STRIKE & SIEGE

Wairarapa Age, 17 July 1934, Page 5

STRIKE & SIEGE

SERIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN SAN FRANCISCO. EFFORTS TO “TIE UP” WHOLE PACIFIC COAST. SOME SPORADIC VIOLENCE'. (Received Monday, 5.5 p.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, July 15. Sporadic violence broke out on the eve of the general strike, which commences at eight tomorrow morning. One picket was seriously bayonetted by a militiaman. Another group was fired on by troops after stoning the soldiers. Although the strike is not yet official, in effect, to all intents and purposes, the city is suffering a general strike. Most of the tramways are stopped and down-town streets are deserted, except for. police and bands of rowdies, who are taking advantage of the situation and looting stores. As it is Sunday, all food stores closed, but few if any are likely to open to-morrow. It is understood that the strike committee has made arrangements to bring food in for the strikers’ families, but in effect they propose to starve the rest of the city until the longshoremen’s demands are met. There is unusual activity in the Federal Army Barracks, indicating that regular troops may supplement the National Guard, but there is no confirmation of such rumfours. It is also rumoured that troops for replacement are being moved in from as far east as Texas and Kansas should the situation get out of hand. The scope of the strike has now extended and includes the so-called San Francisco Bay area, with 1,200,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, up and down the coast from British Columbia to Mexico, radical unionists are agitating for sympathetic strikes in an effort to tie up the entire Pacific Coast. HOLD-UP EXTENDING'. PARALYSIS OF CITY TRADE & TRANSPORT. (Received Monday, 7.0 p.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, July 15. The city was in a virtual state of siege on Sunday as the paralysing effects of the general strike spread. Hoodlums smashed the windows of an Oakland food store. Employees of the Market Street Railway, numbering 4,800, struck at 2 a.m. on Sunday. The municipal car lines are expected to end their service on Monday. Taxi-cabs remained in their garages and private automobiles lacked gasolene. The •executive body of the general strike committee has decreed that milk and bread supplies are to keep moving for the time being; also that hospitals should have fresh meat. City officials have discussed the advisability of setting up a central food depot to distribute necessities. EPIDEMIC OF STRIKES. THREE NEGRO DOCK WORKERS KILLED. (Received Monday, 8.30' p.m.) NEW YORK, July 15. While the labour crisis in San Francisco is attracting major attention, the year-old: epidemic of strikes throughout the nation appears to be increasing. Three Negro dock workers were shot and killed when a truckload of workers was fired on by four in an automobile. Some of the Negroes were armed and returned the fire, wounding one attacker. A State-wiiie textile workers’ strike was caller. :n Alabama, involving 22.000 operatives.