Newspaper Page Text
The Pinkerton Investigation.
Thursday, July 7, Air. Oates, of
Alabama, from the Committee on the
Judiciary, introduced in the House
of Representatives the following
as coming from that committee with
the recommendation that it do pass :
Resolution introduced by Mr. Wil
liams of Massachusetts:
Whereas the Pinkerton detective or
private police force to the number of
several hundred is now engaged in an
armed conflict at Homestead, Pa., with
the late employes of the Carnegie Iron
Works at said place, and great loss of
human life and destruction of proper
ty are likely to result from the same:
and
Whereas the Judiciary Committee
has been directed by a resolution of the
House to investigate the nature and
character of the employment of Pink
erton detectives by corporations en
gaged in interstate commerce: There
fore,
Be it resolved, That said committee
shall investigate and report on the
character of the employment of said
forces in the present instance, and the
cause and conditions of the sanguina
ry conflict now going on at Homestead,
Pa.
*****
Mr. Watson. I wish to ask the
gentleman from Alabama if this re
port from the Committee on the Ju
diciary docs not favor a general in
vestigation, as provided by the reso
lution I introduced in January ; and
whether the report of the committee
some time ago did not recommend a
restricted investigation applying only
where there was any interference
with interstate commerce'? I would
like the gentleman to explain what
would be the relative position of the
two investigations. Does one take
the place ot the other, or does this
enlarge the scope of"the other, or
both ? 1 would like to be informed
en that subject.
Mr. Oates. Air. Speaker, in reply
to the question of the gentleman from
Georgia [Air. Watson], I will say
that this resolution is supplementary
to the one already adopted, and is in
tended to enlarge the scope of the
inquiry. The resolution which was
adopted by this House some time ago
reads as follows :
Resolved, That the Committee on the
Judiciary be, and it is hereby, directed
to investigate the said Pinkerton de
tectives, to wit : The character of their
employment by corporations engaged
in tiie transportation of interstate
commerce or the United States mails,
the numbers so employed, and whether
such employment has provoked breach
es of the peace or caused the destruc
tion of property, and all the mate
rial facts connected with their alleged
employment, and to report the same
to this House by bill or otherwise at
any time.
Air. Watson. If the gentleman
will allow xAe, '-hat was the substitute
reported by the committee; but my
original resolution covered the very
same ground as this one which is
now offered, did it not?
Air. Oates. It covered that, and
a good deal more ground, but that
has already been disposed of. This
is the substitute adopted by the
House.
* * * *
Mr. W atson. Air. Speaker, it is a
very’’ pleasant thing to notice how
much the approach of a Presidential
election quickens up political move
ments. in January 7 a resolution was
introduced here, broad in its terms
and sufficient in its allegations, to
authorize a full and fair investigation
of this keeping of a standing army
by corporations to put down their
employees. That resolution went to
the Judiciary* Committee, and went
to sleep there. It required a resolu
tion of this House some months
afterwards to get it even considered
by that committee, and after its con
sideration was thus brought about
by the action of the House, it came
back here shorn, in my opinion, of
its strongest features, and restricted
merely to the operation of railroad
trains.
I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the
strongest objection to the Pinkerton
Detective Agency’ is this, that it is
the keeping and bearing of arms by
an unauthorized body; not the keep
ing and bearing of arms by’ the
citizen, but the keeeping and bearing
of arms by an unauthorized body,
organized on a military plan, officered
on & a military plan, in violation of
the Constitution of the United
States, and put out for hire to pri
vate parties by private parties. As
far back as February 9th of the
present year I introduced a bill
which would have made the keeping
of such a standing body’ of men. or
their employment, illegal, and would
thus have struck at the source of the
trouble, by’ puting down this body’ of
men, who. as long as they are kept
up, will be used for such purposes.
1 No action whatever has been taken
upon that measure. If this Congress
meant to do anything to protect the la
borers it could have been done.
You knew that such thing had hap
pened in the past. You knew they
would happen in the future. And
yet when your attention was called
to these matters you paid no atten
tion to them; you let that proposi
tion sleep in your committee room
until dead men'lay in the streets and
widows’ weeds had been thrown
around desolate wives. Rut, now
that your Presidential election ap-
proaches and you want to play’ to the
galleries and to pretend friendship
for the workingmen, you bring in a
resolution at this lite hour, when the
shedding of blood might have been
prevented had you acted in time.
