Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1886 — POWDERLY’S WISE WORDS. [ARTICLE]

POWDERLY’S WISE WORDS.

The j Are Found in His Latest Circular to the Knighta of Labor. He Thinks the Order Has Lost Ground in ‘ Public Estimation—The Rea- —,, sons Thecefor. ".

The following secret circular has been received by tho Knights of Labor of Chicago, and will be read in the various assemblies during the coming week: Noble Order of the Knights of Labor of America, Philadelphia, Pa.. May 3.-To the Order Everywhere, Greeting: The response to the secret circular issued March 13 has been so generous and the indorsement of the sentiments contained in it has been so unanimous that 1 feel encouraged and strengthened in the work. Nearly 4,000 assemblies have pledged themselves to act on the advice contained in the circular of April 13. I feel that it only requires the coming to the front of tho real men of our order to set us right before the world. 'We have been losing ground, so tax as public opinion is Concerned, tor some time. One of the causes is that we have allowed things to be done under the name of the Knights of Labor for which the organization was in no way responsible. lask of our members to keep a jealous eye upon the doings of the labor men who never labor, and when they charge anything to our order in your locality eet the seal of your condemnation upon it at once by denying it. If a paper oriticlses the Knights of Labor or its officers do not boycott it, ana if you have any such boycott on remove them. A journal not long since made some uncomplimentary allusions to the General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, snd.at the next meeting of the nearest assembly a nrotion was cast to boycott the paper; not that alone, but every person who advertised in the coluuinß of the paper. I wrote to the assembly asking that they remove the boycott and it was done. We mmtbe&r in mind that our General Master Workman is only a man, and is not above criticism. We demand for ourselves the [“right of free speech.” We cannot consistently deny it to others. We must tolerate fair, open criticism. If a reply is neccessary make it in a gentlemanly, dignified manner. If wo are criticised or abused by a blackguard sheet treat it as you would the blackguard himself—in silence. That our aims and objects are good is no reason why our members should be regarded as beings of superior build or material. We are no. more the salt of the eaith than the millions of unknown toilers who do the work of the world. In our dealings with laborers and capitalists we must deal justly and fairly by them. If we would have equity done to us we in turn must do equity to others. This is the aim of. the Knights of Labor, and must not he lost sight of in the future. •

Let me direct your attention to a few little abuses: I find that whenever a strike occurs appeals for aid are scattered broadcast among the assemblies. Do not: pay one cent for such purposes in the future unless the appeal comes from your own District Assembly or the General Assembly. If boycott notices are sent to you, burn them. I have in my possession over 400 boycott notices which were sent to assemblies with a request thaw they be acted bn. Let me mention some of them: A member is editing a paper. He fears a rival, and proceeds to get into an altercation with him, boycotts him, and then asks of the order to carry it out. A certain paper is influential in one or the other of the political parties. Members of the opposing party conceive the idea of getting rid of the paper, and they invoke the aid of the Knights of Labor, first taking the precaution to have the paper in question say something uneomplimentary of the Knights of Labor. In fact, our order has been used as a tail for a hundred different kites, and in future it must soar aloft, free from all of them. I hate the word boycott. I was boycotted years ago, and I could not get work at my trade for months. It is abad practice; it bas been handed to us by the capitalists. I have no use for it only when everything else fails. Appeals for aid, circulars, petitions, advertisements of every kind are scattered everywhere through the order. I copy a letter which comes to me on ,the subject: "A large part of our time has been spent in reading boycott notices and appeals for aid, keeping us until 12 o’clock. We were led to believe the Knights of Labor to be an educational institution, but this kind of education is not productive of good. We have no time for instruction. What do you advise us to do ?" I advised them to either burn or table these matters, and now ask of the Secretary of each assembly to do the same. If.your Journal were not- boycotted by our members it could be made the medium of communication between the general officers and the order, but the Journal is not read in one-quarter of the assemblies. Some assemblies send out documents addressed to “Secretary of the Assembly No. .” In many places the secretaries have been discharged because of this practice. No member has the right to address another in that way, and if it is ever practiced again the offender will be punished. In future the General Executive Board must not be interfered with in the performance of its duty. If vou have confidence in them, sustain them and' obey them; if not, aßk tor their resignations. We have had some trouble from drinking members and from men who talk abont buying gunß and dynamite. If the men who possess money enough to buy guns and dynamite would invest it in the purchase of some well-selected work on labor they would put the money to good use. They will never need the gun or dynamite in this country. It is my opinion that the man who does not study- the politics of the nation and the wants of our people would make bnt little use of a rifle. The man who cannot vote intelligently and who will not watch the man he votes for after he is elected cannot be depended upon to use either gun or dynamite. If the head, the brain of man, cannot work out the problem now confronting ns, his hand alone will never solve it. If I kill my enemy I silence him, it is true, but I do him. I would make a convert rather than a corpse of my enemy.

