The great West., 1889-12-13
THE GREAT CONVENTION.
Of Farmers and Labor
erS at st. Louis.

Union Of Farmers and Labor
ers at ST. Louis.
The first days session was largely
consumed in speechmaking by Off
cials of st. Louis and the State OF
Missouri, and the responses by mem
bers OF the organizations. In one OF
the responses, Pres't Burrows with
drew to bring forward Mr.. A. j.
Streeter, candidate on the National
Labor ticket last year.
Mr.. Streeter took the ground that
the union of the general laborer with
the tiller of the soil was necessity
due to common interests. He was
cheered almost continuously.
The Northern Alliance held a meet
ing the first day to appoint a COM
mittee to confer with the Southern
Alliance and the Farmers and Lab
orers' Union on basis of union.
At the same time the distinctive
National Alliance assembled with 70
delegates.
Knights of Labor were everywhere,
and the enthusiasm for a grand COM
bination OF all labor organizations
only awaited the arrival of Master
Workman Powderly, the stalwart
chief OF the K. of L.
Mr.. Powderly arrived Wednesday,
and addressed the throng.
In the evening OF the 4th inst. ad-
dresses were made at Turner, Hall.
Mr.. Beaumont, lecturer of the even
ing spoke for two hours, and then
there were calls for more. He mi
nutely detailed the building of the
PACIFIC RAILROAD
and the governments relation and
responsibility thereto. Said he:
CATER 20 years how does our ac-
count stand with these Pacific rail
roads! We have paid, in interest on
these bonds, out OF the public treas
ary, upwards OF $5O,OOO,OOO. We
stand responsible for the principal Of
$6O,OOO,OOO more. We gave them
$52, 900, 900 worth of land and what
have we got to show for it? Why
we have got second mortgage on
the road, and a European syndicate
holds the first mortgage. The gov
ernment furnishes thepublic credit to
build these roads. Did these COM
panies, when they received this credit,
allow American labor to earn it
Not a bit of it. They made a con-
tract with the six Chinese companies
of San Francisco to furnish $4,000
Cinnamon for three years at $15 per
month and found, and agreed to car
ry their bones home to China in case
they died on their hands. The rea-
son that they did not hire American
labor was that the price at that time
was $500 per day." The speaker
then passed to the incorporation OF
trades unions, during which he said
many trite things, chief of which was
that "the average workingman's
brains are in his belly, and he begins
to think and reason when he gets
hungry"
Mr.. Beaumont paid his respects to
the tariffites, illustrated how the
Pennsylvania laborer suffered under
the tariff policy. His speech was
brilliant throughout and deserving
of extended circulation.
100000 VOTES.
The 5th inst, Thursday, was an
eventful day in the "bloodless revolu-
tion." A combination of the various
bodies of laborers was Effected
bracing 1000, 900 voters, and the
great middle Glass; of the land.
Mr.. Powderly and President Evan
Jones announced that the next issue
of the Labor Journals of the country
would be able to publish the OASIS OF
confederation, and the glad news
published to the world that farmers
and wage workers are now united in
the great conflict to overcome class
legislation. Delegates to the conven-
tion were with but few exceptions,
radiant last night over the consum-
nation OF the movement begun last
spring, and at their various hotels
the presence of local Knights of
Labor was significantly noticeable.
In the midst of the fraternal jubilee
appeared Gen. J. B. Weaver of Iowa,
and the famous Greenback immed-
| iatelv became q central figure. second