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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1904)
Terence V. (Copyright, 1I, by Frank (J. Carpenter) I A8IIINU TON, March lO.-Bpi lal A Correspondence of The lice.) "I I I don't believe In strikes for the laboring mnn." Thce wore the words of Ter ence V. powderly, as wo chatted together In IiIh house fating tho Soldiers' Homo pnrk ttiln afternoon. They are significant words, because, thoy romo from tin- mouth of a labor leader, a man who Ii:ih worked with IiIh bunds inn) who has gone through every graduation of labor, organized ami unor ganized. Mr. Powderly was the son of a working m:in. At 1:1 ho earned Mm dully bread; at l.r ho was a switch tender; at 17 ho was nn apprentice In the Ielawaro A: Hudson cut shops; at ?1 a maehlnl!, and for years thereafter lie worked at bis trade. A man of ability and an ointor, he soon beeaine a leader of bis fellows, and after a time was made general master Workman of the Knights of Labor, nnd an mien the head of the organized labor of the United Htafot.. e held that position for fourtien years, during which tlmo the Knight of Labor prow until they embracoJ unions In every part of the country and had more than a million members. They became a business and a political force, and Mr. Powderly, as tin Ir head, was tha first of the labor leaders to Inspire a re spect for organized labor. He was reel nnd conservative and w.m, In fact, the ndvanco representative of the practical diplomatic-, husiniFHlike men who form the best typo of the labor loaders of tod ay. After leaving the lend) rshlp of the Knights of Labor Mr. Powderly studel law In Pennsylvania and was admitted to the bar there and also to practice hi fore the supremo court hero at Washington. He was during President McKlnley's ad ministration the eommb.'doncr general of Immigration, but be has now gore back to his practice, although he has by no means dropped bis Interest in labor and labor questions. "No. I don't believe In strikes," said he. "I have never believed In them and have done nil I could to keep my men out of them. They don't pay. They nre not necessary, and they bring great suffering. Nine-tenths of the trouble between em ployers and employes are based on misun derstandings and precipitate action, Hoih parties are afrajd of each other und they stnnel off when they should como together. Sometime the men have a grievance and one of the Indls-'crcr t among them com plains of the situation to a newspaper re porter and a sensational article Is pub lished, salng the men are going to strike. This makes the employer engry. He asks why the men did not come to him with their troubles, Instead of poing to thp pa pers. The report hurts his business nnd he Is in a lit mood for a fight. All this H wrong. The employers ord employes tdn-iild come eloper together and each should try to know and understand the other. They hould not wait for trouble, but should affiliate In the interest of Industrial ponce." "What do vcu mean by that?" I asked. "I mejin that when the business Is going on all right and the men are satisfied the employer should show nn Interest In them, and. If possible, get closer to them, I mean that the men at such a time should go to their employer and say. We are doing well, we like our Job and we are satisfied with our wages. Now, we want to know If there Is any way In which we can help your business. It Is to our Interest to have you make money and anything that we can do to mnkn the business pay better we will do. Such an action would bring the two together, and the nverago employer, If bis access was greater through such action, would bo glad to reward It by higher w ges." "Then the Interest of the employer U the Interest of the man?" I asked. "Tea, It Is," replied Mr. Powderly. "The men are dependent for their work on the success of the capitalist, und he Is depend ent on them." "Then why should not the two go Into partnership?" "They are In a partnership, whether the men will acknowledge It or not," was the reply; "but the partnership differs from tho ordinary partnership In that each party has an Individual interest, antagonistic to the other. Kach wants the biggest ah are of the profits; the laboring man bis Increased wagon, the capitalist his in rutting wugea down to Increase the profits. The two are working together, but at the tame time al ways pulling apart. It Is one of the most delicate relation on earth." "Do you think the laboring man Is bene fited by being a partner In the shop or fac tory for which he works?" "Yes, I do. Such a partnership. If the men have a place on the directorate, shows them how the business Is really running. Taey learn the difficulties, louse and trou ble of tli management and get a look at the other '.d of the ledger. If business I bad they are les ready to strike and If good they got a ahaxe of the profit." "How about the laboring man Joining and starting Independent place of their own?" "Such enterprise seldom succeed." aaid Mr. Powderly, "They have been tried, and they are likely to be tried again now that so much money la accumulating- In the treasuries of the trades unions. I see in the papers that some of the unions of Chi cago have so much money they talk of Powderly Says Strikes I,). .-.-- V in' ,.C . . 