The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-05-20

1t is hardly possible that the Knights Of
Labor can be guilty of the consummate fool
ishness of displacing Grand Master Work
man Powderly by Mr.. Martin Irons, the
leader of the Missouri Pacific strike, which
had such an inglorious ending. Yet Mr. Irons
is quoted as saying that good deal of pres
sure is being brought to bear upon him to
become candidate, and as he appears not
very unwilling to yield, the chances are that
his name will come up in the Cleveland con-
tention, and q vigorous fight be made in his
behalf. We can hardly imagine more dis
astrous blow to the Knights than Mr. Irons
election would be- Itwould destroy the con-
fidence which the public still feels
that the organization is at heart well
intentioned, Notwithstanding it has been
guilty of some excesses, and it
would destroy also the confidence Of the
more intelligent part of the organiza-
ton itself. Mr. Irons's management
of the Missouri Pacific strike shows that
he is utterly lacking in the discretion
and good judgment needed in the leader of a
great organization composed Of such hetero-
geneous elements as make up the Knights OF
Labor His own testimony in regard to that
affair demonstrated completely his unftness
for such a position. From the start he to-
tally ignored the avowed principles of the
Knights Instead of trying to settle the
grievances of the men against the company
he nursed them in order to have a pretext
for strike. The Knights plan is to ex-
haust all means of settlement before resort
ing 20 the strike. Mr. Irons's plan was to
strike first and seek a compromise af-
terward. The success of his plan was
not so distinguished as to make the
knights anxious to adopt it. That
public and the Knights may judge
for themselves what manner of man Mr..
Irons is we subjoin the following extract
from his testimony before the Curtin COM
mittee:
Mr. Burnes-What were these grievances you
Witness-There were the bridgemen's and many
o. Bid any cases of grievance come under your
personal knowledge? A. Yes.
o. State some. A. ! don't remember
O. Give the names OF any men VINO complained
tn Won A. / don't remember any.
q. What were the grievances considered by
vonr executive board when you discussed about
calling out the men? A. don't know. ,,oro
for eight or nine months suffering from grey
ances and pointing them out to YOU Now, what
did Won do towards getting these grievances pc.
fore f6e Officers Of the railroad? A. didn't
nresent any 1t is not the place OF an empl0ye 70
ppresent his grievances directly before Mr. Hoxie
Or high officer If were master meG9a 4 en OF
a ward master should take it as an insult II any
man under me took grievance direct 10
general officer. .,,o tto+ VOL, &c nracti-
cal head Of the organization in this GsTf en-
Won gu and hesd offjcerf A If had reported 10
Mr. Hoxie he would have referred mo to MI: her
riaan and he would have referred me to someone
else. 49,, II .r,, oasa 70 Mr.
Ksrri1 naS Sirsct9 A. Yes, had one conference
with Mr.. Kerrigan. ,,. man naroed w
@ What about? a. ApouI f" man N"i0N +"
I. New of Kansas CITY. No r,os o;,;no
away situations to those who gave him the biggest
presents and the biggest brides Mr. Si ~ tod
was nothing wrong. So / went to Mr.. Kerrigan.
Q. What did MI. Kerrigan do? A. The man
was discharged
g. So in the only case you have been to Mr..
herrlgan you got your point? A YES. .,.,,
u And you have never brougls speclhc grew
ances before Mr.. Hoxie? A. No