The Indianapolis journal., 1886-04-21

quest Other teams, belonging to privaSs par
ties. endeavoring to haul goods to and from East
st Louis, were ordered back. and nothing was
permitted to be touched. Perishable goods had
to be left to rot and spoil Thousands of tons Of
coal from Illinois, which st. Louis depends
for its supply, were standing in the railroad
yards, but not q bushel was permitted to be
moved. Presently the coal famine made itself
felt in St Louis One factory after another had
to let its fires go out The great -four industries
OF ST. Louis had stopped some time before, be-
cause they could get no grain in and ship no
-four out. Thousands Of employees, mostly of
the poorest class, had to be DISCHARGED The
price of coal rose from the average of cents
per bushel or S.. so per ton to so cents or $40
per ton. Provisions rose enormously. The
army of teamsters, who make their living by
hauling goods to and from East St. Louis, were
not only forced into idleness. but had to pay
enormous prices for feed for their horses, which
were idle in the stables. How the poor Jared
may be imagined.
The East St Louis strike was confessedly or
dered without cause grievance. The chair
man of the assembly of Knights which ordered
it, Sullivan by name, openly stated that it was
done only "to help their brethren in Missouri.
But let US return to Missouri. Many of the
men ordered out were of the best-paid. the best
contented employees, had their own homes, aud
brought up their families in a respectable way.
They belonged to the best type of the industrial
class. know many of them who are gentle
manly. intelligent. and good citizens. They
joined the order of Knights of Labor at its early
inception, when its aims and methods were such
as every well wisher of humanity could indorse.
They are of the type which Mr.. Powderly repre-
sents Now they feel and see with dismay that
it has grown beyond controllable limits, hydra
headed, with venom in its fangs But they see
no escape outside of revolt and revolt means
boycott, and boycott means the consequences
which have outlined above.
Finally, when the leaders saw they had no
ground to stand upon, they proclaimed that all
they wanted was recognition" In plain English,
it meant that they should be recognized as
state within the State as power subject to no
control and to no established tribunal; as the
dictator to decree, for reasons satisfactory only
to themselves, that the people shall neither buy
from nor sell to- neither trade, nor contract, nor
have any commercial or other intercourse
with anybody who has incurred their displeasure
or ignored their demands. That such recogni-
erty of action, OF all democracy; that it must be
a barrier to all civilization and progress, never
enters the minds of THESE fanatics.
l will not attempt in this letter to present a
history of this tremendous movement. its labor
side and its railroad side. In fact the end is not
vet. have only endeavored truthfully to por-
tray its results and its possibilities in order that
your readers may know what may be in store for
them, anywhere and everywhere. and at any
time and that they may take warning. This is
sue will have to be met by the people of the
country sooner or later, and it may be a blessing
to those not affected by the events OF the last
few weeks that its monstrOsty has been uncov-
cred. Nor is there meant to be In this warning
any offense opposition to organized labor.
The inquieition was no more of the essence OF the
Catholic religion, or the burning of witches of
the Protestant religion, than the enormous prac-
tees and doctrines of the Knights which have
described are OF the essence of protected labor.