The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 21, April 1, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and GirlsVarious
History
The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 21, April 1, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls
Various
History, Modern -- 19th century -- Juvenile literature -- Periodicals
The workingman, an engineer named Charles Curran, was employed by the
Miller Brewing Company in Rochester.
He was a clever workman, and had a steady job, and good wages.
One day the Knights of Labor called on him, told him that he must join
their society, pay the necessary fees, and allow himself to be guided in
future by their rules.
They told him that, if he refused, they would see that he was discharged,
and make it impossible for him to get further employment.
Curran did refuse, and the Knights of Labor went to his employers and
demanded that he be dismissed.
The Brewing Company had an agreement with the Knights of Labor to employ
only members of the association in its works. They dared not refuse the
request for fear of a strike being ordered, so they discharged Curran.
True to their threat, the Knights of Labor watched Curran, and prevented
him from getting work in the city of Rochester.
He finally was forced to go to another town, but he soon found that he was
a marked man. Word was sent from one branch of the Knights of Labor to
another to follow Curran, and prevent his getting work.
From being a prosperous, well-to-do man, he became very poor, and finally
suffered for food.
Then he went to the courts and asked for help.
His case has been before different judges for seven years, but at last it
has been decided in his favor.
The Court of Appeals, the highest court in the State, has decided that it
was not lawful for the brewers of Rochester to make a contract with the
Knights of Labor, agreeing only to employ members of the society in their
works. Further, that it was not lawful for this contract to be used as a
means of depriving a man of the opportunity to earn a living.
The Court ordered that Curran should be given money for the damage he had
sustained through the loss of his work, that the Knights of Labor should
pay him this money, and should besides pay all the expenses of the trial.
This Labor Trust has been one of the most dangerous of all the Trusts,
because the members of it have made it a practice to force every workman
to join it, or else treats them as it treated Curran.
Up to the present time men have been afraid to disobey the orders of the
Knights, but now that this very important case has been settled in favor
of a man who is not a member of the Trust, it is to be hoped that
workingmen will have the courage to seek the aid of the law against the
Labor Union, when it treats them unjustly.
* * * * *
President McKinley has chosen the various gentlemen who are to be his
advisers for the next four years, and his Cabinet is now complete.
On Wednesday, March 5th, the day after his inauguration, President
McKinley sent word to the Senate that he had a message for it, and almost
immediately after word was brought that he had chosen the men whom he
would like to have for his Cabinet officers, and would be glad if the
Senate would confirm his appointments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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