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THE GOVERNMENT IN THE CHICAGO 
 STRIKE OF 1894 
 
THE 
 
 STAFFORD LITTLE LECTURES 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 The Two Hague Conferences, by Joseph H. Choate. 
 Cloth, 124 pp., $1.00 net, by mail $1.06. 
 
 Experiments in Government and the Essentials of 
 the Constitution, by Elihu Root. Cloth, 88 pp., 
 $1.00 net, by mail $i.o6. 
 
 The Independence of the Executive, by Grover 
 Cleveland. Cloth, 90 pp., $1.00 net, by mail $1.06. 
 
 The Government in the Chicago Strike of 1894, by 
 
 Grover Cleveland. Cloth, 66 pp., $1.00 net, by mail 
 $1.06. 
 
 The Venezuelan Boundary Controversy, by Grover 
 Cleveland. Cloth, 130 pp., $1.00 net, by mail $1.06. 
 
The Cleveland Memorial Tower 
 
 Gkaijuate College 
 
 Prinxeton 
 
THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 
 
 BY 
 
 GROVER CLEVELAND 
 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 PRINCETON 
 
 LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1913 
 
Copyright, 1913, by 
 Princeton University Press 
 
 Published October, 1913 
 
 ^ 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 President Cleveland first visited Princeton at 
 the time of the Sesquicentennial Celebration 
 and made the chief address of that occasion on 
 October 22, 1896. A few months later he 
 retired from the Presidency and made Prince- 
 ton his home for the remaining eleven years of 
 his life. For the last seven of these years he 
 served as Trustee of Princeton University and 
 for the closing four years also acted as Chair- 
 man of the Committee on the Graduate School 
 having special charge of the project for the 
 residential Graduate College. He died on June 
 24, 1908, and was buried, as he desired, in 
 his family plot in Princeton. By express pro- 
 vision of his will the only monument to mark 
 his grave was to be the simple one which has 
 already been erected. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Cleveland came to live in 
 Princeton it was proposed to found a Lecture- 
 ship on Public Affairs in his honor. In the 
 
iv PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 early summer of 1899 Mr. Henry Stafford 
 Little, an alumnus of the University, endowed 
 the lectureship and expressed the hope that Mr. 
 Cleveland would consent to hold it, or at any 
 rate to be the first incumbent. Mr. Cleveland 
 was reluctant to undertake any new work at 
 that time, but on receiving special word from 
 Mr. Little, who was then critically ill, agreed 
 to prepare an address for the next year. 
 
 On April 9 and 10, 1900, every seat in 
 Alexander Hall was taken and there were 
 throngs standing to hear his two addresses on 
 "The Independence of the Executive." The 
 next spring he lectured twice on "The Vene- 
 zuelan Boundary Question." For the next two 
 years there were no lectures, and in 1904 
 Mr. Cleveland read one lecture on "The 
 Government in the Chicago Strike." He 
 always had crowded audiences, both for him- 
 self and the grave importance of the questions 
 he treated. He was heard with the closest 
 attention and repeatedly welcomed with affec- 
 tionate enthusiasm. 
 
 Seventeen years ago to the day since Mr. 
 Cleveland first spoke in Princeton, his Prince- 
 
PREFATORY NOTE v 
 
 ton lectures are now republished in expanded 
 form on the day of the dedication of the 
 Graduate College he so strongly supported and 
 did not live to see realized, and also the dedi- 
 cation day of the Cleveland Memorial Tower, 
 erected by national subscription and built into 
 the Graduate College for which he labored. 
 
 The lectures here reprinted are disclosures 
 of the meaning of important happenings in our 
 national history. They are even more; for 
 they make clear as light that plain, strict, un- 
 swerving and unaffected honesty which was 
 the vigorous central power in Grover Cleve- 
 land's life. It is well his words should be 
 heard again at the time we gather to dedicate 
 his national monument. 
 
 Andrew F. West. 
 
 The Graduate College 
 
 Princeton University 
 
 October .22, 1913 
 
THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 
 
 I 
 
 The President inaugurated on the fourth 
 day of March, 1893, and those associated with 
 him as Cabinet officials, encountered, during 
 their term of executive duty, unusual and es- 
 pecially perplexing difficulties. The members 
 of that administration who still survive, in re- 
 calling the events of this laborious service, can- 
 not fail to fix upon the years 1894 and 1895 ^s 
 the most troublous and anxious of their in- 
 cumbency. During those years unhappy cur- 
 rency complications compelled executive resort 
 to heroic treatment for the preservation of 
 our nation's financial integrity, and forced 
 upon the administration a constant, unrelenting 
 struggle for sound money; a long and persis- 
 tent executive effort to accomplish beneficent 
 and satisfactory tariff reform so nearly mis- 
 I 
 
2 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 carried as to bring depression and disappoint- 
 ment to the verge of discouragement; and it 
 was at the close of the year 1895 that executive 
 insistence upon the Monroe Doctrine cuhnin- 
 ated in a situation that gave birth to solemn 
 thoughts of war. Without attempting to com- 
 plete the list of troubles and embarrassments 
 that beset the administration during these luck- 
 less years, I have reserved for separate and 
 more detailed treatment one of its incidents not 
 yet mentioned, which immensely increased ex- 
 ecutive anxiety and foreboded the most calam- 
 itous and far-reaching consequences. 
 
 In the last days of June, 1894, a very deter- 
 mined and ugly labor disturbance broke out in 
 the city of Chicago. Almost in a night it grew 
 to full proportions of malevolence and danger. 
 Rioting and violence were its early accompani- 
 ments; and it spread so swiftly that within a 
 few days it had reached nearly the entire West- 
 ern and Southwestern sections of our country. 
 Railroad transportation was especially involved 
 in its attacks. The carriage of United States 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 3 
 
 mails was interrupted, interstate commerce 
 was obstructed, and railroad property was 
 riotously destroyed. 
 
 This disturbance is often called "The Chi- 
 cago Strike." It is true that its beginning was 
 in that city ; and the headquarters of those who 
 inaugurated it and directed its operations were 
 located there; but the name thus given to it is 
 an entire misnomer so far as it applies to 
 the scope and reach of the trouble. Railroad 
 operations were more or less affected in 
 twenty-seven States and Territories; and in 
 all these the interposition of the general 
 Government was to a greater or less extent 
 invoked. 
 
