The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-04-22
Gould 10 POMderIy.
Following is Mr.. Gould's reply:

NEW YORK, April II.
at V. Powderly. Esq, G. n. W., X. L.:
DEAR Sm-At - O'Clock to-day / received
from Mr.. William o. Mcdowell. whom YOU
brought with YOU to our recent conference n let
ter in which he says by yesterdays mail
received a letter written by Mr.. Pow Derby ad-
dressed TO you, inclcssd in a letter addressed tt
me. With this hand YOU the lettor addressed
70 you by Mr.. Powderly, and copy of Mr.. Pow
derlys letter TO me inclosing the same
"The following is a copy of the lett3r Mr.. Nc
Dowell sent ms rs coming from you:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ORDER OF KNIGHTS orr
LABOR OF AMERICA. OFFICE OF GENERAL
MASTER WORKMAN, SCRANTON. Pa, April H.
"MY DEAR Mr.. MCDOWELL inclose you a
letter which you are TO road and deliver to the
whether you deliver It in person or
through the medium Of another; / only
ask that it be placed in his hands.
II you have succeeded in effecting
n settlement with him do not give it TO him. II
you think there is prospect for an immediate
settlement do not give it TO him but il such is
not tho case, then won't IL placed in his hands.
Allow him to either consent or make a,reply If
no consents to an honorable settlement then
the letter will never gee the light of day; but
If he does not 50 act then il will be published
to the world, and from the time he opens up the
ball in legal way we will continue TO wage the
battle with him. His wealth cannot save him
il this fight is begun. Let no one know of the
existence Of this letter until after o'clock Of
the day you deliver it; then IL he makes no re-
ply let IL so to the world. Let him know the
limit OF time allowed 1 sincerely hope that
there will be no more necessity for its publicity.
Hoping for the best, remain. very truly yours,
"'To w. O. Mcdowell, ESQ, New York
Il thus received your letter to me dated
Scranton, Pa, April IL, 1886, at the same time
and by the same agency that L received your
foregoing letter Of instructions to Mr.. Me-
Dowell.
The animus and purpose Of your letter to me
cannot be fully understood without knowing the
contents of that one / was peremptorly no
tilted ut the same time that must answer your
letter by o'clock to-day aud was graciously
until fl,af hon 70 md
Your letter to me embraces two subjects, one
relating TO me personally and the other TO the
relation of the Knights of Labor to a railroad
company OF which L am the President, and in
some degree the representative Of its public and
private duties. shall refer TO the first subject
very briefly. The circum stances above given
under which your letter was delivered, as well
as its tenor and spirit, place its purpose in
writing il beyond any fair doubt. IL would seem
TO be official declaration that the Knights OF
Labor had determined to pursue me personally
unless the Missouri Pacific Company should
yield 10 its demands in what you call the strike
In answer to these personal threats, beg to
say that am yet free American citizen. am
past 40 years OF age and was born at RoXbury,
Delaware County, in this State. began life in
lowly way, and by industry, temperance, and
attention to my own business have been success
| full, perhaps, beyond the measure OF my deserts.
| III, you say, am now to be destroyed by the
Knights of Labor unless / will sink my man.
| hood, so be it. Fortunately have retained my
| early habits Of industry. My friends, neighbors.
l
am quite content to leave my personal record in
| their hands. If any Of them have aught to COM
plain Of will be only too glad to submit to any
| arbitration. IL such parties, or any OF them.
wish to appoint the Knights of Labor or you as
| their attorney, such appointment is quite agree
| able TO me, but, until such an election is made,
| il will naturally occur TO you that any inter
ference your part in my personal affairs is, to
! say the least, quite gratuitous.
"Since was nineteen years Of age Ihave been
in the habit of employing in my various enter
| pri les large numbers OF persons, probably at
| times as high as 50,0O0 distributing often three
or four million dollars per month in different pay
| rolls. 1t would seem little strange that during
all these years the difficulty with the Knights or
Labor should be my first. Any attempt to con-
meet me personally with the late strike on the
| Southwestern roads or any responsibility there
| for is equally gratutous, you well know. 1t
| is true am the President OF the Missouri Pa
cifc. but when the strike occurred / was far
| away on the ocean and beyond the reach of tele-
grams. i went away relying your promise
made TO me last August that there would be no
strike on that road, and that if any difficulties
should arise you would come frankly to me
with them. Mr. Hopkins, the Vice President OF
this company, who was present and cognzant OF
this arrangement with you in my absence, scot
you promptly when the present strike broke out
the following kilograms:
NEW YORK, March g. 1SS6.-To Il. V. Pow
DERBY SCRANTON, Pa. Mr.. Hoxie telegraphs
that knights of Labor on our road have struck
and refuse TO allow any freight trains to run,
saying they have no grievances, but are only
striking because ordered TO do so. II there are
any grievances would like to talk them over
with YOU. We understood you to promise that
no strike would BE- ordered without consultation.
"A. J.. HOPKINS
Then follows q SER s OF dispatches between
Messrs. Could Hopkins, and Powderly. Mr.
Gould continues:
when in spite OF all this correspondence, you
desired to see me personally, cordially met you
and, having put myself in communication with
Mr.. Hoxie, arranged for arbitration. Ever
since then Mr.. HoXie has stood ready to receive
any and all persons in the actual employ
of this company, as committee or otherwise,
| and confer upon or arbitrate any matter OF diff
| ference or complaint either between the COM
| pany and themselves, or between the company
and its late employees, and for that matter be-
| tween the company and anybody else. No such
| committee or individual employe has, so far as
known TO me- mado such application. In
| this connection il will be remembered that they
left, not because of any complaint whatever OF
| this company's treatment OF themselves, but
only because of the companys refusal to COM
| ply with their demand that this company refuse
to do what the law requires in the way OF inter-
change of business wit another company with
which some of your order had quarrel
I'm the meantime this company has OF neces-
| sity gone on t. extend employment TO such OF
| those persons who recently, and without even
alleged provocation, left its service, as saw fit
| TO return. These returning employees have been
very many, and in this way its rolls are already,
| il not quite, full as its shops and equipment,
| crippled by acts of violence attendant upon
| recent action of your order, can employ. Mr.
| Hoxie advises me that every such person APP
plying to be received back has been employed
unless believed to have taken part
still stands ready To make good, in the
| fullest sense, its agreement expressly set
forth. IN the face of all this you notify me that
unless by 5 o'clock personally consent to some
| thing-precisey what / do not see-then per-
sonal consequences of n sort vaguely expressed,
but not hard to understand, will at the hand of
your order he visited upon me. Let me again
remind you that it is an American citizen whom
you and your order thus propose to destroy.
The contest is not between your order and
me, but between your order and the laws
of the land Your order has already defed
those laws in preventing by violence this
company from operating its road You held
then that this company should not operate its
road under conditions prescribed by law, but
| only under conditions prescribed by you You
now declare, in effect, that hold my individual
property and rights. not rs other men ho.1
theirs, but only at the peril Of Your letting loose
irrevocably, after o'clock. your order upon me.
II this is true Of this company and of me, il is
| true of all other men and companies. II So you
and your secret Ter are tho law, and an Amer
| lean citizen is such only in name.
Already for weeks your order has, in your at
| tack upon this company, not hesitated 70 dis
| able 10 by violence from rendering its duty TO
| the public and from giving work and paying
wages to men at least three times your own
number who. working they were by your
| side, were at least deserving of your sympathy.
| Having pushed this violence beyond even the
| great forbearance OF the public, and found in
| this direction cause to hesitate, you now turn
| upon me and propose that the wrongs you have