Air. Speaker, I thought the last bill
to which I have referred should have
gone to the Committee on Labor, and
when I introduced it I sought to have
it referred to the Committee on La
bor; but it was faken out of my
hands and sent to the Committe on
the Judiciary’, where it has slept the
sleep of the righteous and the dead.
Now, I am in favor of any’ sort of
an investigation of this subject by a
committee. I have no pride of au
thorship about it. The work ought
to be done. If you will do it on the
resolution of the gentleman from
Alassachusetts [Air. AVilliams], in
God’s name, do it. If you will do it
upon the resolution of the gentleman
from California [Air. Caminetti], in
God’s name do it, for it is a piece of
work in regard to which Congress
ought to discharge its duty before it
adjourns. We are on the eve of a
social outbreak. ‘ AVe are at the crisis
of our republican government. In a
few months it will be decided wheth
er we have a government of law and
order, whether peace can be mam
tained by the constituted authorities,
or whether each side will arm itself
with the deadliest weapons of de
struction and fight out their griev
ances. Gentlemen, in the name of
patriotism and not of party, in the
name of humanity and principle and
not of policy’, I invoke at your hands
a speedy investigation of this evil
and a prompt suppression of it. [Ap
plause.]
Air. Oates. Air. Speaker, in reply
to what- has fallen from the gentle
man from Georgia [Mr. AVatson], I
will say that his resolution which he
sent to the Committee on the Judi
ciary was referred to a sub-committee
of which lam a member. The gen
tleman was afforded an opportunity
to appear before that sub-commit tee
and furnish it with information upon
which it could act, and he failed to
do it.
Air. AVatson. Did I not go there
twice ?
Air. Oates. The resolution was re
ported to the full committee, and the
gentleman from Georgia [Air. AVat
son j was invited to come before the
full committee for the same pur
pose. He did c®me, and every mem
ber of the committee who was pres
ent knows that after he had made his
statement and had been catechized
there was no substantial thing of
which the gentleman was informed
or could give information upon which
the committee could act.
Air. Watson. Did not I try twice
to do it?
Mr. Oates. You came before the
committee. You were allowed to
appear there and make such state
ments as you thought proper to make.
Air. Watson. And you said that
the law did not authorize it, and your
committee fought it on the floor of
the House.
Air. Oates. And you could give
no information of any particular or
substantial character upon which the
committee could act.
Air. Watson. Have you subpoenaed
any 7 of the witnesses whose names I
gave you ?
Air. Oates. Ido not yield for any
question of that kind.
Air. AVatson. It is a pertinent
question.
Air. Oates. I will answer the ques
tion. I have. You gave me the
names of the three persons; for one
of them a subpoena has been issued,
and he could not be found.
Air. AVatson. Have you subpoena
ed the other two?
Air. Oates. I have not, but I ex
pect to do so.
Air. Watson. AA T hy* did you sub
poena the one you could not reach,
and not attempt to subp<rna the tw’O
whose residences I gave you ?
Air. Oates. I did not know he
could not be reached. You gave me
his residence in this city; I sent for
him, and he could not be found at
that address.
Air. AVatson. Did I not give you
the name of Air. Powderly*, of Scran
ton, Pa.?
Air. Oates. Yes, sir.
Air. Watson. Did I not give you
his street number?
Air. Oates. I know we could not
get Air. Powderly 7 while he was in
another part of the country.
Air. AVatson. Did I not give you
the street number of Air. AV right of
New York ?
Air. Oates. I decline to be cate
chised any further in this way.
* * * * *
Air. Oates. Air. Speaker, the gen
tleman from Georgia [Air. AA r atson]
seems to think that he has not been
treated fairly. I now yield three
minutes to him if he desires it.
Air. AVatson. Could y*ou not make
it a little fairer, and give me five
minutes ?
Air. Oates. I will give the gentle
man five minutes.
