Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1909 — ITALIANS PROTEST TO SECRETARY OF WAR [ARTICLE]

ITALIANS PROTEST TO SECRETARY OF WAR

Complaint by Women Keeps, Laborers Off West Point Walks. West Point, N. Y., March 16. —Several hundred Italian laborers, employed on the government reservation here, were stopped by army officers when they attempted to use the walks leading to the military academy buildings. Recently an order was issued that all laborers excepting mechanics should take a back road in going to end from work. Complaints were made that tobacco smoke has been blown in the faces of women. The laborers returned to Highland Palls and mass meeting. It was decided to send a telegram to the secretary of war, charging that the West Point authorities were discriminating against the Italians. Major J. M. Carson, quartermaster, has given the strikers until Thursday to return to work.