Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-08-06


ing Argument for the Labor
Cause, and Was Applauded
Throughout-An Outline Of HIS
Remarks.
Last evenings labor mass meeting
was a success and a disappointment
at once.
1t was successful because two thous-
and people attended, and listened to a
splendid and spirited address by Col.
C. L. Poorman, of Bellaire.
1t was failure, because w. D. Ma
hon, of Detroit, the eloquent head of
the street car workers organization,
who was assigned to this city for the
purpose of the meeting, could not be
present, much to the disappointment
of the labor leaders and the audience.
The meeting was held at the corner
of Seventeenth and Chapline streets,
and was called to order at eight o'clock
by NJ. F. Tighe, who presided. Meis-
ters band was present, and discoursed
a programme of music before the ad-
dresses began. On the platform were
a number of prominent workingmen
of the city and vicinity. Col. Poor
man was one Of the speakers at the
mass meeting at Bellaire, last night,
but when the Bellaire people learned
Of the disappointment of the wheeling
meeting they obligingly loaned the elo-
quent Colonel for an hour.
In calling the meeting to order MT.
Tighe said:
Ladies and Gentlemen-Fellow Cit
izens-It is gratifying to those who
are to-day struggling for existence to
witness such a magnificent demonstra-
ton as that of this evening. 1t is also
great qualification to those who are
striving to lend assistance to the strug-
Cling. Deep down in the very bowels
of the earth comes a cry from the dis
tressed and oppressed miners. To-day
they are confronted with conditions
never before seen in this great country
Of ours-there is distress upon every
hand. The object of this meeting IS
one which every patriotic citizen can
commend. 1t is to protest against the
subversion of the right of free speech,
it is to protest against the subversion
of the right of peaceable assemblage,
and, more than all, 1t is to protest
against government by injunction,
which aims to infringe the liberties Of
the common people. (Applause.) In
this struggle it would, perhaps, be wise
to say that while sympathy with the
miners is of great value, do not stop
at that There are other ways Of
showing your sympathy, and the men
for whom we plead are worthy of much
more substantial support. There are
others present much more capable Of
addressing you than myself, and | will
now introduce to you Col. c. l.. Poor
man, of Bellaire. (Applause)
Col. Poorman said:
Mr.. Chairman-Fellow Citizens
This is an unusual meeting. We are
living under unusual conditions. The
present strike is one of the most re-
markable in all the history Of this
country l am here Unexpectedly to
talk to you about this strike, and the
causes which have led up to it, and
in the short time | shall occupy | hope
to be able to give some facts Of value
and interest to you.
Strikes are a modern institution.
The first great labor organization in
the United States was formed in 1869.
Previous to 1850 there had never been
as many strikes in all this great coun-
try as could be counted on the fingers
of your two hands. Labor organiZa-
tons and strikes are the results OF
conditions coming to you within the
last thirty years, and they come as a
necessity in the great conflict between
capital and labor. They may say to
you there is no such thing as con-
flict between capital and labor, but as
long as labor is ground down and sub
verted to the interests of capital just
so long there will be and must be a
conflict between the two. If there was
an equal interest and an equal distri-
button Of the profits Of labor, there
would be no necessity for organizations
or strikes to secure justice. But I'M
der existing conditions, the great pow
er Of organization to increase wealth,
and when capital is straining every
nerve to secure that wealth, in viola
ton Of the great moral obligation
taught eighteen hundred years ago
by the Savior of men, DO unto others
as We would that they would do unto
YOU there can be no equitable dis
tribution of the results Of toll except
by great effort on the part Of the
weaker element-weaker owing to cir
cumstances, although numerically
stronger. (Applause}
The present situation is the out
crop of these conditions. When our
fathers founded this great government
it was as a free republic. founded on
the idea that all men were created
equal, and that they had equal rights
in life. liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness. But that idea has been
changed. and now. especially in the
later years Of the republic, there has
been a constantly increasing tendency
to benefit the few at the expense of
the many. l was born in the last year
of the first quarter of the present CEN
tury. | have lived more than fifty
years of active life in this great con-
fict in this country, and have seen
this country pass from one condition
to another, and have ascertained by
observation that in all the changes
which have gone on in that period of
time the few have been benefited and
the many worsted. And | now live,
and you live. in the worst hour Of the
republic for a poor man to either get
a start or establish himself in the way