Chicago's Strike: The

and the Public

Department stores, Strikers, the Authorities, express companies, and others became involved through an extension of the sympathetic strike idea. Thus, teamsters who refused to deliver goods to Montgomery Ward & Co. would be discharged, whereupon all the men working for the concern making the discharge would join the strike, and that concern too would then become the object of the teamsters' boycott and sympathetic strike. The total number of men on strike at the close of last week was about four thousand. The teamsters are classed as unskilled workers. Originally they were unorganized. Within the past three years, however, practically all the teamsters of Chicago have been brought into the unions. The membership is said to exceed thirty-five thousand. This makes an organization of great power. It is easy to believe that this newly acquired power in the hands of men without previous experience in its exercise has been greatly abused. Besides charging dictatorial methods, employing interests assert that the leaders in many instances have sought to extort blackmail. In one particular line of the teaming industry there appears to have been at one time a combination between the team-owners and the teamsters for the purpose of fleecing the public. It It must be said to the credit of the rank and file of the teamsters that they dethroned from power the particular leader charged with responsibility for this arrangement. Through their ability to blockade traffic and to create riotous conditions in the public streets, the teamsters have become a formidable foe to employers who try to do business with nonunion labor, and their assistance has been repeatedly sought by other unions when in trouble. The Employers' Association decided to make this contest "a fight to a finish." They refused any compromise. They organized under the laws of West Virginia the Employers' Teaming Association to assist in carrying on the teaming business. Later this company sought in the Federal courts a blanket injunction of a sweeping character against the strikers, and it was said to be the intention to use this injunction

as a means of bringing in Federal troops later. Mayor Dunne was asked for police protection, and wagons were escorted through the streets surrounded with policemen. In the early days of the strike the employers expressed themselves as thoroughly satisfied with the efforts put forth by the Mayor to preserve order. Later some of them criticised the efficiency of the police protection afforded, and asked that State troops be called for. This the Mayor declined to do, saying that the necessity therefor had not yet arisen. On Saturday, however, Mayor Dunne appointed a commission of three to investigate charges of wrongful conduct on the part of both strikers and employers. A delegation of employers visited Governor Deneen at Springfield and asked him to send troops. The Governor said he would do so if troops should be requested by the local authorities, but not otherwise. This was on Thursday of last week. The street disturbances had been at their worst the early part of that week. On Friday and Saturday conditions were more peaceful. The Sheriff was induced by the Employers' Association to take a hand in the matter, and he was expected to make a request for troops if in his opinion conditions should justify it. The crowds that gathered in the streets were not defiant to the police and could be dispersed easily. But the attacks on strike-breakers when caught unattended were vicious, and in three cases the injuries inflicted caused death. The Chicago public appears to have been practically unanimous in believing the teamsters' sympathetic strike unjustifiable. The fundamental principles involved in a labor disturbance of this kind are discussed in an editorial in this issue of The Outlook.

Several other measures, obscure in their language, but evidently intended to benefit certain transportation corporations without any return to the community, were also beaten. The more important measures which failed of passage, and which, it seems to The Outlook, should have been enacted, for the best interests of the State and New York City, are: The Wainwright Local Option Bill, extending the principle of local option to cities and providing a means by which the dwellers in a residence district might forbid the sale of liquor in that district; a bill providing stringent measures for the suppression of bribery and corrupt practices in elections throughout the State; and the measure for the improvement of the New York City Police Department, prepared by the Committee of Nine which has been investigating the conditions there. Most of the important bills which were passed during the last days of the session related to New York City. The term of the Mayor was increased from two years to four years-a change in which The Outlook heartily believes. The bill transferring the power to grant franchises in the city of New York from the Board of Aldermen to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which was vetoed by Mayor McClellan, was repassed by both Houses over his

veto.

As was said last week, The Outlook strongly approves this measure, since it concentrates the power of granting valuable franchises affecting the interests of the entire city in the hands of a few men elected to represent the entire city rather than of a large body of men elected from local districts. The Raines Law, the operation of which has resulted in the creation of so many of the so-called Raines Law hotels, was amended so that before a hotel can get a license for the sale of liquor it must obtain a certificate showing that it complies with the requirements of the Building Department, the Fire Department, and the Health Depart

ment.

It is believed that this provision will do away with about ninety per cent. of the so-called Raines Law hotels now in existence. Because of an unfortunate conflict among those who were in favor of this amendment, it did not pass the

Legislature until after May 1, on which date the liquor licenses were issued, thus making it possible for disreputable hotels to continue in existence for another year. An additional measure was passed, however, providing that on the request of a taxpayer an inspection of any hotel shall be made to see whether it complies with the requirements of the various departments. If it is not in accord with their requirements, its license is to be revoked at once. This law, if it is taken advantage of by organizations and patriotic individuals throughout the city, should make it possible quickly to rid the city of many of these plaguespots of vice and crime. A bill was passed giving to the Police Commissioner power to regulate traffic in the streets of the city, which will enable Mr. McAdoo to continue the excellent work which he has been carrying on in this direction. Two weeks before the Legislature adjourned there seemed good reason to believe that its record would be a thoroughly bad one. In its last days, however, so many bad measures were killed and so many good ones passed that the final result may fairly be called good. This is due in great measure to the strength of public opinion and to the efforts of many organizations in New York City, which displayed great activity in defending the interests of the city and in arousing the public to demand the passage of good measures and the defeat of bad ones.

