Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-02
A Prophet With Honor
In His Own Land
By Frederic J. Hsakin

Gated labor unions long before any exist
ed. who fathered the idea Of an eight hour
tlny. and who gained the reputation of
heinnr n widowed radical by suggesting
the income tax some 30 years ago--that
is Terrance Vincent Powderly, Of the
Department Of Labor.
Although his memories go back To the
Buchanan-lremont campaign m 1900, 81.
though he has lived and led every step of
The American labor movement, since u
began with tho knights of la bor back IN
the seventies. Mr. P0wderly Is stlil an
active official Of the United states de-
| partmcnt of Labor the creation of wnich
| he pdvocatcd 10 long ago that men called
him crank
MIR Powdcrly was born near Carbon
| dale, pcnnsvlvanla, on January ~, lS49
Now Just turned 20, he Is as hale aud
active as through he were Il mere ID ana
| there ia nothing besides hIs whltcned haT
| and moustachr to Indicate that ne IS
| more than a few years beyond that age
co~vERTED TO SUFFRAGE,
Mr. Powderlv tells the follow lngstory
| of his conversion to the cause OF eqih
suffrage
"Wben I was seven wears old, the
| buchanan fremont campaign was IN iulI
swing The LincoinD Douglass debates
were over. but We reopenod thcTn at homf.
| Nv father was an uncompromislng l'ein"-
/ crat and my mother An incxorable apai
| tioniet They were heart and soul dc
| voted r. each other but that didn't Pre-
| vent them from wranglng about polihcai
| igencs / listened attentivriy tp all thc
/ ,rp,I,nents and tried to balance ono
against another IN my head Once N
a while | would 0ut with question Of my
| own
"On election day, 1856, my father left
| home early IN the morning 70 60 70 inc
polling place, which lay couple 81 Tnlles
| beyond through . thick strip Of woods
| knew, of course, what he was gong p do,
| but I was puzzled rs ~ Why M mother
STAYED NJ home Why, mother, sad.
aren't yotI going to vote She foked -
| mo wonderingly Certainly mot, chlld
| Women don't vote Why not, de-
| rnanded
oSl.e could not think of gnod answer,
| and from that tame whether / knew II Or
| not became an equal suifnpst
| The pOwdcrly family moved ~ scranton
| piere young Terrence attended the pub
Io schools until he was II At that time
| the Civil War was brewing, and when the
| outbreak came. the elder POwderly
| went of tn fight and the support q the
| fatn,lv fell to the boy lie found job az
sp,tcf, tender IN the railroad Yards near
| home He afterward became repair
| man and finally machinist. Cnit of
hours he studied law and economies.
ACTIVE IN LABOR MOVE.
II was during tins period that Powderly
| E,cgan To be active IN the labor move
pent The organization known a. the
| Of a.
non and he became one of the chief orga-
nizcrs for his district The movement,
howevcr. did not gam much momentum
until the railroads and anthracite nine
strike of 1877. That was tune at general
| ,ndllgt rial depression and the railroads en-
deayored 10 retrench BY cutting wages.
The strike bt gan IN pHt-birg and
| pralaal,y spread throughout ail q the
| coal regions Of Pcnnsvivanla. In scranton
| the strike was suppressed with Undue
violence bv the mayor, possibly because
| the sinister memory OI ths hoIly
Nacc,llres still hung over the clty- Many
innoeeat men and women were shot n
the rots which occurred there NJ
| Knights of Labor took no part IN tht
strike Of 1877. but It served 70 ave taen
movement considerable impetus. and Il
the following year. Terrence Powderly
was elected mayor OF Scranton on 2 laOo
ticket. He was reelected II IoSo an'
again in 1882
While ne vas still mayor on Scranton
ne vas made grand master workman 2
the knights Of Labor T--thc highest ONCE 9
that organization All the time Powderi'
could spare from ms ot1cAi duties, q
spent IN developing the labor program !,
If was about this time that the appeila
/ fastened Mn
He had declared for government owner
shin Of TRANSFORMATION lines and had oper
! r. advocated ''womens nights, Al ide
almost unthlnkable IN that generator
He was stvled an anarchist Tor hayln
sad things like these:
4 believe the day has come ior Unite
labor to ask, At the hands OF CongreS
the passage Of a law creating a Depar'
ment Of Labor at the seat oi natlont
government.
ADVOCATED INCOME TAN
1t is demanded by the knights ,
labor that a u duated income tax +
LEVIED 1t Is hoped by this operation
r..,ch our wealthy men and force them {
pax a lust proportion u the revenue ncte
ssTy IL conduct affairs OF state.
.Therc should be a universal eight not
. working day.
4 believe the government should COZ
trol the telegraph
/. The value Of the money used BY u
people is not fixed or regular 1t huctuat'
at the will of those who have It - lend,
. who are enabled, by reason OF ther col
l. troll over a portion OF It, to withdraw
from circulation at pleasure. The rlgl
IL issue money Is n sovereign prerogatI'
I which should not be delegated to any le
! creature than the government itself
! Such things are not today regarded
I anarehistlc and most Of them have b
come actual facts. y radical has only
! llve long enough and he will become
conservative without changing his view
: In 1901, MIR Powderly was admitted
! the bar. SIX years later he was appoints
! a special representative ot the Ilcpar
+ ment of Labor 10 study causes of INN
! grafton. The wear following. he WAS MAJ
+ chief of the Division of Information OF 4
! Bureau of immigration and when th'
! body moved IL the Department. OF Laho
+ Powderly moved with il.
i lie regards his work. however, as ~
4 means finished Tie Is Interested IN gre
: many things he wants 70 see hApTe
! Ont, Of these is the extension of the iTal
! chise to residents Of the District oi 0'olun
Z bia
4 Don { tlltic with a cOiI