The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-04-22

A.
PACIFIC RAILROAD, NEW YORK: Have tele-
graphed West for particulars. Papers say
strike caused by discharge of man nam cd
Hall Can he be reinstated pending invesu
CATION
lSlgneil T. V. PowDERLT.
NEW YORK March s. 1886.
T. v PowDERLT Thanks for your mes
sage and suggestion Hall was employed oy
the Texas & Pacific, and not by us. That
property is in the hands of the United States
Court, and we have no control Whatever
over the receivers or over the employees We
have carried out the agreement made last
spring in every respect, and the present
strike Is unjust 70 Us and unwise Tor YOU 1t
is reported here that THE movement here is
the result of Wall street Influence on tue
part OF those short of the securities likely to
be affected.
lSignedl A L. HOPKINS.
This dispatch you never answered. This
correspondence places fhe continuance OF
the strike on vour shoulders You sat
still and was silent after Mr.. Hopkins ur-
on. allowed the companys property to be
forcibly seized and the citizens of four
States and one Territory 70 be deprived OF
their righttul railway facilities. Thus
forced, the board Of directors, prior to my
return. placed the matter into Mr. HoXie's
hands by formal resolution. and that dis
position of il has never been changed fcu
know this well because you had cor
respondsnce with him on this sub
ject. Hence it was that when Mr..
Turner, secretary of your order, wrote to
me on the subject 1 fully adviaed him him
in my letter of March - that the matter had
been placed by the board in the hands of Mr..
Hoxi-, and that must refer you to him a.
its continuing representative. At the same
time l reminded you that a standing adver-
tisement of this company was At that mo-
ment inviting its former employees to return
to their posts. and that regardless of their
being, or not BENZ, members of your
order. and regardless also of
their individual participation IN the
strike which your order mad recently inau-
gurafed. When, in spite of all this. you de
sired TO see me personally, cord ally met
you, and. having put myself in cOmnunica-
ton with Mr., Hoxe, arranged with him for
you the following, which was widely pub
lished by you at the time:
NEW YORK. March So
MARTIS Irons. Sr. LOUIS: Have been in
conference all day, with the result thatVice
Presidents Hoxie agrees 10 the following:
''Willing to meet committee of our EN-
ployes without discrimination. who are
actually at work in the service of the COM
pany AT the time such committee is ap
pointed, to adjudciate with them any griev-
ances taat they may have. Have your ex-
work. and also select a special committee
from the employees of the Missouri Pacific TO
walt on Mt. HoXi" TO adjust any difference.
Do this "a quickly as possible. Board will
leave for St Louis tomorrow.
lsignedI FRED'K TURNER.
Secretary.
Ever since then Mr.. Hoxie has stood ready
to receive any and all persons In the actual
employ or TINS com Dany as committee OF
otherwise, and confer upon or arbitrate any
matter o. difference or complaint either
between the company and themselves or De-
tween the company and its late employees,
and for that matter. between the company
and any body else. No such committee or in
dividual employe has so far as known TO me
ever made such application.
In this come ction il Will De rem rendered
that they left, not because of any complaint
whatever of this company's treatment OF
themselves, but only because OF the COM
To nd
that this company refuse to do what the law
requires in the way of interchange of bust
ness with another company with which some
OF your order had a quarrel.
In the meantime this company has of ne
cessity gone on to extend emplOyment to
such of those persons who recently, and
without even alleged provocai ion, left its
service. as saw mt to return. These return
ing employees have been very many, and in
this way IT'S rolls are already nearly, if not
quite, as full a. its shops and equipment,
crippled by acts OF violence attendant
upon the reject action of your order,
can employ. Mr.. Hoxie advises me
to be received back has been employed,
unless believed to have taken part in re-
cent acts OF violence. This company still
stands ready t. make good in the fullest
sense of agreement as expressly set
forth. In the face of all this you notify
me that unless by five O'Clock personally
consent to somethn2-precsel what DO
not see - then personal consequences
of sort vaguely expressed, but
not hard to understand. will at the
hand OF YOUR order be visited upon me. Let
me again remind you that it IS an American
citizen whom you and your order thus pro-
pose 20 destroy. The contest is not between
your order ami me, bnt between your order
and the laws of the land. Your order has
already defied those laws in preventing by
violence this company from operating it's
road. You held then that this company
should not operate its road under condi-
tons prescribed by law ,but only under condi
tionS prescribed by YOU. You now declare in
effect that hold my individual property and
rights. not as other men hold theirs. but
only at the peril Of your letting loose ir-
revocably. after i've o clock, your order up
on me. il this is true of this company ana
of me, it is true of all other men and com
panies. It so. You and your secret order are
the law. and an American citizen is such
only in name.
Already for W eeks your order have, in
your attacks upon this company. not hest
tated to disable it by violence from render
ing its duty to the public and from giving
work and paying wages TO men at least
three times your own number, who, work
ing, AS they w-re. by your side, were, at
least, deserving OF your sympathy.
Having pushed this violence beyond even
the great forbearauce of the public, and
found in this direction cause to hesitate, you
now turn upon me and propose that the
the public shall now cuiminate in an attack
upon an individual. In this. as have said.
the real issue is between you and the laws of
the land.
1t may be before you are through that
those laws will efficiently advise you that
even /, individual citizen. am not
beyond their care. Very respectfully,