St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-23


the strikers and stating that all good and
competent men would be employed regard
less OF their pursuit or past connection with
the Knights of Labor. The reading being
knded, Mr.. Gould proceeded. He said:
This brings the status of the strike down to
the 10th of March. At that time the strikers
had taken possession of the line. When we
undertook to run trains they would kill the
engines, and that not being sufficient they
would uncouple the cars or would assault the
train men who undertook TO get Nrains out.
Day after day we were met by opposition.
Then the two governors of Missouri and
Kansas, who had been the arbitrators of the
agreement of March, 1885, under which we
had been acting, were called on to meet at
Kansas City. There they heard everything
which the strikers had to say, and after hear
ing both sides they prepared formal report,
which was published"
The report was read by Mr.. Swaine. 1t
declares the strike of March, 1856, was not
based on a violation by the company of the
terms of agreement of March, 1885. Mr..
Swaine also read III the same connection
the reply of Mr.. HoXie to the TWO govern
ors, stating that good and competent men
would be employed by the company, with
out regard to their past or present relations
to the company or to the Knights of Labor;
also the reply of the Knights of Labor
III 1AE GONEhNORS.
Mr.. Gould. then resuming his statement,
said:
That correspondence shows pretty conclu-
sively the truth of the proverb, you may lead
a horse to the watering trench, but cannot
make him drink. Our shops were open for
the men to go TO work and if they did not go
1t was not our fault. lreturned TO New York
on the 23d of March. Shortly after my re-
turn a correspondence was opened between
Mr. darls- and 7 will IN
read them now. When Mr.. Mcdowell brought
the last letter TO me 1 told him wanted to
meet Powderly, / as an individual and he as
an individual, and that would have frank
talk with him on the whole subject. He
brought Mr.. Powderly to my house on Sun
day, March 2S. AT the time of that interview
the road was in full operation at all points
except Fort Worth and Parsons, Kan. / met
Powderly and Mr.. Mcdowell at my house and
had frank talk with them. Mr.. Powderly's
secret circular (so-called) had been issued.
and my motive in seeing him was to brace
him up, because the sentiments expressed in
that circular were so different from the
acts of the association that l thought he
needed bracing up. He brought up that
question of arbitration which had been COW
cred by the correspondence, and which had
very firmly declared against. / was never
more positive in my life than when 1 made
that declaration. We talked up to . o'clock.
my dinner hour, and told Powderly and Nc
Dowell to come back that night. They came
at night and we resumed our talk. Mr.. Pow
derly said to me: ''These men out there.
want to talk to you frankly, are in rebellion
to our order. They struck without casue, and
/ have it in contemplation tomorrow to vim
dicate myself by issuing an order taking away
their charter" ] said: "Mr. Powderly, you
have been so frank with me that / will be
frank with you. Now, will read you a dis
patch which ! have prepared TO
SEND To MR. HOyIF
I get down town tomorrow morning at my
Office at $3.50 and / will send it then. 1 took
out of my pocket and read to him my dis
patch TO Mr. HoXie directing preference of
employment to be given to the late employees
whether knights OF Labor or not. Now l do
not know how il can be twisted so as to make
it mean something different from what it
says. / read it over TO Mr.. Powderly as
have read it to the committee. Mr.. Powderly
said: Il approve of that and it will help me
If you will give me copy of it" said: Il
will do that" That brought our interview to
a close. went up stairs and copied the dis
patch in a note addressed to MIR. Powderly
and gave it to Mr.. Mcdowell to deliver TO him.
There was no right on the part of Mr.. Nc
Dowell or of Powderly to give the dispatch TO
the public till put it into Mr.. HoXie's hands.
They went out of town and changed the whole
program. The next morning the newspapers
came out publishing this and saying on the
part of Mr.. Powderly: ''Mr. Gould has con-
sented to our plan of arbitration" That was
published broadcast. 1t was untrue-ut-
terly untrue. As for the question of arhitra-
ton, it has been rather kind of habit of
mine and therefore L said in my dispatch TO
Hoxie: 'We see no objection to rbitration."
Mr.. Gould here read stenographic notes
of the interview between himself and Mr..
Powderly, and he continued:
i believe in the investigation yesterday
there was refe renee to letter of instruc-
ffnad INnaasn 1gsNsa
Powde-ly letter. What. MIR. Hoxie meant by a
letter of instructions was my letter addressed
to Powderly which he saw in the newspapers
that morning. OF course he referred to that.
There have been no instructions issued other
than those embodied in that letter. Those
have been lived up 10 by the company from
that time to this.
Mr.. Crain-You say distinctly that there
WERE NO SECRET INSTRUCTIONS.
MIR. Gould-There were no secret instruc-
tions. On the contrary, we have lived right
up to my letter to Mr.. Powderly, uotwith-
standing all the provocation we have re-
ceived.
Mr.. Gould then read various kilograms
and correspondence which have already
been made public, including the procla-
nation of March 30, issued by the executive
board of district assemblies at st. Louis,
cOngratulating the Knights of Labor on
their victory and on their manhood and
fortitude shown by them. He said:
"That was the address which was issued
on March 29. when everything seemed 10 be
lovely. The next address that was issued by
them was one issued on April 6, addressed TO
the workingmen of the world"
Mr.. Gould read the address in tone of
sarcasm, but not without emotion. 1t was
the one in which he is spoken of as as a
giant of incorporated wealth, every dollar
f,f Nayhi oh httil ;,,,r
outrage. He said:
"That is the response which the three
assemblies of knights of Labor made to our
continuing hand of fellowship, which we had
held out to them. We commenced operating
our road, as L said. When met Mr.. Powderly
on Sunday the whole system was IN operation,
except at Parsons and Fort Worth. Our
earnings for the first week of April were
equal to same week last year, and the earn
ings the second week in April were S36 co.,
more than the corresponding week last year.
so that as said at the beginning of my re-
marks, it seemed to me that the resolution
under which the committee is acting does not
really apply to the Missouri Pacific
Mr.. Burns-Have you any other documents
that you wish to submit?
Mr.. Gould-I have received several of this
sort. only read this one because it is an
order emanating from three lodges that gov
ern the Missouri Pacific system.
The Chairman-We accept that as
SPECIMEN OF woRKMENs LITERATURE.
Mr.. Could have just received a telegram
from Mr.. Hoxie saying that the st. Louis
papers to-day publish this dispatch, sent out
from here yesterday: 'Push the strike, we
have plenty of money to carry it through.
[Signed. j ohm Hayes" Mr.. Hayes is, be-
lieve, one of the executive comittee of the
knights of Labor. He is the same man who
addressed dispatch to me holding me re-
sponsible for the murders committed at East
st. Louis,
The Chair man-It is mere hearsay. The
matter Will be investigated when we get to
ST. Louis.