Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1886 — ORGANIZED LABOR. [ARTICLE]

ORGANIZED LABOR.

Annual Address of General Master Workman Powderly, of the Knights *f Labor. Decent Strikes Touched Upon, and the Blame for Deeds of Violence Located. To the members of the General Assembly: If we are guided by the experience of the past, and act accordingly, we can place the order upon a footing so safe and sure that no assaults from its enemies can injure it. If we are not guided by that experience, if we fail to read aright the signs of the times, and we close this General Assembly without having improved on the past, we will fail to properly represent those who sear us here. Tho rapid increase in organization since the Hamilton session of the General Assembly was most marvelous. An examination of the reports of the General Secretary-Treasurer for the year ending July 1, 1886, will show that in one year 4,018 assemblies bave been organized.' The new members so suddenly brought together could not bo properly assimilated. Thousands have been attracted toward the order through mere curiosity; others have come for purely selfish motives ; while the groat bulk of our now recruits have joined us for tho good that they could do. Quite a few have entered our order for the purpose of redressing their existing wrongs, and, beforo waiting to learn anything concerning the duty of the Knight to the order, have plunged into rash and ill-considered strikes. The troubles coming from this direction began while the last General Assembly was in sossion. The car-drivers of St. Louis were organized under promise from the Organizer that they would receive aid, unstinted, in case of a strike. Even before the receipt of their charter they were on strike. Their proceedings were characterized by such utter disregard for our laws and teachings, that the paid and known agents of their employers, the detectives, had no difficulty in securing the passage of motions of a violent character. It is an established fact that men who were employed by detective agencies stood up on the floor of that assembly, made inflammatory speeches urging men to deeds of violence, and urged that the property of the street-car companies be destroyed. It was only the good sense of the men that prevented such outrages from being perpetrated, although these agents of a nefarious spy system induced some desperate men to blow up tho cars upon the streets. For these outragos the order was In no way responsible. The Bt. Louis cor troublos wore but the beginning of tho tidal wave of strikes and boycotts which swept over the country, and which strained tho strength and resources of your general officers almost beyond their powers of endurance. The Southwest strike began when the time and attention of the general officers were takon up with other matters of vital importance. No notice of the contemplated action was given to us, and we knew nothing whatever concerning it ortho causes leading to it until it had been in progress several days. It has been asserted that I condemned tho men while they were on strike. No such statement ever escaped my lips. The only statement of mine that could be made to apDear in the light of a condemnation was that contained in iny secret circular of the 13th of March, a copy of which is herewith submitted. I did not not approve of that strike. I could not do so, since confidence enough was not reposed iu the General Executive Board to give them a chance to examine into the grievances which the members of District Assembly lul complained of. It was only when the threat was made to stop every wheel in the United States and engage the whole order in the difficultv that I raised my voice in denial. I did that in defense of the order and the country. lam quite willing to assume all the responsibilities attached to the act, and would do the same thing again undor similar circumstances.

That the men of tne Southwest suffered ■wrongs is true ; they were many and grievous ; and it is my firm belief that the railway companies, with a full knowledge of what these grievances were, precipitated the fight themselves at a time when it would appear to the world that the strike was for an insignificant cause. I can do no better than to submit the report of Brothers Litchmftn and McGuire. These two members were by me personally detailed to go with the Congressional Committee, and with that committee examine into the strike and its causes, so that an early report might he made to tho order by its own representatives. If the position which I took during tho strike was wrong, then the entire order sustained me in it, for when I issued the appeal for aid to support those whom the companies refused to treat with, I was generously sustained, as a reference to the report of the General Secretary-Treasurer will Bhow. The documents and correspondence relating to that strike are at your disposal. The eight-hour strike which took place May 1 was not successful except in cases where employers and employes were acting in harmonv, or where employers were willing to adopt tho plan. In many cases the old system of working long hours lias been revived. The Federation of Trades recommended the Ist of May, but adopted or suggested no definite plan by which the short-hour system could bo inaugurated. I cautioned our members against rushing into this movement. I had the right to do it, and am firm in the belief that had I not done so great loss would have been entailed upon vast numbers of our assemblies. What I said in my secret circular of March 13 has been severely criticised, and I have been accused of opposing the eight-hour movement. .No statement ever was further from the truth. I opposed tho striko of May 1 because I know that neither workmen nor employers were ready for it, because the education which must always precede intelligent action had not been given to those most in need of it, because no definite, business-like plan for the inauguration of the eight-hour movement had been mapped out. In fact, no preparat ons had boon made to put the plan, if it can be called a plan, into execution. Those are the reasons why I opposed the movement May 1, and for these same reasons do I still oppose it. A reduction of tho hours of labor is a necessity, and sooner or later must be had; but we must not forget that in many places the tenhour plan has not been adopted yet. It may do very well for an organization which looks ufter the interests of but one craft, or calling, to neglect those who stand most in need of helu, but a Knight of Labor must never close his eyes to the wants of tho humblest of his fellowcreatures.