'si: t i I, TKItKNCTK V. POWDKULY. Fhoto Mad starting a bank. Tho I'niti-d Minn Work ers, for instance, havo over tl.WiU.uUO in their treasury. "Hut, as I have said," continued Mr. Powderly, "such things fall. Why? I will tell you why. Managing a great business is as much of a profession us the proper handling of certain tools Is a trade. It is only to be acquired by natural skill and long training. If you should put a banker to building a steam engine he would fail, und so will the machinist fail who tries to manage a bank or a factory. There are exceptions, I grant you, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred cither will fail. This Is more so every year, as businesses and trades nre specialized. In (he big un dertakings of today the capacity required is greater than ever before." "What do the laboring men think of their chances of eventually becoming their own managers?" "I don't think their ambition runs that way, at least not as a mass. Individuals do rise and will always rise as long as (lod gives men different capacities and talents. We shall have Carriegles and Schwabs as long as brains married to brawn bring forth great fortunes. The peculiar brains will come to tho top, how ever hard you stir the business and labor kettle to keep them down. "Hut, as to the masses of laboring men owning und controlling factories them selves, they are afraid of It," Mr. Pow derly continued. "1 rr member when I wim general master workman of tho Knights of I.abor, Abram S. Hewitt, Peter Cooper's son-in-law, who owned some of the greatest Iron works of the country, offered to let bis men in tho Iron works at Trenton take that plant and run It. Mr. Hewitt was noted for his friendship to tho laboring num. He never had any serious trouhl not withstanding he employed thousands, nnd In hard times he carried on his furnace at a loss rather than close them and put his men out. AVell, be off e red to let the men taka tho Trenton works as they stood and run thorn on the condition that they were to pay the ex penses, manage them and have all tho prof Its. At flrtit thought the men were very cr thu.-iastlc and they brought their propo sition to me. I advised them to think .the mailer over tafore they accepted. " 'Who among you understands the busi ness of management?' said 1. They hod uot thought of that. " 'What do you know of tho markets, how to advert when to buy cheapest and where to mo 1 1 best?" All this they did not know. Well, . to make a long rtory short, they thanked Mr. Hewitt, but re fused to take the mill." "Hut in working for wages, Mr. Powderly, dors labor get Its share of the profits?'' "Who can tell?" was the reply. "Some time il I1.''.--, comctimcs not. I think the working man should be well paid and that his life should be made easier in every p. tt le way. It is to the Interest of all that he have good wages, for good wages means i more money in circulation, a greater con sumption of all kinds of goods and good time. Again, if the wages be too high the business cannot pay, and tho reverse of aJl Uils ia the cam." "Hut waged are steudlly rUIng- tho world over, aro they not?" "Yes, crpocWl fcn tho United Stated. Kspeclally for This Letter March, 19)1. Take this carpet," said Mr. Towdcrly, os he kicked a Turkish rug at his feet. "Theru waa nothing like carpet in the ioor man's house when I was a boy. My father was rather well oft for a laboring man. He came to tills country from Irrland In 1S2G and settled in northern Pennsylvania, open ing up the first c.coJ mine in that part of the state. Ho had twelve children, and wo had none too much. Still, we were as well off as laboring people generally. Wo lived In a cabin with no piaster or paper on tho walls and no carpets on the floors. I slept In the loft, and the snow came through the roof In drifts upon my bed, often covering the floor. I remember now how cold It was when I stepped out on that snow. Contrast that with tha working man's home of today, lie ban his carpets, his comfortable furni ture, and often his piano. He lives better, has books, newspapers and magazines, and can educate his children. "I wetit to school until I was 13," replied Mr. Powderly, "and then stopped on ac count of trouble with my eyes. I needed glasses, for I was born near-sighted, but I did not know what was the matter for years afterward. I could see nothing well nt a distance. Indeed, until I was IS years of age I never saw the stars. I had hourd of them, of course, but I looked upon them rather as a poetical fiction than as a visual reality. One day I took up a pair of glasses that happened to lit me, und, like Columbus, discovered a new world. I could see things I had never Imagined any one else saw tho leaves on the trees In the distance, faces across the street. Indeed. I never really saw, us you see, until I was 18." "I don't understand how you could work with your defective eyesight." "I can see well enough at do. range," was the reply. "I can take a red cent, and by nailing it with brads to a bench, can tile off tho nose of tho Indian without cutting the edges'. The Indian's nose Is, you know, a little higher than the faco of the cent. It takes good eyesight and good nerves to so file It off, and this wo often tried to do in tho shops. I am ono of the few who can do it without cutting tho edges of the coin. I also used to pick out with my knife the splinters of steel that flew In tho eyes of my fellows. That Is also a delicate Job." "When did you become Interested In or ganized labor?" I joined tho Machinist and Hlacksmlths' union In 170, thirty-four years ago, and was smn elected president. Then I Joined the K nights of Labor and in 1879 was clouted general master workman. I held that otlice until ISM." "Was there much money In-It?" I asked. "Ham Parks would have done well If be had had that place." "There was nothing In If but the salary," replied Mr. Powderly, nnd when I left the . otlice I was $7,000 In