Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1888 — CHIEF OF THE KNIGHTS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHIEF OF THE KNIGHTS.

■MR. POWDERLY’S REPORT OF IMVERSAL INTEREST. Criticising Certain Parties —An Oriler Facing Adverse Circumstances Has an Existence of Nineteen Years—Concentration cf Forces Recommended. [lndianapolis (Ind.) special.] The twelfth general assembly of the Knights of Labor was held in this city. Much routine work was done. The most noteworthy feature was the report of Gen-

eral Master Workman T. V. Powderly, which, in brief, was as follows: To the off cars and members of the General Assembly : For nineteen years the ordev of the Knights of Labor has maintained an existence in the face 5f circumstances the inostdiscouragm? and disheartening. Struggling forward in its infancy oen jath a veil of seci oey, it met with opposition from those in whose bshi if it contended, l.ater »n it faced the world as ihe advocate of justice tor the poor, and foun t all win were (liemies of the oppressed arrayed aga'nso it. In ah of these fears it has had to brave the taunts and insults of many whose iuteiests it sprv> d. Since tin adoption of the dec ora ion o’ principles, ten years ago, t hia O der has hid the opposition of all who despised ill;ir principles, but the yeai» wtnse ending we witness at this season his oeen the most trying and discouragi g t > those whose wish w as to soe ti e harmonious biend.'n'of all Masses of workers beneath the shield of knightbcol. Many causes combin'd tn reduce the number of those who swore allegiance to tin principles of the Knights of Labor. Their circulation of lass statements cjujorulug the strength of t> e order drove away thousands who regarded quantity as being superior to quality in the mak up of the membership of a labor u- ganbation. U hen the rumor went forth from the enemies'qui r.e s that; the numbors \v, re dropping down, those members, who looked to others lor want they should do themselves, dropped out also. When the divergence of opinion between the general oflicaiH became heralded b oadcast by those who always magnified, those members who 1( oked for unity among the officers, in stead of doing their duty by waiting until they could replace those officers with others, withdrew from the order temporarily. The story, so ofton circulated and so wonderfully magnified, of thi extravagance of the general ufficors frightened othirs, and they, too, stood still until this session would assemble. In thi ranks wero nnn whose love of self predominated. whose syifisli dosires cou d no: bo suppressed for the common weal, and on no occasion would they consent to sink sols for the good of all. The oft-told story of their grievances sickened and drove many from the oruer. With nn executive board whose members were not in harmony with each other, who traveled irom piace to place denouncing their fellowoilicers and ccniemuing actions that they Were no;, responsible for, it could no; be wondered at that we have lost in numbers. The unwise strikes which were entered upon against the laws aud prineiples of tho Knights ot Labor swept thousands of our members into poverty and lorced them from the order. Add to all of those causes the campaign which has just closed in the United States, iu which members and assemblies were pitted against each other oil a question which never was made a part of the declaration o principles, and on which they could very well afford to differ without dividing on any jioint in the laws or rules of the order, and we wonder not that there has been a falling off, but that we have passed through the crucial test with the ranks unbroken as we find them to-day. After speaking of the high estimation in which the order is held by many outside of it, and showing the multiplicity of details he must look after, he continues : “We have been treated to many a discours > during the past year ou the subject of one-man power. The cbief trouble with our order is because of the lack of one-mau power. ,Our power has been divided in the past, and it has worked injury to us. The will of this order crystallized into law. and imprinted upon the pages of our constitution by the representative s here assembled should be carried out to the leoter. To do this the duty is assigned to one man i o execute these laws. Whore the many ■execute the laws themselves they always fail; wh; re each man interprets the law for himself there is sure t o be a babel of sound and confusion. Vest in one man the power to execute the laws which the many favor and pass upon; allow no interference with that man in the performance of his duiies. and you may oxpe.it results. Allow every self-seeker, every knave, every disturber aud fault-finder to interpret the laws, and we have anarchy pure and simple. A pandering to ignorance by some has given rise to the impression that the man who railed against the one-man power was a,friend to the masses. No greater mistake was 6ver made. The man who tells the peoplo that they can all act independent of each other on every issue that arises, and do it intelligently, is a demagogue. No mutter how intelligent a people may be, they must meet to determine, not what one man wants, but what is best for all men. When they meet many cherished theories must give way to practical ideas, and when these are enacted into law and intrusted to the hands of one man for enforcement, every hand should be stretched forth to aid that one man to carry out the will of all men rather than to have, as I have had, so many hands stretcoed forth to stay the work that jour predecessors assigned to me. One manpower is an absolute necessity in order to insure success, but those who confer that power should first know what power to give, and when tne end of that man’s term of office arrives they should know whether he has wielded his power in such a way as best to •serve h s constituents. If ho has, accord to him the merit of having done so; if not, then censure him. but do not censure him for not accomplishing results when the authority to do so was not placed in his hand 3, aud when the power to thwart his every move was delegated to others, who were supEosed to act in unison with him. Men have een p itced in office with me with whom I would not lor a moment associate in a private business enterprise with any hope of success, yet for the sake of the good {hat might follow Silence, forbearance under such circumstances ha 3 been observed by me. Fancy the condition which the united colonies would have found themselves in hod the first ten years of ihs government of the United States oeen delegated to such men as I have described; and the interest of the 3,000,4.00 of that day were no greater than thoss which were placed in the keepifig of the General Executive Board of the Knights of I abor. Your General Master Workman realized full well his own incapacity to deal with the great questions which faced him, bnt it was not necessary to retard the progress of the order by placing an equal power in the hands of each member of the General Executive Board, and then expect the General Master Workman to achieve the success so much d - eired by all true knights.” After remarking the influence of the order on public opinion, bo takes up pending questions, eayiug; “The most important quesiions that cm come before this body for consideration are those of finance, land, and transportation. Thsse great -questions are up before the people for discussion and solution; they must be settled by the people, for it is not the int rest of politiciaus to do eo. Those wh-> control our public highways are

