The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-14

Chicago, July BIN the morning ses-
sion of the Federation of Labor took I'D
the resolutions where they were dropped
the night before. Many strong speeches
were made on both sides of the reso-
luton to order a general strike of the
members in sympathy with the Pullman
strikers.
NJ ]. Croll. of the International Typo
graphical union, appealed to the feeling
of the conference on the manner in
which labor had been trampled upon by
capital and said that the only way to
force recognition was to order a com
plete tie-up.
Messrs. Mcclure and Perkins made
speeches on the same line arguing most
emphatically in favor of the resolution.
Mr.. .Drummond took up the opposition
and discussed at some length the mad
Visibility of general strike He said:
want Debs to understand that 1t is
unnecessary for us to order a strike. He
wishes to shift the responsibility off from
his shoulders, and 1 object to it. IF he
mas started it and cannot win let him
| lose IT, IL we should order a strike now
the financial situation of the country is
| Such that great many of our members
| would not go out, and the vacancies
would be filled with non-unionists. 1 be-
| leVe that the condition of the country is
such that a general strike would not
win: [ do not want the reputa ton of
having our federation lose. 1 am OPP
! posed to the resolution"
Debs Was Arrogant.
workers, said:
I'VE were unable to form an effective
| shops were worked on the wages which
/ they were, and not until this American
| hallway union strike have we been able
/ to do anything. In Our organizations we
! have had and still have great strikes
both in sympathy and for grievances. [
am opposed to a general strike now, be-
/ cause we now have q certain scale of
wages adopted by arbitration and if we
| strike that scale of wages will be broken
| and at this time of financial depression
l belleye that it would be impossible to
| get as good scale of wages again as we
nave now and, therefore, general strike
would be detrimental to our men, l am
not IN favor of Debs' request. He was
! very arrogant in the start not even rec
| ognizing us, and now he wants TO shift
| all the responsibility off on us and blame
US for losing the strike. Another thing,
! council and not of nonarchial rule as
! Debs fayors. This country will not stand
| that kind of thing. / do not care how
smart he is, he cannot win. l can call
! out the iron and steel workers, but /
can see no favorable result, and, there
FORE l oppose the resolution"
Hasn't Managed 1t Right.
Mr.. Evans then said: IF the local or
ganizer of the American Federation of
| Labor had attended to his business, the
american Railway union would never
! have handled this strike. 1 am opposed
! to the resolution and any action in that
regard now"
Patrick McBryde, representing the coal
| let it be for ourselves, and as for Debs.
he has not managed this thing right, and
| now he wants help, and / am not in
! favor of dong it, A general strike order
| by this conference in sympat thy for the
American Railway union would be of no
/ value to us, and it would break our con-
tract, change the present arbitrated
scale of wages, and be of general disad-
! vantage to us. While / can call out the
miners l am not in favor of it, and think
| it a very poor policy. l am opposed to
bringing. any other organization into
this strike. AS Debs has started 1t, let
| him finish it.
Address TO the Public.
The conference Of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor adjourned at 7:3O this
evening after having decided against a
| general strike.
| The petition of President Debs. of the
American Railway union was endorsed,
| however and $1,000 voted for defense
| fund for the coming trial of Debs. The
executive council of seven will hold a
| final session tomorrow. The following
address to the public was issued after a
| long. discussions:
The great industrial upheavaI now ag
| itating the country has been carefully,
| calmly and fully considered in a CON
| ference of the executive council Of the
American Railway union, and of the eX-
ecutive officers and representatives of the
national and international unions and
brotherhods of railway unions, called to
meet In the city of Chicago on the 18th
day of July, 1894, In the light Of all the
evidence obtainable and in view of the
| peculiar 1Oy1iO in
the situation, we are forced to the con-
cluslon that the best interests of the
unions affiliated with the American Fed
Grafton of Labor demand that they re-
frain from participating in any general
or local strike which may be proposed IN
connection with the present labor troub
les. In making this declaration, we do
not wish it understood that we are in
any way antagoniStic to labor organIZa-
tions now struggling for right or justice,
but rather to the fact that the present
contest has become surrounded and beSet
with complications so grave in their ma
ture that we cannot consistently advise
a course which would but add to the
general confusion.
Lying About the Press.
The public press, ever alive to the in
few exceptions so maliciously nisrepre-
sented the strikers, that In the public
mind the working classes are now ar
rayed in open hostility to federal au-
thority.
THAT is a position that we do not
wish to be placed in, nor Will we occupy
it without protest. BY misrepresenta-
ton and duplicity, certain corporations
assume that they stand for law and or
der and that those opposing them rep
present lawleSSneSs and anarchy. We pro-
test against this assumption and we
protest against the inference that be-
cause certain individual or certain
class enjoy a monopoly in particular
lines of trade or commerce, that it neceS-
sarily follows that they are entitled to
monopoly in loyalty and good citizenship.
while we may not have the power to
order a strike of the working people of
our country, we are fully aware that
recommends ton from this conference to
them to lay down their tools of labor,
will largely influence the members of our
affiliated organizations and, approaching
the responsibility resting upon us, and
the duty we owe to all, we declared it
to be the sense of this conference that
a general strike at this time is 1nexpedi-
ent, unwfse and contrary to the best in
terests of the working people. We fur
Their recommend that all connected with
the American Federation of Labor now
out on sympathetic strike should return
to work and those who contemplate go
ing out on a sympathetic strike are ad-
vised to remain at their usual avoca-
tons.
I'm the strike of the American Railway
union we recognize an impulsive, vigor-
Gus protest against the gathering and
growing forces of plutocracy power and
corporation rule. In the sympathetic rule