This is not a function
of government. Throughout the years, the policy has been not to
make use of soldiers nor policemen to man street cars, for
instance, nor in any way to make of them the instruments to
bring a strike to an end. If either state or local officers
provided safe conveyance of workmen into or out of a
manufacturing institution, then government would be making of
itself the agent of one of the parties to the dispute. If,
however, the plant resumes, and disorder of any sort ensues as
the result of employees going into or out of the factory, then
that becomes an affair of governmental concern and the mayor of
the municipality or the sheriff of the county, as location
within or without the municipality largely determines, must
suppress violence and arrest those who violate the law. I shall
exact this from all local officers.
"Picketing as we understand it is neither prohibited by law nor
condemned by public sentiment, but it must go no further than
moral persuasion. Organized society cannot continue without
government, and government will not live unless the laws are
respected. They not only express what experience has taught us,
but they are the official mandate of the will of the majority,
and after all, that is a fundamental principle in a republic.
"All officers must act with care. It will be found that trouble
can often be avoided by an open, frank and firm contact of
public officers with both the representatives of the employers
and employees.
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