[ rea -hing out with a hand of steel to grasp and control the Government itself, and it is indeed a battle for the supremacy. If the masses remain idle and indifferent the classes will rule through the power which comes to them through the banking, railway and land monopolies, it is, therefore, a duty which we should not neglect, to select the sections wnich I have pointed out and place them prominently before our members for discussion. If we do our duty, and if the proper steps are taken, we can compel the | campaign of IS9z to be fought out on these lines, | and we can so educate the people on these issues that they can discern for themselves the I difference between the real friend and the sham | when he presents himsMf for the suffrage of the I people.” He recommends that a special committee of three be appointed to take up the matter. He advocates concentration of on rgies on these questions, and further recommends the formation of junior assemblies for educating younger working people. Matters of interest chieflj' to the order come in for a good snare of attention, and lie then favors a change of the time of holding the General Assembly, believing it comes too close to the election. He says : “It might happen that in the neat of a particularly exciting campaign members would differ hh to political methods, and ill-feeling be engendered. Should our annual session be held in tlie midst of such a contest or soon after one, it could not be productive of as much good as one held at a time when every trace of the excitement, anger, and feeling of the campaign had died away.” He advocates equal pay lor equal work for women. The provisional committee is referred to as follows : “Scarcely had the gavel fallen on tne last act of the Minneapolis session than traitors' hands were raised to destroy what it had taken years of time and patient work to construct. The majority of the last convention were right; they legislated as they saw the necessity for it; they refused to pass resolutions with which they were not in sympathy, and at the close of the General Assembly a meeting was held in the city of Chicago with the avowed purpose of disrupting the whole order. At that meeting it was resolved to organize what was called a ‘Provisional Committee’ for the purpose of ‘purifying the order.’ Decision No. a/6, which is herewith presented for the action of the General Assembly, deals with the question of the right of a member of the ‘Provisional Committee’ t < visit or otherwise meddle with an assembly of this order. That decision should be approved and a law passed at this meeeting which would promptly and f never expel from the order the member who would engage in such dastardly work as was inaugurated at the meeting of the Chicago Provisionals. Reforms spring from noble impulses, but the impulse which furthered the HBtembling of ‘Provisionals’ was bom in hate, nursed in envy, and grew to its present size in the hope that this great order w ould one day be brought ben 'atli the rule of men who do not possess the courage or manhood to properly rule themselves. No i esitancy and mawkish sentiment should sway us at this session. Let us onc« and forever put it beyond the power of any man to fight this order or its principles mid remain a member. If they will tear down. Jet th< m tear from the outside, and let every true honest man iu the order take sides, and o tiler go with those misguided creatures or stand firm uud defend the order ironi their vile attacks. These attacks upon the Knights of Labor come from the persistent opposition which has boon shown to tho idea o: allowing other organizations to control the Knights o. Labor. Do not misunderstand t ie, for I do hot refer to trades unions. I once reform 1 to this matter at a msetii.g of this body, and my remarks were twisted and tortured to serve the purpose of designing knaves who attempted to play upon the feelings of trade unionists. 1 do not ma i trade unionists. Their cause and ours are one in the main. The organiza ion of which your General Master Workman speaks is the line.''iiaticnat Workingmen’s Association, which passed resolutions three years ago to securo the election o; its trusted agents as general officers oft, > Order of tne Knight of the Labor. The proofs are in my possess ou. The plans of these men met with but little success, and Lorn that t ms to the present tne memoers of that orgauizatu n have stc*’ctly and untiringly worked for the ruin of this order. There are members of that society who are members of this, who do not favor the scuemss of the warring factions of tho ln.eruatioua! Workingmen’s Association, but they urs few and far between, for tt oso who aro known tire in ten: only ou dostiu tion. Wo had- the misfortune to elect a limn who was either a member or a sympathizer, to the General Executive Board, and ho has at all times shewn a preierenco for tho principles of tha; organization. An honest man would go with the society which claimed his alle iauce, but men who will deny the r connection with other societies will not scruple to destroy the Knights of Labor if the opportunity presents itself; the opportunity never presented itself, aud the# sought to make it, and failed. You may accuse your General Master Workman of entertaining a bitter feeling ior this element. If so, you are wrong; there is no bitterness, but there is a determination on his part to dr ve from the order every element of discord, if it lies in hiß power to do so.”