 This wide-spread trouble had its inception 
 in a strike by the employees of the Pullman 
 Palace Car Company, a corporation located 
 and doing business at the town of Pullman, 
 which is within the limits of the city of Chi- 
 cago. This company was a manufacturing 
 corporation — or at least it was not a railroad 
 corporation. Its main object was the opera- 
 
4 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 tion and running of sleeping- and parlor-cars 
 upon railroads under written contracts; but its 
 charter contemplated the manufacture of cars 
 as well ; and soon after its incorporation it 
 began the manufacture of its own cars and, 
 subsequently, the manufacture of cars for the 
 general market. 
 
 The strike on the part of the employees of 
 this company began on the eleventh day of 
 May, 1894, and was provoked by a reduction 
 of wages. 
 
 The American Railway Union was organized 
 in the summer of 1893. It was professedly an 
 association of all the different classes of rail- 
 way employees. In its scope and intent it was 
 the most compact and efifective organization of 
 the kind ever attempted. Its purpose was a 
 thorough unification of defensive and offensive 
 effort among railway employees under one cen- 
 tral direction, and the creation of a combina- 
 tion embracing all such employees, which 
 should make the grievances of any section of 
 its membership a common cause. Those promi- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 5 
 
 nent in this project estimated that various 
 other organizations of railroad employees then 
 existing had a membership of 102,000 in the 
 United States and neighboring countries; and 
 they claimed that these brotherhoods, because 
 of divided councils and for other reasons, were 
 ineffective, and that nearly 1,000,000 railroad 
 employees still remained unorganized. 
 
 The wonderful growth of this new combina- 
 tion is made apparent by the fact that between 
 the month of August, 1893, and the time it 
 became involved in the Pullman strike, in June, 
 1894, it had enrolled nearly 150,000 members. 
 
 The employees of the Pullman Palace Car 
 Company could not on any reasonable and 
 consistent theory be regarded as eligible to 
 membership in an organization devoted to the 
 interests of railway employees; and yet, dur- 
 the months of March, April, and May, 1894, 
 it appears that nearly 4000 of these employees 
 were enrolled in the American Railway Union. 
 
 This, to say the least of it, was an exceed- 
 ingly unfortunate proceeding, since it created a 
 
6 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 situation which impHcated in a comparatively 
 insignificant quarrel between the managers of 
 an industrial establishment and their workmen 
 the large army of the Railway Union. It was 
 the membership of these workmen in the Rail- 
 way Union, and the union's consequent as- 
 sumption of their quarrel, that gave it the 
 proportions of a tremendous disturbance, par- 
 alyzing the most important business interests, 
 obstructing the functions of the Government, 
 and disturbing social peace and order. 
 
 No injury to the property of the Pullman 
 Palace Car Company was done or attempted 
 while the strike was confined to its employees ; 
 and during that time vei-y little disorder of any 
 kind occurred. 
 
 It so happened, however, that in June, 1894, 
 after the strike at Pullman had continued for 
 about one month, a regular stated convention 
 of the American Railway Union was held in 
 the city of Chicago, which was attended by 
 delegates from local branches of the organiza- 
 tion in different States, as well as by represen- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 7 
 
 tatives of its members among the employees of 
 the Pullman Palace Car Company. At this 
 convention the trouble at Pullman was con- 
 sidered, and after earnest efforts on the part 
 of the Railway Union to bring about a settle- 
 ment, a resolution was, on the twenty-second 
 day of June, passed by the convention, declar- 
 ing that unless the Pullman Palace Car 
 Company should adjust the grievances of its 
 employees before noon of the twenty-sixth day 
 of June, the members of the American Railway 
 Union would, after that date, refuse to handle 
 Pullman cars and equipment. 
 
 The twenty-sixth day of June arrived with- 
 out any change in the attitude of the parties 
 to the Pullman controversy; and thereupon 
 the order made by the American Railway 
 Union forbidding the handling of Pullman 
 cars, became operative throughout its entire 
 membership. 
 
 At this time the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
 pany was furnishing drawing-room and sleep- 
 ing-car accommodations to the traveling public 
 
8 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 under contracts with numerous railway com- 
 panies, and was covering by this service about 
 one hundred and twenty-five thousand miles of 
 railway, or approximately three fourths of all 
 the railroad mileage of the country. The same 
 railroad companies which had contracted to 
 use these Pullman cars upon their lines had 
 contracts with the United States Government 
 for the carriage of mails, and were, of course, 
 also largely engaged in interstate commerce. 
 It need hardly be said that, of necessity, the 
 trains on which the mails were carried and 
 which served the pui-pose of interstate com- 
 merce were, very generally, those to which the 
 Pullman cars were also attached. 
 
 The president of the Railway Union was one 
 Eugene V. Debs. In a sworn statement after- 
 ward made he gave the following description 
 of the results of the interference of the union 
 in the Pullman dispute : 
 
 The employees, obedient to the order of the 
 convention, at once, on the 26th, refused to haul 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 9 
 
 Pullman cars. The switchmen, in the first place, 
 refused to attach a Pullman car to a train, and 
 that is where the trouble began; and then, when 
 a switchman would be discharged for that, 
 they would all simultaneously quit, as they had 
 agreed to do. One department after another 
 was involved until the Illinois Central was prac- 
 tically paralyzed, and the Rock Island and other 
 roads in their turn. Up to the first day of July, 
 or after the strike had been in progress five days, 
 the railway managers, as we believe, were com- 
 pletely defeated. Their immediate resources 
 were exhausted, their properties were paralyzed, 
 and they were unable to operate their trains. 
 Our men were intact at every point, firm, quiet, 
 and yet determined, and no sign of violence or 
 disorder anywhere. That was the condition on 
 the thirtieth day of June and the first day of 
 
 July. 
 
