Proclamation—Protection Against Domestic Violence in West Virginia

Whereas, the Governor of the State of West Virginia has represented that domestic violence exists in said State which the authorities of said State are unable to suppress; and

Whereas, it is provided in the Constitution of the United States that the United States shall protect each State in this Union, on application of the legislature, or of the executive when the legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence; and

Whereas, by the law of the United States in pursuance of the above it is provided that in all cases of insurrection in any State, or of obstruction to the laws thereof, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States on application of the legislature of such State, or of the executive when the legislature cannot be convened, to call forth the militia of any other State or States, or to employ such part of the land and naval forces of the United States as shall be. judged necessary for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection and causing the laws to be duly executed; and

Whereas, the legislature of the State of West Virginia is not now in session and cannot be convened in time to meet the present emergency, and the Executive of said State under Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, has made due application to me in the premises for such part of the military forces of the United States as may be necessary and adequate to protect the State of West Virginia and the citizens thereof against domestic violence and to enforce the due execution of the laws; and

Whereas, it is required that whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the military forces of the United States for the purposes aforesaid he shall forthwith by proclamation command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective homes within a limited time;

Now, Therefore, I, Warren G. Harding, President of the United States, do hereby make proclamation and I do hereby command all persons engaged in said unlawful and insurrectionary proceedings to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before 12 o'clock noon of the 1st day of September, 1921, and hereafter abandon said combinations and submit themselves to the laws and constituted authorities of said State;

And I invoke the aid and cooperation of all good citizens thereof to uphold the laws and preserve the public peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this 30th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-sixth.

WARREN G. HARDING

By the President:
CHARLES E. HUGHES, Secretary of State.