, since no single
shot has yet been fired"
1t is the payroll that will represent
L,,ll, of thu of tbiS roupSt
wrinkle in the strategy of labor war
fare. When the mayor issued his call
for volunteers who knew how to
handle firearms, about 500 men re-
sponded, he said, and were sworn in.
Money was no object" said the
mayor. At any rate, it was not
mentioned.
Some Won't Take Pay.
However, ostensibly by some alchemy
OF osmosis, it has come to the mayors
attention that majority of the men
are under the impression that they
will be paid. What will so," he
said, "is offer those men who want it
IS day. But some OF our men won't
take 1t. Some Of them are important
executives in town, as, for instance,
our two submachine gunners."
The majority Of vigilantes to whom
this reporter talked work for 50 and
81 day in one or the other Of the
three paper mills around town, and
one said, 1--WE damn sure will make a
profit on this job. Talk amt gonna
pay us off. Talk is cheap" He had
a rifle In one hand, the safety catch
open, and waved it to punctuate his
sentence.
If all 300 men accept the IS, that
will represent $1,500-a-day payroll.
Mayor Knaggs said he would start
cutting down on the five-day- old army
today and that he expected the need
for all but a few of them would
vanish by the end Of the week.
Exactly who is responsible for the
Monroe formula is matter Of spec
ulation. II got the idea myself" says
Mayor Knaggs, land carried it out
myself. I sounded out few people
before going ahead, but took orders
from nobody"
Speaks With Slow Drawl.
The mayor is a tall, trinity built
man of so, with iron-gray hair and
long, thin-lipped, ruddy face. He
speaks with a low, slow drawl. He Is
believed to be wealthy. His formal
education ended with high school.
After teaching country school and be-
coming cashier of a country bank, he
found his life work in the grocery
business. He owned at one time the
largest retail grocery in Michigan,
crossing about s750,000 annually. At
the age Of 20 he sold out and retired
to a ranch in Arizona, fulfilling the
American dream" But he couldn't
find anything to do with his leisure,
returned to Monroe, started new
grocery business for his three sons
and began political career.
Although he has run twice on the
"non-partisan" ticket here, he Is a
Republican He is also the States
leading joiner. He Is supreme dictator
for Michigan OF the Loyal Order Of
Moose, an Eagle, Mason, an Odd
~and just about everything, I guess"
He plans to run for reelection next
December, but it is possible to hear
in beer parlors in poorer sections of
the city, where the bulk of the vote is
congregated, that the mayor will not
run In December because he will have
been murdered long before that. The
threats against his life and limb are
frequent, the hatred he has stirred up
Is intense and the policeman who
guards the door Of the mayors Office
keeps a revolver on the desk before
him, butt handy.
The van Of those sounded out" by
the mayor were the local business men,
members Of the Chamber Of Com
merce. These men have q personal
stake In the Newton mill. They sub
scribed $500, 900 toward the 81 900, 900
required to dredge the River Raisin
and provide suitable harbor for the