The very discussion of the sudden introduction of tho eight-hour plan injured business, so much so that iu many places men were reduced to half-time, or thrown out of employment altogether. Millions of dollars’ worth of work was left undone because of the uncertainty In regard to taking contracts, or in making engagements to perform work. Never was it more clearly demonstrated that “an injury to one is the concern of all” than in the movement lam speaking of. The house-builder, through uncertainty as to hdw many hours of labor his employes would work for him, made no contracts to orect buildings, and the carpenter was thrown out of employment; the man who made the windowglass, the man who made the nails—in fact, every man or woman engaged in the manufacture of articles which go to build or furnish a house —suffered through the attempt to enforce tho eight-hour system May 1. The move was in the right direction, but the time and circumstances were not suitable. Before the eighthour plan is adopted the Knights of Labor and the trades unions of America must lay aside their jealousies and differences, come together, name a day on which to put the pian into execution, adopt the plan of action, which must be gradual and such as will not inflict injury upon either employer or workman. The plan presented by Mr. Norton, of Chicago, to the special session of the General Assembly at Cleveland is a good one in nearly every particular, and if the workingmen's organizations and the manufacturers’ associations agree upon putting into practice such a plan it can be done without jar or friction. No workingman need strike, nor need business

be unsettled. Why should it not be done? Either adopt a plan for the perfection of this idea, cr else place it in the hands of the incoming General Executive Board, with instructions to perform the duty. If we do not do either let us strike the twenty-first declaration from our preamble and no longer proclaim to the world that we are in favor of eight hours for a day’s labor. Before a short-hour system that will be of any benefit to mankind can be inaugurated the relation which the workman bea s to the laborsaving machine must undergo a radical change. Shorten the hours of labor under our present system, and the streets will not be emptied of their idle thousands. More machines will be erected, and more children called into service to feed them. The assertion that the advocate of short hours desires to stop production is false. It is to make production gradual, healthy, and have it keep peace with the wants of the consumer, keeping all men omployed, so that idleness will disappear, and the producer remain a consumer to his fullest capacitv, that we desire a shortening of the hours of labor. Visit our large and small factories, and you find toot the mechanic of the past is but the feeder of the machine of the present. We already hear Of machines in course of perfection which will set the typo and mold tho cigars faster than human hands can do tho work ; and electricity will soon take tho throttle-lever from the hand of the man who runs the locomotive. The day will soon dawn when these agencies will be doing their work ; and, when that day does come, the mechanic, now so proud of his calling, will stand face to face with the alternative of asking for charity, or the ndoptkm of the calling of the street scavenger. When that day comes, the man who now seeks to array labor against labor in asserting that the “3 a day man should not move in the same society circles with the man who works for $1 aday" will oither seek to crowd the SI a day man out of his place or accept the crumbs of charity to sustain life. History will repeat itself, and the fight for existence will be waged with unrelonting fury. The machine must become the slave of the man, instead of keeping the man in attendance on and subordinate to tho machine. A plan of co-operation through which the workman may control the machine he operates must one day supersede the present »ystem. To properly map out such a plan requires more time than I have had or am likely to have at my disposal. I can only co-operate with others in the work. Tho thirteenth article in our declaration of principles reads : “The prohibition by law of the emplojment of children under fifteen years of age in workshops, mines, imd factories.” The end sought for in carrying this declaration into effect is not that the child may livo iu idleness ; it is not that more adults may be employed. It is that the child of the poor man may be enabled to acquire an education to equip him for the duties which will in future fall upon him as man and citizen. We cannot afford to pass this question by and legislate on some simple question of trade discipline. The question of child-labor and education is the most imwortant that can come before us now or at any other time. With an education all things are easy of accomplishment; without it, hope itself almost dies, and liberty is a farce. In our organizations of labor—and it has been so from the beginning—we tako up the work of reform when the subject is advanced in years—the new member must be above 16 years’ before we admit him. We att nipt to drive from his mind the false ideas gathered in from the workshop, or, possibly, the street comer. His habits are formed, and the work that should have been begun at seven years we take up at twenty or later in life. To attempt to settle so intricate a question as the one we are grappling with, or to successfully solve the question, is a task so difficult that 1 do not wonder that men drop out of the ruhks of labor organizations discouraged and hopeless. To make the necessary progress we must begin with the child and see to it that he has an education. If the principles of the Knights of Labor are right—and few men question them—we should teach them to tho young. It should be a part of the duty of every assembly to ascertain the number of children who do not attend school in its vicinity, learn what the causes are, and take steps to have them attend school.

