"If you are willing. I will lead you. I want hundreds more. I want women and children. I want you to come together," Power told them.¹⁷

The Commissioners refused to see Pierce Power. They did agree to meet with the other members of the committee. Matches to light the stove and baking powder to make the bread rise were added to the dole orders. They were given a little more coal. But the Commissioners continued to turn down all the Unemployed Committee's major requests. They refused to give the unemployed men and women of St. John's what they needed most-work.

The city was tense. The police believed there would be violence, perhaps even a riot. The Committee was openly angry in its comments about the Commission of Government, especially the commissioner in charge of health and welfare. John Puddister was a Newfoundlander. The unemployed believed he was more cruel towards them than were any of the British commissioners.

Detective Mahoney tried to help the situation. He looked into complaints about the dole office. In a report to the chief of police, Mahoney called the dole officers "over-bearing and officious... I feel that some of this trouble could be eliminated if the members of the relief office would use diplomacy and common courtesy. It doesn't cost the department a cent," Mahoney wrote in his January 16 report.

Mahoney had noticed Mrs. Muir did not always follow the rules. He told the story of Michael Peddle of Wickford Street. This man was refused his dole after Mrs. Muir found out he was in the unemployed parade.

"He did not get his relief on the 12th (of January) and when Sergeant Cahill visited him on the 13th he was in such a condition that he (Cahill) was obliged to give him a dollar from his own pocket. Peddle's child at the time was at some neighbour's home, as he had no food to give it," Mahoney wrote. The detective also admitted that some of the constabulary officers were too rough in their treatment of the unemployed. Mrs Muir was forced to resign. By that time the unemployed were determined to continue on until their other demands were met.

The Unemployed Committee held meetings all that winter. No one would rent them a hall. They met outdoors on the courthouse steps and at Beck's Cove. The police reported it had become difficult to take notes because it was so cold.

By February, Power was planning another parade. "We must get together and fight back. At this parade bring your women and children. Do not hide your misery in your homes. Come out and see justice done in this city. Never have I seen such misery and want. This state of affairs will continue unless we fight it and make a determined stand," Power told a crowd shivering on the court house steps on February 7. ¹⁸