Mr. AVatson. Air. Speaker, with
good temper, and with the intention
of being entirely fair to everybody,
especially so to the distinguished
chairman of the committee who ad
dressed the House today, I beg to
say that they* do me injustice when
they 7 put me in the attitude that I
have neglected to push this resolu
tion with all the power I have. Why,
Air Speaker, it is said that I furnish
ed the committee nothing, and the
impression will go out that the com
mittee followed me around the city
with a search warrant for me to come
and address them upon this matter.
AVhy, sir, I was told by the gen
tleman from Alabama [Air. Oates]
that the committee would hear me
on a certain morning. I went there;
the watch was promptly drawn on
me, and they gave me, according to
my recollection,fifteen minutes. Dur
ing that fifteen minutes I did the
very best I could. It was not enough
to satisfy* the gentleman from New
York [Mr. Ray] ; it was not enough
to convince the gentleman from In
diana [Mr. Bynum], and it wag not
enough to convince thechairman of the
committee. But it was the very best
I could do. I occupied the fifteen
minutes ; was called down at the ex
piration of the fifteen minutes by the
chaijman and was bowed out ot the
room. Some time afterwards I was
told that the committee would again
hear me.
I again went before the commit
tee, again I had my time limited to
I think fifteen minutes, and I again
occupied it. Again I had “time”
called upon me, and was courteously
bowed out of the room. In other
words, I occupied every moment that
the committee allowed me to occupy 7 ,
and the gentlemen of that committee
will bear me out when I make the
statement that I took the position
that the Federal Government had
the right to interfere, because these
men were doing militia duty, and be
cause the Pinkertons were keeping a
standing army. It was from the dis
tinguished chairman of the commit
tee that I got the suggestion that I
could bring in the interstate-com
merce question at all. If I under
stood the gentleman from Texas cor
rectly, he said that I had abandoned
every idea except that the interstate
commerce law would give us juris
diction.
Air. Culberson. No.
Air. AVatson. Well, there was some
confusion, and I may not have heard
the gentleman correctly.
Mr. Culberson. I made no such
statement. What I said was this,
that under your resolution we could
not discover any Federal question,
and I suggested that perhaps the in
vestigation could be based on a Fed
eral question involving the inter
state commerce.
Air. AVatson. That is quite cor
rect.
Air. Culberson. And the gentle
man adopted that suggestion.
Air. AVatson. I adopted that sug
gestion because that was the only
point upon which I could get in;
but, I claimed the right io come in
under the others, and in the public
newspapers where I discussed this
question and upon the floor of this
House, when we debated the mat
ter, gentleman will bear me out, and
the Record will bear me out in the
statement, that I then and there took
lhe position that this Government
had the right to forbid any Stare or
any corporation to keep a standing
army in time of peace.
AVhy, Air. Speaker, the committee
say I furnished them no proof. That
was not the time for proof. That
was the time for argument on the
question of jurisdiction. AVhen they
decided the question of jurisdiction,
I gave them a list of witnesses
promptly. I gave them the name of
Air. Powderly, of Scanton, Pa. I
gave them
Air. Ray. Alay I ask you a ques
tion, please ?
Air. Watson. Certainly.
Air. Ray. I desire to ask the gen
tleman whether he thinks that this
Congress would have the right to in
vestigate the police force of New
York City unless it was alleged that
that force in some way had either
violated the Constitution of the Uni
ted States or some statute of the
United States ?
Air. Watson. No; Ido not. But
that is a very different case from this.
This Pinkerton Detective Agency is
operating a body of armed men which
is not the police force of any city.
This same AVilliam Pinkerton is the
man who denounced in the public
press a member of this House be
cause he dared to introduce a resolu
tion here to investigate his infamous
band of deperadoes.
Mr. Simpson. Called him a fool.
Air. AVatson. Called him a fool.
Air. Gates. I desire to call the at
tention of the gentlemen from Geor
gia just here
Air. AVatson. I hope the gentle
man will not consume my time.
Mr. Oates. I will give the gentle
man more time. Ido not know Air.
William Pinkerton. I never saw
him, but as the gentleman has re
ferred to the matter, I will state that
since this committee was raised, and
since I found it to be my duty under
the resolution as the House to inves
tigate the matter, I wrote to Air.
