Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-01-30
A PRIEST OF THE PEOPLE
Cardinal Manning's Quiet Work
For the K. of [.
The English Prelate ~Journeyed to Rome
and Through His Great Inhu-
ence Saved the Order From
the Papal Ban.

CHICAGO, Jan. 23.-More or less COM
ment has been occasioued in labor cir
cles throughout the country by the
published statement that Immediately
upon the death of Cardinal Manning
being made known in this country a
lengthy message expressive of sorrow
and regret was cab ed to London from
Philadelphia by the executive board of
the Knights of labor.
Back of this cablegram there is n
piece of hitherto unpublished history
the facts of which have, SO far, been
known to less than a dozen people on
this side of the Atlantic. There are
papers today in secret archives, which
could they be made public, would prove
beyond question that had it not been for
the personal efforts of the late cardinal
and his influence with the vatican the
Knights of Labor would today be un-
der the ban of the Catholic church as
an obnoxious and dangerous secret So
ciety. The order was, in fact, outside
of the pale of the church for several
years, and its members were refused
the sacraments, the right of making
confession, and the last rites OF the
church. The late cardinal, as Is well
known, was a great believer in organ
lied labor and for many years prior to
his death he championed the cause of
many branches of the laboring classes
of England and other trades
unions. Over five years ago
his attention was attracted by the
work which was being done in this
country by the Knights of Labor and
as "a result communication was
opened up between himself and Car
dinal Gibbons, and then between the
latter and General Master Workman
Powderly, with the result that the
late cardinal was furnished with n
copy of the rules and objects of the or
g~anization and Il report of h work
that it had SO far accomplished. After
considering the matter for some time
the cardinal became convinced hat the
order was one upon which the papal
see should look with favor,
instead of disfavor. and upon
the occasion of his next visit
to Rome he expressed his convictions
with considerable force and energy.
His position was strongly reinforced
by Cardinal Gibbons, and the vatican
was influenced TO give its countenance
to the order. In other words to re-
move the ban.
The delegates who were in attend
ance on the general assembly held in
Minneapolis in the fall of 1887 will re-
member the elaborate report on the
relations Of the order TO the church of
Rome which IA presented by the gem
eral master workman. This document,
which contained important let
ters from Cardinals Manning and
Gibbons, had been revised by
Archbishop Ireland prior to its
presentation and it was in COM
plIance with the expressed desires of
Cardinal Manning thai no precise men
ton was made of the large share that
the latter had had in bringing about
the much desired contamination. Up
to the last weeks of his life much of
his time, and often much of the cons
tents OF his purse, was given to the
cause Of trades unionism in England,
but few there have been who knew
that his sympathy with such move
ments was so wide spread and his in
terest SO international as to induce the
venerable p~relate, pressed as he was
with the cares of a great ~denomina-
ton, to take to this heart the welfare
of the toilers beyond the seas, and the
use of all his powerful influence with
the pope to the end that the American
Knights Of Labor might no longer be
regarded in the eyes of the Catholic
church as a dangerous and unlawful
organization and it's membership fit
subjects only for the pains and penal
ties of accommodation