The Trackman from Fort Scott, Kansas • 1

Application made for entry as second class matter at the postoffice 3i Fort Scott, Kansas, under the act of Congress, of March 3, 1879. No 1G Strike. Tl Vol. 2. Chicago, for the last month has been Ahe scene of one of the greatest local strikes that the country has seen in years.

Last fall the garment workers of Chicago went on strike. The strike was not a success. Twenty-eight firms, who employed garment workers, drove the union men out and made their shops open to all alike. Among these firms was Montgomery, Ward Company. This concern had locked out nineteen of its former employes, be cause of an alleged violation of their contracts.

This lock-out began in November. In the middle of April, this year, the teamsters employed by 'Montgomery, Ward Company, insisted that the Company take back the nineteen garment workers. The Company Tefused to accede to this demand, and the teamsters walked out. On April 25th, the garment workers, whose cause the teamsters claimed to be championing, notified the teamsters that tliey did not wish the strike to be continued against one firm alone, because all of the other twenty-seven firms should have been attacked simultaneously with Montgomery, Ward Company. Soon after the strike began, injunc-: tions against the strikers were issued out of the United States Court, presided over by Judge Koolsat.

This is the favorite remedy of the Employers Association, to secure, if possible, in- junctions in the United States Courts. Hordes of United States Marshals and Special Deputies were appointed to enforce the orders of the Court. A man by the name of Farley, from New York, a professional strike breaker, was engaged to go to Chicago and conduct operations for the Employers Association. Hundreds of the criminal element from the various cities were imported to take the places of the striking teamsters. These lawless and irresponsible men armed and instructed to shoot down the union teamsters upon the slightest provocation.

So far four persons have been killed, and something like two hundred seriously injured, as a result of the importation of these men. The Federation of Labor, acting In conjunction with the' mayor of Chi The Chicago Fort Scott, Wm. Fitzpatrick, Minooka, 111. Edward Foy, Inver Grove, Mi in. Henry Holmes, Bureau, 111.

M. O. Connor, Eddyville, Iowa. Ed Shaffer, Peoria, 111 E. J.

Thurman, Guyman, Okla. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND GULF. Jasw Burrows, McLean, Tex. W. J.

Slay, Groom, Tex. MISSOURI PACIFIC W. J. Harding, Towanda, Ka.s. F.

Hahn, Nyhart, Mo. A. Cramer Kas. S. Coy, Chetopa, Kas P.

Sullivan, Waggoner, I. T. Patrick Lynch, Bronson, Kas. T. R.

Lybarger, Blue Mound, K12 C. T. Mercer, Eads, Colo. J. T.

Marshall, Union, Nebr. Hy Niederhelm, Gasconade City, Mo. C. D. Noblitt, Oolagah, I.

T. J. J. Herald, Webb City, Mo. W.

H. Smith, McCIure, 111. Claude Tankersley, Greenwich Kas. MISSOURI, KANSAS TEXAS. G.

A. Hall, Walnut, Kas. Nat Gardyne, Hamberg, Geo. Putman, Treloar, Mo. J.

F. Barnhart, Providence, lvio. A. L. Havenor, Hominy, Okla.

CHICAGO, MIWAUKEE ST. PAUL Chas. Montgomery, Nora Springs, Peter Madsen, Portsmouth, Iowa. John Hemsey, Montevideo, Minn. August Frederick, Itsaca, 111.

B. E. West, Storm Lake, Iowa. Martin Churchill, Mason City, Iowa. Hy Kendt, So.

Milwaukee, Wis. Gust Lindon, Corliss Wis. F. A. Arnold, Truesdale, Wis.

E. Bowers, Mystic, Iowa. Gus Green Bay, Wis. Frank Delaney, No. McGregor, Iowa.

B. F. Grosvenor, Sac City, Iowa. GAL 4 Herman A. Moldenhaur, Fall Creek, Wis.

William Reardon, Monona, Iowa. Wm. E. Tracy, Letts, Iowa. Chas.