Men who own capital are hot our enemies. If that theory held good the workman of to-day would be the enemy of fits fellow-toiler on the morrow, for after all it is how to acquire capital and how to use it properly that we are endeavoring to learn. No! The man of capital is not necessarily the enemy Of the laborer; on the contrary thev must be"brought closer together. I am weal aware that some extremists will Bay Ham advocating a weak plan, and will say that bloodshed and destruction of property alone will solve the problem. If a man speaks such sentiments in an assembly read for him the charge which the Master Workman repeats to the newly initiated who joins cur “army of peace." If he repeats his nonsense put him out. “In the hands of men entirely great the pen is mightier than the-sword." To that I odd: “In the hands of men entirely mouth the gun is harmless as his word.” To our drinking member I extend the hand of kindness. I hate the uses to which rum has been put, but it is my duty to reach down and lift up the man who has fallen a victim to the use of liquor. H there is such a man within sound of the Secretary’s voice when this is read, I ask him to stand erect on the floor of this assembly, raise bis hand to heaven, and repeat with me these words • I l“I am a Knight of Labor. I believe that every man should be free from the curse Of slavery, whether the slavery appears in the Bhape of a monopoly, usury, or intemperance. The firmest link in the chain of oppression is the one I forge when I drown, manhood and reason by drink. No man can rob me of the brain my God has given me unless lam ft party to the theft If I drink to drown grief I bring-grief to wife, child, and sorrowing friends. I add not one iota to the sum of human happiness when I invite oblivion over the rim of a gloss. If one moment’s forgetfulness cr inattention to duty while, drunk brings defeat to the least of labor’s plans a lifetime of attention 3o duty alone can repair the loss. I promise never again to put myself hr such a poBition." If every member of the Knights of Labor would only pass a resolution to boycott strong drink so far os he is concerned for five years, and would pledge his word to study the labor question from its different standpoints, we would then have an invincible host arrayed on the side of justice. We have, through some unf fortunate misunderstanding, incurred the enmity of several trades-unions. While I can find no excuse for toe unmanly attack made upon us by some of these people at a time when we stood face to face with A most perplexing question, neither eanl see any good reason why there should be any cause for a quarrel. Labor Notes. The sewing girls of Chicago have"organized a union 4,000 strong. *— A number of the railways at Chicago refused to re-emplov the striking- freight-handlers. The Wabash Road compelled its strikers to sign a document pledging them to withdraw from any labor organizations to whichthey belonged before re-engaging them, . The Chicago North Side lnmber-shovers, 4,000 in numoer, have resiimed work on the old basis of the p'aning-mills and sash, door, and blind factories have started up again. Fifteen.'hundred colliers along the Youghiogheny River, and also at the mines of the Hon. W. L. Scott; at Scot! Haven, Pa., have resumed work at the advance » f wages demanded. The men struck about two months ago and have been idle ever since