in an effort to comply with federal stipulations, proclaimed a state of martial law on November 27, placing the sheriff's department and the small state constabulary under Colonel Hall. The gesture was meaningless as many of the law enforcement officials, like Sid Hatfield, either sympathized with the miners or feared them. Either way local officials were incapable of handling the situation. To counter these uncooperative lawmen and restore order permanently, General Read himself requested a presidential proclamation and martial law powers from Secretary Baker.14

Baker's patience with West Virginia officials was nearing an end, and in a memorandum written on December 2, 1920, he refused Read's request, stating: "The rule to be followed is that the public military power of the United States should in no case be permittedto be substituted for the ordinary powers of the States, and should be called into service only when the State, having summoned its entire police power, is still unable to deal with the disorder."15 Baker explained that during the war, when National Guard units under federal control were no longer available to the states, he had suspended pre-war procedures for obtaining federal troops. However, Baker complained, two years after the war, the states had no excuse for failing to reconstitute guard units or fully resume state police functions. In an obvious effort to curtail further reliance on federal military aid, Baker finally rescinded the direct access arrangement between governors and corps area commanders. Henceforth, all requests for federal troops would have to be made through the War Department