St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-21

tween Messrs. Powderly and Gompers
attracted a large crowd to the
Cooper Union tonight. Many were
unable to gain an entrance.
The executive board, Knights
of Labor, appeared on the platform at s
o'clock. Mr.. Powderly introduced
George Warner, of district assembly
253, as chairman. Alexander Wright,
of the executive board, was the first
speaker. After briefly stating the OBJ
ject of the meeting. namely. to discuss
the false accusations made against the
knights by the federation of labor,
he introduced Mr.. Powderly, who
was greeted with loud applause. Mr..
Powderly said he regretted the neces-
sity of this meeting. After reading
Mr.. Gompers' letter he invited Mr..
Warner to take the platform. Mr..
Warner said the board after consider
ing the letter had decided that as this
was regular meeting, called for
specific purpose. it would not be
proper to adopt Mr.. Gompers' sugges-
ton to give that gentleman half the
time of the meeting for purpose not
contemplated in the call. At this point
a body of about 200 men rose, as If by
Encouragement, and left the hall. Mr..
PowdeIly said: ''All who desire to
leave will please do so now, as
There Are Hundreds Outside
who cannot get in." This pertinent and
palpably true statement was received
with great cheering, and the effort of
the Seceders to break up the meeting
fell flat. In a moment the hall was
packed as full as before. When quiet
was restored Mr.. Powderly addressed
the meeting. He referred to certain
inSinuatiOnS made against the man
agement Of the Knights of Labor. He
denied that he was 1886 opposed to
the eight hour principle. He was OPP
posed, however, to certain methods OF
conducting an eight-hour movement.
He believed in practical measures.
A hiss. Geese and serpents hiss; we
are fighting them right along" said the
speaker. A voice: We're work
ing people here Here too"
reioined Mr.. Powderly. ut is prln-
ciple of our order that the man who
works with his brain or his jaw is a
laborer, as well as he who works with
his hands" Mr.. Powderly then read
documents showing that the knights
were the first to suggest the eight
hour principle. At the ST. Louis
convention they fixed May /,
1890, as the date for it. This
being so, how could thirty-eight men
speak for the whole crowd?" asked Mr..
Powderly. There was deafening APP
plause at this reference to the federation.
Mr.. Powderly. referring to the future
policy of the knights, said they would
continue, in the eight-hour movement,
to help those who are willing to help
themselves. He then went into an
analysis of the statement of the mem
bership of the federation. and asserted
that the large apparent membership was
made up by claiming Knights OF La
Dor as
Members of the Federation.
He denied that the bottle blowers (40.-
600 mem belonged to the federation.
They were Knights. The carpenters
and joiners were on the list as 2,070
members. He did not know how the
fact was. ca voice-"They don't be-
long to them" Mr.. Powderly--A
voice says they don't belong to
the federation. The brotherhood of
carpenters are claimed by them
1920. They do not number more than
$1,000, and they belong to US. After
going through the list in this way Mr..
Powderly concluded: II have taken
100, 900 from their claim of 100000, in
Guiding the $4,000 locomotive engineers
which they claimed. If l were
to send out such lying state
ment about our membership,
what would our critics say?"
The speaker then spoke of the differ
ences of method between the two Or
CARNATIONS. He sac the first trouble
between them occurred when the
Knights succeeded in having the wages
of cigarmakers increased. The man
little better than lunatic, and the
was so angry because he could not
control the organization that he was
now ready to oppose the best interests
of labor. He was one of the men who
would rather control something than
benefit somebody. Mr.. Powderly de-
clared that all wOrkingmen
Should Stand Together.
He was ready to resign in favor of
Mr.. Gompers if the wOrkingmen of the
country would unite under him as lead
The knights have long borne insult and
after as part of their duty
TO labor they will resent insult
and strike back when attacked"
While the big meeting was in progress
there was OH overflow meeting outside
the hall, which was addressed by I. B.
Mcclure, t. P. Quinn and j. F. Quinn.
Mr. Gompers. after receiving Mr.. Pow
derly's letter to-day, replied to the effect
that he believed Mr.. Powderly never ex-
pected his (Powderly's) challenge to
be accepted; or, if accepted, the
idea was to entrap him (Gompers) into a
packed meeting. If Mr.. Gompers had
not construed the letter as a challenge
and had not accepted it, the knights
would have claimed that it was chal-
lenge, and that it had not been met. He
accuses Mr.. Powderly of being a petit
logger and doubt-deaIer. Mr.. Gompers
added that he was ready at the meeting
or anywhere else to repeat and prove
all that he had ever said about the
knights, and he would attend the meet
ing under the conditions named in his
letter of yesterday if notified of their
acceDtance, MIR, GOmperS was not at