| OCR Text |
Show TERENCTv. POWDERLV" ON STRIKE QUESTION former Labor Leader Declares Them Inneccs-sary Inneccs-sary and the Re:u t of Misunderstandings. Misunder-standings. I-rank G. Ca-p- ii!or lately ha, p.iid particular attention to interview- with I. alii:ti hup-luneri u ibe labor .Upsti"n, ab.ntr with inid.-y.T- ( hhr and labor leader-. Trren.c V. j.vd. ry is iho latest lat-est person i come under I he interviewer, queries. j 3!. Carpenter writes from Wasbin-tmi. I . '.. j where he met and talked with f.-wderly. : After leavimr the leadership nf the Knight, of ! Labor Mr. Pievdorly ,;u!ieo hnv in IVnu-yh a !. ; a and was admitted ! :he h:;r there and .!-" to pr:1'--tiee before the supreme court at W;-ihint,,u. lie was, during President .WcIinIo.Cs administration,-the administration,-the commissioner general of immigration, but he has now gone back to his pmctii-e. although lv has ' by no means dropped hi, interest in labor and labor questions. "Xo, I don't believe in strikes. said Powder!;.-. "T have never believed in them and have done all I could to keep my men out of ti'.em. They don't pay. Ihey are not necessary, ami ihey bring great suffering. Nine-tenths of the trouble between employers em-ployers and employes are based en misunderstandings misunderstand-ings and precipitate action. Porh parlies are afraid of each other, and they stand off when they -liould come together. Sometimes the men have a grievance griev-ance and one of the indiscreet among them complains com-plains of the situation to a newspaper reporter and a sensational article is published, faying that tin; men are going to strike. This makes the employer angry. Ho asks whv the men did not conic to him with their troubles, instead of going to the paper-. The report hurts Ins business and he is in a fit niond J for a tight. All this is wrong. The employers and I employes should eoine closer together and each should try to know and understand 'he other. .They should not wait for trouble, but should arfiliafo iu J the interest of industrial peace." I "What do you mean by that;;" I asked. "I mean that when the business is going on all right, and the men air- satis tied, the employer should 'how an interest in ihem. and. if possible, get. closer to them. I mean that the men at such a time should go to their employer and say: We am doing well, we like our job and we are satisfied with out wages. .Now, we want to know if there is any way in which wo can help your business. Jt is to our interest to have you make good money and anything that we can do to make the business pay better we will do. Such an action would bring the two together, and the average employer, if his success was greater through such action, would be glad to reward it by higher wages." "Then the interest of the employer is the interest inter-est of the man C I. asked. "Yes. it is." replied Mr. Powderly. "The men are dependent for their work on the success of the capitalist, ami be is dependent on them." "Then why should not the two go into partnership?" partner-ship?" "They are in a partnership whether the men will acknowledge it or not,' was the reply; "but the partnership part-nership differs from the ordinary partnership in ; that each party has an individual interest antagon- , istic to the other. J'aeh wants the biggest share of - the profits: the laboring man his in increased wages, the capitalist his in cutting wages down to increase : the profits. The two are working together, but at ; the same time always pulling apart. It is one of the most delicate relations on earth." "Do you think the laboring man is benefited by being a partner in the shop or factory for which ho works?" . "Ves, I do. Such a part nership, if the men have a place in the directorate, shows them how the business busi-ness is really running. They learn the difficulties, losses and troubles of the management and get a look at the other side of the ledger. Tf business is bad they are less ready to strike and if good they get a share of the profits." Plants Run by "Workmen. - "How7 about the laboring men joining and start- ; ing independent places of their own?" "Such enterprises seldom succeed." ?aid Mr. ; Powderly. "They have been tried, and they ari likely to be tried again now that so much money is accumulating in the treasuries of the trades union". I see in the papers that some of the unions of Chi- ; eago have so much money they talk of starting a ! bank. The United Mini; Workers, for instance, i have over $1.000 .000 in their treasury. j "But. as I have said." continued Mr. Powderly. : "such things fail. Why? I will tell you why. j Managing a great business is as much of a profession pro-fession as the proper handling of certain tools is a. trade. Tt is only to be acquired by natural skill and long training. If you should put a banker to build- ! ing a steam engine he would fail, and so will the machinist fail who tries to manage a bank or a factory. fac-tory. There are exceptions. I grant you. but ninety-nine times out of a hundred either will fail. This I is more so every year as business and trades are . specialized. In the big undertakings of today the capacity required i greater than ever before." I "What do the laboring men think of their ' ! chances of eventually becoming their own man- , I agers ?" ! "I don't think their ambition runs that way. at ; least not as a mass. Individuals do rise and will ; i always rise as God gives men different-capacities and talents. We shall have Carnegies and Schawl.