The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-10-23
POWDERLY AT COOPER UNION.

lIlSS at cooper Union Ut the W1Se-eslfn
ars' meeting on Thursday evening. and
by riotous Interruptions prevent Mr..
POwderly from obtaining a hearing
Not strange at all. but entirely charac
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 In wleSS. 1t has not been the prac
tice. even in our most exciting political
campaigns. for the emiSSarieS of an OPP
position party TO invade the meetings
of their opponents in turbulent and
diSorderly gangs with the sole view Of
creating disturbance and melting riot
But the fellows who endeavOred to
break up the Cooper Union meeting
with misses and bowls and catcalls. III
order to prevent decent and iawabid~
ing citizens from hearing Mr. Pow
derby deliver what every one whC
either heard or read it must admit
was a perfectly calnr logical and Te;i
sCnable exposition of the issues of the
campaign. were Of the new order of
political diSputantS - the sort engen-
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 STAT
ment is lawlessness and disorder
The only purpose of these disciples
of the Boy Orator was to prevent Mr.
POwderly from obtaining hearing. IN
so doing they were only eXemplifyinS'
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 1emo,l-
stratiOn against Mr.. Powderly? They
pretend to be labOring men. and to be
actuated by sincere desire 10 pro-
mote the interest of labOring men; To
make labor itself not only worthy its
hire from material point of view. but
deserving of the highest considera tion
both from it's ineStimable consequence
as the most important factor in the
worlds progress and from the intelli-
gence with which it's responsibilities
are weighed and it's duties considered.
They pretend. in short. to be the spec
ial advocates of the rights, and DE
champions of the dignity of labor. Il
was under color of this advocacy. ANA
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 OWE
class, in order to be able to answer
them-nOr. indeed. to answer chem IN
the spot with some show of order and
plan-but simply to suppress his Hrgu
ment by lawleSS disorder and howl or
hiss him down unheard, by mere noise.
And who is Terence V. POwleriv.
that these sO-called and self-style1 adj
vOcateS of the rights Of labor should
with such deliberatiOn and set purpose
undertake to howl and hiss down in n
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
it's 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 influence anu
power so universally felt. As the
knights of Labor under his admins
tration. Self-pOised and firm, he was
no less conservative and cOnciliatory.
and his administration was marked by
more real advancement for the cauS"
of labor and more actual achievements
in its behalf than were ever known
before or since. His policy was Gp-
posed by the demagOgues and agi.at
OrS in the labor movement whose only
conception of the labor question s
that there is, and must necessarily al
ways be. bitter and relentless war be-
tween the employer and the emptoyed;
between capital and labor Out of such
constant contention these men made
their living. Labor strikes We're and
are their opportunities. Reconcilia-
tons and mutual understandings were
and are the destruction of their bust
ness as agitators, and consequently the
bane Of their existence. They put
Powderly out in 1893. Since then that
queer counterpart of the Boy Orator,
Mr.. Sovereign. has been waDbing
round in his place. making more noise
in minute than Powderly did in
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. Powderly 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.. PowleIly
was heard, and his disturbers had to De
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 sup
preston of free speech.-New York
Tribune.
M'KINLEY ExCELS HIMSELF.
The steel and iron industry has been
quoted as the barometer of trade. and
%1,r.f 10