The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-12-14
THE new SLAVERY.
Attorney w. ]. Strong, of Chicago, De-
Iivers an Eloquent Address to
the Laboring Men.
LABOR TURNS OUT EN- MAssE

opera House ana applaud Tie ESlus1U6
Statements of the Friend of the ToileTs
The Great Conspiracy of the Railroad
Companies as Theme = A Logical. IN
impassioned Address.
Between five and six hundred of the
representative 1aboring men of the city
gathered at the Rhode opera house last
evening to hear the address by w. j.
Strong, of Chicago, on the subject,
''B1ack1isting, the New Slavery" The
address was one of the finest ever de-
1ivered in the city. In clear, concise
and urimpassionedm manner Mr.. Strong
presented the case of the 1aborer
against the corporation and urged that
ali the 1aboring men unite in the COM
mon cause for industrial freedom. He
said in part:
The subject this evening is the most
vital one before the American 1aborer
today. It takes us back to the old A.
r. u. strike, for out of it has started
a system which has for its purpose the
subiugation of all labor, and it it is
once established it will bring with it
new slavery worse than that of the
negro and one which would tie up the
industrial systems of the world. | re-
fer to the b1ack1isting system. First
adopted by the great railroads OF the
West it is spreading into every line of
industry and all 1aborers will be
affected by the ba1efu1 curse.
In speaking of the A. r. u. strike
Mr.. Strong said:
The cause Of the great lockout was
the fact that the great metropolitan
press suppressed the facts. It was not
the ambition of Eugene v. Debs that
caused a million worknen to leave
their positions. The strike found it's
origin in a strike at Pullman. After
two weeks of id1eness 1000 families
found themselves destitute-objects of
charity-and in this is found the real
cause. Prompted by generous motives
of human sympathy the men left their
positions to demand equal rights for
their fellow men. But the strike went
beyond their grasp, and then the rail
ways found the long desired opportu-
nifty to crush labor with single blow.
Men did not complain when they were
not received back into the employ of
the roads. They gave up rank and
position, left starving families for
human sympathy only to find that they
were the victims of the blacklist.
They had given their lives for their
trade; they were unified to compete in
Of
avenues of toll for them were closed by
a conspiracy of the railroads; they
were barred in the whole world from
earning an honest living by honest
toll simply because they showed human
sympathy.
The speaker then took up the trial
of Ketcham against the Northwestern
company, and showed by letters and
evidence produced in court the facts of
what he termed "the great conspiracy"
He stated that the combine had been
formed May 8, 1893, and that it was
voluntary association of all the roads
entering Chicago. It's dictates, he de-
c1ared, stamped out all competition
among the 1aborers and made it i'm
possible for the slave to secure EN-
p1oyment unless he had been emanci-
pated by his former employer. He
said: cit took the bravest kind of
man to take such an insult as this,
even when he knew that women and
children were dependent upon his labor
for life and home. The object of the
black list was more than to protect the
roads against the men in the great
strike. It was meant to forge the fet-
tiers of labor, to teach the men the les
son of dependence. One million men
in that line of service today are abso-
lutte slaves.
Labor unions and labor organiza-
tons cannot exist without Officers and
to hold such an office is to deprive one
self of earning a livelihood. The
railroad companies say: I'VE meet
you as combination, but if you would
treat with us you must come as the in
dividua1. There was no chance for
the poor man, who fell under the ak of
displeasure and it is the highest trib-
ute to the law abiding sentiment and
character of wage men that they did
not commit murder when they found
out this condition. Nothing but the
penitentiary for railway managers can
ever wipe out the disgrace and wrong
done by this iniquitous combination.
He declared that the United States
Courts were party to the conspiracy
and cited the case of the Santa Fe
road which was an active member of
the combine at the time it was in the
hands of a receiver. He quoted from
the famous letter given by the North
western road to Andrew Slater, in
which it was stated 1.-THE bearer has
permission to obtain work elsewhere
provided he can obtain a situation sat
isfactory to himself"
In summing up his charge against
the railroad and other companies he
said: 9''When my right to work de-
ponds upon the will of another am
that mans slave The black slave of