Pinkerton, stating to him that I
would like him to come before the
committee which was raised for the
purpose of investigation. He re
plied in a very courteous letter, in
which he said that he would with
hold nothing. He gave me the places
in which their different offices were
located, and he stated that he had
nothing to withhold; that he was
really glad that the investigation was
going to be had, because he felt that
his organization had been misrepre
sented in the newspapers; but he
did not wish to come in advance be
fore the sub-committee, until those
who had accused him here had made
some charge and had produced some
evidence. I thought that was rea
sonable; and it was about three
weeks ago that I applied to the gen
tleman from Georgia for the names
of witnesses, and he gave me three
names. I issued subpoenas for them,
and was proceeding w’ith the exami
nation. Then the Pinkertons w’ould
have been called. I state this be
cause the gentleman is giving a
newspaper report. That letter of
Pinkerton I have in my possession.
Mr. AVatson. That does not
touch what I was saying at all. It
is well enough for Air. Pinkerton to
be polite to the chairman of the com
mittee when the investigation has
been ordered, but Air. Pinkerton will
not deny that, in the foulest and
most brutal manner, showing himself
to be a man who has no regard for
the rights of other people, he de
nounced me through the public press
of this country because 1 had dared
to introduce my resolution. I ask
every gentleman on this floor
whether that sort of conduct will
meet the approval of this body, and
whether that sort of intolerance
speaks w*ell for the character of the
man who exercises tyranical power
over the life and death of citizens ?
Now, Air. Speaker, going further,
I gave the committee the names of
witnesses, Air. Powderly, Air. AVright
of Brooklyn (with his street num
ber), and Air. Ralph Beaumont. The
other witnesses are accessible, even
if Mr. Beaumont is not, but, so far
as I know, during the three weeks
that have elapsed no attempt has
been made to subpoena those gentle
men.
Air. Oates. The gentleman does
not state that he gave me any facts
that these witnesses could testify to ?
Mr. AVatspn. No; but I gave you
the names of the witnesses who I
believed would make out the case
that I had outlined before the com
mittee. In other words, I outlined
the indictment and gave "you the
names of the witnesses who I thought
wy id. make the indictment good.
Oates. Three weeks ago,
when I called upon you for them ?
Air. AVatson. Certainly. I could
not give them to you before you called
for them. How could I tell when
you wore ready for them? I make
no accusation against the Judiciary
Committee. I simply repel the ac
cusation that seems to be made
against me. lam simply exercising
the right of self-defense.
Now, I want to say this in conclu
sion. Look at the difference in the
conduct of the committee at that time
and on yesterday.
There is a sound of cannon in the
air; there is a sound of AA 7 inchester
rifles abroad; there are barricades
and forts; there is a vessel in the
river armed and equipped for fight;
there is the stain of blood in the
streets; there are dead men being
borne to their homes. So the gen
tleman from Massachusetts [Air. AVil
liams] introduced a resolution yester
day and, without hearing him, with
out compelling him to give them any
evidence, or any facts, or any law,
the committee at once considered his
resolution and brought it up here this
morning.
Talbot County.
A mass meeting of the People’s
Party will be held in the Alliance
warehouse in the town of Talbotton,
on Saturday, July 23, for the pur
pose of nominating candidates for
the legislature, county officers and
electing delegates to the Congres
sional convention for the fourth dis
trict, to be held at AVest Point,
AA T ednesday, the 3d day of August
next. All who intend supporting
the nominations made at this meeting
are cordially invited to be present
and participate.
The following brethren were elec
ted delegates to the gubernatorial
convention to meet in Atlanta, July
20th : AV. R. Gormon, L. C. Dickey,
AV. T. Cosby and E. Neal.
Talbot is in the “fight to the
finish,” with strong hopes of victory.
The People’s Party Paper is the
best that comes to this office.
J. A. Cook, Chm’n.
J. O’C. Adams, Sec’y.
Third Congressional District.
Chairmen of county Executive
Committees in third district are re
quested to select delegates to the
Congressional convention at Ameri
cus, on the 2d of August. Send
large delegations—ten or more.
Each county is entitled to twice as
many* votes as members in the lower
House.
