Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1886 — THE KNIGHTS’ GROWTH. [ARTICLE]

THE KNIGHTS’ GROWTH.

Extending Their Organization Into Europe—A Cosmopolitan Gathering of Delegates for the Richmond Convention. - -•

On the curious little five-sided brass buttons which designate the wearers as Knights of Labor, and which to-day decorate the lapels of thousands of coats, there is a peculiar device which at once attracts attention. More conspicuous than any of the geometric devices which are interwoven to make up the emblem, is a diminutive representation of the globe, which is readily understood as emblematical of the widespread scope of the order. The United States, where the Knights first became known, do not by any means represent the boundaries of this dominant labor organization, for within the last two years many thousands of the mechanics, artisans and laborers of the European countries have been enrolled as Knights of Labor. The organization of the windowglass workers in England and Continental Europe was the first move on the other side of the waler, and it is now claimed that there is scarcely one of that craft in the entire world who is not a member of the order. Hence directions to local and district assemblies, constitutions and bylaws, and the various other pamphlets which are necessary to cany on the diversified business, have to be translated into a score or more of different languages, and more than one of the progressive members of the Executive Board are looking hopefully forward to the day when the ramifications of the order will include even the nations of the far East, and the linguistic catalogue of the General Secretary-Treasurer will include the teachest tongue of the Chinese. The management of all the foreign branches of the order is vested in the General Executive Board of this country, and that little body of five men —Bailey, Barry, Hayes, and Turner, with Powderly as their Chairman—wields a power which is felt by laboring men upon both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The annual convention of the order, which meets this year in Richmond, Va., will be the largest ever held, and probably the largest that ever will be held, as in future delegates will be chosen upon a different basis of representation. As provided for under the present regulations each district assembly is entitled to one representative for each I,QQQ or majority fraction of 1,000 of its membership. The rapid growth of the order, which is fast approaching a membership of 1,000,000, increases the number of delegates to such an extent as to render an annual convention a cumbersome and unwieldy body, andto obviate this difficulty the number of delegates will be reduced by increasing the constituency of each representative to 2,000, or perhaps more. The convention will open on Monday, October 4, and will probably continue for at least fifteen days. Delegates will be in attendance from all parts of the United States and Canada. Mexico, Central America, and even South America will send their quota. European assemblies will also send representatives, and the convention will show a gathering of different races, colors, and nationalities such as has never before been seen in the quiet city of Richmond. During* the last year the Knights of Labor have made an invasion of the South, and the organization of white and colored laborers has progressed with remarkable rapidity. Thomas B. Barry, of the General Executive Board, has just returned from an extended tour in that section of the country, and expresses himself as very sanguine of the benefisial results which will follow the organization of the plantation and mill hands of the South.

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