Read the above paragraph from the report of the Strike Commission and
then answer these questions:
To whose interest was it to have riots and fires, lawlessness and crime?
To whose advantage was it to have disreputable “deputies” do these
things?
Why were only freight cars, largely hospital wrecks, set on fire?
Why have the railroads not yet recovered damages from Cook county,
Illinois, for failing to protect their property? Why are they so modest
and patient with their suits?
The riots and incendiarism turned defeat into victory for the railroads.
They could have won in no other way. They had everything to gain and the
strikers everything to lose.
The violence was instigated in spite of the strikers, and the report of
the Commission proves that they made every effort in their power to
preserve the peace.
When a crime is committed in the dark the person who is supposed to be
benefitted by it is sought out as the probable culprit, but we are not
required to rely upon presumption in this case, for the testimony
against the railroads is too clear and complete and convincing to admit
of doubt.