T. Bender, Mystic, Iowa. Mike Sullivan, Merrill, Wis. GREAT NORTHERN. James McAvoy, Long Prairie, Minn.

I Dixon, Nebr. James Corrigan, Winchester, Wash. ST. LOUIS, TOLEDO WESTERN. Adam May, Drusilla, Ohio.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL. Fred Carlson, Webster City, Iowa. Jacob Whaley, New Lebanon, Ind. Philip Wood, Bruce, Minn. C.

A. Olson, Glennville, Minn. Frank Theole, Manteno, Ills. IOWA CENTRAL. A.

Zearing, Iowa. CHICAGO, BURLINGTON QUINCY Bert Clarke, Promise City, Iowa. D. Maskell, Briar Bluff, Ills. KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN.

Harve Beswick, Richards, Mo. Chas. Burke, Orange, La. W. T.

Gartin, Gower, Mo. J. W. Packer, Rich Mountain, Ark. J.

F. Marsh, Merwin, Mo. ATCHISON, TOPEKA. SANTA FE. A.

J. Vermillion, Chanute, Kas. NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN HARTFORD. J. M.

Barnett, Plymouth, Mass. UNION PACIFIC. A. E. Payne, Minneapolis, -Harry Masters, River Bend, Colo.

FRISCO. J. L. Bridges, Bochito, I. T.

D. Reed, Pleasanton, Kansas. Comer Turpen, Keighly, Kansas. W. H.

Hoag, Grandvienvy Mo. Urge all trackmen with whom you meet to join an Order that is for their benefit, and do not let them put you off with the cxcu-ie that they have not the money, but send 'in their application with their agreement to pay on their next pay day. Every member, whether delegate or not is invited and urged to attend our Convention, and take part in the proceedings. On all Divisions where local lodgeia have not yet been organized, the members should call a meeting at once and send in for their charter. Kansas, Wednesday, A NEW DEAL IN THE INSURANCE BUSINESS.

The average man well 'knows that with his best exertions at his death he will not be able, to leave much of this world's goods to his family. For that reason a system of insurance has been devised, and for many years been an operation in 'this country. There is no community in the United States where a large majority of the men do not1 carry some form of insurance, thus making provision for the future welfare of those dependent upon them. It is now considered almost a crime for a man, who has not considerable means, to neglect to take out and carry a rasonable amount of insurance on his life. We have in this country four oi five large Insurance Companies, such as the New York Life, Massachusetts Mutual, Equitable of New York and the Prudential Life.

The people have always looked upon these (institutions as being as solid as the rocks of Gib-raiter, in fact they were considered as substantial as the Government itself. Thomas Lawson began a year ago publishing a series of articles on current finaneCal matters in the United States, and among other things attacked the management of these great Insurance Companies, claiming in the firfct place that the insurance cost the policy holders much more than the necessity of the case warranted, and that the funds paid in by the policy holders were used in speculation, enriching the officers of the Companies and their friends. His statements for a long time were discredited, and made light of, but the people now know; that Lawson was not stating anything but the absolute truth as to these matters. William" Hyde, of New York City, founded the Equitable Insurance Company, with a Capital Stock of One Hundred Thousand dollars. At the time of his death he owned a large majority of this stock, which went to his heirs, mainly to his son, James, Hyde, who is just thirty years of age.

The father has been dead several years, and at the time of his death there was piled up in toe treasury" of this Company m'illions of dollars that belonged to the policy holders. These policy holders were scattered all over the United States, and isome in foreign countries. The policies were "mainly held by people of small means, and was the only provision they had made to protect their families from poverty. Immediately after the death of the elder Hyde, the big capitalists and many men of New York City, took charge of young Mr. Hyde, and put him in as an officer and director in vat i' us corporations, intended and organized for the purpose of getting money for nothing from the people.

Young Hyde at twenty-three years of age, wasi an officer and director in twenty-five corporations. These capitalists -did not put young Hyde in their corporations for his business knowledge or experience, for of these he had none; they put him in for the sole purpose of being able to get at the millions of dollars controlled by the Equitable Insurance Company. These men that have for years manipulated Hyde and the Company's funds, finally fell out among themselves, as thieves often do, -and a gross scandal hast resulted therefrom. It was shown that Hyde spent One Hundred Thousand dollars of the Company's funds to give a supper to certain of his friends, and at this suo per a French actress danced on a table for the entertainment of young Hyde and his rich fool friends. He spent thousands of dollars of the Company's money In other wrays equally as foolish.