AV. T. Christopher, Chm’n.
J. D. AlcGhee, Sec’y.
Senator Vilas a Protectionist.
Chicago Herald
It would be as useless as it would
would be insincere for The Herald
to attempt to conceal its disappoint
ment and regret at the action of Sen
ator Vilas as a member of the plat
form committee in the late Demo
cratic convention. The has
felt itself in a measure responsib'e
for the prominence and success which
Senator Vilas has attained politically,
and this consciousness adds to the
bitterness of its present humiliation.
When William F. Vilas made his
first appearance in the arena of na
tional politics, in 1884, The Herald
thought it had recognized in him a
man who might reasonably be ex
pected to develop into an able cham
pion of Democratic principles. This
newspaper supported his administra
tions while a member of Mr. Cleve
land’s cabinet, and it hailed with
great rejoicing his election to the
United States Senate in 1891, be
cause it believed him to be an ardent
and genuine tariff reformer.
Os the part The Herald played in
pushing Senator Vilas to the front it
would not be becoming to speak at
length in this connection. It is suffi
cient to say that the Herald’s confi
dence in the Democratic Senator from
Wisconsin -was so great that it relied
upon him as a member of the com
mittee on resolutions in the Demo
cratic convention to see that the par
ty made no ambigious, insincere or
cowardly utterance on the tariff ques
tion.
Imagine, therefore, the surprise
and mortification of The Herald when
Senator Vilas appeared as sponsor
for the shocking straddle, intended to
pass muster as the tariff plank of the
platform, proposed by a majority of
the committee. Imagine, if possible,
the extremity of the Herald’s disap
pointment which was reached when
Senator Vilas addressed the conven
tion speaking against the minority
report and advocating the views of
the majority.
There is no other conclusion to be
arrived at except that The Herald
has been from the start mistaken in
Senator Vilas and wofully deceived
as to his position on the tariff issue.
He has been regarded in Congress as
a tariff reformer. It has been ex
pected that he would vote m favor of
a bill reducing tariff duties and en
larging the free list. Since he stood
in a Democratic convention in favor
of incidental protection, how can the
hope be justifiably entertained that
he would support a bill to remove
the burdens or destroy the inequali
ties imposed by existing tariff stat
utes?
The man who believes in inciden
tal protection is as much a protec
tionist as he who believes in protec
tion for protection’s sake. There
can, in the nature of things, be no
real difference between them. There
is no half-way ground on the subject
of the tariff. If protection is right in
any respect, it is right all along the
line. The opponents of extreme pro
tection can find no safe place to stand
except on the doctrine of a tariff for
revenue only. Because of this, al
though the admission is made with
sincere sorrow, Senator Vilas, judged
by his latest public declaration on
the subject, most henceforth be class
ed as a protectionist and cannot be
depended upon to aid the people in
their contest with the tariff robbers.
The Political Appetites.
The People's Tribune. Prescott, Ark.
The two great political appetites
have met and their actions have now
passed into history. There is no
issue between them, save and except
that of office and spoils.
Both conventions were made up
of lawyers, office-holders, railroad
kings, monopoly tyrants and political
wirepullers. The farmers and labor
ers of the republic were not “in it.”
Both conventions were oiled by
the money of national banks, railroad
and other monopolies.
Both conventions ignored the pe
titions and appeals of the wealth pro
ducing classes of the Republic.
Both conventions adopted plat
forms made to order by the money
power of Europe and America, and
both conventions nominated a candi
date dictated and named by the same
power.
The two old parties have at last
thrown off the mask and now come
befoi e the people with the party lagh
in full confidence that they can whip
the disaffectedjand suffering people
into line as they have done in the
past. The platforms are twin mon
sters of iniquity, and the two candi
dates are twin tools of the most cor
rupt, heartless, and damnable power
that ever cursed the earth wuth its
presence, or blighted human hope
and prosperity with its cunning.
