The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-04-08
GEm G~Rtdiqencer,
wuEELISo, W, va, ApHIL s. 1885
M, nnnla nna nc sIrlksEs.

tSa
The remarkable address published yes
terdSy in our dispatches from the knights
Of Labor was the answer OF the leaders to
Law Gould's recent taunt as to the weak
ness and failure OF their efforts to stop the
rnppipg Of trains on his Missouri Pacific
railroad. For the benefit Of those who
may not have read that bosstful and heart
le,s taunt Of Gould We append it below az
follows:
7 have been astonished at some OF the
revalatiops that have GONE through the
recsnt dislubanCes, but nothing has been
On snrprising as the proof that have had
~ The meGtlrss of the Knights OF Labor.
Thsy have no such organization as had
snDEoaeI, Their demonstrations ana ne
seTtious had led me TO believe them mol
only formidable, bat practically unc2n
nnerable, Recent history has pr0Fed th'S
iIga ali taL.e, They are not strong msy
1rs trsuE. they are realty 0CercOnie' 80
GREAT WAS nv apprehension as 10 the
stTenvth Of the Knights OF Labor, and 80
treat vas nv fear Of what might come
from a fight made by them, that lor over
a year we have been carrying hundreds OF
men on the Missouri Pacific pay'rolls ioF
whom we really had no need we were
paving them their wages only becanse we
were apprehensiye oil al extreme emer-
yenCy 10 follow q strike by the knigltg'
Sow wa fad that the money spent IN this
wSy was practically wasted. We had NO
such things to fear as We anticipated, UP
IN this line We have taken back juSl
Gnniy. frc men who have been aetiVe in
these strike troubles at st. Louis. Wecan
Jet ali the meh We want without having to
call upon q single one OF the strikers.
The above manifestation Gould can not
only be considered nnwise and unCalled
for but utterly heartless and wicked
He confesses 10 a Cowardly policy in deal
Ing with these people when he supposed
they were strong, and now he shows not
only his cloven foot Of cunningness and
duplicity, as respects all sincere desire to
treat with them, but also his contempt for
their unsuccessful effort to cope with the
power Of his i'll gotten wealth and corrupt
influence.
A man who lives in such a remarkably
thin glass house as Jay Gould inhabitB
should be the last person in the country
to throw stones at those who know too
we'll the story Of his Infamous career as a
wrecker aud robbsr OF other peoples prop
erty aud prosperity. lie 10 one OF the
men who Of all otheiS should have a care
how he inaames the sense Of wrong that
burns not ouly in the breasts OF these
people but Of thousands Of other people
who have no direct relations to his rail-
roads, saying nothing Of the mass oil in.
vestors whom he has in all sorts oil ways
defrauded OF their property.
His great wealth represents simply
plumber, and the strikers on his railroad
know 1t, and while this does not Justify
the rash mistake they have made in
fastening a quarrel on his Missouri Pa
clRc road that did not belong there, yet all
the same his boastful and gloating taunt
over their supposed failure, and Its dam
age to their cause, Is none the less heart
less and inaammatory. A m%agnanimous
man, with q spark Of sympathy for tho
great cause Of labor, which struck blindly
in this instance, would have at
least caused him to remain ST.
lent. The errors of. the laboring
masses in search for q redress Of
wrongs that all the world knows
exist, is not a thing for ieers,
but fol sympathetic counsel and
rectlacatlon. This Is the view that a just
man with a touch Of that kindlinesS that
"makcs tho whole world kin" would
have taken Of the false step which these
strikers have made on tho Missouri Pacl.
lc road.
They were preCipated into this mistake
through bad leadership, but this does not
affect the necessity that exists for such an
organization as the Knights OF Labor, as
a protection to labor against the constant
approach and grinding infringement Of
heartless railroad wreckers like Jay
Gould.
But leaving the moral view out Of the
question, Gould has made a very silly
mistake in thus Haunting this red rag Of
brayado and defiance in the face Of these
people. He has given the leaders a
vantage ground for appeal to their whole
order throughout the country for sym
pathy and material assistance against
their selt.proclaimod antagonist, and II
this trouble now assumes greater despera.
ton and wider proportions he will be
largely II not chiefly responsible for It.