To show the silliness and snobbery of Hyde, it is stated that he has bunchest of violets in Eis horses' bridles when he drivesi forth, and that he wears clothing ma'de especially for him in France, of May IT, 1D(K. lavender and other outlandish colors, which advertise him among all sensible people as a clown and an ape. It has been ehawn that the money of these Insurance Companies has been used to float all kinds of questionable enterprises, and that the money of the policy holders has been at many times' risked to absolute loss for the enrichment of Hyde and the men who dominated him. Hyde frankly admits that the funds of the Company have been used this way, but says that lie is not the only one of the officers who have profited thereby. He states that the President, "iMr.

Alexander has himself made millions of dollars out of the funds of the Company by unlawful and unauthorized means. He states that Mr. Alexander has put his relatives in salaried positions in the Company's offices until their combined salaries amount to One Hundred and Ninety Thousand dollars per year. These disclosures have affected every Life Insurance Company of the United States to such an extent that the insurance business! is practically at a stand-still. It is almost impossible for agents to write insurance at this time, and thousands! of people who have carried insurance for years have stopped paying" their premiums for the fear of losing not only what they have already paid, but all they may hereafter pay.

Nothing in the business world has ever had such a demoralizing effect as these scandalous disclosures, and all well posted 'insurance' men say, that nothing will save the ruination of the insurance business, and the bankruptcy of, all these Companies, but to place them under government control in some form, so that the interests of 'the policy holders will be protected. RANK INJUSTICE. A year ago "Nan" Patterson, a show girl, who was the mistress of Ceaser Young, a race-track gambler, was arrested in New York City for the murder of Young. The facts as ascertained are these: Young had been keeping the girl for a year or so, although he himself was a married man. On the day that he died he was to go to Europe with his wife.

He called at the hotel where the Patterson girl was living, and took her in a cab with him ostensibly to go to the pier, where the ship was anchored that he intended sailing in. On the crowded street somewhere between the hotel and pier, a pistol shot was heard in the cab. and Young was found dead beside the girl. She was (promptly arrested and I'lacsd in the mibs prison, and soon thereafter was placed on trial. Before the trial was concluded of the jurors was taken sick, and the jury was discharged.

Some months afterward she was placed on trial again, and after a week's time, the jury failed to agree, and was discharged. In thisi trial the woman was subjected to the most unfair and brutal treatment by the Prosecuting Attorney, but with all this, a majority of the jury voted an her favor, and for acquittal. The case was continued, the girl remaining prison; and during May of this, year she was placed on trial again. Just before the trial began, her sister and brother-in-law, J. Morgan Smith and wife, were arrested in Cinctinatti, Ohio on the charge of conspiring with "Nan" Patterson to kill Young.

They were taken to New York, thrown into prison, and were then compelled to go upon the witness stand as witnesses for the State in the (prosecution of the girl. Not satisfied with this, the prosecuting attorney seized the letters and all of the effects of the Smiths; and used them at the trial. The Patterson girl's father, a man by the name of Randolph, had been with her at the two first trials, and was allowed to sit beside her, a custom that is followed in every paign of this kind conducted by the President would do more toward breaking 'up this contemptible business than anything else, by reason of the great faith and confidence the people have in Mr. Roosevelt. The Joint Ahead Systematic and organized efforts will accomplish any righteous cause.

No principal is better established than that right will prevail. We may be gloomy and unsuccessful today, but if we are right in theory and persistent in our determination to maintain the right, we will ba successful tomorrow. Very little complaint is made in the Presis of the country about the importation of thugs to break the teamsters' strike in Chicago. If union men resorted to such measures as the Employers' Assocition is doing in Chicago, the newspapers of tho country would teem with denunciation of it. The delegates to tho Convention will have the interest of every trackman in the community in their hands, and upon their deliberations the welfare of the trackmen will depend.