The sword may strike the shackles from the limbs of tho slave, but it is education and organization that make him a free man. He is still a slave whose limbs alone have been freed. Of what avail is It to say that we are laboring to establish a system of co-operation, when that which is most essential to the success of co-operation is lacking? A business training is necessary to successfully carry on a co-opera-tive enterprise. If the management of the large or small concerns now In operation in this country were turned over to us to-day we would but run them into the ground, for we lack the business training necessary to successfully operate them. Our vanity may prevent us from acknowledging this to be true, but wo cannot deny it. It is through lie fault of ours that it is true, but if it continues it will be our fault. I ask that a special Committee on Education be appointed to prepare and recommend to this General Assembly a plan for the better education of the American youth. The trouble with trades unioes In which certain of our members and assemblies bave been engaged was greatly mugnifled and distorted. The proceedinge of the Cleveland special sossion of the Goneral Assembly and tho report of the General Executive Board submitted to you to-day will be sufficient. I need not enter into details further than to say that there wore mistakes made on both sides. Some of our organizers have been so zealous in their way of organizing that tney have encroached upon the prerogatives of other associations, and on several occasions the rights of our members have been seriously interfered with by members of trades unions. Since the special session of the General Assembly over fifty cases of dispute between parties of our order and other societies have been placed before me for adjustment. It was not necessary to place those cases before the General Executive Board. A few lines in each instance was sufficient, and the trouble ended. To dig up past troubles is unnecessary, and, in consultation with prominont men of tho trades unions, I was gratified to learn that they had no desire to revive the past. For the future I recommend that all matters likely to creato a breach of tho peace between our order and any other bo at once submitted to the executives of both organizations. If a trade union complains of any action on the part of our order, let the aggrieved party submit the matter to tho president of his union ; he to investigate, and failing to effoct a remedy, to place the matter before the General Master Workman and Executive Board. If the aggrieved party is a member of an assembly of the Knights of Labor, let tho same mode of procedure be gone through with, and, above all things, let a sneedy and impartial investigation and an immediate settlement be made. This plan has worked well in every new case called to my attention since the Cleveland session, and it is worth of adoption. S;More trouble has been caused us by men who profess to be members of tho Knights of Labor than by members of trade Unions.' I respect the man who, being a member of a trade union, does everything honorable in his lower to defend and perpetuate his organization; but for the Knight of Labor who would even attempt to subordinate our order to any othor I have nothing but contempt. In my estimation there is but one place for such a man, and that is on the outside of our order.

If the representatives of tho trade unions and of our order come together, and both uro sincere in their dovotion to their respective organizations, an honest and satisfactory solution of every difficulty can be arrived at. No sacrifice of principle or regard for either organization need attend such a meeting. But the man who through fear, policy, indifference, or a desire to acquire popularity, neglects the interest of the order he represents is not honest, and should not be allowed to act in any capacity for any society of workingmen. With the session of the General Assembly only three days away, it would not be possinle for me to say all that I would like to upon the questions that will come before us. My time has been entirely taken up with tho detail work of the order, and I was forced to neglect this duty in order to give any time or attention to a preparation for the coming of the General Assembly. It will surprise you to learn that even at this moment, when every member knows full well that we are assembled in general convention, Secretaries and members are addressing me at my office in the expectation of receiving an immediate reply. Letters and telegrams by the hundreds will flow In upon me even while the General Assembly is in session.

The duties which called me away from home for the greater part of the year that has closed made it impossible to give proper attention to my correspondence. To road each letter addressed to me would occupy every moment of the twenty-four hours, leaving no time to answer or dictate an answer to any of thorn. I attended to all that I could, and the others will never be reached. If this is neglect of duty, then lam guilty; but I have no apology to offer. I did all that I could do—more could not be expected of me.