Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-05-20
MARTIN IRONS SPEAKS.
tie Says He Will Accept POwderIy'
Position ~ Nominated.

ST. LOUIS, May 17.-Martin Irons, at
tired in faultless black broadcloth suit
with colossal gold watch chain and q
high standing collar, said to-day; II am
goingto sue the papers for libel that have
cast reflections upon my personal char
acter. / have been made the scapegoat of
the failure of the strike by Powderly and
others, and l have come in for a little
more abuse than am going to stand"
"How about the story that you are
candidate for Powderly's place 2"
"Well, / have received great many
letters urging me to be candidate, and
there seems to be n general feeling among
the knights that / must make the race. Of
course, my duty is to serve the order in
whatever capacity they desire"
Would you accept if nominated 2"
eyes. 1t would be an honor that
would esteem"
SIT has been stated that at the next
convention of the order steps will be
taken to so amend the bylaws as to take
the power of ordering a strike out of the
hands of the chairmen of district assem-
blies and vest it in the chief executive or
general board. What do you think of
that ?"
~ know it (excitedly); know such a
scheme is on foot, and shall fight it with
all my energy and SO will my friends. |
don't believe in centralizing the power in
one man. believe in diffusing it even
more than it is now, and making it i'm
possible for the chairman of Joint as
sembly to order q strike unless each local
assembly votes in favor of it. We have
had an example of the evil of placing too
much power in one man in the case OF
Chief Arthur of the engineers"
''What do you think of Mr.. Powderly ?''
~ think he is an honest man, but be.
lieve that he has acted unwisely in the
strike. Look ut the effect of his iudg-
ment. Why, as a matter of fact, it is
costing the order more to-day to maintain
the men out of employment than it-did to
keep up the strike. say he is honest
mind you, but he has acted mighty queer. Vi
I'm what way has he acted queer ?"
SIN every way. He began to talk about
arbitration the minute the trouble came
| mp in Missouri, Kansas and Texas, He
wanted to arbitrate with the Missouri
Pacific officials, who had nothing to dc
with it. Afterward when l saw the roads
were combined secretly against working.
men and as q bluff stated that would
declare general strike he stepped right
in and said no, that l shouldn't do it
And that is not all. He began arrange
ments for arbitration without even con.
srlting me. was not considered in the
matter at ALL"
Should he have seen you first ?"
"Of course. am, by virtue Of m,
| position, the chief of the order here. Hi,
conduct in ignoring me was not that of /
gentleman. 1t was discourteous in every
particular. Now am getting the blame
for his management. But never mind
1 am as delegate to the next convention
of the Knights, and think shall be able
to set myself right upon the floor there
l think that it will be seen by what i,
done there that the Knights endorse my
action"
Mr.. Irons also stated that he would
leave shortly for the east, where he would
lecture upon the labor question. 1t wai
intimated in this connection that hi,
errand would also include little LOOKING
after the chances of his candidacy fol
general master workman.