- I j as long as brains married to brawn bring forth ' great fortunes. The peculiar brains will come to f the top however hard you stir the business and labor t f kettle to keep them down. f : "But as to the masses of laboring men owninsr and controlling factories themselves, they are afraid ; of it." said Mr. Powderly. , j "I remember when I was general master workman work-man of the Knights of Labor. Abram S. Hewitt. Peter Cooper's son-in-law, who owned some of the greatest iron works of the country, offered to let his men in the iron works at Trenton take that plant . and run it. Mr. Hewitt was noted for his friend- -ship of the laboring man. He never had any seri- : ons trouble, notwithstanding he employed thousands, thou-sands, and in hard times he carried on hia furnaces J - I I at a loss raihcr liian -lo thf-m and put his men U out. Well, he offered to let the men take the Tren- Ion works as they stood mid run ihem on the eondi-tion eondi-tion that they were to pay the expenses, manage ; Mi thm and hove all the profits. At first ihougrht tin I :hen were very enthusiastic and they brought their I proposition to mo. I advised them to think the nint- I 1 I'r over before they accepted. I - ' 'Who anionjr yon tinderstands ihe luiness of I management.'' shH I. They hud not thought of I th tlint. 1 h.t "-Wlist. Je, you know of the market?, how to I t"J . advertise-, when M buy cl)rnict and where to sell.'' I 'J;. And all this they did not know. Well, to make a I la hiur story short, they 1 hanked 31r. Hewitt, but re- j a fused to take the mil!.' ,v "But in working for waos. ilr. Towderly, does J 'Dr tabor set its share of the profit? V I ; 'Who can tell C' was the reply. ''Sometime? it I l5 does, sometimes not. J think the workinpmftn I J1'- should be well paid and that his life should bemad? 1 , c easier in every way possible, IT is to the interest I v: of nil thai wi have good wages, for good wages I ' mean more money in circulation, a greater con- I v sumption of all kinds of goods and good times. I ri Again, if the wages be too high the business can- I rl. not pay, and the reverse of all this is the cane." I "But; wages ere steadily rising the world over, I in are they not?" I "Yes. especially in the United State. ''Take J this carpet." suid 3Ir. Powderly, as he kicked a I Turkish rug r.t his feet. "There was nothing like I 'v -.-irpet in the poor man's house when I was a boy. I :.iy father was rather well off for a laboring man. I ii; He ciuiic 1,0 this country from Ireland in 1S20 and 1 ; skilled ir, northern Pennsylvania, opening up the J firsi .coal mine in that part, of the state. He had n'. twelre children, end we had nono too much. Still, u- we were as well off as laboring people generally, ff ". liver in a cabin with no plaster or paper on ! the walls and no carpets on the floors. I slept in j xr the. loft, and the 5 now came through in drifts upon I ji;y bed, often covering the floor. I remember now " how cold it was when I stepped out on that snow. ' fnntrast that with the workingman's home of today, j. Jo has his carpets, his comfortable furniture and u often his piano. He lives better, has books, news- h papers and mi'israrines. and can educate his chil- d-e-,:.:' ' , I The Story of a Labor Leader. r "... "When did vou become interested in organized lMrf F . "J joined the "Machinists and Blacksmiths' union i in l STO. ( yenrs ago. and was soon elected presi-d presi-d -iu. Then I joined the Knights of Labor, and in 0 17'( was elected cvnerai master workman. I held that .fn-e until 380:)."' v "Was there much money in it V' I asked. ''Sam ' Parks would hare done well if he had had that II place." "There w.h 1101 hi ng in it but the salary.'"" re- t-- M;ed Mr. Powderly, and wiien I left the office I was J ih first four years then $$00 a year, then $1,5500 I , and tin.-dly $.".O0). but the $5,000 was not always i 1 jifdd. The position was not financially profitable. I ' ' 1 A-to Sam Parks it is not fair to use him as a type I !" the labor leader of that time or now. lie is a I f villain. Th" rep-xsentativrs of our unions of to il l day and of the past are and have been men of the "j 1 highest sen.-? of honor. Indeed, they are philan- f iliropie and are conscientiously doing what they I . 1 cain for their fellows."' "The Knights of Labor was the mother of the ( Federation of Labor, was it not? Are not Ihe two j bodie very similar '." 