FIERCE FIGHTING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20364, 23 July 1934, Page 8

FIERCE FIGHTING.

Thousands of Troops Restore Order. United Press Assn.—By Electric Te i egra ph —Co py rig ht.

NEW YORK, July 21. Minneapolis and Seattle were the centres of industrial conflicts yesterday.

Police who attempted to escort food lorries through Minneapolis were attacked by striking lorrymen in another vehicle. The police opened a devastating fire with shotguns and pistols, and although they claimed that they aimed over the heads and at their feet, fifty strikers were injured. One is reported to be dead. Striker reinforcements were rushed up,, and, in spite of gunfire, repeatedly charged the police lines with clubs and stones, inflicting many serious injuries. Thousands of National Guard troops poured into the city and restored order. At Seattle several thousand longshoremen were engaged with 300 police almost throughout the day in a desperate effort to prevent the unloading of ships. They were finally dispersed by tear and nauseating gases. The Mayor, Mr Charles Smith, removed the Chief of Police, allegedly for his inability to control the strikers, and personally led the police in repeated charges. Practically all the combatants. including the Mayor himself, were more or less seriously gassed. The police repulsed the strikers, but another attack threatened.

At Portland a tense situation continues. Shippers are making a preliminary move towards opening the port, and four vessels have moved into the docks with the intention of unloading to-morrow. Pickets are congregating on the waterfront. TENSION RELAXED. Governor’s Threat of Martial Law. NEW YORK, July 21. The tenseness of the strike situation was somewhat relaxed to-day as a forty-eight-hour truce was declared in Minneapolis, following yesterday’s bloody riot, and tangible progress was made in San Francisco towards a settlement of the longshoremen's and associated maritime unions' strikes. Four thousand National Guards patrolled the market sections of Minneapolis and the Governor threatened to proclaim martial law at the first sign of violence. At the request of officials lorry-owners agreed to suspend deliveries while the Federal Mediation Board makes another effort to negotiate an agreement. Shipping operators in San Francisco have agreed to arbitrate the differences with the unions, including the control of hiring halls, but the Longshoremen’s Union has not yet accepted, and heretofore has insisted that they must have complete control of the halls. Brisk business started as all other phases of the general strike disappeared. It is estimated that losses since May, attributable to strikers, aggregate 100,000,000 dollars, including lost wages to men. Longshoremen Weakened. The position of the longshoremen in San Francisco was greatly weakened when the lorrymen voted 1138 to 283 to return to work “unconditionally.” This means that they will handle goods from ships which heretofore they have refused to do, even before the general strike was called. Not only the longshoremen, the associated maritime unions and the Market Street tramways operators have refused to return to work. Late in the evening General Johnson announced that the shipowners had agreed to arbitrate, not only with the longshoremen, but in the maritime strike. Thus the way is apparently open for a complete settlement of the difficulties if the Radical leadership, headed by Mr Bridges, agrees to arbitration.