The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-10-22
AT COOPER UNION.

effort was made to disturb the proceed
ings at Cooper Union at the wage-earn
prs meeting on Thursday evening. ana
by riotous Interruptions prevent NJ.
Powderly from obtaining Il hearing
Not strange at all. but entirely chlrac-
teristic of the methods and the man
ners of that faction in the labor move
ment which has been striving for years
to prostitute and degrade the move
ment for their own selfish purposes.
They are marketable. and both vicious
and laWleSS 1t has not been the prac-
tice. even in our most exciting pollflcai
campaignS, for the emiSsarleS OF an OPP
position party to invade the meel'n%S
of their opponents in turbulent anu
disorderly gangs with the sole view OF
creating disturbance and melting rl0t.
But the fellows who endeavOred 70
! break I'D the Cooper Union meeting
with misses and bowls and catcallS. III
order to prevent decent and iaW-abId-
| ing citizens from hearing Mr. Pow
DERBY deliver what every one Who
| either heard or read it must admit
was perfectly calm, logical and f";l-
sCnable exposition of the issues OF the
camDaign, were of the new order OF
political disputantS - the sort engeil-
dered by the doctrines of the Chicago
platform. and accurately represented
by the Boy Orator and his anarchist
following Their highest conception
of political discussion consists III
drowning the arguments of their cppo-
nents by unmeaning noise; their only
answer to calm and intelligent state
ment is lawlessness and disorder.
The only purpose of these disciples
of the Boy Orator was to prevent Mr.,
POwderly from obtaining a hearing. In
so doing they were only eXemplify'ng
the principles of the Chicago platform
only following. and lettering II but
small degree. the instructions of the
candidate who has for the last two
months been engaged in melting just
such demonstrations by appeals to the
ignorance and the lawless passions OF
those whom he calls the tOiling
masses But why should they make
this violent and disgraceful 1emon-
stration against Mr.. POwderly? They
pretend to be labOring men. and to be
actuated by a sincere desire TO pro-
mote the interest of laboring men: to
make labor itself not only worthy its
hire from material point of view. hut
deserving of the highest consideration.
both from its inestimable consequence
as the most important factor i'll the
worlds progress and from the lntelll
gence with which its responsibilities
are weighed and its duties considered.
They pretend, in short, to be the spec
ial advocates of the rights, and ,be
champions of the dignity Of labor. 1t
was under color of this advocacy, ami
by virtue of this championship, that
they set themselves on Thursday night
in Cooper Union not to listen to the AZ
guments of an opponent. of their own
class, in order to be able to answer
them-nor indeed, to answer them TN
the. spot with some show of order and
plan-but simply to suppress his argu-
ment by IaWleSS disorder and howl or
hiss him down unheard, by mere noise.
And who is Terence V. Powderly.
that these SO-cal1ed and se1f-Styfed adj
vOcates of the rights of labor should
with such deliberatiOn and set purpose
undertake to howl and hiss down III a
community whose boast is the freedom
of speech, which under law is accorded
and by law protected? His record as a
labor leader answers the inquiry. lie
was for many years the highest officer
of the organization of knights of La
Dor, the most successful association vi
its kind ever known in this country
Under his administration it WAS the
most respected and influential. No
combination of wOrkmen had ever
commanded such respect. and certainly
none had ever made its influences and
power so universally felt. as the
Knights of Labor under his admins
tratien. Self-pOised and firm, he was
no less conservative and conciIiatOry
and his administration was marked by
more real advancement for the cause
of labor and more actual achievements
in it's behalf than We're ever known
before or since. His policy was OPP
posed by the demagOgues and agitat
0rS in the labor movement whose only
conception of the labor question IS
that there is. and must necessai fly al
ways be. bitter and relentless war be-
tween the employer and the employed;
between capital and labor. Out of such
constant contention these men made
their living. Labor strikes were and
are their opportunities. Reconcilia-
tiOns and mutual understandings were
and are the destruction of their bust
iASSoo 90 SAtSAtoiS, anu consequently tDc
bane of their existence. They put
Powderly out in 1893. Since then that
queer counterpart of the Boy Orator.
Mr.. Sovereign, has been wabbling
round in his place, making more noise
in minute than Powderly did in a
year, and doing thousand times more
mischief in the same time Powderly
ever did.
The labor movement has been divid.
ed into two distinct parties ever since
Powderly was deposed. PowderIy adj
dressed with his own method aud his
own line of argument one of these di-
visions the other night at Cooper
Union. The other division met him in
their own way, with their own man
ners, and by their own and only meth
cd. The result was that Mr.. Pow,lerly
was heard, and his disturbers had to be
elected by the police. The lesson can
not be lost upon honest laboring men.
who desire to hear both sides and form
their own judgments upon political
questions and do not believe in the sun
preston of free speech.-New York
Tribune.
M'KINLEY ExCELS HIMSELF.
Tho stool and iron ipIrc+,x- TO-