debt. I was paid practically nothing for tho first four years, then $W) a year, then $1,500, and finally $.ri.0H.O, but the tT,000 was not always paid. The position was not financially profit able. As to Sam Parks, It Is not fair to use him as a type of the labor loader of that time or now. He is a villain. The representatives of our unions of today and of the past are and have been men of the highest sense of honor. Indeed, they are philanthropic and are conscientiously doing what they csa for their fellows." Don't Pay "Tho Knights of In.bor was the mothef of the Federation of Labor, was it nott Are not the two bodies very similar?" "No, tho Knights of Labor had, not only representatives of the trades unions, but also of the employers. At one time one third of Its members were employers." "Then It was something like the Clvld Federation, of which Senator Haniia waa the president?" "In a sense, ye. It tried to settle labor disputes as far as possible without recourse to strikes. It is true we had some strikes but. we settled 1.100 labor disputes without Strikes. Indeed, I might say we prevented over 1,000 strikes." "Speaking of Senator Hanna," Mr. Pow derly went on, "he waa thoroughly In earnest in his desire to settle labor troubles through arbitration. I know that he began It more than twenty years ago. It is now twenty-two years since I was asked by his men to come out to Ohio to act as their representative in a strike there. I went, and, as their delegate, called on Mr. Hanna and tried to prosont the case. He treated me politely, but refused to talk to me. He said: " 'What is the matter with the men? Why don't they come to mo and present their own case? They know me. I know them. I don't know you.' " 'Will you receive a commltto??' I asked. " 'Of course I will,' said Mr. Hanna. 'Send them in.' "I went out and brought in a committee cif tho miners and" then staged to leave. 'You need not go If you don't want to,' said Mr. Hanna. 'Sit down!' I looked at the men. They said stay, and I stayed." "Well, the discussion then went on be tween Hanna and the men. The troubles were taken up item by Item and threshed over. Sometimes Hanna gave In, fome times the men, but in an hour or so II whs all settled, and tho men said they were satisfied and would go back to work. It was hot at times, but at thJ close Mr. Hanna said: 'Now, men, when you have any trouble In the future I want you to come right to me and we will talk It over. Don't ask Mr. Powderly to come clear across Pennsylvania and Ohio to talk for you. You know what you want. 1 know what I want. We are all sensible men and can do our own business, and we will do it.' From that time on Mr. Hanna and his men settled their labor troubles by conference and mutual conciliation. Ho was thor oughly honest and earnest In his advocacy of this policy and his llfo shows it." "In your strikes I suppose you have of: en had to deal with many violent men, Mr. Powderly?" "Yes. we had." was the reply. "P.ut we tried to hold them In check. I remember an incident of the great railroad strike of ISSfi, when the Gould system of railroads and other roads In the southwest were tied up. The men had left work for some tlmo when I got a letter proposing a plan to blow up every bridge and culvert on the Could railroad system upon a certain sig nal. The letter stated that the only way to reach Jay Gould was through his pocket, and that this action would prevent the trains from running and break the strike. The writer said that he had the dynamite and he gave a full plan as to how it should be placed and exploded to wreck the sys tem. He marked his letter confidential and asked that it be sent back to him. Ha signed it with the name 'Henri Lee Caron.' "I was horrified, and at once sent a warn ing to all the local assemblies of the Knights of Labor, protesting against the scheme and saying It was better to lose the strike a hundred times than to resort to such villainy to win it. At the same time I filed away the letter. "Well, about three years after that," Mr. Powderly continued, "I picked up my paper ono morning and saw that a man named Henri Lee Caron was giving testimony In a damage suit brought by Charles Slewart Parnell against the London Times. Caron was on the side of the Times and he pre tended to testify as an Irish spy that Par nell had been mixed up in the assassina tion of Cavendish and In other fiendish out rages In Ireland. I knew that Caron had belonged to some of the Irish agitator or ganizations, although he did not belong to the Knights of Iabor. The moment I saw his name I remembered that letter. I took It from my files, had it photographed and mailed prints to Parnell, T. P. O'Ccnner and Michael Pavltt. and I bent the original to Mr. Gladstone, telling him to give It to Panell." "Why did you not send the original Ut Parnell?" I asked. "Becniu?e I thought his mall might not be safe. I was sure that Gladstone's letters would not be tampered with, and that 13 why I sent the original to him. All the letters went through, however. A soon as . they reached London I got a cable from Parnell, asking me to forward the original, but he got It the next day from Gladstone. Shortly after that Henri Lee Caron waa put on the witness stand and was ready to make what I believe was a tissue of Ilea, no did glre his testimony, but when hla letter, proposing to wreck the Gould ys- tern with dynamite was read. It had such an effect that his evidence counted for nothing and Parnell came out on top. I got letters of congratulation and thanka from both Parnell and Gladstone In regard to IL" FRANK Q. CARPENTEB. i la!