“There is no evidence before the Commission that the officers of the American Railway Union at any time participated in or advised intimidation, violence or destruction of property. They knew and fully appreciated that as soon as mobs ruled the organized forces of society would crush the mobs and all responsible for them in the remotest degree, and that this means defeat.”
And yet they all served prison sentences. Will President Cleveland please explain why? And why they were refused a trial?
IN WHOSE INTERESTS WERE CRIMES COMMITTED?
Read the above paragraph from the report of the Strike Commission and then answer these questions:
To whose interest was it to have riots and fires, lawlessness and crime?
To whose advantage was it to have disreputable “deputies” do these things?
Why were only freight cars, largely hospital wrecks, set on fire?
Why have the railroads not yet recovered damages from Cook county, Illinois, for failing to protect their property? Why are they so modest and patient with their suits?
The riots and incendiarism turned defeat into victory for the railroads. They could have won in no other way. They had everything to gain and the strikers everything to lose.
The violence was instigated in spite of the strikers, and the report of the Commission proves that they made every effort in their power to preserve the peace.