Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1903 — STATE TO PROTECT SOLDIERS. [ARTICLE]

STATE TO PROTECT SOLDIERS.

Tndlaoa to Fualah Firm* Who Diocharged Militiamen. Gov. Durbin of Indiana hold a long conference with several officers of the National Guard the other afternoon over the recent discharge of members of the militia by their employers, and It Was agreed that rometliing would have to bs done to protect men who were willing to serve the Stafe, both from loss of positions and from Bhe opposition to the militia by the labor unions. Captain H. M. Franklin of Company H deskired that if a man cannot respond to the call of hi* State without imperiling his means of making a living it will not be long until a condition of anarchy will exist. „ As a resulj: of the Attorney General’s Investigation, a statute has been found which will apply to persons who discharge employes for belonging to the militia. The statute makes it a federal offense to discharge a militiaman because of Ms service with She State, and provides both for fine and imprisonment. After being in session for nearly two weeks, the Evansville grand jury called to investigate the recent riots there adjourned. Part of the filial report follow*: “That the members of the various militia com panties should be sought out and ostracised for doing their duty in maintaining the law, preserving peace and restoring order is beyond our comprehension. From an examination of witnesses it waa conclusively established that the unfortunate affray of the night of July 6 was brought on by riotous hoodlums. The soldiers were attacked by the mob that fired the first shots, and in self-defense the soldiers returned the fire. Now Is the time for the officers of the law to establish such a precedent as will ever be a lerson to those of anarchistic tendencies that the law is supreme.”