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Show TIT .IRWERLE,. The Council of Railway Employes Afr , a Long Session Decide Tfcey Caa Po Nothing BUT GIVE WEBB A SHAKE EOWS. The Third Vice President of the Nw York Central Deaoiiaeed u An Autocrat, , Tlkkk lUt Tr, Aug. 2ii At a lata hour Isst evening the eouncil of railway employes will the following message to Powderly at Albany. K. V . : The supremo council adjourned ibis afternoon, alter carefully romddfnng the strike in all its detail. You wilt note the result of our deliberations in tonight's dispatches which, it is heped. will meet with your approval. 1'he council -is unanimous iu endorsing your position and tho grand executive board most earnestly hep. that the rights which you are champiouing In the great conflict on the New York Celt-tral Celt-tral may linatlv and powerfully prevail. pre-vail. nit; i m ni u.'s sti n.r. The official statement of the council given to an associated pre reporter as follow : HrAHvi AKinis st l atMf Crr vtu t'MiHHMini it Kaii.wat Kuri.otrs I To all laboring orguniitattoa Mee, ' and brothers " n the night of Angus 7th a strike began n thn New York Centra! A Hudson ltier railroad. In Mih Ing about cighl hundred men In lite employ of said road w ho er member of ihe great labor nrganiailon knoan H the kmiflits of labor, the rr"D set furlli by I'nwdrrly. chief rie'iiti) nt the order, mnv be siiinanred a follows- 1 The peremptory dinoliarge of htw- lifly and sixty men, employe of lh road and lileiiibets of the order if tb knights of labor, without giving them iiiiv reason w liulev. r for their discharge Trior to the strike I tin men involved nought, through ri.pri rntali e of lh" order, to have llieir giieatu-e Minted, Mint-ed, but their appeals lieinir disregarded, the strike was Inuiigiitated ' Al this juncture IVw.lcrlv, general innster workiuaii, kiilubta of labor, entered en-tered upon the lak of adjusting lite difficulty dif-ficulty and making such arrangement as would result in Imuoral'le pcarn between be-tween the employs and official of tha road, but bis rltum Wore unavailing. Powdeilv, comprehending the purM of II Walter Webb, third io prmid'-ot of the fnmpanv, to make war upon ihe knights of labor, ami ultimately open nil labor organizations rcpnnleil on his fknd. sought a conference, with thn supreme council, united order of railway rail-way employes. The rmpiest if I'owiter-ly I'owiter-ly giatiled 10 an evli'iit four memlnrs of the council, chief exeeti- , , ties of Ihe federated orda. met Mm In the cltv of Buffalo, vi I V Sjr- gent, grand master of Ihe brolhi -rlioexl of lucomotite firemen and president of Iho supreme council. George VV Howard, How-ard, grand chief of the brotherhood of railway conductors and vice president of the supreme council, '. K. Wilkinson, Wilkin-son, grand itu4i-r nt the brotherhood of tailway conductors and viee prsi. j dent of the stioiciiie comic!!, S K. Wilkinson. Wil-kinson. Ktand mauler of the brotherhood brother-hood of rail ay trainmen, and Krauk Sweeney. Bland ouster of the wilcj-luen'a wilcj-luen'a mutual aid ioein'i'oi , Al the conference with Powderly t Buffalo the member of the uprrrj conned became salhtied that h official of the nmd, by every rounidnr. torn o( fairnnd hnnoiable treatment of labor organization. should ml powderly and adopt omnst ptan for Ihe adjustment of Ilia grleauce of thm striking employe, ThU ronelaawn having tncn reached. lh member of lliu upreine council, in response lo lbe request of Powderly, rteu!ed their journey t New York and offered sneti aid as wa In their power lo brin ulinill a settlement between ViceTresi-ibint ViceTresi-ibint Wchii, tbw cftlciiil having full au tliorily on nil mailer pertaining to th sirlke" and Puwtferly, luvlug autborur to negotiate aiirh arriiiigemenle for ike) knight n might end the diap'lte. An interview having leeii oerd, Powdcrlv no tight tu have men rii-rhat rii-rhat gd heard iu their own dofeni. In I lie presence of Webb and biiuo-lf Hi fair and huuorabln proposition wa refused, arid Powib-rly propo d te arbitrate, which wa also refused There) were other proposition inadu htf I Powdeilv, having br I heir object au honorable settlement of the r v.Hiaf (rouble, all of which rri nut sm si t nr. i'abt r wi aa. The ineiiiU-r of fie uprm rou. eil, while in Hiiftale and New York, had ample f.pportuuity to thoroughlr inform Ihemsrlve upon matter i:orr. cerning the (nke, I hey an l heard lwth side. They appreciate Ihe gravity f the situation and, comprehending com-prehending ihe iiiqK'tidingconst ijueB" I labor org -unauon. deemed it St!-finable St!-finable to coin cue the upreme ei.uij.-ii for ib lilrf-ralion and su b om-!nofi the f act should warrant In repn in the order of S.irKenl. president of I" i supreme council, that IxmIv convened ib j Terra II into but Salurd.tr and remained re-mained in siou until tin., a today. ! In making their report to the council. ' the member who we,i to N?w York l 'confer with Powderly found a!J I'm st dement fully cwroboMie'l by f !. In n interview with Wel.b, he ri-fu. lo entertain "v prtwiti looking . u.iiien,eol ol ttm llltlienlf. i' Would j not arbitrate any .