The two subjects before New York's Water the Legislature most and Lighting important to the citizens of New York City were the questions of the city's water supply and its lighting. The consumption of water in the city is rapidly nearing the limits of the present supply, and it is of vital importance that additional provision should be made without delay. Bills were passed by the Legislature establishing a City Water Commission, to be appointed by the Mayor, to "ascertain what sources exist and are most available, desirable, and best for an additional supply of pure and wholesome water for the city of New York,' and to provide such supply in co-operation with the Board of Estimate and

Apportionment; and a State Water Commission, without whose approval no municipality or town shall have power to condemn land for additional sources of water supply. These bills seem to The Outlook to embody the two principles that ought to be observed in extending the water supply of the city of New York. The city should itself determine its needs and the best method of supplying them, and should control its own water supply, while the State should protect the interests of its citizens living in the regions from which the water is obtained. New York City must have water, but it must not get it regardless of the legitimate interests of other communities in the State. There has been an increasing amount of dissatisfaction with the quality of the gas supplied to the city and to private individuals by the Consolidated Gas Lighting Company, and with the prices which it has charged. A committee was appointed by the Senate to investigate the entire subject of the lighting conditions in New York and make a report to the Legislature. It made a thorough investigation, and suggested a number of bills for the improvement of the conditions. The most important bills lowered the maximum price which may be charged for gas supplie to the city and to private consumers from one dollar to seventy-five cents per thousand feet, and provided a State Gas and Lighting Commission to control conditions throughout the State. A powerful lobby manifested great activity in opposition to these bills, directing their efforts chiefly against that one of them which provides a price of seventyfive cents (or rather eighty cents, as the bill had been amended by the Legislature) for gas distributed to private individuals. The other bills were passed, but this one failed. It is freely charged that money was used in large amounts for the defeat of the measure. It is hoped that Governor Higgins, when he calls an extra session of the Legislature to consider the charges against Judge Hooker, will submit for its reconsideration the eighty-cent gas bill, in the expectation that the power of public opinion will be so strong that the Legislature will be compelled to pass the measure.

There is considerable difference of opinion as to the value of the law establishing the State Gas and Lighting Commission. It contains practically the same provisions as an existing law in Massachusetts, which has worked excellently; whether, under the different conditions existing in New York, it will have equally good results only experience can show. The Commission has power to fix the standard of illuminating power and purity in the gas sold in the State and the standard of pressure at which the gas shall be supplied, to prescribe uniform methods of accounting, to examine the books and affairs of any lighting corporation, to control the inspection of meters, to approve or disapprove the incorporation of lighting companies, to fix the maximum price of gas and electricity " within the limits prescribed by law." The ambiguity of this phrase raises a doubt as to whether the Commission can lower the price of gas in New York City, as the maximum price prescribed by law is now one dollar per thousand; the intention was doubtless that no higher price than this should be permitted, but it is not entirely certain that the courts would so interpret the law.

The Case of

Justice Hooker

By the unanimous report

of the Judiciary Committee of the New York Assembly Justice Warren B. Hooker has been declared guilty of "immoral" conduct that shows "a personal unfitness to occupy the position of Justice of the Supreme Court." The Committee is made up of ten Republicans and three Democrats, and the fact that there was absolutely no disagreement in the conclusions reached, although a large majority were of the same political party as the accused, precludes any idea of political persecution. The charges on which this finding is based have been outlined in The Outlook. In brief, the Committee find that Justice Hooker, in collusion with George W. Beavers, obtained several appointments in post-offices when these appointments were not necessary or desirable; that the appointees did little or no work; that the appointments were

made for corrupt reasons; that the United States was defrauded out of the sums paid as salaries. In the case of Frank B. Ball (perhaps the most flagrant of all) the Committee finds that the United States was defrauded out of more than $2,500, and that the reason and motive which influenced Justice Hooker in procuring the appointment of Ball, first as laborer and then as clerk in the Fredonia post-office, were that Ball might thereby obtain money with which to pay a note of $3,040 upon which Mrs. Hooker was indorser. Impeachment is not possible, because the acts were committed before Mr. Hooker was appointed to the bench. The Legislature must formulate charges, and at a special session of the Legislature, to be called for the express purpose of examining these charges and hearing the defense, it may remove the accused Justice from the bench. He has already had two opportunities to repel the accusations, and it is hardly to be supposed that in a hearing before the Legislature he can now place his conduct in such a light as to dispel the prevailing belief that he has acted unworthily, has proved himself unworthy of the confidence and respect which should be regarded as the indispensable qualification for a judicial office, and has used his influence in Wash ington improperly so that he and his friends might benefit at the public expense. If the Legislature agree in the justice of its Committee's report, it can. not too soon remove the stain upon the honor of the State caused by this scandal.

