Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-10-27
Sam Parks Nearing the End.

Sam Parks Nearing the End.
Another nail has been driven in the
coffin of Sam Parks, convict, labor agi-
tator and CRATER, by the confession
made by one Farley, another walking
delegate of the metropolis, VINO mas
given the authorities a lot of additioiiai
evidence. This evidence is said to De OF
such a nature that it will not only lana
Parks again behind the prison uoors'
where he belongs and should stay ou'
will forever end the evil influence
which he has welded so strongly over
a large element of the New York work
ingmen. District Attorney Jerome Is
NOT so busy campaigning the metropolis
IN f,,,or of the reelection of Mayor
Low. but what he found time the other
day to declare in newspaper inter-
,,;.,v that within six weeks Parks and
tho mort dangerous cement of his gang,
will again be doing time in Sing Sing.
lie saws that the Farley confession,
which. by the way, incriminates Far
lev himself, tells the whole story of the
recent Matchmaking operations in the
bui]ding trades in New York, by which
Parks and a few other walking dele
gates of his stripe filled their pockets
with gold exhorted from both the
unions and the employers. Not only
will this confession assist Mr.. Jerome
in the criminal prosecution, which he
would have pushed even without the
Farley aid, but it will disclose to the
New York workingmen the system and
the results Of such methods as Parks
applied, whenever and wherever used,
so that leaders like him will find it
more difficult in the future to deceive
and rob their followers. 1t is impor-
tant that Parks be sent to the Sing
Sing cell from which he recently
emerged, but it is more important that
the laboring men Of New York will see
him in his true light, and seen in that
light, it is impossible that they will fail
to repudiate him absolutely and for
ever.
In view of all that has happened, no
body will deny that Parks possesses a
great amount of ability of certain
kind and that his influence was very
strong and wide. In his union he was
an absolute monarch. In the inter-
view referred to above, District Attor-
ney Jerome spoke of him as follows:
only a fool would underestimate his
power. In many ways he is a leader
of men. He has personal magnetism
and the power to convince others that
his word is law. He has physical brav-
cry, daring, and dashing style of lead
ership. He is a brute, his language is
foul, and the man is personally often
sive to decent people, but his shrewd-
ness is beyond question. And because
he has brains and combines them and
his other attributes with brutality and
unscrupulousness he is dangerous and
a menace to the public welfare. There
is one bright ray in the situation, how
ever. We all know that grating
ncunOuS anu ciS al
American and that they cannot last.
The honest man gets his dues in the
end. Parks and his followers represent
only a small proportion of labor in this
country. Probably Is per cent. are
against his methods. Such large bodies
as the garment makers unions and the
Typographical unions do not counte-
nance him. The garment makers are
given to socialism, but with them
socialism is a religion, and certain
principles of honesty are observed. The
members of the Typographical unions
are intelligent men, and they recognize
the situation. They know that Parks
time and his methods are subject to
sudden stoppage, and that honesty al
ways prevails in the long run. This
tone is distinctly apparent in the official
press of these unions"
The end would seem to have come,
however. Parks, without influence,
even if at liberty, cannot work much
injury among the men who have blind
ly followed him. Parks removed,
building will be resumed in New York,
and starvation and privaton, attendant
upon winters rigor and works scarcity