The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-03
st. Louis Corporations Question
Their Employees Politics.
If For Gold They Are Marked
so. K"
SOME MAY BE LET OUT
limitations That a Discharge
Goes With Silver Views.
Majority of Employees Appear to
be For Silver.

St Louis, Aug 3-Emp1oyes Of sew
eral big corporations in St. Louis are
beginning to appreciate the fact that
this is a national campaign year.
They are being quizzed as to their
political affiliations.
In several instances the query as to
how they stand politically is coupled
with the yelled threat that if they do not
intend to vote for the single gold
standard they may expect to seek 9TH
er positions in the near future.
For several days employees of of GER
tain big railways in St. Louis have
been actively discussing among them
selves a choice bit of campaign gossip,
which directly concerns several hun
dFed voters.
The story they are discussing is told
in this way:
Some days ago MI C. G. Warner,
first vice president and general audi
tor of the Missouri Pacific railway, is
said to have called before him the
heads Of departments in the auditor 5
department of the Missouri Pacific and
instructed them to ascertain how the
employees under them stood on the
financial question. They were also
told, so the story goes, to quietly in
form all free silver men in the auditors
department that they must get in line
for the gold standard or seek employ
ment elsewhere.
When it was reported among the en-
plOYeS LnaI these orders naQ been Civ
en- out, it is said that some lively eau
cusing on the side was DONE with the
result Of discovering that very few of
the employees in the auditors depart
ment are for gold.
1t was said that a quiet poll of one
room in which forty-eight men are en-
plOyed gave this result: For gold, l;
for silver Az.
Naturally the forty-seven men who
are for silver are not exploiting the
fact in the face of the story that Vice
President Warner expects all his en-
plOyes to vote for gold.
1t is also asserted that several other
corporations with gold pfOclivities are
following the lead said to have been
taken by the Missouri Pacific and are
letting their employees know what is
expected of them.
Said a railroad employee Saturday:
Yes, 1 have heard the story believe
will fail in its purpose.
The free silver men who happen to
be employed by the railways in st.
Louis are loyal to their employers in
everything pertaining to their duties.
But they will not be bulldozed or
denied the right to vote for the candi-
date and the platform which are for
them and their interests.
"Of course, a man whose bread and
butter depends on his employment will
not under the circumstances, go about
shouting for free silver, hey will vote
all right in November, however; upon
that you may depend"
AQQlllOuGl CO4nfIQaLlOn was given
the story Saturday night by an en-
ploye of the Missouri Pacific This
gentleman said that Mr.. Schuyler, the
assistant general auditor, who practic-
ally runs the entire Office, recently went
to the chief clerk of each department.
and instructed him to go to each en-
plOye under him; to ask his ideas on
the money question, and how he in
tended to vote at the election.
This was done.
AS the employees were catechised
they answered variously. Some said
they would vote for single gold stand
ard.
Many who gave these answers are
either Democrats or known to be for
free silver.
They answered as they did because
they knew that the questions were
prompted by superior officers Their
long experience with the Missouri Pa
cifc taught them that these questions
were written out in New York and
sent to St. Louis by Gould and Russell
Sage
In making the rounds each chief Of
division carried a small book The
name. address and reply of every man
were taken
Those who said they were for gold
were marked 20. k while the others
were marked doubtful
Some of the employees when approach
ed by the chief with the little book, re-
piled that their political opinions and
Views on the money question were per-
soral matters, in no way connected
with their duties as employees of the
Missouri Pacific.
How they intended to vote was also
personal