To this position I was elected by unanimous vote.

I was thus relieved from the feeling that I was considered responsible by labor generally, for the Homestead riot and the killing of workmen.
I owe this vindication to Mr.Oscar Straus, who had read my articles and speeches of early days upon labor questions, and who had quoted these frequently to workmen.

The two labor leaders of the Amalgamated Union, White and Schaeffer from Pittsburgh, who were at this dinner, were also able and anxious to enlighten their fellow-workmen members of the Board as to my record with labor, and did not fail to do so.
A mass meeting of the workmen and their wives was afterwards held in the Library Hall at Pittsburgh to greet me, and I addressed them from both my head and my heart.

The one sentence I remember, and always shall, was to the effect that capital, labor, and employer were a three-legged stool, none before or after the others, all equally indispensable.

Then came the cordial hand-shaking and all was well.
Having thus rejoined hands and hearts with our employees and their wives, I felt that a great weight had been effectually lifted, but I had had a terrible experience although thousands of miles from the scene.
An incident flowing from the Homestead trouble is told by my friend, Professor John C.Van Dyke, of Rutgers College.
In the spring of 1900, I went up from Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, to the ranch of a friend at La Noria Verde, thinking to have a week's shooting in the mountains of Sonora.