 The officers of the Railway Union from 
 their headquarters in the city of Chicago gave 
 directions for the maintenance and manage- 
 ment of the strike, which were quickly trans- 
 
lO THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 mitted to distant railroad points and were there 
 promptly executed. As early as the 28th of 
 June, two days after the beginning of the 
 strike ordered by the Railway Union at Chi- 
 cago, information was received at Washington 
 from the Post-Office Department that on the 
 Southern Pacific System, between Portland 
 and San Francisco, Ogden and San Francisco, 
 and Los Angeles and San Francisco, the mails 
 were completely obstructed, and that the 
 strikers refused to permit trains to which 
 Pullman cars were attached to run over the 
 lines mentioned. Thereupon Attorney-General 
 Olney immediately sent the following tele- 
 graphic despatch to the United States district 
 attorneys in the State of California : 
 
 Washington, D. C, June 28, 1894. 
 See that the passage of regular trains, carry- 
 ing United States mails in the usual and ordin- 
 ary way, as contemplated by the act of Congress 
 and directed by the Postmaster-General, is not 
 obstructed. Procure warrants or any other 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 II 
 
 available process from United States courts 
 against any and all persons engaged in such 
 obstructions, and direct the marshal to execute 
 the same by such number of deputies or such 
 posse as may be necessary. 
 
 On the same day, and during a number of 
 days immediately following, complaints of a 
 similar character, sometimes accompanied by 
 charges of forcible seizure of trains and other 
 violent disorders, poured in upon the Attor- 
 ney-General from all parts of the West and 
 Southwest. These complaints came from post- 
 office officials, from United States marshals and 
 district attorneys, from railroad managers, and 
 from other officials and private citizens. In 
 all cases of substantial representation of inter- 
 ference with the carriage of mails, a despatch 
 identical with that already quoted was sent by 
 the Attorney-General to the United States dis- 
 trict attorneys in the disturbed localities; and 
 this was supplemented, whenever necessary, by 
 such other prompt action as the different emer- 
 gencies required. 
 
12 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 I shall not enter upon an enumeration of all 
 the disorders and violence, the defiance of law 
 and authority, and the obstructions of national 
 functions and duties, which occurred in many 
 localities as a consequence of this labor con- 
 tention, thus tremendously reinforced and com- 
 pletely under way. It is my especial purpose 
 to review the action taken by the Government 
 for the maintenance of its own authority and 
 the protection of the interests intrusted to its 
 keeping, so far as they were endangered by this 
 disturbance ; and I do not intend to specifically 
 deal with the incidents of the strike except in 
 so far as a reference to them may be necessary' 
 to show conditions which not only justified but 
 actually obliged the Government to resort to 
 stern and unusual measures in the assertion of 
 its prerogatives. 
 
 Inasmuch, therefore, as the city of Chicago 
 was the birthplace of the disturbance and the 
 home of its activities, and because it was the 
 field of its most pronounced and malign mani- 
 festations, as well as the place of its final ex- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 13 
 
 tinction, I shall meet the needs of my subject 
 if I supplement what has been already said by 
 a recital of events occurring at this central 
 point. In doing this, I shall liberally embody 
 documents, orders, instructions, and reports 
 which I hope will not prove tiresome, since 
 they supply the facts I desire to present, at 
 first hand and more impressively than they 
 could be presented by any words of mine. 
 
 Owing to the enforced relationship of Chi- 
 cago to the strike which started within its 
 borders, and because of its importance as a cen- 
 ter of railway traffic, Government officials at 
 Washington were not surprised by the early 
 and persistent complaints of mail and interstate 
 commerce obstructions which reached them 
 from that city. It was from the first antici- 
 pated that this would be the seat of the most 
 serious complications, and the place where the 
 strong arm of the law would be most needed. 
 In these circumstances it would have been a 
 criminal neglect of duty if those charged with 
 the protection of governmental agencies and 
 
14 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 the enforcement of orderly obedience and sub- 
 mission to Federal authority, had been remiss 
 in preparations for any emergency in that 
 quarter. 
 
 On the thirtieth day of June the district at- 
 torney at Chicago reported by telegraph that 
 mail trains in the suburbs of Chicago were, on 
 the previous night, stopped by strikers, that an 
 engine had been cut off and disabled, and that 
 conditions were growing more and more likely 
 to culminate in the stoppage of all trains ; and 
 he recommended that the marshal be authorized 
 to employ a force of special deputies who 
 should be placed on trains to protect mails and 
 detect the parties guilty of such interference. 
 In reply to this despatch Attorney-General 01- 
 ney on the same day authorized the marshal to 
 employ additional deputies as suggested, and 
 designated Edwin Walker, an able and promi- 
 nent attorney in Chicago, as special counsel 
 for the Government, to assist the district at- 
 torney in any legal proceedings that might be 
 instituted. He also notified the district attor- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 15 
 
 ney of the steps thus taken, and enjoined upon 
 him that "action ought to be prompt and vigo- 
 rous," and also directed him to confer with the 
 special counsel who had been employed. In a 
 letter of the same date addressed to this special 
 counsel, the Attorney-General, in making sug- 
 gestions concerning legal proceedings, wrote: 
 "It has seemed to me that if the rights of the 
 United States were vigorously asserted in Chi- 
 cago, the origin and center of the demonstra- 
 tion, the result would be to make it a failure 
 everywhere else, and to prevent its spread over 
 the entire country"; and in that connection he 
 indicated that it might be advisable, instead of 
 relying entirely upon warrants issued under 
 criminal statutes against persons actually guilty 
 of the offense of obstructing the United States 
 mails, to apply to the courts for injunctions 
 which would restrain and prevent any attempt 
 to commit such offense. This suggestion con- 
 templated the inauguration of legal proceed- 
 ings in a regular and usual way to restrain 
 those prominently concerned in the interfer- 
 
l6 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 ence with the mails and the obstruction of in- 
 terstate commerce, basing such proceedings on 
 the proposition that, under the Constitution 
 and laws, these subjects were in the exclusive 
 care of the Government of the United States, 
 and that for their protection the Federal courts 
 were competent under general principles of law 
 to intervene by injunction; and on the further 
 ground that under an act of Congress, passed 
 July 2, 1890, conspiracies in restraint of trade 
 or commerce among the several States were 
 declared to be illegal, and the circuit courts 
 of the United States were therein expressly 
 given jurisdiction to prevent and restrain such 
 conspiracies. 
 
