The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-12-23
TERENCE v.
Sketch Of the Life of the Great Labor
Leader-Re-elected Grand
Master Workman of the
Knights of Labor.

which he has so long filed with credit to
himself and advantage to the order. He
stands to-day the best equipped leader in
the army of labor. His high ideal lifts
him to a moral attitude that makes him
honored by the best of the land. Pow
derly's superiority has made some small
men jealous and led them to malign him.
But he stands to day far above all of his
detractoTs, as / representative Of reform
and champion of human rights.
We print a short sketch of MS life,
copied fro n the Journal of the Knights
of Labor:
7. V. Powderly was born Jan. %, l849,
in the city Of C~arbondale, at the head of
the famous Lackawanna Vail ", Pa. His
parents, who came from Ireland, were
sturday, honest people, who dignifed
labor by working hard and making their
home happy and contented with the fruits
Of their toll. Their boy, Terence, went
to school in the pioneer City," as
Carbonate was called, until he reached
the age of l3, when he felt that the time
had arrived for doing something more
practical, and founo employment with
The Delaware and Hudson Canal company,
guarding a point at which a number of
Oil NV 1ICuCS WCIC pldSCO " prevent
any tempering with them. That he did
this work well faithfully was shown by
the fact that at the age of IA he was ap-
pointed by the same company to the re-
sponsible )8ition of car examiner When
he reached II years Of age he was ap
prentiCed to learn the trade of machinist
in the Delaware and Hudson shops. He
was quick to learn and to plan, and proved
n ~nn& foro,S4o - -. 4~~l~-4-C 80
fellow workmen, notwithstanding the
buoyant spirit which frequently tempted
him to play pranks on those ABOUT him,
who could understand and appreciate a
good joke and make allowances for those
ebullltiOns of hu nor which are character
istic of the f~un-loving, happy-hearted boy.
After serving three years at this trade he
went to Scranton, and. at the age of 90,
was employed in the locomotive shop of
the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company. From the first he
was a close student and a keen observer
of events, and as his field of observation
widened he managed to keep pace with
it in storing his mind with knowledge.
His first entrance into a labor organiza-
ton was in 1871, VIII n he joined the Ma
| chinlsts' and Blacksmiths' Union of Scran-
ton He was elected Presiden5 of the
subordinate union to which he belonged
in 1872, and in the same year was united
in marriage to the bright and gracious
woman who still rules at his domestic
hearth. In the year 1873, some three
weeks after Jay Cookies failure, Mr..
Powderly was discharged from the Della
ware, La .kaWanna and Western shops
because Of his activity in union matters.
His counsel and his course was always
conservative, but the history of labor
movements shows that such men are in
variaoly among the first to suffer when
there is any considerable clash between
capital and labor. After his discharge,
Mr.. POwderly was made to feel keenly
the penalties of mourning the displeasure
of corporate power, and the injustice to-
ward lin would make an interesting
story in itself. There is no room for it
here, however, and, as he was never a
M an to make capital out Of his personal
grievances, I do not think he would ap-
preciate the indus Try of the chronicler
wko made this feature of his career prom
inent. Like every strong man who 1as
an abiding faith in his own ability to
triumph in the long run, Mr.. Powderly
was always patient to suffer. Indeed, a
chapter more thrilling than any written by
Chas. Reade in his libelous romance on
labor, entitled "Put Yourself in His
Place." might be written Of Mr.. Pow
derly's experience right here, showing
the tyrannous use of the bla k list against
an honest mechanic by a malignant and
narrow-mindel boss, and giving the re-
verse side Of the British novelist'S lurid
pict ire. This is not the purpose of the
present sketch, however. Being unable
to find work IN this region because of the
unreasonable prejudices against labor
unions, Mr.. Powderly went West. He
worked for some time in Gallon, Ohio,
and OIL City, Pa, and in 1875 came back
to Scanton and was employed by the
Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company IN the
erection of the new steel works then in
course of construction. When the ma
chinery was al! ia place M Powderly
went to w TX f II the Dickson Manufac-
turing Company in its locomotive dep art
ment at the Cliff works, where he con-
tinued until April, 1877, when the com
pGny suspended all it, employees for want
of orders. Mr.. Powderly's p4iical life
in Scsnton began in 1878 he being elected
Mayor of that city on the 18th of Febru-
airy, after a stormy campaign. His clean
and creditable administration commanded
the respect of even those who were most
bitterly opposed to him as a candidate and
who protested to fear that the city would
go to the dogs" if a representative of
la DOR was chosen as it's chief magistrate.
Mayor Powderly introduced many re-
forms. His message to the Councils al
ways sparkled with practical suggestions;
he gave the appointment Of an efficient
police force his careful attention; and the
verdi t of the unbiased, before half his
term was served, was tina Scranton had
never a better mayor. He was re- elected
in 1880 and again il 1882. But it is as a
member of the Knights of Lab pr, and for
m my years the ruling spirit Of that great
order. of which he is now the chief, that
Mr.. Powderly is best known and will be
longest remembered. He joined the or
ganization in 1876, FINALLY, although he