Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-07
LABOR PIONEER A
 SUFFRAGE LEADER
Terrence V. POwderly Became an Equal Advocate at an Tarly Age Crank Then, a Sage Now.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

agO--that is Terrence Vincent Pow derly. of the Department of Labor.
 Although his memories go back to the Buchanan Fremont campaign in 1856: although he has lived and led every step of the American labor movement since it began with the nights of ablor back in the seventies MT. Powderly is still an active Of- fioial of the United States department of la'tor, the creation of which he ad- vocated so long ago that men called him crank.
 MT. Powderly was born near Car bondale, Pa, on January 22, 1S49. Now just turned seventy. he is as hale and active as though he were a mere fifty and there is nothing be- sides his whitened hair to indicate that he is more than few years be- yond that age.
 Mr. Powderly tells the following story of his conversion to the cause of equal suffrage:
 While I was seven years otd, the Buchanan-Fremont campaign was i'll full swing The Lincoln-Douglas de- bates were over but we reopened them at home. My father was an un- compromising Democrat and my mother an memorable abolit1unYs. They were heart and soul devoted to each other but that didn't prevent them from wranglins about polly,cn. issues. I listened attentively to all the arguments and tried to balance one against another in my head. Once in a while l would out With ques- tion of my own.
 "On election day, 1856. my father left home early in the morning to go to the polling place which lay couple of miles beyond through thick strip of woods. l knew, of course, what he was going to do, but I was puzzled as to why mother stayed at home. Why, mother, l said, aren't you going to voter She looked at me wonderingly, Certain ly not, child, Women don't vote. Why not?' l demanded.
 ''She could think of no good an- swer and from that time, whether 1 knew it or not, I became an equal suffragist."
 The Powderly family moved to Scranton where young Terrence at- tended the public schools until he was thirteen. At that time the Clvli war was brewing. and when the out break came, the elder Powderly went off to fight and the support of the family ell to the boy He ound job as switch tended in the railroad yards near home. He afterwards became a repairman and finally a machlnlst. Out of hours he studied law and ec- onomics.
 Made K. of l.. President.
 It was during this period that Pow derly began to be active ill the labor movement. The organization known as the Knights of Labor was then at it's inception and he became one of the chief organizers for his dis trict. The movement, however, did not gain much momentum until the railroad and anthracite mine strike in 1877. That was a time of general industrial depression and the rall- roads endeavored to retrench by cut
 ting wages. The strike began i'll
 Pittsburgh and gradually spread throughout all of the coal regions ot
 Pennsylvania In Scranton the strike wwas suppressed with undua violence
 by the mayor, possibly because th'
 sinister memory of the Molly Mac
 guires still hung aver the city. Many
 innocent men and women were sho'
 in the riots which occurred there
 The Knights of Labor took part II
 the strike of 1877, but it served '( give their movement considerable i'm
 netus. and in the following year Ter
 renee Powderly was elected mayor O Scranton on labor ticket He was
 reelected i'll 1880 and again i'll lSs2 While he was still mayor of Scran
 ton he was made Grand Master Work
 man of the Knights of Labor-th' All time official duties he spent Il developing the labor program.
 If was about this time that tn
 appellation of 'crank" became fas
 tened on him. He had declared 10 government ownership of transporta , tion lines and had openly advocates 3 "women's rights" an idea almost un | thinkable in that generation. ii was styled an anarchist for havln said things like theme:
 "I believe the day has come 10 1 united labor to ask at the hands ( . congress the passage of a law crea' s ing a department Of labor at 'h I | seat or Ndt1Olldl Ut is demanded graduated lncom Q tax he levied. It is hoped by th' ? operation to reach our wealthy me
 and force them to pay just pre o portion of the revenue necessary
 conduct affairs of state.
 There should be universal elsh S hour working day. v "I believe the government shoul
 conttol the telegraph.
 The value of the money used
 the people is not fixed or regula T. It fluctuates at the will ot those WI l. have it to lend, or who are enable e by reason of their control over r portion of it. to withdraw 1t from cl = culation at pleasure. The right IS issue money is a sovereign prerog' o tive which should not be delegated g any less creature than the soverl J. ment itself.'' k s.l
 Such things are mot today resar' 'e ed an anarchistic arid plost or lne D. have become actual facts. A 'radlc
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