A New York physician says, "that every man that does not take at least eight hours sleep out of every twen-ty-four, is robbing himself of just that much vi'tal energy. The men who in the future live to be one hundred years of age will take more than eight hours sleep every day of their lives. Man can not burn the candle at both ends because nature will not permit him to do it." We think this is the way this should be summed up, eight hoursi for work, eight hour3 for recreation and eight hours for sleep. Come to the Convention with your minds made up to advance the interest of the cause, and do not cease laboring in that behalf until you have succeeded. Great results cannot be achieved at once, and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

It has been said that anybody, can be a "knocker," but it requires brains to be a consistent booster. The labor movement of today is growing as a result of persistent boosting, and those who from design or otherwise, do the hammer act, cannot permanently retard its forward progress. A rate of one and one-third fare for the round trip to Fort Scott has been made on all railroads, but in order to secure this, one hundred delegates must be present. Let each member who has anything of importance in mind, that ho thinks should be taken up by the delegates at the Convention, and who cannot be present, write a paper on the subject, and the same will be read and discussed. Protection protects everybody but the workingman, and lie must depend upon his union to protect him.

In order to make a proper showing at the Convention, every old member should have his card. Look over the list of delegates printed in this issue, and if your Division is not represented, get together and send in "your votes at once, and make arrangements for the expenses of the delegate elected. Where delegates have been elected, do not fail tosend in their names at once so that they may be publish Court of the United States, but at the third trial this man, aged and feeble, was refused the privilege that belongs to' everyone, that of being by the side of his child when in trouble, and he was compelled to sit like an ordinary (Spectator, in the body of the court room. Mrs. Smith, the defendant's sister, from the description given of her, is a frail little woman, and she was kept on the witness stand in an attempt to make her testify to something that would convict her sister, from the opening of Court in the morning until its close in the evening, with the prosecuting attorney, a big burly brute of a man, towering over her as she cowered in the witness chair in a manner that would not be allowed in any other court in the countir.

The case was finally submitted to the jury, and eight of the twelve men voted from start to finish to acquit her, the four others voted for the lower degree of manslaughter. The jury failed to agree and were discharged. Nan Patterson, after a week's delay, was discharged from custody without a bond, the prosecuting attorney saying, that he did not believe he could convict her. One of the Doctors, who examined Young immediately after his death, testified on the witness stand, that the wound inflicted could not have been done by Young himself, in this doctor's opinion. Since trial, this same Doctor stated fn presence a number of newspaper men, that he always had been of the opinion that Young himself inflicted the wound.

Here was this girl, wicked and guilty of wrong doing, but guilty because the man Young himself caused her to do wrong, being hounded and persecuted by the courts and officers for a year, and finally discharged because the did not believe her guilty sent out into the world blasted and ruined, with no recourse against those who have done her such great wrong. What little money her father and other relatives had wasi used up en her defense, and they are all practically paupers. There should be some remedy whereby people who are compelled to undergo such treatment as this, could recover from tlie state, compensation in the shape of damages for their wrongs. GOVERNMENT CONTROL. No stronger argument in favor of government control of railroads has been made than that presented by President Stickney, of the Chicago Great Western before the Senate Investigating Committee last week.

He says, that railroads, if. they want to exist are compelled to give rebates to large shippers, and thus operate against the interests of the small shipper and the public generally. He advocates the government taking charge through the Inter-State Commerce Commission, of the matter, fixing rates on all railroads in the United States that do an Inter-state business, so that the rates will be just and fair to all alike, the small shipper as well as the large. He claifiis that so long as the matter of fixing rates is left in the hands of the railroad people themselves, unscrupulous railway managers ill force honest ones in order to protect the interests of their own roads, to violate the law concerning rebates and other methods of discrimination in rates. He says that one of the most vicious elements in railroading is the problem of the "free pass." That law-makers, officeholders, judges and all that class of persons whose duty it is to make and enforce laws, are almost invariably carriers of free passes, thus working a hardship upon the masses, who are compelled to either ride on the railroads, ship their freight over the railroads oiUbuy property that is transported on railroads.

