Montana labor news., 1938-09-08
TROOPS SENT TO LITTLE
STEEL AREA Despite
OFFICIAL ADVICE


WASHINGTON. - (FP) - Free
shooting police of Tom Girdler's Re.
public Steel plant peppered official:
of the company with the same
abandon that they fired upon strik-
ing steel workers, the Senate civil
liberties committee heard as il
entered its fourth and final week OF
hearings on the little steel" strike
last summer.
The committee also heard evidence
of collision between one of the
numerous Flaw and order" leagues
and the Silver Shirts, a fascist or.
%ganization, heard Col. E. p. Lawlor.
national guard officer, describe the
peace prevailing in the Ohio steel
area until the formation of law and
order" leagues, and heard now Re-
public thugs invented strange ano
unusual weapons for assaultine
picket lines.
Col. Lawlor, sent to Canton and
Massillon as a national guard OBJ
server, told the committee that on
the day he told the governor condi-
tons were peaceful and did not war
rant the sending of troops, Gov
Martin Davey issued a proclamation
sending the troops to the two towns
Despite Lawlor's report to the gov
ernor, the proclamation that cost the
citizens of Ohio over 100000, de-
clared, Official information indi-
Gated that the local peace officers
will be wholly unable to cope with
the situation that would otherwise
arise"
Lawlor said he believed the forma-
ton of the law and order" league
in Canton on June 9 provided the
first threat to the peace of the city
The leagues aim was to sponsor {
back to work movement and it was
this that was responsible for the
clash between strikers and strike
breakers on June Is, he said.
One of the meetings of the league
was held in the Warren, Ohio, home
of City Councilman Howard Luse
it was brought out, and Luse adj
mitted that he had brought Sidney
Warwick, an official of the fascis'
Silver Shirts, to the meeting.
At this gathering, according tC
Ralph c. McIlvain who was present
Roy Zachary, head of the Silver
Shirts, Criticized what was going OF
in the government. He said thii
would be eliminated, though, be
cause the President would b'
assassinated. Luse denied that th'
statement was made in his house.
Recently, according to report
given the Federal Bureau of Investi
cation, Zachary made a similar state
ment at a Silver Shirt meeting il
Chicago.
Walter Koellner, a Canton polio,
official, told the committee that HI
discovered a super-slingshot riggeC
by the Republic guards when hi
police car was hit with a rock whilt
it was $50 yards from the plant.
The thugs strung discarded innel
tubes between two posts and useC
that to hurl rocks and other missile
at the picket lines, he said. Othel
slingshots were used to hurl stee
pellets, the size of a ping-pong bal
at the picket lines, it was brough
out.
The evidence of assault upon tbs
peaceful picket lines dovetailed will
evidence previously presented tbs
committee showing that Republi,
thugs fired upon pickets from th'
windows of the plant during al
assault in Youngstown in which TIVE
union men were shot dead.
It was the contention of Republi,
officials that the men died as the re
suit of bullets from the hills nearby
but testimony of ballistics experts
after examination of bullets LODGED
in nearby buildings, showed the shot
must have come from the window
of the Republic plant.
Earl Butler, chief of Republic
police in Youngstown, admitted tina
rifles were in the plant the night o
the affair-termed the stop five
riot" because it took place near bu
stop number five. Strikers testified
that they saw flashes coming from
the windows of the plant after depu
ty sheriffs charged upon them.
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