The Progress. [volume] (White Earth, Minn.) 1886-1889, 1888-03-10
PowDERLY's POSITION.

POWDERLY'S POSITION.
Plain Talk to the knights of Labor BY
Il Their Chief-A Bitter Attack on Chief
i Arthur and the Brotherhood-Their Acc
i ton in Previous Strikes Denounced,
but the knights Are Urged to Forego
i Retaliative Acknowledgment or the
i Strike.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb 20. =. The following
letter is furnished the Associated Press:
SCRANTON, Pa, Feb. 28.-A reporter comes
4 to me this morning and asks what my opinion is
concerning the strike Of the engineers on the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railway. The
| expression of opinion is required as to
whether I favor the taking OF the places
j of Brotherhood men by knights OF
Lat or 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 On effort to do away with the
European custom of 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
Of the Knights OF Labor. It is true that away
BAGS in the early days of the '7Os Brotherhood
men did the same thing with the machinists
and blacksmiths at the command of their chief.
tt 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 II they would Go so. It 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
Ing men in the strike on that road. The merits
OF the various cases herein mentioned have
nothing to do with the principle OF honor which
! is involved in all OF them.
sit is to the eternal shame OF the Brother
hood men that they stopped to such 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 member of
| the Knights OF Labor or 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 unmanly, 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
ana Wabash system, two years ago, he, too,
violated that principle OF honor which should
restrain man when about to do wrong.
It mattered not that the strike in
| 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 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 members
| of the Brotherhood were not obliged to make
| nFf hoy eo1v a:l
both on the Southwest system and in the Read.
| ing strike.
| "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 a men,
| Der of the Brotherhood of Engineers can not
become grand and noble in a 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 q monopoly of it. g..
Is knights OF Labor, II you take nv 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
i
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 threats whenever strike
takes place must he graf tying 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
any assurance OF receiving it. It must be con-
| sOling 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 on both sides have
been consulted and their verdict given;
until the last bridge has been burned
between them. Then il it was determined
that the last thing possible had been done t.
avert trouble, every detachment Of labor
army-horse, foot and artllery-should be
wheeled into line in defending the rights of the
men in the breach I have never seen such a
strike and never expect to until the narrow
prejudices OF the past are buried: until the
principles of knighthood are properly under.
stood. Then We will have no strikes.
" Knights of Labor, from Maine to California,
stand back. Keep your hands OF. Let the law
Of retaliation be disregarded, and let the men
OF the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad
win this strike II they can. .sas..-..
! "T. v. PowDER1Y,
! "General Master Workman"
4 PROGRESS OF THE STRIKE e"
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 number of new
engine-men yesterday and ran It's passen-
ger trains with some degree of regularity.
No freight was handled In several in
stances 1t was reported that other
roads had attempted to send engines
over tho Chicago, Burlington 4 Quincy
tracks to handle freight cars assigned to
them or had carried Chicago, Burling ton &
Quincy ticket-holders over their roads
The Brotherhood engineers, as rule, re-
fused to move q pound of Chicago, Bur
lington 4 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 interior