NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 219, 10 September 1887, Page 3

NOTES AND NOTIONS.

(By a 2sr,\v %i;alandkk Abkovd. )

Tnrc Knights of Labour—Their Origin, OnjKcrs. Mm'iiods vxn Mj:x— Tuk Ukiatiox ok Tin; Ohdkh To Thadk Unioxs — Its Exclusion ok tiii: Four Flhkcino Classics ok Soch-ty : L y\v\i:ks. Bhoki us, Bankk.us, and Liquor I)kau;ks— lts AnnriiK 'lowvwns Hkligiov - Tiik Gkowtk ok the OUDfc.lt—" CKANIvh TCRX Tllb; WORLD." Somi: twenty yeai.- aj>o the people of l'hila" delplna were surprised and startled at see in^ certain my.-tcrious ligurcs elmlkcd on" the sido-^all^ and fence - boards of the city. About the sime time -would appear certain printed notices with no h"adiu£r except live asteiisLs [* * ' l f *J Here is one of the cabalistic chalk-maiks :— 8 j I+B j SOOO To the initiated thi-* read : " Local A^einbly, No. 8,000, meets Aug. Ist, at 8 p.m.' This was how the Knights of Labour, twenty years a»o, conveyed information to each other. °They w<>ie a small insignificant body, just stru^lino- into existence. Like the early C'lni4tans in the Catacombs, they had to hide their methods and plans from public s-crutiny. They adopted such secret bitrn^ a* those above to oil their meeting ami .-hi oud themsehes in mystery. l>ut Lo-tlay all that is parsed. They ha\e come forth'before the public, and America is face to face with an oi^anisatiou ot men and women, without parallel in it* number, orand objects, in the ln\toiy ot the world. 1 propose to Mipply your leader.-, with home notes u-uaidin^ the history, methods, and men of the Knight* ot Labour in America. My infoimation i> deii\ed partly from personal iiKpiiry, and paitly from' new-i>.ipei-, magazines, and oilici.d documents of theoider. The

Origin of the Knights of Labour date- from November, ISliO, or at, any vale the tir.-t local nimbly mol at Philadelphia in that >car. The founder was Uiiali S. Stephen-. Stephens was a tailoi of a philosophic tuin of mind, who, dissatisfied w ith the trades unions, resolved to iound an institution on a hroudei basis, and one that w ould be moi c ku \ iceable to the \\ 01 Ivmcn. He a^^ociated with him a tellowworkman—James Wi i«hl. Thit latter had the faculty of organisation, ami in No\embor, 1SI)9, the iirst permanent local a^enilil} of tho Kniuhts of Labour met in Philadelphia. Stepliens \va^ elected master w 01 km.in, and a committee of heven was appointed. Theii meetings and methods w civ toi lon^ kept u profound seciet. They weie called together by such cabalistic sign> a-- tho^e just mentioned, and an aii of my-teiy ]iervatlc 1 Hie Order and all it^ doinjrs>. For ten year-> Stephens remained at the head of the 0 -t^nNation, and dining tluit time it adviiiccd sjcietlv and finely in numbi'i s and in in'luonce. 'st'-plitus <lied in IST'.), and w a.- .-jeeeeded by

Terence Y. Powdorly. With Powdeily a new era botfin*. The Ordei soon "lew f-tiomj enough to face the public, a:itl under tin; leadei-lup oi Powdeily, the Knight- of L lbom take the open held to ti^ht'the woikmain battle.-. Mr Powdorly, like Mr I'arnell, i< an " uncrowned kin"-. ' He i-> the leadei of an am y numbeiinfc almo-t, if not guit 1 , a million, and the r,u\k< of which aiebein:; C3n?tantly ineie.i-od by new recjiuit^. A-, h: said nob lotiy in 80-don : " I am no monarch, yet. a< the head of an oi^aui-^tioti that i-, labourinj; to briny; tlii-. coautr^ back to her original mooiinj;-, 1 do lepie^ent more than any monaieh on Cod eai tli." Tin- " unci owned king "is not uu\\oith % > of hi- position. lie i^ a man, jud^in^ Irom hi^ speeches, of keen intellectual percent ion and of intense moral s) mpathy. He i-of Tii-?li extraction, wa- born at C'aibondule (Pa ). and ua; a machinist, by trade. lie is by no mean-, an extiemist, and hi* hi^h char.icter anrl strong will ha\e hitherto enabled him to steer the organisation clear of the rock^ and shoals that lie alonjr it- com

