Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1916-07-21

the worker has when expressed right
fully, and with a view to bringing
about proper conditions. is neither
a bad thing for himself nor a bad
thing for the community of which
he is an integral part
The Southwestern Strike Of the Late
Eighties.
May indulge in a little reminis-
cence, because it always comes to
my mind upon occasions Of this kind.
During the great Southwestern
strike, in the late sos, / was clerk
in the freight auditing department Of
the Missouri Pacific, and / was
particularly close to that situation
that constitutes. perhaps, a thrilling
memory to many of the older men
that are sitting in this hall today.
My ideas of this business were the
ideas, of course, of a 19-year-old
clerk, but / remember we'll the an.
peal that was made to us, an appeal
by the general manager OF the rail
road company to his men--a call up
on the organization of that industry,
to help the company to defeat the
efforts of the organized employees.
| recall that to that department, con-
tanning something over forty men,
document came from the office OF
the president and general manager,
stating that the road had ceased op-
GRAFTON, as you remember it did for
some thirty days. This document
announced that any CLERK that re-
ported at the office every morning
at eight o'clock, and was willing to
join the police reserve for the pro-
lection of the property, would be
carried upon the payroll, but out of
that forty men only two responded to
the call. (Applause.) One has gone
before the great Judge, the poor fell.
low being weakling, physically as
well as mentally, and the other, |
met in Cleveland, Ohio, eighteen
months ago, working for the same
detective agency that he has worked
for for almost thirty years. CAP
plause-laughter.
And we all remember the calami.
ties on the sad side of that strike.
Again, | saw bent figure, older than
his years, standing up by a little
vegetable stand in the old Biddle
Market in st. Louis. Honored in
that great contest for democracy in
this country, and later put on the
black list OF every railroad company
in the United States, but man that
did more for the actual DEVELOPMENT
Of manhood and the conservation of
property in that southwestern coun-
try than any other man of his day
that man was poor old Martin Irons.
l recall that in that industrial strug-
gle, the vice-president and general
managers of the Missouri Pacific
railroad refused recognition to the
workers of that great system. We
know the awful results of that strike.
know of the destruction of property,
the breaking down of human charac-
ter, the loss of life We are advised
OF all that, and yet | stand and look
out upon the beautiful hills Of nv
adopted city, and see it dotted with
the homes of brakemen and switch
men and conductors and engineers
who, by the efforts of this old man.
were raised from a condition slightly
above that of fifty and sixty dollars
month to economic Independence
that makes them citizens-free citi- |
zens of a great community, having a |
stake in the welfare of the communi- |
ty, and filling honorable business
positions and the professional lives /
of our cities with their children. |
And ] want to call attention to an
other fact that from the day of tho
downfall of that Knights of Labor
in the southwest, there
has not been a general manager since
1oxic's time that refused to meet a
delegation of his workers. APP
llause.)
railroads Hundred Million Dollar
Argumnt.
Now, we are up to the very i'm
'ertant development about which
would like to say few words. of
curse. have been given all of the
literature that has been sent out by
he railroads. Our answer to them
an travel faster, that is to the low
RS of democracy and to those who
re eager to encourage the work of
conditions in and out of /
lbor unions. 1t can travel faster
han through the subsidized press of
ne railroads of the United States.
When they proclaim that the work
rs of the railroad companies are al
eady getting an average wage of
1,242 per year, we tell them
Well, that is not fair living wage
pr all these workers" When we
an point to them that it takes 46O