Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-11

The H. OF l.. Side Of the Question.
Mr.. T. V. Powderly, the master workman Of
the Knights of Labor, has written an open let
ter to Secretary Foster very severely critcising
his conduct with relation to the attempt to set
tie the controversy with the discharged plate
printers.
In opening his letter he says:
''You have given out the impression that the
primary cause of the diffc ulty lay in the de-
mand of a Knight of Labor for the discharge
Of a colored girl with whom he refused to work.
In answer to- question put to you by Mr..
Cavanaugh as to what led to the trouble you
said: I'm id if know
''If you spoke truly to Mr.. Cavanaugh you
could have had no faith in your statemen ts to
the public as made through the press. If you
believed what you published you must have
told to Mr.. Cavanaugh that which you intended
TO be untrue. Within the last three days you
have given out garbled extracts from a letter
written 10y me to you. You have stated that the
contention is between rival organizations. You
have charged that we threatened the defeat of
Mr.. Mckinley in Ohio. You have congratu-
lated yourself on having tricked the general
officers of the Knights of Labor. / say that
you have done these things. and they must
have originated with you, TOR il has been our
purpose since the beginning to make nothing
public except that which was unav oidable.
Your exalted position a cabinet officer, the
minister of finance of our country and adviser
OF the chief magistrate of nation OF 81, 900, 900
| people. is indeed responsible one. Next to the
| presidency it is the most responsible Office in
the republic. You very aptly said to MIR. Dew
] lin on June 30: This is big place A place
| that was made great by Hamilton and q VIM
dom is indeed a big place. but it becomes only
| a vacuum when an artiicer in political trick
/ cry attempts to ill it,"
Mr.. Powderly denies that the employment Of
colored girls as helpers had anything to do
! with the trouble. One printer did complain
/ of being required to work with q colored girl
and the general executive board of the knights
refused to interfere in the case and the printer
| Is still at work in the bureau. THAT episode"
the letter says. cuts no figure in the argu-
ment, and the demagogic appeals to race preju-
nish the meat for misleading editorials in
many papers are based on nothing more tangi-
BILE than your hope to deceive the public
THE STEAM PRESS ISSUE.
The letter goes at length into the charges
made against Capt. Meredith by members Of
the assembly, and speaks Of several matters Of
controversy.
Away back Of all these things" the letter
adds. stand the patentees of the steam presses,
on which former official of the government
received a royalty, and who naturally felt
angry at the local assembly that exposed the
steal and deposed the stealer. The steam
presses cannot do the work as it should be done
In the highest style of the art; but q percent
| age of the profits, if given to Mr. Meredith.
would no doubt reconcile him to the use of the
| steam presses. The officers of L. A. 1887
stood between the government of the
United States and inferior workmanship
that could easily be counterfeited. They also
| stood between the chief of the bureau and
share Of the profits. II these things were not
known to the Secretary Of the Treasury they
should be made known to him and not to the
public, for they reflected not alone on officials,
but on every American citizen"
The discussion of the controversy with the
late Secretary Window is reviewed.
THE ALLEGED THREATS AGAINST M'KrNLEr
With relation to the statement that the
knigh;shad made threats against Mckinley Mr.
Powderly says: Even after the termination of
the interview which you held with Messrs.
Devlin and Hayes early in June We remained
silent, and when our board met in Columbus,
Ohio, the newspapers that were friendly to you
were the first to charge us with making threats
! to defeat Mai Mckinley. We made no threats
eloquently than words sometimes. Previous to
the meeting OF our board at Columbus and the
meeting held between Senator Sherman, Mai.
Mckinley and yourself at Mansfield YOU dis
cussed the settlement of this matter with Mr..
Cavanaugh, the general worthy foreman of this
order, and told him you would bring it up at
the Mansfield meeting"
THE LETTER TO JORDAN.
Speaking Of the conference between the Sec
Rotary and Devlin and Cavanaugh, Mr.
Powderly says: "At that meeting you wrote q
letter to Mr.. Jordan, signed it, and handed it
to Mr.. Devlin. You did not ask him for it
again; and as he was directed to get an ac-
knowledgment Of some kind from you over
your signature of the injustice done the plate
printers, he did right in retaining it
You have stated that the letter was stolen
from you. That is either an error Of speech or
judgment on You part But let the letter speak
for itself. 1t is as follows:
TREASURY DEPARTMENT. WASHINGTON,
Mr. Jordan: Sir-In accordance with an under.
standing arrived at with MIR. Devlin and Mr.. Cays-
naugh it was agreed that the seven discharged by
the bureau Of engraving and printing Of which you
one, all to he reemployed in the places held by
them when discharged Mil you please sdvse whether
you desire to be 30 re-employedf
Yours truly. CHAS. FOSTER.
He accuses the Secretary Of trying to put one
labor organization against another and SAYS:
'You, the Secretary of the Treasury of the
United States, boast Of having BY Q scuryv
trick hoodwinked labor organization into taf
ing 9 quarrel OF your hands. You may cali
that statesmanship; its proper name Is du-