The Objects of the Knights of Labour arc, geneially, to secuie to the workman a moic^oquitable leturn for his labour, and, by .shortenintr the hour.- of labour, to obtain niore time foi -social and intellectual reetcation, and moie shaie in the gains and honom-3 of advancing ci\ illation. Hue ate the specific mea-uies that aie ur^ed to be adopted to leach the-c ends and which may have inteic^t tor youi leader- :- 1. To bung within the folds of organisation e\ery depaitmeut of piodueti\e indu--tiy, making knowledge a <•( and point foi action, and' industrial, moral worth -nob wealth— the truc.standaid of individual and national gieatnc-s. 2. To secure to the toiler o proper *-haie of the wealth which they create; more of the leisure that rightfully belong to them: moie society advantages ; more of the benefit*-, privileges, and emoluments ot the world--in a word, all tho*-e right*, andprnileges necessary to make them capable of enjoying, appreciating, and defending the ble-s-ings of good government. 3. To ai rive at the true condition of the producing masses in their educational, moral, and iinaneial condition*;, by demanding from the variou.s (Jo\ eminent*, the establishing of Bureaus of Laboui .Statifcics. 4. The establishment of co-operative institutions, productive and cli-ti ibuti\ o. 5. The l curving ot the public lands — the heritage of the people— for the actual settler ; not another acre for raihoacU or speculators. 0. The enactment of laws giving mechanics and labourers a ftr.sl lien on their work for their full wage«. 7. The abolishment of the con tract system on national, *>tate, and municipal \soik. 8. The enactment of laws to compel chartered corporations to pay their employes weekly in full for labour pcrfoi mod during the preceding week, in the lawful money of the country. 0. The substitution of arbitration for strikes whenever and wherever the employer*, and employe's are -willing to meet on equitable mounds. 10. The prohibition of employment of children in workshops, mines, and factories befote attaining their fouileenth year. 11. To abolish the system of letting out by contract the labour of convict*- in our y>vison« and reformatory institutions. 12. To Fccure for both nexes equal pay for equal woik. 13. The reduction of Lhe hours of labour to eight, so that the labourers may have more time for social enjoyment and intellectual improvement, and be enabled to reap the advantages conferred by the laboui.saving machinery which their brains have created. 14. To prevail upon (»o\crninonU to establish a purely national circulating medium, issued directly to the people, without the intervention of any system of banking corporations, which money shall be a legal tender in payment of all deht« 5 public and private. These are the general and specific objects of the Knights of Labour. Now as to

The Methods of obtaining these. The membership i.s open to both sexe«. Any man or woman of good moral character is eligible for membership. Nor is membership confined to one trade or profession. It is open to all, with four significant exceptions, and as a matter

of facb it has in its ranks not onlyjlabourcrs with hands, bub with brains, as journalists, clergymen, and others. It is noteworthy, however, that it- proscribes Lawyers, brokers, bankers, and liquordealers". These the Knights of Labour call the " four fleecing classes of modern society," and as such its organisation will have nothing to do with them. Its