(i.e-lion tur u tkm ' anv ei plan j' ion iifinieisii'id wii lef with rgird o h lt- harse.l ern. plo.e lie elaitued the r.sfftl to d:- hirgerniplove a will, wifhoot mak.nj auv epl.io.non, or .tnjr to 'he ts-l.rns ts-l.rns o hi fs.wer ttV r"n for t) ; il-prti- action He would ra !! hie i road to frr iui;f.r. r without any refMr-nce ta right cla'met ! hy it employe, or any rtifhu claimed by the labor organization to Interferw , in the matter lo pmto l their member, i t,i t i siois or tut mi'V.n , The eoum-it, hf iiig herd the (-' (-' nient of lis member who bad vtsita-l New Yoik for the purpo of aeertain-j aeertain-j lug the true cord it ion of affair. r-i r-i banstivejy .l. "tse.t every lxn(irtan I prxxttiou. and arrived at rewln-ion. 1 a follow r irt - I h it tbe (Hwilion of the k ntght ' of labor a M-t forth by Powderly. I'll-j I'll-j erai msnur workman, aad tbe general executive board, knifjhts of labor, meets with our unquaUlied approval. Second Ths course pursued by W ebb towards Powdorly nuii the knights of labor, notwithstanding his declaration to the contrary, evidences a purpose to disrupt and destroy labor organizations on the New York Central & Hudson Kiver railroad, as was done by Austin Corbin ou the Philadelphia & Heading. Third The policy of Webb is despotic to an extent that outrages every principle prin-ciple of American citi.enship, and if generally adopted would, if successful, reduce American workmen to a degraded de-graded condition. Fourth Webb, bv the employment of Pinkerton thieves, thugs and murderers, vile wretches from the slums and brothels broth-els of New York and other cities, to kill workingmeu if they dared protest against his rules and strike for their rights, is a crime of such enormity as will associate the name of Webb forever with those who, dressed in a little brief authority, havo used their money to secure and degrade their fellow men. Fifth That the efforts now being put forth by Webb to destroy the knights of labor would, were the circumstances cir-cumstances changed, In like manner be made to destroy the organizations of engineers, firemen, conductors, train-, train-, men and switchmen, and if successful, it is only a question of time when a similar sim-ilar effort will bo made to seal the fate of other labor organizations. Sixth Webb, by the course he pursued pur-sued towards the knights of labor and the representatives of labor organizations, organiza-tions, has shown a disregard of the principles of a citizen's sovereignty de-hired de-hired by every American worthy of tho name, and, considering only his money power and tho corporate power of the company he represents, his acts, which speak louder than words, say in tho language of W. H. Vanderbilt, once the autocrat of the New York Central: "The public be damned." Seventh-Webb supports this arrogant attitudo toward workingmon and labor organizations by assuming that the New York Central & Hudson Kiver railroad is pri vat 5 property, and that his acts in the treatment of his employes em-ployes is in no sense a matter of public concern; that he can with Impunity discharge men and remand them to idleness and poverty, and render thera homeless wanderers without giving any reason or explanation of his conduct, disregarding the fact that the corporation corpora-tion for which he plays the autocrat is a thing created by laws, in the making of which the men ho seeks to degrade have a voice, which onco unified, will bring his corporation to the bar of justice, jus-tice, where his millions and the other millions he represents ceaso to bo potential po-tential in deciding questions of this kind. In view o fthe foregoing facts the supreme su-preme council puts upon record its unanimous and unqualified approval of the strike on the New York Central & Hudson River railway, for the causes set forth by Powderly, as also the efforts made by Powderly to bringthe strike to an honorable termination. In this general gen-eral expression of approval of the action ac-tion of the knights of labor, the course of Webb is as unequivocally condemned. con-demned. THE POWER OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL in tho matter of the strike, has been exerted ex-erted to aid the knights of labor through their representatives, to secure a recognition of tholr order by the of ficials of a rich and powerful corporation, corpora-tion, to secure for the workingmon, the victims of autocratic powor, a hearing, and to perform such other kiniUy offices of-fices as were proper under the M-cum-stances, demonstrating tholr sympathy and good will and thereby aiding tho knights of labor to bring the strike to a close upon principles of right and justice, jus-tice, in this the council met with failure, fail-ure, owing to the autocratic attitude of ' Webb. It now becomos necessary for the su-prome su-prome council to say that, owing to the fact that the order of the knights of labor Is not a member of the federated order of railway employos, the laws of the supremo council do not permit its doing more than it has done to aid the knights of labor and its inability to par-, par-, ticipate otherwise in the strike Is now known and appreciated by Powdorly. Referring to the laws of the supreme council relating to strikes, the matter is concisely presented as follows: In the first place, if the members of anothor organization on any railroad havo a grievance, it is submitted to the public olllcers of the road by a local grievance committee, In tho event of failure to obtain satisfaction, the chief executive officer of the order having a grievance is called upon, and, in connection with the committee, seoks to amicably adjust tho difficulty. If failure still attends the efforts to adjust the trouble, then the supreme council is convened at the headquarters of the railroad officers, with whom a 'conference is requested, $ . and its influonco is expected to obtain a settlement alike just to all parties. If failure still follows the effort to remove the cause of complaint, and the council, coun-cil, by unanimous vote, decides that the grievance bo of such gravity as to justify a strike, it will be promptly ordered, in which event all of the members mem-bers of the various organizations employed em-ployed on the road where tho grievance exists, viz., liremou. conductors, trainmen train-men and switchmen, abandon their work. In conclusion, the supreme council places upon record Us appreciation of the manliness of the knights of labor employed on the New York Central in struggling to maintain a principle sacred to every workingmau and to all who lovo justice, and liopo for a triumph tri-umph of right over a wrong as flagrant as ever stained the pages of history. Frank P. Sauoknt, President. Attest: W. A. Shkeiian, Secretary. |