Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1890-10-06

piled in the latter quotation, want Il
say that the Southwestern strike failure
was no more Martin Irons Waterloo thar
it was Of the thousands Of other organized
men who were on that system before
the strike began, and the reason he il
selling peanuts" is because he wa
blacklisted by the railroad superintend
ents for endeavoring to discharge the
duties placed upon him by his fellow
workmen. Irons had no more to dc
with calling the Southwestern strike
than any other employe of the company
nor has ever the head Of any labor or
ganizatiou. That he suffered more by
the failure than the others was unjust
and that he was afterward deserted by
those who should have stood by his side
before the public was disgrace to or.
ganized labor and damage that it has
not yet been able to repair in the west
and southwest. If some of the editors
Of this country know as little about pea
nuts as they do of the labor movement
they are not competent to take the place
which they say Martin Irons now fills.
These recent references to Irons are in
a line with the frequent attacks made
by the same class Of papers upon the
walking delegate. They speak of the
latter as 1.-The irresponsible dictator, ''
who goes around at his own sweet will
ordering men to quit work, command
ing strangers to show their working
cards and the like. He is usually painted
as wearing diamond pin, carrying a
gold headed cane and smoking high
priced cigar. The truth is the walking
delegate never receives more than the
current wages in his trade-sometimes
less, and he hasn't even discretionary
power. The laws Of his organization.
and its instructions in special cases. are
his guides: he is simply a servant of his
union, to do its bidding. If he orders a
strike it is because he has been dispatched
with the order as the messenger whom
the men will recognize. The way the
public is deceived by the metropolitan
press on matters relating to labor organ
izations is simply infamous.
All these contests between railway
companies and their employees are doing
good in one direction, at any rate. The
people are asking, why should we be
annoyed and Inconvenience in this man.
ner; the railroads are public affairs. and
should not be left to the control of indi-
viduals who care nothing for the COM
mon veal, but only look out for them
selves?" That's the talk. and if it is only
followed up by the proper action some
thing will be sure to drop One man
says. II think the state should step i'll
and operate railway when accompany
is unable to do so. whether strike or
anything else is the cause of its failure"
Good as far as it goes; but why not for
ever relieve private individuals of the
which they are con-
tinually showing their hnwillingness to
fulfill. and take it out of their
power to annoy and inconvenience the
publicy The matter is very plain and
the people are beginning to see it. Will
the farmers movement take the lead.
and others who are tired of the aggrava-
tons and imrositions Of monopoly con-
troll of the most important public function
follow in 1902? We shall see.
If P. M. Arthur has one spark Of fell
low feeling for workingmen left in his
breast the taffy that the recognized or
gans of capitalism and enemies of labor
have given him recently must make him
ache As Mr.. PoWderly aptly said, the