 On the first day of July the district attorney 
 reported to the Attorney-General that he was 
 preparing a bill of complaint to be presented to 
 the court the next day, on an application for 
 an injunction. He further reported that very 
 little mail and no freight was moving, that the 
 marshal was using all his force to prevent 
 riots and the obstruction of tracks, and that 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 17 
 
 this force was clearly inadequate. On the same 
 day the marshal reported that the situation was 
 desperate, that he had sworn in over four 
 hundred deputies, that many more would be re- 
 quired to protect mail trains, and that he ex- 
 pected great trouble the next day. He further 
 expressed the opinion that one hundred riot 
 guns were needed. 
 
 Upon the receipt of these reports, and antici- 
 pating an attempt to serve injunctions on the 
 following day, the Attorney-General immedi- 
 ately sent a despatch to the district attorney 
 directing him to report at once if the process 
 of the court should be resisted by such force as 
 the marshal could not overcome, and suggest- 
 ing that the United States judge should join 
 in such report. He at the same time sent a 
 despatch to the special counsel requesting him 
 to report his view of the situation as early as 
 the forenoon of the next day. 
 
 In explanation of these two despatches it 
 should here be said that the desperate character 
 of this disturbance was not in the least under- 
 
i8 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 estimated by executive officials at Washington ; 
 and it must be borne in mind that while men- 
 acing conditions were moving swiftly and ac- 
 cumulating at Chicago, like conditions, inspired 
 and supported from that central point, existed 
 in many other places within the area of the 
 strike's contagion. 
 
 Of course it was hoped by those charged 
 with the responsibility of dealing with the situ- 
 ation, that a direct assertion of authority by the 
 marshal and a resort to the restraining power 
 of the courts would prove sufficient for the 
 emergency. Notwithstanding, however, an 
 anxious desire to avoid measures more radical, 
 the fact had not been overlooked that a con- 
 tingency might occur which would compel a 
 resort to military force. The key to these des- 
 patches of the Attorney-General is found in the 
 determination of the Federal authorities to 
 overcome by any lawful and constitutional 
 means all resistance to governmental functions 
 as related to the transportation of mails, the 
 operation of interstate commerce, and the pre- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 19 
 
 servation of the property of the United States. 
 The Constitution requires that the United 
 States shall protect each of the States against 
 invasion, "and on application of the legislature, 
 or of the executive (when the legislature can- 
 not be convened), against domestic violence." 
 There was plenty of domestic violence in the 
 city of Chicago and in the State of Illinois dur- 
 ing the early days of July, 1894; but no ap- 
 plication was made to the Federal Government 
 for assistance. It was probably a very fortu- 
 nate circumstance that the presence of United 
 States soldiers in Chicago at that time did not 
 depend upon the request or desire of Governor 
 Altgeld. 
 
 Section 5298 of the Revised Statutes of the 
 United States provides : "Whenever, by rea- 
 son of unlawful obstructions, combinations or 
 assemblages of persons, or rebellion against 
 the authority of the United States, it shall be- 
 come impracticable in the judgment of the 
 President to enforce, by the ordinary course 
 of judicial proceedings, the laws of the United 
 
20 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 States within any State or Territory, it shall be 
 lawful for the President to call forth the 
 militia of any or all of the States, and to em- 
 ploy such parts of the land or naval forces of 
 the United States as he may deem necessary 
 to enforce the faithful execution of the laws of 
 the United States, or to suppress such rebel- 
 lion, in whatever State or Territory thereof 
 the laws of the United States may be forcibly 
 opposed, or the execution thereof be forcibly 
 obstructed"; and Section 5299 provides: 
 "Whenever any insurrection, domestic violence, 
 unlawful combinations or conspiracies in any 
 State . . . opposes or obstructs the laws of the 
 United States, or the due execution thereof, 
 or impedes or obstructs the due course of 
 justice under the same, it shall be lawful for 
 the President, and it shall be his duty, to take 
 such measures, by the employment of the mi- 
 litia, or the land and naval forces of the 
 United States, or of either, or by other means 
 as he may deem necessary, for the suppres- 
 sion of such insurrection, domestic violence or 
 combinations." 
 
II 
 
 It was the intention of the Attorney-General 
 to suggest in these despatches that immediate 
 and autlioritative information should be given 
 to the Washington authorities if a time should 
 arrive when, under the sanction of general ex- 
 ecutive authority, or the constitutional and stat- 
 utory provisions above quoted, a military force 
 would be necessary at the scene of disturbance. 
 
 On the 2d of July, the day after these de- 
 spatches were sent, information was received 
 from the district attorney and special counsel 
 that a sweeping injunction had been granted 
 against Eugene V. Debs, president of the 
 American Railway Union, and other officials of 
 that organization, together with parties whose 
 names were unknown, and that the writs would 
 be served that afternoon. The special counsel 
 also expressed the opinion that it would re- 
 quire Government troops to enforce the orders 
 
22 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 of the court and protect the transportation of 
 mails. 
 
 Major-General Schofield was then in com- 
 mand of the army; and, after a consultation 
 with him, in which the Attorney-General and 
 the Secretary of War took part, I directed the 
 issuance of the following order by telegraph to 
 General Nelson A. Miles, in command of the 
 Military Department of Missouri, with head- 
 quarters at Chicago : 
 
 Headquarters of the Army. 
 
 Washington, July 2, 1894. 
 To the Commanding-General, 
 Department of Missouri, 
 Chicago, III. 
 You will please make all necessary arrange- 
 ments confidentially for the transportation of 
 the entire garrison at Fort Sheridan — infantry, 
 cavalry, and artillery — to the lake front in the 
 city of Chicago. To avoid possible interruption 
 of the movement by rail and by marching 
 through a part of the city, it may be advisable 
 to bring them by steam-boat. Please consider 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 23 
 
 this matter and have the arrangements perfected 
 without delay. You may expect orders at any 
 time for the movement. Acknowledge receipt 
 and report in what manner movement is to be 
 made. J. M. Schofield, 
 
 Major-General Commanding. 
 
