The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-27
TOM BARRY'SLABORAR
A NEW LEADER IN THE FIELD
OF LABOR.


gether as the United Brotherhood.
a Coming Great Struggle for su-
premacy - Powderly's Dwindling
Forces and His Lost Power-W i'll
Gompers or Barry be Boss in q
Year,
(Copyighf)
NEW York, July 26.-Thers is a new
Richmond in the labor field; a man OF
strong physique, born leader Of men, and
fighter from the ground up. His name is
Thomas Barry and his home is in East Sagi-
nav, Mich. To his friends, however. he is
known simply as big Tom Barry. A
few years ago no man in America
had such a personal following as
Powderly. He was the leader of more
than half a million men. The or
ganIzation Of the knights of Labor was of
such kind that he had dictatorial power.
From brownstone palace in Philadelphia
he issued his ukases at will and they were
obeyed. The leaders of the great
political parties weighed his utterances as
they did those of no other man in the
United States, as being the utterances Of
one in position to influence, If not con-
voters
There is another labor leader now whose
standing is superior to that of Powderly, or
who at any rate is at the head of or alter
organization in point Of numbers. This IS
Samuel Gompers. bis rise to power has
been exceedingly rapid. The organization
that Powderly leads is but about one-third as
strong as it formerly was, and he himself is
at some extent discredtsd. The American
Federation Of Labor, on the con-
trary, has grown to a membership Of 600.-
600 In the east not SO much has
been heard of Barry OF late, although he is
not a tyro in labor matters, but is on the
contrary a veteran. Men who study labor
matters deeply say that in Barry there is a
man who, in the future, may supplapt both
Powderly ID Gompers. SO far as Pow
derby is concerned, it would be but consist
emit with retributive justice for Barry TO
humiliate him, for it was in the main owing
to Powderly that Barry was frozen out of
the Knights OF Labor. If he had been
otherwise than strong he might have been a
member still, and might, for that matter,
have held the place that Powderly holds
now. But he could not be used, and so the
clique that got control Of the order four
years ago aud then proceeded to ruin it de-
termined to get rid Of him. and finally sue
ceeded.
Barry was at one time the right hand man
of Powderly, was a member OF the general
execu i've board of the knights, and, next to
Powderly, was easily the most prominent
figure In the general assemblies of the order.
The manner in which he came to leave
the knights and TO inaugurate new move
ment, which may end III the building up of
an organization that will be more powerful
than the knights, is simple, and can be
easily told. About five years ago District
Assembly No. 40. K of L., which had its
L. Il
the strongest district assembly in the order.
Within this assembly was formed a
clique known as the "Home Club"
The members of this had but one purpose,
and that was to secure control Of
District Assembly 40, and through it
to dominate the whole order. In the first
project they succeeded without much
trouble The conspirators, if such they may
be called, then proceeded to capture the
general assembly that was to be held. They
planned well and shrewdly. Powderly
wanted to be reelected master workman.
He surrendered to the powerful New York
assembly, and SO saved himself Other
men who wanted something were also
secured, and an effort was made to con-
troll Barry, but it failed He would
not deal with the New York men. Then
strategy was resorted to. About the time
that tie general assembly was held in Rich
mond Barry was conveniently ordered to
the west TO take charge of a strike that was
on then. He went, and while he was away
the general assembly was held. The men
who were seeking to control the order
thought this would be a good time to
get rid Of Barry as a member of the
executive board, and they tried it.
They failed. His popularity was SO
great that despite his absence, and in spite
of the plotting against him he was re-
elected. In other respects the new clique
won a complete victory. Powderly struck
his colors without a struggle, and thereafter
was controlled by the New York contingent
How the order was mismauaged, how abor-
tive and disastrous strikes were entered
into, how men dropped out of the order by
the thousands and how the once magnif-
cent order dwinded is a matter of
recent history. Barry, throughout
all, opposed the = ruinous methods
and fell under the dispeasure of Powderly
and the others. Then came the convention
in the northwest about three years ago, and
Barry and the men who thought as he did
they represented many thousands of men
seeded from the regular organization, which
they declared had departed from its origi-
nal high aims and sound principles. The
dissidents met in Chicago and formed what
was at the time and for some time after
ward known as provincial Committee. y
the object being to form an organization of
the olscontenUeQ among the knights and
workmen generally, upon lines not dissimi-
lar to those upon which the order had been
originally run.
The efforts of this committee have been
largely successful, and they have resulted
In the formation of United brotherhood
of Labor" the chief figure of which is Tom
Barry, the ex-lieutenant of Powderly. The
present membership of this new orsaniza-
ton cannot be accurately calculated at this
time, as the new brotherhood is but in its
formative stage. 1t is estimated, however,
that from 100, 900 to $50, 900 men have be-
come members. Barry is hard at work now
perfecting the organization of the new
order, and is meeting with extraordinary
success in the west.
In the east no great efforts have as yet
been made to organize, but that is merely a
matter of the near future, and it will not
be long before the new organization will be
in the field fully equipped throughout the
country.
There will come battle royal between
three leaders. 1t fact, it is already on.
Powderly and Gompers are already at each
others threats, and Barry is hard at work
trying to benefit by the mistakes of both.
The fight between these three men cannot
but be interesting. Each is to some extent
dissimilar Barry is of Irish antecedents
so is Powderly. Gompers, born in England
is Of Hebraic extraction. Powderly is a