The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-03

at fSaltair, where the official obSerVa-
ton of Labor Day was held. The labor
unions from ali over the territory were
represented. The majority, however
were from Salt Lake, ogden and Provo.
1t was an orderly and intelligent
gathering OF the better class Of the
labor element. The ladies were there
in force and by their presence lent a
tone and eclat TO the proceedings. From
2:15 up till pm. every train, and there
were many, that arrived at the beach
was loaded with people intent on cele-
brating Labor Day in a fitting manner.
The total attendance of the day was
about 5000 The arrangements were
perfect and the manag 2ment did ev-
erything possible to make the excur-
sionistS thoroughly enjoy themselves.
The proceedings opened by President
r. @. Sleater calling the assembly to
order in the grand pavilion and MAX
ing a few Introductory remarks suit
able to the occasion.
James Hogan, the orator of the day,
then delivered the following address,,
which was punctuated with consider
able applause from the audience:
Ladies and Gentlemen-We have as
sembled here for the purpose of cele-
brating Labor Day. We may feel CRATE
full to cur masters, the plutocracy, for
CLlS OppOI 10 meet ana DT6dlue
this air made fresh and pure by
mountain crags and snow-capped
peaks. must say that 1 am truly de-
lighted to greet such a magnificent
audience; coming, as do, Got a pleas
ure-seeker who has spent his vacation
at Bar Harbor or BuzZard's Bay, but a
culprit who has purged himself Of
contempt of court by three months
Imprisonment at Woodstock, Ills.
shall ask you to devote a part of your
time today TO a hearing of our case,
which we have not been able to pre-
sent before to you for the reason that
the news gathering and distributing
agency, known as the Associated Press,
is owned by the same power that owns,
controls and operates every function of
our government from president down.
1t has a peculiar and selfish interest in
publishing news always favorable to
the plutocracy.
In considering this question, one is
compelled to ask: rs this the land Of
the free and the home of the brave
or is it the land of the pluto and the
home of the slave?'
will now briefly review the history
of the A. r. u. and the great strike
of last year. In June, 1893, the A r. U.
was launched upon the labor sea. The
objects of the organization were to
protect the rights and wages Of rail-
way employees Prior to its organiza-
ton the General Managers association
was formed for the purpose Of reducing
wages. According to its own record,
introduced in court by US in our de-
Tense in the case in which we were
charged with conspiring TO obstruct
the passage of the United States mail,
It was proven that the General Man
DC to I,od al N
duce wages, one road at a time and
If the employees struck upon any one
road, all the other companies would
send men and equipment to assist the
road upon which the strike occurred.
The reduction of wages went on from
ore road to another. Some of the en-
ployees engaged in the train and yard
service belonged to what is known as
the "Old Brotherhood" They called
upon their grand chiefs, such as Ar
thur, Sargent and Clark, who invari-
ably used all their influence TO force the
employees to accept the reduction.
This angered the men, and they began
to leave the "Old BROTHERHOOD by the
thousands and join the A. z. u, which
was forced into the battlefield while it
was yet in its infancy. The wages of
the employees of the Great Northern
railroad had been reduced from 10 to
80 per cent between August, 1898, and
April, 1894. Two or three successive re
auctions had been made. The Old
Brotherhood failed to do anything to
prevent the reduction, so the en-
ployees swarmed into the A. r. U. and
desperately demanded that through it
their wages be restored. A strike re-
suited, in which the A. r. u. won, re-
storiug $l46,0o0 per month in wages to
the employees Of that system.
Then followed the great Pullman
strike, which was the greatest strug-
gle ever made in the interest of starry
ing toilers. You want to know some
thing about Pullman. I will try to
describe this tentacle of our modern
plutocratic devilfish- Pullman was a
carpenter. When Chicago was being
built Pullman and another man were
engaged as contractors in moving
buildings to make room for larger ones.
The idea of building sleeping cars did
not dawn in the brain of Pullman, but
in that Of his partner. Pullman, like
all of his class, is as shrewd but rot
nearly as brave as Jesse James or Son
tag were. Perhaps Pullman did not
steal the patent right from his partner
but he appropriated it lest someone
else might. Pullman organized a COM
pany, which bears his name, some
LMSntY years ago Win an alleSeQ'
capital stock Of $1,000, 600. How much
money was actually paid in cannot be
ascertained, but it is known that Pull
man retained d majority of the stock
in consideration of the patent right
which properly belonged to another.
With the advent of the sleeping car
came a tremendous increase in travel,
for pleasure and health as well as for
business.
Pullman charges high rates and pays
starvation wages to his employees; the
porters receiving from $40 to $25 per
month. If any of the equipment or
supplies, such as towels, combs or
brushes are lost or stolen, twice or
three times the actual cost is deducted
from the porters pittance of pay. BY
pursuing these methods, together with
the wonderful increase in travel as
the population grew and the country
developed, the dividends accumulated
and in order to deceive the public
the company increased its capital stock
from year TO year, until. according to
the testimony of Pullman himself, be-
fore the strike commission last Septem-
Der, it represented $50, 100000 upon
which it paid an annual dividend of 8
per cent, and had accumulated an I'M
divided surplus of SIS, 000, OOO Pullman's
company, not satisfied with the sleep-
ing car industry, started a plant for
the manufacture of all kirds of rail-
way and street cars.
A Protected Town.
While the treatment of the sleeping