The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-04-23
LOOKS LIKE WAR.
Does It Portend the Armageddon
Of Capital and Labor?
General Master Workman Powdersy's Last
Appeal to and Open Defiance of Jay
Gould--The Man of Millions
Says Come On.

Gould-The Man Of Millions
Says Come On.
SCRANTON, Pa, April 15.-The follow.
ing manifesto was written BY General
Master Workman Powderlv ON the llth
inst
SCRANTON, Pa April II. 1885.
O'clock A. II.
To Jny Could. Esq., presidsas Missouri Pacific
Editroad. Ne,c York:
DEAR SIR-The events of the past forty
eight hours must have demonstrated to YOU
che absolute necess ty OF bringing this ter
termination. You have the power. the
authority aud the means 20 bring this strik 9
TO an end. l have done everything In
gentlemen associated with me on the
general executive board OF the knights OF
Labor have done the same. Everything
consistent with honor and manhood has
been done in the interest of peace. No
false notion of pride or dignity has swayed
us in orr dealings with You or the gentle
men associated with you. In that confer
ence with Won on Sunday. March 2S, under
stood You to mean that arb tration wouid be
agreed To. The only method of arhitrat on
that was discussed was in line With that
suggested in the letter which sent to you
in the name of our board the day
previous There ives nothing particularly
said that arbitrating the matter the dam
ages sustained by the company during the
strike ought to receive consideration. 1
said to you that IL would not he the part of
wisdom to bring the question up in the set
tiement Of the strike. When I called on you
ayain that evening you had prepared as the
result Of your understan ling OF the morning
Interview letter which You, Intended to
give me- That ie..e- included a teIeg gram to
be sent to NJ Hoxie, AMI in that tele-
gram you said that the damages sus-
fain hp q
proper subject for the arbitration board to
discuss. This latter part of the letter or tel
had talkedsthe matter over for some time,
Z left you you were about to so to
your room to rewrite the letter. which you
afterwar,. placed in the hands of Mr. Nc
Dowell to be given to me- for had to leave
at that time in order 20 keep an appoint
ment at the hotel where I stopped. The
statement which You have since then made
to the effect that Won had prepared that
letter before I called. is mot quite correct.
or IL You did have it prenarpi. You changed
it after we had talked me matter over for
some time This. believe, You will admit
80 be true. In the conference held between
.he members of our executive board and the
directors o: the Missouri Pacific Company
at los Broadway on March 80. Won said to me
tiia. you understood me to say that the men
along your lines wouli be ordered back
to work at once. They having vio-
then reiterated the statement which made
tn you aud now repeat it: "The men ont
along the lines of your railways can be or
dered back TO work. but IL they are given to
understand that they are deserted, that We
do not take interest In them. IL viii not In
any way mend matters. On the contrary, it
will make THINGS worse There are all along
the roads ont there a great many men who
have no regard for organization or law, m en-
az hardy spirit. energy AMI daring. such
men have left the East and have taken up
their homes out in wild country. such
that is. They will not Submit
Ouietly IS the men they have left behind in
Hl,aE Il. In
than they would do elsewhere. and 1 have
no toubt we have some OF them in our or
der: in fact, my experience with the men OF
that vast section leads me to think that the
men on both sides ont there are more dare
deviiish than they are in the East. Even
the business men of that country are OF that
stamp of character"
Both you and Mr.. Hopkins heard me make
that statement. and l believe the latter
agreed t,'at that was his experience. The
danger OF TIE strike srrea ling was also dis
cussed. aud sad to you that it would not
spIead; that an effort had been made to have
tile men of the Cnon Pacific part In it,
standing agreement tn the manage
was to be no trouble or strike
until the last resort tn settle had failed, and
not then until thu court of last resort had
heen reached Wien made that statement
Mr.. Hopkins remarked that they had better
strike then. for If they did not the Union Pa
cific would not much longer have sufficient
money to pay their employees. The impress
sim made on Inc WAS that YOU would be
pleased to see a strike take place on the
Union Pacific. This, I believe covers the
chief points OF discussion.
did not hear either you or NJ. Hopkins
say that the present trouble ont along your
roads would not he arbitrated with the
men who were not at work. It was nv
firm belief, when l let Won that night,
that You meant to have tive entire affair
submitted 70 arhitfa ion at the first posi-
bic moment. That belief il shared i'm by
Mr. Mcdowell. who was present during the
enti'e interview. When you sent the tele
ar' IN to Mr. Hoxie you sent it as presi-
cent OF the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road Company You sent it IS
TIE che. che send sends his I. message to
TO = sensible man as the most imperative
order could possibly mean. When l, as the
CHI 4 officer of the Knights of Labor, send a
i'te, tge such As that, il is undecst BOD to be
my wishes. and those wishes are respected
bv III. subordinate officer to whom they
are seat Ii is not his place to put a differ
emf co 1struction on them and give them his
own Interpretation. His duty is to obey the
shirt OF the instructions. The man in pow
er n 4 not be an au;Ocrat I'm order to have
his wishes respected. 81 would like to see
IL done" comes WITH as great a force from
the man in authority as II must have 1t
done"
That was the idea that I entertained when
] lett your honse that night I also explained
TO You at your house that night that the men
VINO had entered upon the strike had not
violated any law Of the order in so doing:
TO that. while / Thought it would have been
better IL they had laid their grievances be-
lore the general executive board before
to command them t. do so. said that
district assembly of the Knights of Labor
bore the same relation TO the gen
.hiet oieer, that ons of the states '9 of
tne American Union bore to the general
government of the United states. and that
which gave me jurisdiction over the entire
order. AMI not under any particular law. I
Furthermore explained to YOU that the spirit
"f our organization and its genius was op-
posed to strikes, and that was the reason
why our general convention never
enacted any particular legislation
j also said that the occasion had never be.
lore called for any reference from the gen
erai officers. but that this strike would show
the necessity for the passage at our next
convention of laws that would place the
subject of strikes under the control of the
general executive board of the general or
der.
When on Monday, March q. you sent me
Gle letter marked personal" you at the
same time told a newspaper CORE pondent
that you had done so. What yonr motive
at the same time informing q representative
az the press that you had addressed me.
do not know. nor do question your motive.
felt it to tie my duty to let the public
see the letter. which contained nothing of
personal nature whatever. There are people
who might be uncbari: able enough to say
your intention was to give out the impress
sion that there was something between you
and me which would not bear the light of
public scrutiny. 1 nave had no such deal
ings with any man since this trouble began,
nor previous to that time. 1 am quite will
ing to allow the fullest light possible to
shine upon my every transaction. have
nothing to conceal
You can settle this strike. It's longer con.
finusnce rests with you. and you alone
Every action OF violence, every drop of
blood that may be shed from this time, must
be laid at you DOOR