OPEN STRIFE FEARED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 136, 10 June 1937, Page 7

OPEN STRIFE FEARED

Michigan Steel Workers GRAVE SITUATION Mayor of Monroe’s Request CITIZENS WITH MILITARY EXPERIENCE (By Telegraph Press Association—Copy Received June 9, 7.55 p.m. MONROE (Mich.), June 8. Fearing open hostilities between the Republic Steel Corporation and the. Committee for Industrial Organisation, the Mayor, Mr. Knaggs, called on citizens with military experience to enlist as special policemen in order to permit the Republic Steel Corporation’s subsidiary plant to reopen. The plant was closed as a result of a strike. Mr. Knaggs alleged that 10,000 C. 1.0. workers were planning to flock to Monroe from Detroit and Toledo. He hinted that the special policemen would carry rifles. Meanwhile minor outbreaks oc* curred at Y’oungstown and Massillon (Ohio), when the sheriffs ordered pickets to disarm a crowd threatening to march upon the Youngstown gaol to deliver three rioters who had been arrested, but desisted in face of a cordon of guards armed with rifles and tear gas. At Chicago 39 C. 1.0. men who held a sit-down strike at the Fansteel Corporation plant in February in defiance of the Court order were fined up to 1000 dollars and received terms of imprisonment up to eight months. The eighth victim of the steel riot at Chicago has died. A mass meeting of the Citizens’ Rights Committee, also the Chicago Church Federation, adopted resolutions demanding an official investigation into the clash. A message from Lansing (Michigan) states that the town was paralysed for the second day when five pickets who were arrested misdemeanour charges. Yesterday, as a protest against the arrest of strike pickets, the United Automobile Workers* Union called a labour “holiday” which paralysed the industrial plants and the bus and taxi-cab systems.

Four people were killed at Chicago on May 31 last, and 84 wounded in a battle between police and striking steel workers who were attempting to enter the Republic Steel Corporation’s plant. The battle occurred upon the plant property. The police had previously issued a warning that they were determined to protect it. Marchers chanted “C. 1.0. C. 1.0.,” as they approached the gate. A crowd of approximately 1000 men marched to the mam gate, despite the warning of the police, who were forced to use clubs and guns when some of the mon opened the attack with clubs, sling shots, and bricks. The strikers were forced to retreat. Twenty-eight of the wounded were struck by bullets. Seventeen policemen and several were among the injured. One of the strikers had his eye gouged out. A boy of 11 years was shot in the ankle and another of nine in the leg. Police officials alleged that many of the strikers were armed and that several fired before the police used their guns. Prior to this, tear gas had failed to halt the mob. Difficulty in identifying the dead caused the police to believe that outside agitators took a majot part in leading the raid.