The first of May passed in Russia without any general outbreak, but in Warsaw, Lodz, Kalisz, and in other cities in Poland there were very serious disturbances. The Cossacks appear to have attacked those marching in procession in the streets of Warsaw with characteristic savagery, and the number of those who were killed in the charges on the populace is reported as sixty, but believed to be much larger. reports are to be trusted, these attacks were without justification. In Warsaw the offensive feature of the procession

If

was apparently a red flag. After firing two volleys, the Cossacks and Uhlans swept the streets, driving people into courtyards and beating them with sabers and whips after the Cossack manner. More than one hundred people were killed or seriously injured in this manner, and, if reports are to be trusted, among these were women and children. At Lodz the police were attacked with bombs, while dragoons and Uhlans captured the bomb throwers and shot them down. Intense excitement and the bitterest resentment are reported throughaut Poland. The chief event of interest in Russia was the publication of the Czar's Easter ukase proclaiming complete religious liberty throughout the empire; a decree which may be regarded as one of the most important results of recent agitation and one of the most significant signs of the progress of the revolution now taking place in the Empire. All religions have been tolerated in Russia, subject to certain very important exceptions, sufficiently sweeping to make room for an immense amount of persecution and injustice. No member of the State Church has been at liberty to leave that Church and enter another without losing his civil rights, and no Church other than the State Church has had the right to make converts. In cases of marriages between members of the Russian Church and any other Church it has been necessary to have the ceremony performed by a priest of the Russian Church, and the law has provided that the children of such marriages should be brought up in the orthodox Russian faith. These restrictions have borne with special weight on the Old Ritualists, or Old Believers, a large body who separated from the Orthodox Church two hundred and fifty years ago, and have since suffered all manner of oppressions. By this ukase the various order of priesthood among the Old Believers are recognized, and their priests will have the right to celebrate marriages. To the Old Believers, to Lutherans, Jews, Roman Catholics, and all other faiths and sects will now be accorded the right to erect houses of worship without restriction as to place or situation. The text of the ukase must be waited for before its full

significance to the Russian Jews can be known. If it confers freedom of domicile, it will mean the removal of one of the most irritating and oppressive of the restrictions under which the Jews have lived in that country. Whatever may be the limitation of the ukase in this direction, it is a document of momentous importance in the history of the liberation of the Russian people.

The Naval Situation in the China Sea

The one thing that is certainly known as to naval events in the East last week is that the third Russian squadron, under Admiral Nebogatoff, passed through the Straits of Malacca, and is now somewhere in the China Sea-presumably hoping to effect a junction with Admiral Rojesvensky. This squadron consists for the most part of old and slow ships, but can throw a heavy broadside fire. It consists of one battle-ship (the Nicholas I.), three coastdefense armorclads, one cruiser, and several torpedo-boats, destroyers, and colliers. It is unknown as we write whether the main Russian fleet is awaiting this reinforcement near the French Indo-China coast, is moving south to meet it, or will sacrifice it and make a dash north toward Vladivostok. Opinion strengthens that Admiral Togo is not likely to attack the Russians until they move forward and pass through one of the straits which form part of all possible routes to Vladivostok. Meanwhile indignation in Japan against the aid given to Russian ships in French ports is increasing. New representations to France have been made officially, and the Japanese press is speaking with much bitterness. It is asserted that since the Russian ships left Kamranh Bay other smaller French ports have been used freely, despite the orders sent by the French Government. The special correspondent of the New York "Sun" sent to his paper on April 30 a special despatch from Saigon which the French authorities refused to allow to pass, so that it reached this country only on May 8. This correspondent asserts that the French ships used Kamranh Bay as a naval base for ten days; that they there

received the fullest supplies of coal, water, cattle, and other provisions; that these stores had been brought to Saigon in immense quantities in advance, with the full knowledge of the French authorities; that the Russian ships could not possibly have been put in fighting condition without this assistance; that the Russian officers were allowed the freest use of French telegraphs, although press despatches were stopped; and that the French naval commander, Admiral de Jonquières, was fully aware that the laws of neutrality were, to say the least, stretched to the utmost. If this statement can be substantiated, and if the facts already reported as to the use of ports in Madagascar for many weeks are taken into consideration, Japan may well feel that she has a grievance against France, however impolitic it may be to push her complaints to the point of breaking off diplomatic relations. That the situation is regarded as serious in England, which is in friendly relations with both Japan and France, is shown by the following utterance of the London "Times" "In the interests of the peace of the world we earnestly trust that the Government and people of France do not remain under any illusion in regard to the great gravity of the situation which has arisen from the alleged conduct of the Baltic Fleet off the coast of IndoChina." The "Times" adds that the British people cannot affect to treat with indifference the assertions of the Japanese press, and that it is the duty of England to prevent the interference of third parties in the Russo-Japanese war.