 It should by no means be inferred from this 
 despatch that it had been definitely determined 
 that the use of a military force was inevitable. 
 It was still hoped that the effect of the injunc- 
 tion would be such that this alternative might 
 be avoided. A painful emergency is created 
 when public duty forces the necessity of plac- 
 ing trained soldiers face to face with riotous 
 opposition to the general Government, and an 
 acute and determined defiance to law and order. 
 This course, once entered upon, admits of no 
 backward step; and an appreciation of the con- 
 sequences that may ensue cannot fail to oppress 
 those responsible for its adoption with sadly 
 disturbing reflections. Nevertheless, it was 
 perfectly plain that, whatever tlie outcome 
 
24 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 might be, the situation positively demanded 
 such precaution and preparation as would in- 
 sure readiness and promptness in case the pres- 
 ence of a military force should finally be found 
 necessary. 
 
 On the morning of the next day, July 3, 
 the Attorney-General received a letter from 
 Mr. Walker, the special counsel, in which, af- 
 ter referring to the issuance of the injunctions 
 and setting forth that the marshal was en- 
 gaged in serving them, he wrote : 
 
 I do not believe that the marshal and his 
 deputies can protect the railroad companies in 
 moving their trains, either freight or passenger, 
 including, of course, the trains carrying United 
 States mails. Possibly, however, the service of 
 the writ of injunction will have a restraining in- 
 fluence upon Debs and other officers of the 
 association. If it does not, from present ap- 
 pearances, I think it is the opinion of all that 
 the orders of the court cannot be enforced except 
 by the aid of the regular army. 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF i8 
 
 25 
 
 Thereupon the Attorney-General immedi- 
 ately sent this despatch to the district attorney : 
 
 I trust use of United States troops will not 
 be necessary. If it becomes necessary, they will 
 be used promptly and decisively upon the justify- 
 ing facts being certified to me. In such case, if 
 practicable, let Walker and the marshal and 
 United States judge join in statement as to the 
 exigency. 
 
 A few hours afterward the following urgent 
 and decisive despatch from the marshal, en- 
 dorsed by a judge of the United States Court 
 and the district attorney and special counsel, 
 was received by the Attorney-General. 
 
 Chicago, III, July 3, 1894. 
 Hon. Richard Olney, Attorney-General, 
 Washington, D. C. : 
 When the injunction was granted yesterday, a 
 mob of from two to three thousand held posses- 
 sion of a point in the city near the crossing of the 
 
26 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 Rock Island by other roads, where they had 
 already ditched a mail-train, and prevented the 
 passing of any trains, whether mail or other- 
 wise. I read the injunction writ to this mob 
 and commanded them to disperse. The reading 
 of the writ met with no response except jeers 
 and hoots. Shortly after, the mob threw a 
 number of baggage-cars across the track, since 
 when no mail-train has been able to move. I 
 am unable to disperse the mob, clear the tracks, 
 or arrest the men who were engaged in the acts 
 named, and believe that no force less than the 
 regular troops of the United States can procure 
 the passage of the mail-trains, or enforce the 
 orders of the courts. I believe people engaged 
 in trades are quitting employment to-day, and in 
 my opinion will be joining the mob to-night and 
 especially to-morrow; and it is my judgment 
 that the troops should be here at the eariiest 
 moment. An emergency has arisen for their 
 presence in this city. J. W. Arnold, 
 
 United States Marshal. 
 
 We have read the foregoing, and from that 
 
 information, and other information that has 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 27 
 
 come to us, believe that an emergency exists for 
 the immediate presence of United States troops. 
 P. S. Grosscup, Judge. 
 Edwin Walker, | 
 
 Thomas E. Milchist,") -^ 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day the follow- 
 ing order was telegraphed from army head- 
 quarters in the city of Washington: 
 
 War Department, 
 Headquarters of the Army. 
 
 Washington, D. C, July 3, 1894, 
 4 o'clock P.M. 
 To Martin, Adjutant-General, 
 
 Headquarters Department of Missouri, 
 Chicago, 111. 
 It having become impracticable in the judg- 
 ment of the President to enforce by the ordin- 
 ary course of judicial proceedings the laws of 
 the United States, you will direct Colonel Crof- 
 ton to move his entire command at once to the 
 city of Chicago (leaving the necessary guard at 
 Fort Sheridan), there to execute the orders and 
 
28 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 processes of the United States court, to prevent 
 the obstruction of the United States mails, and 
 generally to enforce the faithful execution of 
 the laws of the United States. He will confer 
 with the United States marshal, the United 
 States district attorney, and Edwin Walker, spe- 
 cial counsel. Acknowledge receipt and report 
 action promptly. By order of the President. 
 
 J. M. ScHOFiELD, Major-General. 
 
 Immediately after this order was issued, the 
 following despatch was sent to the district at- 
 torney by the Attorney-General : 
 
 Colonel Crofton's command ordered to Chicago 
 by the President. As to disposition and move- 
 ment of troops, yourself, Walker, and marshal 
 should confer with Colonel Crofton and with 
 Colonel Martin, adjutant-general at Chicago. 
 While action should be prompt and decisive, it 
 should of course be kept within the limits pro- 
 vided by the Constitution and laws. Rely upon 
 yourself and Walker to see that this is done. 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 29 
 
 Colonel Martin, adjutant-general at Chi- 
 cago, reported, the same night at half-past nine 
 o'clock, that the order for the movement of 
 troops was, immediately on its receipt by him, 
 transmitted to Fort Sheridan, and that Colonel 
 Crof ton's command started for Chicago at nine 
 o'clock. 
 
 During the forenoon of the next day, July 
 4, Colonel Martin advised the War Depart- 
 ment that Colonel Crofton reported his com- 
 mand in the city of Chicago at 10:15 that 
 morning. After referring to the manner in 
 which the troops had been distributed, this offi- 
 cer added: "People seem to feel easier since 
 arrival of troops." 
 