Attitude Towards the Liquor Traffic is remarkablo and noteworthy. JNo one known to bo acidic tod to drink is eligible for membership. It prohibits the meeting of any local assembly in saloons. When the Knights met last year in Cleveland, their headquarters, was at the only Temperance Hotel in the city. A very striking incident in their meetings was the- reception uooouled to a delegate of tho Women's Clniatian Temperance Union. Four out of the live members of tho Executive are total j abstainers. Mr Powdeily himself is what iomo people would almost call a fanatical total abstainer. Thus, speaking at Boston in June Li-t, he said : "Had I ten million tongue*, and a. throat for each tongue, I would »ay to every man, woman, and child here to-night, 'Throw strong drink aside as you would an ounce of liquid hell. It sc.us tho conscience, it destroys everything bo touches.' ... I have seen it inexer^v city this aide tho Mississippi, and I know that the most damning curbe to the tobomer is that which gurgles from the neck of the bottle. I had rather be at the head of an organisation of 100,000 honest, en-nest temperance men than at the luM-d of an organisation of 12,000,000 diinkeis, whether moderate or any other kind " The rapturous applause which greeted like this irom the head of the Knights of Labour, as well as the tlattmnrr reception £i.-en to the delegate of t'lo W.C.T.U. of Clo\ eland, aie the best evidence.- of the prescience and peimanonoy of the oiganisation. They are prophetic of a bet Wi daydawn for the labourer. Tin* unit of the organisation is the Local Awmi'ly; above this is the Dittiiet A.-vMii'ny, to which the former elects deleu«ite-> Abo\e this again is the (Jeneial As-embly, which meets annually, and elects a Council of five, whose doings are entirely -ecivt, .vul who-e authority is, jnactically, ab.ohile. The Local Assembly is _ selfgo^ 01 nm.r, and has power toorder a strike or a boycott, but only within its own dUtiict. It cannot call npo"n the Distiict or (leneral A-sembly for fund-, till the ca&e has been in- \ cot igdted by these, nud they have the pow er to tostoi the strike, or boycott, or oilei aibiti.ition, as may .seem best. The now or to ordei a nation. il combination rc.-t^ w holly w ithcheEvecutiveßoardofh've; andhitlieito then eiKnts have been always confined to gjcuiing arbitiation and peace as between caiut.d and labour. Without an understanding of the functions of the^e assemblies the Ouloi may get underserveel blame, as, t <j., a or a boycott, or an act of violence done by some member orsomelocalassemblj is fie'iuontly charged against the organisation a- a whole, which is as unju&t a» to oluuge the ciime of a single individual a^.un-t the society ot which he is a member. The attitude ot the organisation low aids

Strides and Boycotts i-> mm \ noteworthy. Mr i'ov/derly, in one of \v- '• .-.eciet circulars," thu-> it forth : I '• It ha, always boon, and i^ now, my policy (o ad\oeatc 'conciliation and arbitiation m tlw 'tMemcnt ot disputes between employ ci a-:d employe. . . . I say to the woi'ld t 'n.it tho Knights of Labour do not iipjU'o\ eof or encourage strike-;. There w ill be no moi c boycotts The name will ne\er moio be u>ed m our Older. The end-? th.it (.in be reached through the medium ot rhe boycott can be obtained by the .standing of tsvo men face to face and talking a Tiiattei out and explaining theirdiilerenee^. Tiie tour great aims of the Order ate to organise, to agitate, to educate, and to ai nitiate " The>e ai c w ise words, and contain sensible advice. There was a period m the history ot the Oidei when it ran the dangei ot becoming a mere sh iking macTnne ; but under the powerful intluence of Mr Powdeily, national sentiments have -upei \ jnod, and if it adheres to these piinciplo-., a roign ot j)ower and peimanency lies belou it. The sfciikes of the Knights ha\ c not been unifoimlv successful, but they have been buceesslul m an unexpected way. They have helped to »piead tho Order. They have reacted \eiy much upon it, a~> the fall of Jerusalem and the dH[)ei^ion of the Jews and Christians woiked together for the diffusion of religion. When the .-trikco failed, the Knights wure du\v.Mi away elsewhere, many of them to distant pait> of the States. But they can ied their principles with them.^ They became active propagandists in their new ppheie-., and thus multiplied the number of their oi'ganisations. Tlie hauls to carry on the movement are doi nod from the membership fee. This viu-ie-> in different district's. The initiation fee does not often ri»o above a dollar, and the d.ies range from about 6d to 2.s per mn.ith. In addition to this there is the nitiop.il or federal tax — about one shilling annually — levied by the General Assembly on ail the members, which would give an inco.no of about -£40,000. Tart of the money is expended in givinsr relief when •sfiike-s arc ordered. Part of it also goes to the paying of delegates in spreading Ihe Order, and part of it to the paying of the executive officers. This last is not on too hbei.il a scale Mr Powderly himself only lecehus a little over £300 a-year, the .-ecietary C2OO, and the other members mechanics' wages, and then only when they aie doing the business of the Association. Asa further means of spreading the principles of the Order, resort is made, and with much effect, to skilfully got-up leaflets, with telling queries upon them. These are punted in such a way as to catch the eye at a glance. Here are one or two of them :—: — Did you ever see a White Slave: ? The timni-i romiiu/ token men will not suffer vrony condition** to exitt 4m ply because, fhn'r ancestor* stifftrcd vow. The law condemns the man or woman Who steals tho goose from otl'thc common ; Bat lots tho greater felon loose, Who steals tho common l'rom the goose. Tt is difficult to determine the relation o^ the Order to