He urges that the Preisdent of the United States himself set an example for all others to go by, and believes that a cam cago, and many public spirited citi zens endeavored to secure a settlement of the difficulty. All these efforts proved in vain, aa the Employers' Association claim to have one million dollars with which only to break the strike that is now existing, but to make Chicago a non-union town. It now looys as though the teamsters had been defeated, bui out of it all will come a firmer re solve on the part of union men not only in Chicago, bi; elsewhere, to be firm in maintaining their rights. If the teamsters were wrong in ordering the strike, amends were made for this when through the mayor ana federation they offered to arbitrate all differences and to stand on this arbitration. The employers them: selves were wrong, as everyone can see, at least in the last instance when they refused to arbitrate.

Sooner or later will come compulsory arbitra tion, both state and National, in matters where the rights of the laborer and his employer are concerned. Undoubtedly at times, labor unions are guilty of wrong doing, and Em ployers of labor and laborers them-, guilty of wrong doing at times, and arbitration is only method by which these wrongs can be prevented, and the intereFts not only of the employer and laborer adjusted, but the rights of the public as well. No community can be prosperous where ill-feeling exists between employers of labor and laborers themselves. In order to be successful both must work in harmony, each conceding to the other the full measure of their rights. The sympathy of the mass of people is always with the weaker side, and as labor represents the weaker side financially ipublic sympathy is bound to be with labor, when labor asks only that which is justly due it.

We get this lesson from the Chicago strike, that first, we must comply with our contracts, and carefully safe-guard the Interests of our employers. Second, that we must insist upon our rights when they are invaded, and then we will have public sympathy and aid back of us in enforcing these rights. CHICAGO NORTH-WESTERN John Cunningham, Castana, Iowa. W. Martin, Mason City, Iowa.

D. J. Hoveland, Alton, Iowa. Chas. E.

Shain, Safix, Iowa. Chas- N. Tyler, Comfrey, Minn. William Townsend, Beloit, Wis. Mike Tormey, Hecla, S.

Dak. Emanuel Pfeiffer, Itedfield, S. Dak. Edgar B. Mattison, Linwood Nebr.

CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN. A. Frakes, Parnell, Mo. J. Bremer, New Hampton, Iowa.

Patrick Clarke, Mason City, Iowa. J. J. Murphy, Cawood, Mo. T.

McCormick, Stillman Valley, 111. C. Nelson, Ostrander, Minn. Jay Walworth, Trinidad, Co'o John Larson Wethe, Spring Val'ey, Minn. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND PACIFIC Wm.

Joslin, Eldon, Mo. E. G. GasheAlbert Lea, Minn. D.

Hynes, Pella, Iowa. G. W. Artwein, Bucklin, Kas. Ben F.

Buchanan, Seibert, Colo. T. P. Carter, Groom, Texas. H.

B. Cassidy, Thornburg, Iowa. C. R. Delk.

Lela, Tex. Edward Donnelly, Oskaloosa, W. E. Edmundson, Harlan, Iowa. W.

B. Fountain, Enid, Okla. Delegates to the Convention. Each mail nov brings returns from the election held for delegates to the Convention. We expect to have not less than three hundred present.

In order to get the reduced rate of one and one-third fare, there naiist be one hundred delegates present, who have paid full fare coming. This is the same arrangement that we had with the railroads last year. The delegate will go to his lecal agent and buy his iticket, and get a certificate, which he must bringwith him. This certificate is then O. K'd by our Secretary, and presented to the railroad agent at Fort Scott, who will then issue a ticket ito the delegate for hs return tibme for one-third the regular fare, provided, as we stated above, there are one hundred certificates of delegates presented.

Much important work will come before the Convention, and every man elected should thoroughly post himself as to what his constituents desire, so that he may faithfully carry out their wishes when we meet. WTe publish below a list of 'the dele-gates already elected, and we want to i if.y that they are everyone of them "Sresentative trackmen and an hon-' to their craft: ed in the paper..