 General Miles, commanding the department, 
 arrived in Chicago the same morning, and at 
 once assumed direction of military movements. 
 In the afternoon of that day he sent a report to 
 the War Department at Washington, giving an 
 account of the disposition of troops, recounting 
 an unfavorable condition of affairs, and rec- 
 ommending an increase of the garrison at 
 
30 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 Fort Sheridan sufficient to meet any emergency. 
 In response to this despatch General Miles 
 was immediately authorized to order six com- 
 panies of infantry from Fort Leavenworth, in 
 Kansas, and two companies from Fort Brady, 
 in Michigan, to Fort Sheridan. 
 
 On the fifth day of July he reported that a 
 mob of over two thousand had gathered that 
 morning at the stock-yards, crowded among 
 the troops, obstructed the movement of trains, 
 knocked down a railroad official, and over- 
 turned about twenty freight-cars, which ob- 
 structed all freight and passenger traffic in the 
 vicinity of the stock-yards, and that the mob 
 had also derailed a passenger-train on the 
 Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail- 
 road, and burned switches. To this recital of 
 violent demonstrations he added the following 
 statement : 
 
 The injunction of the United States court is 
 openly defied, and unless the mobs are dispersed 
 by the action of the police or they are fired upon 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 31 
 
 by United States troops, more serious trouble 
 may be expected, as the mob is increasing and 
 becoming more defiant. 
 
 In view of the situation as reported by Gen- 
 eral Miles, a despatch was sent to him by Gen- 
 eral Schofield directing him to concentrate his 
 troops in order that they might act more effec- 
 tively in the execution of orders theretofore 
 given, and in the protection of United States 
 property. This despatch concluded as follows : 
 
 The mere preservation of peace and good 
 order in the city is, of course, the province of 
 the city and state authorities. 
 
 The situation on the sixth day of July was 
 thus described in a despatch sent in the after- 
 noon of that day by General Miles to the Sec- 
 retaiy of War : 
 
 In answer to your telegram, I report the fol- 
 lowing: Mayor Hopkins last night issued a 
 proclamation prohibiting riotous assemblies and 
 
12 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 directing the police to stop people from molest- 
 ing railway communication. Governor Altgeld 
 has ordered General Wheeler's brigade on duty 
 in Chicago to support the Mayor's authority. 
 So far, there have been no large mobs like the 
 one of yesterday, which moved from 51st Street 
 to 1 8th Street before it dispersed. The lawless- 
 ness has been along the line of the railways, 
 destroying and burning more than one hundred 
 cars and railway buildings, and obstructing 
 transportation in various ways, even to the extent 
 of cutting telegraph lines. United States troops 
 have dispersed mobs at 51st Street, Kensington, 
 and a company of infantry is moving along the 
 Rock Island to support a body of United States 
 marshals in making arrests for violating the in- 
 junction of the United States court. Of the 
 twenty-three roads centering in Chicago, only six 
 are unobstructed in freight, passenger, and mail 
 transportation. Thirteen are at present entirely 
 obstructed, and ten are running only mail- and 
 passenger-trains. Large numbers of trains mov- 
 ing in and out of the city have been stoned and 
 fired upon by mobs, and one engineer killed. 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 33 
 
 There was a secret meeting to-day of Debs and 
 the representatives of labor unions considering 
 the advisabihty of a general strike of all labor 
 unions. About one hundred men were present at 
 that meeting. The result is not yet known. 
 United States troops are at the stock-yards, Ken- 
 sington, Blue Island, crossing of 51st Street, and 
 have been moving along some of the lines : the 
 balance, eight companies of infantry, battery of 
 artillery, and one troop of cavalry, are camped 
 on Lake Front Park, ready for any emergency 
 and to protect Government buildings and prop- 
 erty. It is learned from the Fire Department, 
 City Hall, that a party of strikers has been going 
 through the vicinity from 14th to 41st streets and 
 Stewart Avenue freight-yards, throwing gasoline 
 on freight-cars all through that section. Captain 
 Ford, of the Fire Department, was badly stoned 
 this morning. Troops have just dispersed a mob 
 of incendiaries on Fort Wayne tracks, near 
 51st Street, and fires that were started have 
 been suppressed. Mob just captured mail-train 
 at 47th Street, and troops sent to disperse 
 them. 
 
34 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 On the eighth day of July, in view of the 
 apparently near approach of a crisis which the 
 Government had attempted to avoid, the fol- 
 lowing Executive Proclamation was issued and 
 at once extensively published in the city of 
 Chicago : 
 
 Whereas, by reason of unlawful obstruction, 
 combinations and assemblages of persons, it has 
 become impracticable, in the judgment of the 
 President, to enforce, by the ordinary course of 
 judicial proceedings, the laws of the United 
 States within the State of Illinois, and especially 
 in the city of Chicago within said State ; and 
 
 Whereas, for the purpose of enforcing the 
 faithful execution of the laws of the United 
 States and protecting its property and removing 
 obstructions to the United States mails in the 
 State and city aforesaid, the President has em- 
 ployed a part of the military forces of the United 
 States : — 
 
 Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President 
 of the United States, do hereby admonish all 
 good citizens, and all persons who may be or may 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 35 
 
 come within the City and State aforesaid, against 
 aiding, countenancing, encouraging, or taking any 
 part in such unlawful obstructions, combinations, 
 and assemblages; and I hereby warn all persons 
 engaged in or in any way connected with such 
 unlawful obstructions, combinations, and assem- 
 blages to disperse and retire peaceably to their 
 respective abodes on or before twelve o'clock 
 noon of the 9th day of July instant. 
 
 Those who disregard this warning and persist 
 in taking part with a riotous mob in forcibly re- 
 sisting and obstructing the execution of the laws 
 of the United States, or interfering with the 
 functions of the Government, or destroying or 
 attempting to destroy the property belonging to 
 the United States or under its protection, cannot 
 be regarded otherwise than as public enemies. 
 
 Troops employed against such a riotous mob 
 will act with all the moderation and forbearance 
 consistent with the accomplishment of the de- 
 sired end ; but the stern necessities that confront 
 them will not with certainty permit discrimination 
 between guilty participants and those who are 
 mingling with them from curiosity and without 
 
36 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 criminal intent. The only safe course, therefore, 
 for those not actually participating, is to abide 
 at their homes, or at least not to be found in the 
 neighborhood of riotous assemblages. 
 
