Western appeal., 1888-03-03
.PoWDERLYs POSITION.

Plain Talk to the knights of Labor by
Their Chief-A Bitter Attack on Chief
| Arthur and the Observation-Disclosures Ac-
ton in Previous Strikes Denounced,
but The Knights Are Urged 10 Forego
Retaliative Measures-Progress of tho
Strike.
PHILADELPHIA. Feb 30 - The following
letter is furnished the Associated Press:
SCRANTON, Pa, Feb. 2s-A reporter comes
ito me this morning and asks what my opinion is
| concerning the strike of the engineers on the
Chicago, Burlington s Quincy railway. The
expression of opinion is required as to
whether / favor the taking of the places
/, of Brotherhood men by knights of
Lator. 1 have nothing to say concerning the
matter OF the strike on the road in question.
for do not know the particulars, but If the
men are making an effort to do away with the
European custom 81 grading men up and down,
| regardless of merit then they are right for
| making the fight for equality. My opinion of
| the man who takes the place of another
who is struggling for his rights is that
he deserves the contempt and scorn of
every man who loves justice. 1t is
| true that members of the Brotherhood
have on repeated occasions taken the places
I! of the knights of Labor It is true that away
bacn in the early days of the '70s Brotherhood
men did the same thing with the machinists
and backsmiths at the command of their chief.
1t is true that the Brotherhood men stabbed
| the knights Of Labor in the back
on the Southwest system, not only by
taking their places, but by urging
them to strike with the proffer of assist
ance if they would Go so. 1t is true that the
knights were used as cats paws by the
Brotherhood men in that struggle, and it is
true that many engineers were burned in rak-
| ing out chestnuts for Others It is true that
| brotherhood men did take the places of Read
| SrSr. t1,nr rf,,i-D mi
| OF the various cases herein mentioned have
nothing TO do with the principle OF honor which
is involved in all Of them
. 1t is to the eternal shame of the Brother
hood men that they stopped to suca acts of
| meanness and treachery and unmanly conduct
The man who takes the place of another when
| that other is engaged in struggle with cor
poration is scab whether he be a member OF
the knights OF Labor or a member of the
| brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
| When Charles Wilson ordered members
of the Brotherhood to take the places
| of members Of the Machinists and Blacksmiths'
Union in 1877! and 1878 he did an unmauly, cow
ardly act When Arthur allowed the members
of the Brotherhood over which he exercised
| such discipline. to tamper with the rights of
the striking employees of the Missouri Pacific
| and Wabash system, two years ago, he, too,
| violated that principle of honor which should
| restrain a man when about to do wrong
|
! question were not ordered by the chief
! officers OF the Kn ghts of Labor. If the men
| who are interested feel that they were right,
and took up the fight as employees, regardless
! OF what organization they belonged to, and on
their own responsibility, they had the right to
| do so; and under the laws of the land member
| OF the Brotherhood were not obliged to make
| cravens of themselves, as many of them did,
| both on the Southwest system and in the Read
ing Strike
| 1.-THE taking of the mems places was mean
and dastardly.' If these actions were taken
with the sanction OF the chief of the Brother
hood, he. too, is mean and dastardly but
| two wrongs never make q right and
what is mean and dastardly IN u men,
| Der of the Brotherhood of Engineers can not
become grand and noble in member of the
order of Knights of Labor. No Knight of La
Dor should belittle his manhood by stooping to
such dirty work. If it is the habit of The
brotherhood men to do such work as the talk
| ing OF strikers places, in Heavens name let
| them have monopoly of it.
| knights OF Labor, il you take my advice
| you will stand back and allow this struggle to
go on. Let the Brotherhood demonstrate it's
power to stand alone, without any EN-
tangllng alliances with those OF
other trades. Let the past be forgotten in
this strike. No matter how bitter you
may feel toward these men, remember that
they have not stepped out OF the rut of selfish
ness yet, and it is best to teach them what
manhood means by keeping your hands off the
Chicago, Burlington Quincy strike. The
spectacle presented by men of labor who
belong to different organizations rushing
at each others throats whenever d strike
takes place must he a graf flying thing for the
employers of labor to look at. 1t must indeed
| give satisfaction to the corporations to know
That neither Knights OF Labor or Brotherhood
men dare IN future ask for better treatment W. tn
soHng thought to the monopolist TO know that
| his power is not half so dangerous to the labor
organizations as the possibility that another
| labor organization will espouse his cause,
through revenge. Labor will forever be bound
hand and foot at the feet of capital as long as
one working. man can be pitted against the
other. No strike should be entered
into until the court of last resort has been
| reached, until the last effort consistent with
| manhood had been made, until the heads of
the opposing forces both sides have
| been consulted and their verdict given ::
until the last bridge has been burned
between them. Then if it was deter mined
that the last thing possible had been done to
avert trouble, every detachment of labor; S
| army-horse, foot and artllery-should be
wheeled into line in defending the rights of the
4 men in the breach have never seen such a
strike and never expect to until the narrow
preludices of the past are buried: until the
stood. Then We will have no strikes. .
knights of Labor from Maine to California,
stand back. Keep your hands Off. Let the law
of retaliation be disregarded, and let the men
OF the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad
win this strike if they can.
ct V. POwDERLY,
General Master Workman"
PROGRESS OF THE STRIKE.
CHICAGO Feb. 29.-The Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy engine-men are still out and
there is no prospect OF a speedy ending OF
the strike. The road hired a number Of new
engine-nlen Yesterday and ran its passen-
ger trains with some degree of regularity.
No freight was handled In several in
stances it was reported that other
roads had attempted to send engines
over the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
tracks to handle freight ours assigned to
them OF had carried Chicago, Burliny ton &
Quincy ticket holders over their roads
The Brotherhood engineers, as rule, re.
fused to move a pound of Chicago, Bur
1ington & Quincy freight, and were warmly
commended for it by their brethren
Some OF the leaders of the strikers asserted
that unless the other roads ceased interfer.
ing the men on their lines would be ordered
out The strikers said they were not interfer-
ing with the Burlington Companys efforts tc
secure new men and they would not per-