1 No, the Knights of Labor had. not only repre sentatives of the trades unions, but also of the em- , plovers. At one time one-third of its members I were employers.' ' I "Then it was somewhat like the Civic federation, I of which Senator Ilanna was the president?" J "In a sense, yet. J tried to settle labor disputes j r." far as possible without recourse to strikes. It is I ' true wo .had some strikes, but we set lied 1,100 labor I dispute without strikes. Indeed, I might say we I prevented over l.OoO strikes.' I "Sjeaking of Senator Hanna." Mr. Powderly j I went on. " he was thoroughly in earnest in his de- j I sire to settle labor troubles through arbitration. I I know lhai he began it more than twenty years ago. I It now w?n1y-two years since I was asked by his I men to come out 1o Ohio to act as their representa- I tive in a strike there. I went and, as their delegate, I called on Mr. Hanna and tried to present the case. I He treated mc politely, hut refused to talk to me. I He said : I " 'What is the matter with the men ? Why don't I thry come to ino and present their own eae; They I know mc, 1 know them. I don't know you.' "'Will you receive a committee!' I asked. 1 1 "Of course I will,' said Mr. Hanna. 'Send ihom in.' "1 weni and brought in a committee of the miners min-ers and then started to leave. 'You need not go if yu do not want to," said Mr. Ilanna. 'Sit down.' I hv.ked at the men.. Tliey said stay, and I stayed. i ' "Well, the discussion then went on between Ilan na and the men. The trouble was taken up item by item and threshed over. Sometimes Ilanna gave in, sometimes the men, but in an hour or so it was all settled, and the men said they were satisfied and would go back to work. It was hot at times, but at the cloe Mr. Hanna :aid: 'Now. men, when you I . have any trouble in the future I want you to come risbt to me and we will talk it over. Dou't ask Mr. Powderly to com1 clear across Pennsylvania and Ohio to talk for you. You know what you want, j ness, and we will do it." From that-'time on Mr. Hanna and his inch settTed their labor troubles by e.nferenee and mutual conciliation. He was thoroughly thor-oughly honest and earnest in his advocacy of this policy, ?nd his life shows it."' How Powderly Saved a Railroad. "In your strikes I suppose you have often had to dool with many violent men. Mr. Powderly?" f "Yes, we had,"' was the reply. ''But we tried to hold them in check. I remember an incident of the great railroad strike, in lsS6, when the Gould sys-x sys-x m of railroads and other roads in the southwest were tied tip. The men had left work for some time v. hen I got a letter proposing a plan to blow up every bridge end culvert on the Gould railroad system sys-tem upon a certain signal. That letter stated that the only way to reach Jay Gould was through his pocket, and that ihis action would prevent ihe trains from ttnuung and break the strike. Ths writer said that he had the dynamite and gave a full plan as to how it bhould he placed and exploded 10 wreck ihe system. He marked his letter corii-dential corii-dential and asked that it be isent back to him. He signed it with the name 'Henri Lee Caron.' "I was horrified and at once sent a warning to all the local assemblies of the Knights of Labor, protesting against the scheme, and saying that it was better to lose the strike a hundred-times than to report 10 ''-'h villainy to win. At the same time I filed away the letter. "Well, about three years after that," Mr. Powderly Pow-derly continued, "I picked up my paper une morning and faw that a man named Henri Lee Caron was giving testimony in a damage suit brought by Charles Stewart Parnell against the London Times. Caron was on the side of the 'Times, and he pretended pre-tended to tetify as an Irish spy that Paruell had been mixed up in the assassination of Cavendish and in other fiendish outrages in Ireland. I knew i that Caron had belonged to some of the Irish agi tator organizations, although he did not belong to the Knights of Labor. The moment I saw his'uamc 1 remembered that letter. -1 took it from ray tiles, had it photographed and mailed prints to Paruell, T, P. O'Connor and Michael Davitt. and I sent the, original to Mr. Gladstone, telling him to give it to Parndl." - '' 'Why did you not send the original to Parnell V a'Bwause I thought his mail might not he safe. I was sure that Gladstone's letters would, not be tampered with, and that is why I sent the original to him. All the letters went through, however, As soon as they reached London I got a cable from Parnell. asking mc to forward the original, but he got ft the next day from Gladstone. Shortly after that Henri Lee Caron was put on the witness stand and was ready to make what I heiieve was a tissue of lies. He did give his testimony, but when his letter, proposing to wreck the Gould system with dynamite, was read, it had such an effect that his evidence counted for nothing and Parnell came out on top. I got letters of congratulations and thanks from both Parnell and Gladstone in regard to it." |