 While there will be no vacillation in the deci- 
 sive treatment of the guilty, this warning is es- 
 pecially intended to protect and save the innocent. 
 
 On the 1 0th of July, Eugene V. Debs, the 
 president of the American Railway Union, 
 together with its vice-president, general secre- 
 tary, and one other who was an active direc- 
 tor, were arrested upon indictments found 
 against them for complicity in the obstruction 
 of mails and interstate commerce. Three days 
 afterward our special counsel expressed the 
 opinion that the strike was practically broken. 
 This must not be taken to mean, however, that 
 peace and quiet had been completely restored 
 or that the transportation of mails and the ac- 
 tivities of interstate commerce were entirely 
 free from interruption. It was only the ex- 
 pression of a well-sustained and deliberate ex- 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 37 
 
 pectation that the combination of measures 
 already inaugurated, and others contemplated 
 in the near future, would speedily bring about 
 a termination of the difficulty. 
 
 On the seventeenth day of July an informa- 
 tion was filed in the United States Circuit 
 Court at Chicago against Debs and the three 
 other officials of the Railway Union who had 
 been arrested on indictment a few days before, 
 but were then at large on bail. This informa- 
 tion alleged that these parties had been guilty 
 of open, continued, and defiant disobedience of 
 the injunction which was served on them July 
 3, forbidding them to do certain specified acts 
 tending to incite and aid the obstruction of the 
 carriage of mails and the operation of inter- 
 state commerce. On the footing of this infor- 
 mation these parties were brought before the 
 court to show cause why they should not be 
 punished for contempt in disobeying the in- 
 junction. Instead of giving bail for their free- 
 dom pending the investigation of this charge 
 against them, as they were invited to do, they 
 
38 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 preferred to be committed to custody — perhaps 
 intending by such an act of martyrdom either 
 to revive a waning cause, or to gain a plausi- 
 ble and justifying excuse for the collapse of 
 their already foredoomed movement. Debs 
 himself, in speaking of this event afterward, 
 said : "As soon as the employees found that 
 we were arrested and taken from the scene of 
 action they became demoralized, and that end- 
 ed the strike." 
 
 That the strike ended about the time of this 
 second arrest is undoubtedly true; for, during 
 the few days immediately preceding and fol- 
 lowing the seventeenth day of July, reports 
 came from nearly all the localities to which the 
 strike had spread, indicating its defeat and the 
 accomplishment of all the purposes of the 
 Government's interference. The successful as- 
 sertion of national authority was conclusively 
 indicated when on the twentieth day of July 
 the last of the soldiers of the United States 
 who had been ordered for duty at the very 
 center of opposition and disturbance, were 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 39 
 
 withdrawn from Chicago and returned to the 
 mihtary posts to which they were attached. 
 
 I hope I have been successful thus far in my 
 efifort satisfactorily to exhibit the extensive 
 reach and perilous tendency of the convulsion 
 under consideration, the careful promptness 
 which characterized the interference of the 
 Government, the constant desire of the national 
 administration to avoid extreme measures, the 
 scrupulous limitation of its interference to pur- 
 poses which were clearly within its constitu- 
 tional competency and duty, and the gratifying 
 and important results of its conservative but 
 stern activity. 
 
 I must not fail to mention here as part of the 
 history of this perplexing affair, a contribu- 
 tion made by the governor of Illinois to its 
 annoyances. This official not only refused to 
 regard the riotous disturbances within the bor- 
 ders of his State as a sufficient cause for an 
 application to the Federal Government for its 
 protection "against domestic violence" under 
 the mandate of the Constitution, but he ac- 
 
40 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 tually protested against the presence of Fed- 
 eral troops sent into the State upon the general 
 Government's own initiative and for the pur- 
 pose of defending itself in the exercise of its 
 Vi^ell-defined legitimate functions. 
 
 On the fifth day of July, tv^fenty-four hours 
 after our soldiers had been brought to the city 
 of Chicago, pursuant to the order of July 3d, 
 I received a long despatch from Governor Alt- 
 geld, beginning as follows : 
 
 I am advised that you have ordered Federal 
 troops to go into service in the State of Illinois. 
 Surely, the facts have not been correctly presented 
 to you in this case or you would not have taken 
 the step ; for it is entirely unnecessary and, as it 
 seems to me, unjustifiable. Waiving all question 
 of courtesy, I will say that the State of Illinois is 
 not only able to take care of itself, but it stands 
 ready to-day to furnish the Federal Government 
 any assistance it may need elsewhere. 
 
 This opening sentence was followed by a 
 lengthy statement which so far missed actual 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 41 
 
 conditions as to appear irrelevant, and, in some 
 parts, absolutely frivolous. 
 
 This remarkable despatch closed with the 
 following words: 
 
 As Governor of the State of Illinois, I protest 
 against this and ask the immediate withdrawal of 
 Federal troops from active duty in this State. 
 Should the situation at any time get so serious 
 that we cannot control it with the State forces, 
 we will promptly and freely ask for Federal as- 
 sistance; but until such time I protest with all 
 due deference against this uncalled-for reflection 
 upon our people, and again ask for the immediate 
 withdrawal of these troops. 
 
 Immediately upon the receipt of this com- 
 munication, I sent to Governor Altgeld the fol- 
 lowing reply : 
 
 Federal troops were sent to Chicago in strict 
 accordance with the Constitution and the laws of 
 the United States, upon the demand of the Post- 
 Office Department that obstructions of the mails 
 
42 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 should be removed, and upon the representation 
 of the judicial officers of the United States that 
 process of the Federal courts could not be ex- 
 ecuted through the ordinary means, and upon 
 abundant proof that conspiracies existed against 
 commerce between the States. To meet these 
 conditions, which are clearly within the province 
 of Federal authority, the presence of Federal 
 troops in the city of Chicago was deemed not 
 only proper but necessary; and there has been 
 no intention of thereby interfering with the 
 plain duty of the local authorities to preserve the 
 peace of the city. 
 
