THE FAKMFJl AND THE LABOR QUESTION. 391 



It is demanded that the military shall not be employed 

 against strikers, but that the task of preserving order shall be 

 left to the regular police. It is especially demanded that 

 private police should not be employed. As to the last it is 

 certainly necessary that life and property be protected. If the 

 state will supply the jirotection, no employer will wish to pay 

 for it. But it is notorious that the police force of most cities 

 is totally inadequate to preserve order in times of great excite- 

 ment, and it is unreasonable to expect the public to maintain, 

 during ordinary times, a police force capable of preserving 

 order in great emergencies. It is notorious that a portion of 

 the police in all cities is closely connected by many ties to the 

 workingmen of the city, and will act against them with great 

 reluctance. When the workmen therefore demand that no 

 aid be given to the })olice in maintaining order in times of 

 great strikes, they are disingenuous. In a great strike they 

 know there may be riots. When they say they are not 

 responsible for these, and disfavor them, and yet object to the 

 use of tlie only means which can control them, they show a 

 real sympathy which they are unwilling to avow. Neither 

 the military or private police have ever yet been employed in 

 this country to molest any citizen who was attending to his 

 own business, and letting other people alone. They are never 

 likely to be. Nobody who is doing right is in any danger of 

 molestation. In times of riot the first duty to society is the 

 restoration of order, kindly, if possible; roughly, if necessary; 

 immediately, at all costs. The merits of the dispute have 

 nothing to do with the case. There will be time to attend to 

 them later. Those who complain of the use of soldiers are 

 those who intend to break the law. They deserve no sym- 

 pathy, and if they persist in violent actions, no mercy. The 

 security of the whole people is the first consideration, and the 

 really merciful commander is one who hesitates at no neces- 

 sary severity to restore order promptly when occasion requires 

 it. No one will be endangered who does not interfere with 

 others. There is a rough element in society which can be 

 safely dealt with only by rough methods. 



The above are the principal demands of the trade-union 



