Morning journal and courier., 1886-04-23
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. CAPITAL AND LABOR. Gould Before The House
 Committee. THE TROUBLE FROM HIS SIDE. CIeveIand's Plan To Settle
 Disputes. A BUREAU OF ARBITRATION. Strikers Fighting With
 The Police.
Strikers Fighting With
 The Police.
OULD ON THE WITNESS sTAND

His Version of the Trouble With the
 Knights of fLabor-The Missouri Pa | eIfc in No Way to Blame For the
 Great StrIke-A Chance Which the Knights Refused to Return to TheIl
 Places-Some Interesting Points on
 the Labor Problem.
 WASHINGTON, April 22.-Jay Gould ap
 peared before the special Labor committee
 to-day, many spectators being present to
 hear his version of the troubles on the Mis-
 souri Pacific. To show the committee that
 his statements were made voluntarily MT.
 Gould said that at the date of the resolution
 under which they (the committee) acted
 there were no difficulties existing between
 his company and the laborers. MT. Gould
 then entered into a detailed statement of the
 organization of the road and quickly came
 down to the recent labor troubles He told
 of being informed by Mir. Powderly of differ
 ences arising on account of wages and that
 he agreed to adjust the differences and would
 so instruct MT. Hoxie. In making this agree
 ment he told MT. Powderly that he wanted it distinctly understood that there should be
 no strikes and that in the future when dis
 satisfaction arose MT. Powderly would come
 to him and negotiate an adjustment. Some ] time afterward MT. Gould learned from MT. 1 Hoxie that strike had been ordered by MT. | Powderly and that no excuse could be given for it; that it was on account of man named Hall employed by the Texas Pacific, which was in the hands of l the United States courts and not in the | control of the Missouri Pacific. At the time of the strike the Missouri Pacific had 14, ,315 | nex I Knights of Labor. These men were not ne 1 cessary to the operation of the business and | if they had not resorted to violence and took | forcible possession of the road not train | would have been missed. But they seized | terminal points and the business of the road was stopped. ''It was forcible seizure" ," said MT. Gould, "something the Czar of Russia, with his millions of soldiers behind him, would not have dared to do." MT. Hoxie's statement of the troubles was read by Gene | ral Swayne, Mir. Gould's attorney. He also read from another statement showing l that on January 26, 1686 the Knights of Labor, at Marshall, Texas, at the incipiency of the trouble on the Texas Pacific, had pro- posed scheme for arbitrating which was not feasible and which was refused by the receivers of that road, and declaring that that refusal was the real cause of the strike and all other alleged reasons were false The discharge of Hall, who was foreman of a shop, was not objected to at the time. He was discharged because he was absent with out leave three four days. His dismissal was an after-thought cause for the strike, because he was unpopular with the men under him. On March 9 a notice was posted, Mr. Gould said, by the general superintend ent, informing the men who were in the employ of the Missouri Pacific on March 3, and who were on strike that they were discharged as they had volun tarily left their positions. MT. Gould then described the acts of violence and destruc tion of property by the strikers, how they ''killed" the engines and tore up the track, and recited the attempts of the Governors of Kansas and Missouri to arbitrate the trouble. The report of Governors Martin and Marina duke was read, showing in their opinion the strike was not on the ground of violation of any compact with the employees and Knights of Labor by the Missouri Pacific. II think this correspondence shows" said MT. Gould at the conclusion of the read ing of some letters between MT. Hoxie and the Knights, s'that we led the horses to the trough, but they wouldn't drink. Our shops were open, but the men wouldn't go to work" Considerable time was occupied by the witness in reading the proclamations by local assemblies of Knights of Labor He dramatic way, his weak voice at times rising to high pitch. One of the proclamations denounced the witness as a master hend, "a robber of the rich and poor, buyer of votes to rob us of our little homes" ," "a blighter of lives" As the rough passageswere read, MT. Gould's voice trembled with feel ing:
 going on" said MT. Gould, "a te egram was sent by John Hayes, secretary of the Knights of Labor, to the strikers saying that the strike should be maintained, that there was plenty of money to maintain it." MT. Gould pro ducei a copy of the telegram, but the com mittee decided that it would not be proper to admit it to the record as MT. Hayes, who has been in this city during the investiga tion had left for St. Louis. At the sugges- tion of MT. Burnes of the committee, MT. Gould promised to furnish the committee with copy of a resolution passed by the ex- ecutive committee of the Missouri Pacific fixing the powers of First Vice President Hoxie. During the six years Mir. Gould has been president of the road, he said, he had never charged dollar dol hio for his arsna,; ser expenses. He stated further that he had placed the settlement of the strike in the hands of Mir. Hoxie entirely and he intended at the time he did so to hold him responsible. The telegram he sent in which it was stated that five see no objection to arbitration" etc., simply placed the matter wholly in the hands of MT. Hoxie. MT. Gould explained that the emploes of a railroad company were in different position than those in manu- featuring and other instioutions. Railroads, he said, had obligation to the public and the public could rightfully demand fulfill ment of those public obligations A railroad company in his opinion was public not a private corporation. A railrosd was clothed with public duties.- The public has right to have a railroad operated ard the public has a right to demand settlement of diff culty which interferes with the operation of railroad, but arbitration should come before strike. After a strike is begun, property seized and lines placed in peril the time for arbitration is past. The railroad officials desired the contract with the public carried out.
 Commenting upon the complicated duties of MT. Powderly as grand master workman of the Knights of Labor, MT. Gould said he himself had all and even more than he could do to manage the Missouri Pacific railroad, while Mr. Powderiy attempted to manage every interest in the country, including the more than 13O, 900 miles of railroads, and it was uo wonder he broke down at it. MT. Gould said he had always been an advocate of arbitration and was perfectly willing to give the arbitration scheme proposed by Congress thorough and fair trial It It be- came a law Mr. Gould said he was willing, and so were the other Missouri Pacific officers always ready, to arbitrate the differences be- tween the company and it's employees, but did not propose to deal with the men as the order of the Knights of Labor, because there were ten thousand men in the employ Of the company who were not meHoefs oA lhat UT der.
 MT. Burnes here asked MT. Gould whether if MT. Hoxie by his public order recognized the Knights of Labor to their exclusion from employment by the Missouri Pacific, he ought not to have previously recog- nized them as Knights of Labor when they desired to arbitrate. Mir Gould at first answered by interrupting MT. Burnes and saying that MT. Hoxie did not recognize them. Mr. Burns intimated that it was hypothetical question and he merely wanted the witness views opinion of what should have been done in such case. Mir. Gould l then replied that if they were employees MT. Hoxie should have listened to their com- plaint. MT. Bu1nes abandoned further in | quiry in this direction, remarking that MT. Gould did not seem to quite understand the question.
 At 2:15 recess was proposed and taken. When the committee reassembied after | recess MT. Grain asked MT. Gould what, if he regarded the strike as over at the time of his | interview with Powderly, was the object of