Show MILES STORY Federal TfaopvHud XotliinK to Do 1 Vlih the Socalled Strike WASHINGTON Oct 30In reply to arguments in Governor Altgclds speech it Cooper Union New York City Octobor 13 In relation to the Debs riots in Chicago where he said United States troops were crdered to be in readiness five days in advance of I any trouble with a view to force employees em-ployees to work for their employers a statement is made with the approval of General Miles who commanded the United States forces on the occasion in question and with his indorsement of its accuracy as follows The hordes or socalled irmies of Coxey wet organized in Kansas Cal fornia Oregon and other states ana swaimed across the country in some I cases seizing trains for their transportation transpor-tation and living upon the people of towns Villages and communities In theIr route Following this the employees em-ployees Y the Northern Pacific struck and practically held possession of the road The same thing was done on the Great Northern the strikers holding possession of the property for weeks posseS1l regardless of the law or the rights of the property owners Strikes occurred in nearly l the mines between the Alleghenies and the Rocky mountains In many instances the property was seized and unlawfully held regardless of the civil authorities Following this in May 1S94 a strike was ordered in the Pullman works in Chicago and when that business was paralyzed a sympathetic ntnke was ordered on all the railroads over which the Pullman cars moved This was in June and according to governor Aitseias own statement In his Cooper Union speech all freight trains in eitaln portions of Illinois were abandoned by the em 7 loyees and prohibited from moving by the strikers Train were ordered sidetracked side-tracked by the hundreds and passengers passen-gers were practically held prisoners for weeks The interstate commerce of the entire en-tire country west of Chicago was suspended sus-pended by h end of June A few mail trains were allowed to run but In many Instances every window was smashed In some Instances the operators op-erators were brutally treated Tills was the tate of affairs Under Un-der the laws ot congress it yas the duty of the president to protect interstate inter-state commerce the mall routes the subtreasury at Chicago containing 20000000 of government money and other United States property When the mail and interstate commerce lines obstructed and It were paralyzed became be-came the duty ot the United States court to take action Which It did although al-though the lives of its marshals were threatened and they were unable to i carry out the lawful orders ot the court I was then and not until then July 3 that president Cleveland ordered i or-dered federal troops to protect United States marshals in their duties and also to protect property under the I Jurjsdlctlpn of the United States At the same time the leaders publicly I sane tme pUblcly t declared that it was no longer a strike but a rebellion When the United States marshals under the protection pro-tection of the federal troops had opened the lines of interstate commerce com-merce and mail routes and protection had been obtained for the property under the jurisdiction of the United States the troops were removed to their former stations July 18 Hence they were in Chicago only 15 days and did not in any way interfere with the municipal or state authorities The I strike however was not ordered off until two weeks later This demonstrated demon-strated clearly that the federal authorities au-thorities had nothing whatever to do thaites I with the socalled strike Neither had they anything whatever to do with the questions between capital and labor |