Workmen's advocate., 1890-05-31

ADVOCATE could easily be filled with
 the various experiences of Mir. Clough
 during the last few years We shall
 state Tn brief that he was the instigator of
 the political move, according to his own
 confession. Weeks before he consulted
 some delegates and approached others.
 with some he succeeded. He met them
 somewhere near 35th street and Third
 avenue. The men he succeeded in in
 huencing were Matthew Barr, the walk
 ing delegate of the Tin X Sheet Iron
 Workers; George Warner, the walking
 delegate of the Housesmiths; Charles
 Rogers, the walking delegate of the Marble Workers, and Edward Conklin, of Progressive Painters Union No. l. These pushed the scheme through the .. l.. u,, although they did not succeed In what they really wanted to accomp- fish. Mir. Clough stated that there was money behind the Legislative Reform Party-"a few thousands" some got the lions share while the others got left.
 Delegate Henry Hicks, of the Stair builders Union, was one of the men who were approached" Here Clough met, however, most determined resistance. He said to Hicks: "You might as well come in; you are one of the prominent people there; it will be fixed anyhow, and you had better be one of the first than come in at the tail end. It will be formed sure."
 In describing the proceedings of the C. l.U. Mir. Hicks, who was Recording Secretary at the time, said: -Four or five weeks after Clough had spoken to me on the above subject the scheme was brought before the c. l.. U. not more than or minutes before the time of adjournment. After Barr had read the resolution the time was extended half an hour, though there were not more than Is or 20 delegates present. was the only one present who protested, declaring it was fraud and swindle and that the meeting was nothing but caucus, pre- meditated and prearranged. All the members who were proposed for the committee on political action accepted, except Harney from the Progressive Varnishers, and myself At the follow ing meeting of the c. L. U. the Miscel- i@- eous Section sent a protest, as did also the organization of which am a mem- Der. Was in favor of calling conven- tion of all the labor organizations of the city, though not in favor of having the c. L. U. used for such purpose. After election some member of the committee charged me with being the cause of the failure of the movement"
 Edward Thimme. a member of the Excelsior Labor Club, stated: "I can corroborate everything delegate Hicks said about the proceedings in the c. L. U. when the political game was foisted upon that body. l was of the opinion at the time that that move was genuine one in the direction of real reform. When l attended the con- vention of the so-called Legislative Re- form Party as reporter was satisfied that the whole game was fraud, and it's object poodle. After the opening of the convention l found that by actual count only 51 delegates were present When l asked Mir. Heating, the Secre- tary of the Committee on Credentials, for the names of the organizations rep. resented, he refused to give them or to even let me have look at them.
 "How is this [" I asked.
 q am not authorized to give the names,' he replied.
 But must have them"
 "The committee ordered me not to give them"
 "Well, 1 must have them, that's all. If I don't get them in time to give them also to the other reporters l shall de- nounce this whole thing as a swindle in my report tomorrow; so you know what to expect"
 "He seemed to be taken aback and said after moment he would see the committee about it. About half an hour later he gave me list of 24 organi- zations which he claimed were repre-. sented. A few weeks ago made sure that of these 24 at least II were not at the convention according to the statement of the chairman of the saw the credentials myself. After the on political action had been appointed by the c. L. U. made the of delegate Ciough, but only several months after election he himself to me and confessed that the Legislative Reform Party move ment was his work. He had consulted with Matthew Barr, Charles Rogers. Conklin and George Warner about it. They had met in some place uptown and had everything cut and dried before it was brought before the c. L U. That body, he claimed, could be influenced through half dozen men; it had been done before, and it could be done again. After telling me of the many schemes he had on hand-land speculation in New Jersey, a weekly paper, railroad contracts, etc.-I ex- pressed my surprise that he, a carpenter by trade, should have so many irons in the fire. He answered: "You don't know me yet; am not a mere working man." agreed with him on this point o nd ny, tryipu ta loo rn u hat ha xuao ha