Show H t T. T q J Belated Action I i I I 4 A A SERIOUS mistake was made mad by the At send to the when it failed faile to troops troops- West Virginia irginia coal fields when th the first call calI for help was received from the state executive Several Several Several Sev Sev- I eral lives might have been saved if immediate I the effort to restore r action had been taken in f order in the riotous sections When Governor Morgan appealed to the I federal government for aid President Harding delayed action preferring to give the miners time fo for peaceable dispersion The miners were given three days in Ml which elich to disperse but little 4 attention was given fo to the executive order and anda a at the expiration of the time limit it was found I necessary to send the federal troops to the troublous district 1 The delay has exacted its toll in human life and it is doubtful if the task is made easier by bythe byi i the inclination to let the people of West Virginia I solve their own difficulties A state of civil war h has s existed in inVest West Vest Virginia for some time Civil Civi war is akin to anarchy and is not to be suppressed by soft words T The e situation w was s plainly out of of the control of the state authorities when the appeal was sent to to Washington ashington No time should have been lost in dispatching troops to the scene for it was apparent that the tile situation was vas desperate Under our form of governmental organization we assume that the several states are equal to their own problems Hence we do not expect the federal government to rush into every industrial dispute to restore order The problem however is given a different different different differ differ- ent color when lives are sacrificed daily and the state authorities admit that they are not not nt equal to th the situation It then becomes a clear dear matter of civil strife In which the federal government is vitally inter inter- ested Suppression of the conflict becomes a governmental duty and the effort should not be delayed since time only serves to increase the bloodshed and aggravate th the problem When at 3 state government has exhausted all alI of its its' powers In ln the effort to preserve the peace we must assume that a dangerous situation exists and act accordingly without delay and without hopeless maneuvering ering |