They have not only established little communities, which
may well be likened to foreign principalities,
but they have organized armies to maintain them.
Many of the great industrial plants built during the last few years
are obviously constructed that they may be used as fortifications
and points of vantage in a war on labor!
-Frank P Walsh
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Saturday August 14, 1915
From the Chicago Day Book: "Will U.S. Oust Thugs of Rich Class?" (Part 2)
Will the soon-to-be released Manley Report by the Commission on Industrial Relations lead to the abolition of the murderous private armies of company gunthugs? That is the question asked by an August 12th article in the
Day Book. Yesterday's Hellraisers featured part one of the article; today with conclude with part two in which Frank P. Walsh, Chairman of the Commission, offers some insight on the subject.
Take the statement of Frank P. Walsh, impartial friend of labor. As chairman of the commission he sat for two years and listened to testimony which, in his own words, "was
appalling." He has this to say regarding the menace of the private army:
The information which this organization and maintenance of armed force or 'private armies' by owners or managers of industries was appalling.
They have not only established little communities, which may well be likened to foreign principalities, but they have organized armies to maintain them.
Many of the great industrial plants built during the last few years are obviously constructed that they may be used as fortifications and points of vantage in a war on labor!
So-called industrial protective corporations and detective agencies have reserves like European countries, which they can mobilize and arm on incredibly short notice, showing a perfect inside organization.
Many corporations such as the Pennsylvania Railway Co. have arsenals which they maintain permanently, at which their "soldiers" may be quickly provided with death-dealing agencies.
One Pennsylvania official testified before this commission that they had a small quantity of firearms stored in Philadelphia, but investigation revealed 5,000 revolvers, rifles and riot clubs stored in Philadelphia the city of brotherly love.
I do not wish to terrify the timid, but I feel prepared to say that the "trustified" industries, of the country, upon 24 hours' notice, could mobilize an army great enough in numbers and well enough equipped in arms to overthrow the military forces of any state in the union.
If farmers, independent business men and manufacturers of this country could be brought to realize that the concentrated controllers of basic industries of this country could use their "armies" against them to maintain their economic advantage and thus pile up greater fortunes without proper return to society, they would join the workers in a mighty protest against private standing armies which would stir the law-making authorities to abolish them instanter.
[Continued below.]
[Continued from above.]
The Roosevelt Massacre
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The horror of the private army has been fully felt at the massacre at Ludlow, in the Colorado mine war; the battle of Paint Creek in the West Virginia war; of Calumet, in the Michigan copper mine war; in the battle at Roosevelt, N. J., and still more recently in the war on strikers in Bayonne, N. J.
The story of the operations of a "private army" in the West Virginia mine war is a tale of a peaceful community of happy, contented people transformed into a theater of war of murderous attacks without warning of men shot in the dark and in the back.
An attack on Holly Grove, a strikers' camp, from an armored train, carrying machine guns, is typical Here is what an ex-mine guard told the senate investigating committee:
When the armored train got above Paint Creek Junction all the men grabbed rifles. The lights were turned down. We were told to shoot right through the windows. As we came up to Holly Grove I saw a stream of fire start out of the baggage car just ahead, where the machine guns were mounted. I am positive the shooting began from the baggage car.
In that night attack, as in others during the same war, innocent women, miners' wives, were victims.
No one forgets the battles in Colorado the massacre of Ludlow, where a private army attacked unarmed strikers, where machine guns rained lead on the strikers' tent colony,
where, after "gunmen" had fired the miners' tents, 14 bodies, mostly women and children, were taken from the "Black Hole of Ludlow."
There are the "Seeberville murders" to the credit of the private army used in the Calumet war, when a squad of gunmen fired their guns into the home of a miner while the inmates were eating supper. One man killed outright, one who died soon after from his wounds, two others wounded, and a babe in its mother's arms powder burned-that was one bit of work of a private army.
There is the red record of the use of a private army at Roosevelt, N. J., when a score of unarmed strikers were shot down, one of them killed, by armed guards of the employers.
The Roosevelt Massacre
`````
There is the recent street battle in Bayonne, N. J., where unarmed Standard Oil strikers were charged by armed guards, several killed and scores wounded.
It is a raw, red record of terror and death-that of the private army.
ABOLISH IT!
Mother Jones with strikers' wives and children after the Roosevelt Massacre.
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-----
[Photographs added.]
SOURCE
The Day Book
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Aug 12, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Frank P Walsh,
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb 14, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Roosevelt Massacre of Jan 19, 1915
from The Star-Independent. (Harrisburg, Pa.) of Jan 20
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
Roosevelt of Jan 19, 1915,
from The Sun. (New York N.Y.) of Jan 20
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
Mother Jones at Roosevelt, NJ, Jan 1915,
from New York Tribune of Jan 22
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
For more on the Manley Report, see also:
Pearson's Magazine, Volume 35
Pearson Publishing Company, 1916
https://books.google.com/...
-from the March 1916 edition:
"What the Industrial Commission Discovered" by George Creel"
https://books.google.com/...
Industrial relations: final report and testimony
United States. Commission on Industrial Relations
-ed by Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
Volume 1: 1-1024
https://books.google.com/...
"The Manley Report"
https://books.google.com/...
For more on the make-up of the CIR, see also:
"Hellraisers Journal: Frank P Walsh States His Commission Has Completed Its Work, Is Fixing Up Report" by JayRaye (scroll down)
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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Dear Readers of Hellraisers,
This year for my vacation, Hellraisers will not be as scaled back as it was for the past two vacations. This happy change is due to my new & much faster computer.
The big change that my readers will see, starting July 16th, will be the shorter length of the postings along with fewer links.
When my readers find unfamiliar names, places, or events, please use the tags along with JayRaye (in diarist section of search feature). Or just leave a question for me in the comments and I will get back to you.
When I actually leave for Minnesota, I'll let everyone know.
Solidarity,
JayRaye
Note: Vacation has started! Until Aug 7th, I'll be able to check in about twice a day. From Aug 8-30th, I'll be checking in only 2 or 3 times per week. Hope everyone keeps on Raising Hell (with the corporate powers, not with each other) until my return from Minnesota.
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They'll Never Keep Us Down-Hazel Dickens
Well we've been shot and we've been jailed, Lord, it’s a sin
Women and little children stood right by the men
But we got that union contract that keeps the worker free
And they’ll never shoot that union out of me
They’ll never shoot that union out of me, oh no
They’ll never shoot that union out of me
Got a contract in our hand signed by the blood of honest men
And they'll never shoot that union out of me
-Hazel Dickens
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