The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-08-21
PONDRRLY'S TESTIMONY
Before the immigration Investi-
eating Committee.
HUNGARIAN .PAUPER LABOR
And How 1t Crowds Out American
workingmen--suggestions off
form-The Utter Depravity OF
Foreign Immigrants.

iorm-The Utter DepraTty OF
Foreign Immigrants.
D NEW YORK, August 20.-Coliector Ma
| gone was the first witness examined be
fore the Congressional committee OF
immigrant abuses. Witness said h,
| never uses authority iu prohibiting un
desirable persons from landing, unlesl
the Emigration Commissioners will cal
his attention to the matter. He citeG
, and read sections Of the amendatory
laws to support this action. While Mr..
Magone was testlfying, General Master
Workman 7. V. Powderly, OF the
Knights OF Labor, entered the room and
took seat. Witness had n report some
two months ago that some stone cutters
had arrived under contract. He mott.
fed the Emigration Board and received
a reply that the stone cutters had not
come under contract. Witness claimed
that the responsibility OF allowing i'm
migrants to land rested entirely with the
Emigration Commissioners. Witness
thought the enforcement OF the law
should be LETT solely to the Federal au-
thoritics Witness had investigated
Capt. Bells stories about false naturli-
zatiOn, and found them false.
General Master Workman POwderly
was next sworn. He said that the order
! IN nrV RtutKI Il
bersabout G00, ,0O0nembersin the United
States. He said it excludes from its
ranks bankers, lawyers, rum sellers,
loafers and professional politicians. A
professional politician, lie said, was n
man who is to be seen on election day
with hand stretched out for Doodle. On
the subject Of imported contract labor,
Mr.. Powderiy said the system was IL
most reprchensible one. Those foreign
ers who come here under such condi-
tions, are grossly immoral, and the in
tluence which ordinary foreigners meet
in this country never reach these com
petitors with honest labor. They are
brought here under promises OF lands
and great prosperity, which they never
realize. Describing the condition OF
|
Powderly said it was scarcely describa-
bic. IL the roai regions the native
miners have been driven out OF their
employment by Hungarans and other
cheap foreign workingmen, who live in
aiilthy state.
They live on the cheapest kind of food,
so that American minners cannot COM
pete with them. TheirslCepingquarters
are simply disgusting. Their immoral
ity, the witness said, was startling. lie
told Of conversation he had with an
abandoned woman, who acted as house
keeper for eight Hungarians. Those
llungarians, he said, never learnt the
English language, and herd together un-
til they die or return to their native
country. They never become Ameri-
canized. The universal opinion OF
American workmen, said Mr.. Powdetly,
is that men who work along the line OF
the Pennsylvania railroad-Hungarians
and Italians who are designated only by
brass checks hung on the pantaloons- =
are not desirable. American citizens.
They bear no names, and their checks
are frequently changed to cheat them
out OF their wages. Germans, he found,
took d pride in learning the English
Language. He thought no person should
be admitted 10 citizenship until he was
able to lead and understood the Dcclar-
alton OF Independence and the Consti-
tuition Of the United States. OF course
foreigners should not be kept out OF the
country until they were able to do this,
but our consuls abroad should enquire
and report on the character OF every man
who leaves foreign countries for the
United States,
Reverting to the Pennsylvania miners
Mr.. Powderly said that many instances
were in his knowledge OF injury sustain.
ed by Hungarian and other foreigners
because OF their inability to read danger
signals.
"They live principally on salt pork
and corn meal" said Mr.. PowdGrly,
"and they have no scruples us to whose
chickens they steal"
Mr.. Powdcrly told the committee OF
the cases Of imported contract labor oC-
curing years ago which led the Knights
Of Labor to have the bill drawn up,
which, after amendment, was passed.
Violation and evasions OF the law, he
said, should not be punished by fine
but imprisonment. Mr.. Oates asked the
witness to inform the committee OF cases
Of the importation OF contract labor
which came within his knowl-
edge, and he instanced the Bar.
bour Flax Mills US place where
it was in practice All stipulated immi.
grafton, no matter OF what nationalities,
were Objectionable. A person who
comes here OF his own free will to better
his condition is perfectly satisfactory,
no matter from what country he comes.
The on ly foreigners excluded from the
Knights OF Labor are the Chinese"
what is the object OF your Order?"
asked Mr.. Oates.
"The protection OF American labor"
replied Mr.. Powderiy.
"In what manner?"
"As to wages, its condition in work
shops, mills and its home circle"
In reply TO u question from Mr..
Spinola, Mr.. Powderly said that trusts
in this country are n menace to the well
fare OF the public generally and are or
ganized in the interest OF the few to con.
troll the output, limit the production,
smother small aggrcgations OF capital in
the same business, or crush them out
entirely.
"Then you don't agree that trusts
are private concerns, which Legislators
have no right 10 eoHtrolP"
"Decidedly not; we regard them in
the same way that we do highwaymen." :"
"You think then that these trusts are
detrimental to the general interests OF
the country?"
"They are and should be wiped ont Of
existence"
Gladstone Slnn,In by pnrnell.