The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-09-08
on the Homestead Troubles.

Would it not be well for Grover Cleve-
land, who, like his party, always quick to
catch at amy misfortune as chance to
make Democratic capital, absurdly refer
red to the Homestead strike as a result of
the Mckinley bill, to read the following
from MI. Powderly, Grand Master Of the
knights of Labor, in the journal of the
Knights of Labor. In a long letter on
Carnegie and pinkertonism, Mr.. Powder
ly says, among other things:
Partisan papers are endeavOring to make
political capital tut of the terrible scenes
which took place at Homestead the other
day. The Democratic papers are vehe
ment i'll their denunciation Of the Repub-
1ican party for enactng a tariff law under
facturers. There is no love for workmen
i'll the hearts of these editors; desire to
serve party interests alone actuates them.
Let us review the situation in brief.
Tariff laws could not be passed without
discussion, and in all OF the debates which
took place i'll Congress over the Mills and
Mckinley bills | can not find that a single
amendment was offered by Democrat to
give the workmen Il certain portion of the
tariff when collected. The Mills bill and
the Mckinley bill differ very little in the
duty on steel rails, plates etc. One was
a Democratic bill the other Republican.
The Mckinley bill reduced the duty on
the articles manufactured at Homestead.
The Democratic papers in asserting that
the trouble at that point is due to the Nc
kinley bill are but condemning the very
thing that they themselves advocate and
on which they base their claim to power
"a reduction Of the tariff The Pinker-
tons existed before the Mills bill was in
troduced i'll Congress, and that institution
continues to flourish now that the Mckin-
ley bill is i'll force. Whether the tariff
went up OF down, disputes between EN-
ployer and employed would continue.
Workingmen are not the fools that politi-
clans believe them to be, for we do not
feel that the coming of the millennium de
ponds upon the way Congress legislates
on the tariff,
Ii our Democrats, who are so eager to
make political capital out of this difficult
ty, will lend me their ears, | will whisper
to them that Representative Watson, of
greSs for the last four OF five months
which aims at the abolition Of the Pinker-
tons as a factor in the industrial life OF the
United States. The Democratic party has
a sweeping majority in Congress; it has a
full knowledge Of the acts Of the Pinker-
tons on previous occasions. | have pre-
sented evidence enough to Congress to
prove that the Pinkerton is an enemy to
American liberty. That Democratic ma
jority has a knowledge OF the existence of
Watson bill, and it has up to the present
time dillied and dallied with it and has no
idea of passing it. eve have petitioned
for redress have endeavored to get the
the ear of Congress, but ''our repeated
petitions have been answered only by re-
peated injury" and civil war at Home
stead. Democratic editors who now rave
about the Pinkertons and condemn the
Republican party for their actions at
Homestead would lend an air of sincerity
to their writings if they would but demand
of the majority, held by their own party
in Congress, to pass the law which will
wipe the Pinke1tons from the soil of
America.