Ill 
 
 In response to this the governor, evidently 
 unwilHng to allow the matter at issue between 
 us to rest without a renewal of argument and 
 protest, at once addressed to me another long 
 telegraphic communication, evidently intended 
 to be more severely accusatory and insistent 
 than its predecessor. Its general tenor may be 
 inferred from the opening words : 
 
 Your answer to my protest involves some start- 
 ling conclusions, and ignores and evades the 
 question at issue — that is, that the principle of 
 local self-government is just as fundamental in 
 our institutions as is that of Federal supremacy. 
 You calmly assume that the Executive has the 
 legal right to order Federal troops into any com- 
 munity of the United States in the first instance, 
 whenever there is the slightest disturbance, and 
 that he can do this without any regard to the 
 
 43 
 
44 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 question as to whether the community is able to 
 and ready to enforce the law itself. 
 
 After a rather dreary discussion of the im- 
 portance of preserving the rights of the States 
 and a presentation of tlie dangers to constitu- 
 tional government that lurked in the course 
 that had been pursued by the general Govern- 
 ment, this communication closed as follows : 
 
 Inasmuch as the Federal troops can do nothing 
 but what the State troops can do there, and believ- 
 ing that the State is amply able to take care of 
 the situation and to enforce the law, and believ- 
 ing that the ordering out of the Federal troops 
 was unwarranted, I again ask their withdrawal. 
 
 I confess that my patience was somewhat 
 strained when I quickly sent the following de- 
 spatch in reply to this communication : 
 
 Executive Mansion. 
 Washington, D. C, July 6, 1894. 
 While I am still persuaded that I have neither 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 45 
 
 transcended my authority nor duty in the emer- 
 gency that confronts us, it seems to me that in 
 this hour of danger and public distress, discussion 
 may well give way to active efforts on the part of 
 all in authority to restore obedience to law and to 
 protect life and property. 
 
 Grover Cleveland. 
 Hon. John P. Altgeld, 
 Governor of Illinois. 
 
 This closed a discussion which in its net re- 
 sults demonstrated how far one's disposition 
 and inclination will lead him astray in the field 
 of argument. 
 
 I shall conclude the treatment of my subject 
 by a brief reference to the legal proceedings 
 which grew out of this disturbance, and finally 
 led to an adjudication by the highest court in 
 our land, establishing in an absolutely authori- 
 tative manner and for all time the power of the 
 national Government to protect itself in the 
 exercise of its functions. 
 
 It will be recalled that in the course of our 
 
46 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 narrative we left Mr. Debs, the president of 
 the Railway Union, and his three associates in 
 custody of the law, on the seventeenth day of 
 July, awaiting an investigation of the charge 
 of contempt of court made against them, based 
 upon their disobedience of the writs of injunc- 
 tion forbidding them to do certain things in aid 
 or encouragement of interference with mail 
 transportation or interstate commerce. 
 
 This investigation was so long delayed that 
 the decision of the Circuit Court before which 
 the proceedings were pending was not rendered 
 until the fourteenth day of December, 1894. 
 On that date the court delivered an able and 
 carefully considered decision finding Debs and 
 his associates guilty of contempt of court, bas- 
 ing its decision upon the provisions of the law 
 of Congress, passed in 1890, entitled : "An act 
 to protect trade and commerce against unlaw- 
 ful restraint and monopolies" ; sometimes 
 called the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. There- 
 upon the parties were sentenced on said con- 
 viction to confinement in the county jail for 
 
CHIOAGO STRIKE OF 1894 47 
 
 terms varying from three to six months. Af- 
 terward, and on the 14th day of January, 
 1895, the prisoners applied to the Supreme 
 Court of the United States for a writ of habeas 
 corpus to reHeve them from imprisonment, on 
 the ground that the facts found against them 
 by the Circuit Court did not constitute diso- 
 bedience of the writs of injunction and that 
 their commitment in the manner and for the 
 reasons alleged was without justification and 
 not within the constitutional power and juris- 
 diction of that tribunal. 
 
 On this application, the case was elaborately 
 argued before the Supreme Court in March, 
 1895 ; and on the twenty-seventh day of May, 
 1895, the court rendered its decision, upholding 
 on the broadest grounds the proceedings of the 
 Circuit Court and confirming its adjudication 
 and the commitment to jail of the petitioners 
 thereupon. 
 
 Justice Brewer, in delivering the unanimous 
 opinion of the Supreme Court, stated the case 
 as follows : 
 
48 THE GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 The United States, finding that the interstate 
 transportation of persons and property, as well as 
 the carriage of mails, is forcibly obstructed, and 
 that a combination and conspiracy exists to sub- 
 ject the control of such transportation to the will 
 of the conspirators, applied to one of their courts 
 sitting as a court of equity, for an injunction to 
 restrain such obstructions and prevent carrying 
 into effect such conspiracy. Two questions of 
 importance are presented : First, are the relations 
 of the general Government to interstate commerce 
 and the transportation of the mails such as to 
 authorize a direct interference to prevent a forci- 
 ble obstruction thereof ? Second, if authority ex- 
 ists, — as authority in governmental affairs implies 
 both power and duty, — has a court of equity 
 jurisdiction to issue an injunction in aid of the 
 performance of such duty? 
 
 Both of these questions were answered by 
 the court in the affirmative ; and in the opinion 
 read by the learned justice, the inherent power 
 of the Government to execute the powers and 
 functions belonging to it by means of physical 
 
CHICAGO STRIKE OF 1894 49 
 
 force through its official agents, and on every 
 foot of American soil, was amply vindicated by 
 a process of reasoning simple, logical, unham- 
 pered by fanciful distinctions, and absolutely 
 conclusive; and the Government's peaceful re- 
 sort to the court, the injunction issued in its 
 aid, and all the proceedings thereon, including 
 the imprisonment of Debs and his associates, 
 were fully approved. 
 
 Thus the Supreme Court of the United 
 States has written the closing words of this 
 history, tragical in many of its details, and in 
 every line provoking sober reflection. As we 
 gratefully turn its concluding page, those who 
 were most nearly related by executive responsi- 
 bility to the troublous days whose story is told 
 may well especially congratulate themselves on 
 the part which fell to them in marking out the 
 way and clearing the path, now unchangeably 
 established, which shall hereafter guide our na- 
 tion safely and surely in the exercise of the im- 
 portant functions which represent the people's 
 trust.