PAX Centurion - Fall 2016

Page 42 • PAX CENTURION • Fall 2016 617-989-BPPA (2772) Remembering the Boston Police Strike of 1919 (97 th Anniversary - 9/9/16) By P.O. Robert E. Anthony, BPPA Historian (Information obtained from various sources) T he Boston Police Officers of 1919 had not seen a paid raise in over 60 years since almost 1857, when new officers came on the job they were paid a rate of two dollars a day. These wages were much lower than an unskilled worker in the factory. Working conditions were seven days per week, with a day off every other week and you could not go out of town without permission. There was no court time, you were expected to work between 72- 98 hours a week and sleep in the station house in deplorable conditions, lack of beds, baths and toilets. The Department was under the control of the Commissioner who was appointed by the Governor. The Mayor controlled the Police budget, but the operation and how the budget was used came under the control of the Governor since 1885. The Mayor at the time was Andrew Peters. He had to protect a city with a Police force he did not control. The Department at the time was mostly Irish-Catholic rank and file. In June of 1919, grievances made by Officers were never addressed. So the officers approached theAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL) to try to unionize. Officers already had their own association called the Boston Social Club, founded by the Police Department in 1906 and operated under their sponsorship. Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis came out against the formation of a Union. InAugust of 1919, the Union was granted a Union Charter. Commissioner Curtis stated that a policeman was not an employee, but a state officer. The Governor at the time Calvin Coolidge and Attorney General Albert Pillsbury put legislation in place to make it illegal for public employees to be in a Union. OnAugust 20, 1919, the Governor suspended eight of the leading Police organizers and another 11 would follow. He then ordered the officers in the ranks to turn in their nightsticks. He set in place a Volunteer Police force. Mayor Peters who was out of town during this, on vacation, returned and spoke to James Storrow, a prominent banker. Storrow spoke to Commissioner Curtis and asked if the Union could stay and not have any ties withAFL. Curtis would not agree, Four of the five newspapers agreed with Storrow. But Commissioner Curtis would not bend and stated the need for public safety overrules the officers’ right to collective bargaining. He had the backing of the Governor and they both rejected Storrow’s request. The Police members called for a vote on September 8, 1919 and by a vote of 1,134 to 2 voted to strike, beginning the next day at evening roll call. The reason was to fight the Commissioners’ denial of their right to affiliate with theAFL. The Governor recruited 200 Harvard University athletes and businessmen to help replace the strikers. On September 9 th , the Officers went on strike at 5:45 pm. The Department at the time had 1,544 personnel and 1,117 refused to report for work. The Governor assigned 100 State Metropolitan Park Police to replace striking Officers. But 58 refused to report for work and they were suspended from their jobs. The President of Harvard College, Lawrence Lowell called for more students to volunteer and Boston businesses did as well. People gathered outside Police Stations and were heard to call out “kill the cops!” Their was a large fight in Scollay Square between Replacement Police and crowds. By 8:00 pm, the crowd grew to over 10,000. Soon they began breaking windows in stores and looting had begun. On September 10 th , Mayor Peters used an emergency clause to attempt to control the situation and told the citizens it was not his fault. The Governor then issued a statement saying the Guard would be under his control, not the Mayor. When the first group of State Guards arrived they rescued a group of corneredVolunteer Police. Several were injured by thrown rocks, but they were able to take control of Scollay Square. The Guard numbered over 5,000 and were stationed at theArmory near Park Plaza Hotel. The Guardsmen had machine guns, but they were just a band-aid for the experienced police officers they replaced. They were inexperienced at handling crowds and used severe control methods without the regard of life. In South Boston, two were dead and other were wounded. The death total would reach nine. The Governor called the strikers “deserters and traitors.” The officers responded, “When we were honorably discharged from the United States Army, we were hailed as heroes and saviors of our country. We returned to our duties on the police force of Boston. Now, though only a few months have passed, we are denounced as deserters, as traitors to our city and violators of our oath of office. The first men to raise the cry were those who have always been opposed to giving to labor a living wage. It was taken up by the newspapers, who cared little for the real facts. We finally added our words of condemnation.... Among us are men who have gone against spitting machine guns single-handed, and captured them, volunteering for the job. Among us are men who have ridden with dispatches through shellfire so dense that four men fell and only the fifth got through. Not one man of us ever disgraced the flag or his service. It is bitter to come home and be called deserters and traitors. We are the same men who were on the French front.”