The mailed hand of heartless greed
guides, controls, and manipulates
both parties, and stalks over the
starving bodies of innocent children
and pleading suffering women with a
gusto and indifference unknown to
the darkest time of the dark ages of
the world’s history. Up to the pres
ent time there might be found some
excuse for the great common people
of this State t© remain loyal to the
Democratic party. But now they
have not only violated every pledge
made to the people, but they have in
their national convention, by plat
form, declared that the Republican-
English financial policy is right, and
that the raw material produced by
the farmer and common laborer shall
go on the free list while the manu
facturer is to be protected, thus forc
ing the production of raw material
to sell in the cheapest market in the
world, and buy in the dearest market
in the world. This is a bid for the
money of the Eastern manufacturer,
to be used as a corruption fund by
Democratic heelers and wire pullers.
Will the honest yeomanry of the
country permit themselves to be
driven further in the road that is
rapidly bringing them to a condition
of slavery that must fall as a blight
upon their children for all time?
Throw off the yoke of party bon
dage. Join the on marching hosts
of the People’s Party, and save to
your children the right to enjoy the
fruit of their toil for all time to come.
Organize, take papers that will keep
you posted on the movement of the
enemy, and on election day strike for
liberty, home and native land.
The Depths of Infamy.
National Watchman.
The old issue of sectionalism is con
fronting the South, The white people
here are menaced by force bill legisla
tion. The prosperity of the South—
the industrial development of the whole
section is menaced by the Republican
party, which has promised its followers
that it will turn the Southern States
over to negro domination and fasten
upon them an intolerable federal des
potism. kV.r v,.-.. ~ :
Ratify,"brethren I Get together and
ratify!
*****
With the force bill in operation, all
the financial reform in the world
wouldn’t do the South any good. Our
industries would be paralyzed, and our
business practically destroyed.
The above extracts are taken from
the Atlanta Constitution, and disclose
not only the potency of the party
lash, but the depths of infamy to
which the press of the country will
descend in order to serve the money
ed plutocracy which now rules and
governs this country. ' Especially is
this example of abject servility more
pronounced in the case of the Con
stitution, both its friends and its en
emies having expected it would come
out for the People’s Party. It has
advocated within the past tw o years
almost every principle contained in
the platform of the People’s Party.
Jt has fought Cleveland and his sil
ver record most intelligently and per
sistently, and has called to* account,
not only the Republican but Demo
cratic party for past and present of
fenses. It has been an ind'epx ndent,
and to a considerable degree a fear
less exponent of many of the reforms
demanded by the People’s Party,
To such an extent was this carried
on, that Democrats complained and
reformers rejoiced. The all import
ant problem now to solve is the means
and methods by which this sudden
and complete transformation was
brought about.
It is certainly not the result of a
changed condition, or the force of
new arguments, but must be the work
of some unseen and dangerous pow
er. Whatever this controlling influ
ence may be, or wherever it may be
located, it is a menace to liberties of
the people, and should be hunted out
and destroyed. Os what account are
the constitution and laws of the land,
when an unknown force can be ap
plied to a great and properous paper
that will cause it stultify itself, re
pudiate its past record, and strike
hands with those whom it has so re
cently condemned ? Such conduct is
enough to fill all candid men with
alarm, and make even the thought
less pause and consider the gravity of
the situation.
It is not so much the faet that the
Constitution has taken this cringing,
menial-like course, as it is the power
which compelled the action. From
now on it will do the bidding of its
ma-ters, whoever they ar.?, and will
drop from the position of independ
ent journalism to that of a fawning
sycophant. Let the people of Geor
gia wupe out the infamous sheet from
out their borders. Refuse to have it
iu the family for fear of its blighting
and contaminating influence.
People's Party Mass Meeting.
The People’s Party of Jackson
county, and all in sympathy with the
reform movement, are requested to
meet at the court house, on Satur
day, July 23, 1892, to elect by ballot
delegates to represent Jackson county
at the Congressional convention to be
held at Gainesville, July 27. Public
speakers have been invited, among
others Hon. Thos. E. Watson. The
public generally is invited, especially
the People’s Party, as business of im*
jortance is to be attended to.
A. L. Venable,
Ch. Ex. Com. People’s Party.
Macon County.
A mass meeting of the People’s
Party of Macon county will be held
at Montezuma on Saturday, July 23,
to select delegates to the Senatorial
convention. A large attendance de
sired .
W. T. Christopher, Chm’n.