Religion. A large portion of the members are avowed members of the Church. Bub if a distinction be made between the Church and Christianity, this (statement would need to be corrected into a large majority. It is undoubtedly true that the members who think on the subject at all do makesucha distinction, and, while many may not be found inside any church, it is only a minority who are out of sympathy with any religion. This minority consists for .the most part of tho more Radical element who are either Socialists or Anarcmsts. These are chiefly oi German extraction, and, coming from a country in which religion was to thorn chiofly a thing of aiistocrats and bayonets, they naturally regard the Church as hostile to their inteiests, and so denounce it bitterly. It is an easier matter to discover the relation of the Church to the organisation. The Roman Catholic Church, to which the larger part of professedly church members belong, is quietly sympathetic. Tho Pope was recently urged to denounce the Order ; but Rome is always wary and wise, and His Holiness was not led into such a erievous

blunder. In regard to the Protestant churches, if they are true to their principles they must- sympathise with the airus and objects of the Knights. Many of them have spoken in this spirit ; but there are not a few that have been silent, and continue silent, and it is possible that the mistake which was made when the slavery question was agitated may be again repeated by the 'free churches of America. They may wait till it is too late for the Pulpit to be a power of control in the reforms desired. Then, as Professor Phelps, of Andover, says, it will seem to speak _in selfpreservation. The current will have risen to the level of their lips, and will have rolled in round the clergy, and they will speak because they must. But their speaking then will be the sputtering of a drowning" man ; for there is not the least question that the current of labour reform called into being by this organisation is hy far the most powerful the world ha? ever yet seen. George llowells, in his " History of the Conflicts of Capital and Labour,' thought tho idea of federation of trades unions was littlo short of a phantom and a dieam. But tho dicam i^ a living reality, it is embodied in concrete form in the Knights of Labour. Nay, this organisation is fnr greater than ever the trade* unions could ha\e grown to. Trades unions belong to the m Ktoci aoy of woi k. They only enrol the skilled workmen But the Knights of Labour embrace not only both sexes, but all soi U and conditions of workmen. They admit into their ranks unskilled labomvis who never before could be organised. Thus the basis of tho Knightly the broadest conceivable. As Dr^ Tuckerman said — and said well — at the Cleveland Convention la-t year: "Our principle is the democratic one. Lift up the bottom of society and you litt up everything else with it." The organisation formed on tin- bioad and comprehensive plaUoim already numbers moie than anything of a like kind that has over yet appeared in the world. It ]\ .^pleading with unexampled rapidity in Amciica. Emissaries have been despatched toßiitain to found branehe- there, and no doubt before long you may expert otheis to vibit yor.. colonies also. It has probably not so wide lamitieations yet :w the International \Yorking Men's Association. But its pi incites are of* a solidcr nature, and its leadeis more trustworthy men. It is, however, not without its .serious danger-. As a thoughtful writer in the New Yoik ' Clnistian Union ' say.-, : " it is easy to see that an organisation of half-n-million of men, mainly of one class, bound together chiefly by their own interests, under absolute allegiance to their elected leadeu-, may become a very dangerous power. So long a-, tlieie is peace, and the Order is guided by "« ii>e and moderate counsels, so long it will promote peace, and lessen rather than incieat-e the conflicts between capital and labour. But if icvolution shouldtui.se jmd passion dominate reason, men of moderation would be swept out of their place by revolutionary leaders, and the army organised foi peace might easily become a Tremendous power for war." Anyhow, for good or for e\il, the Knights aie heie, and they have come to stay. No one can calculate exactly what is to be the future of the movement. Folks of the oldfashioned sort may consider their demands extreme and their aims Utopian. However, that's what- we think, fcaid one of the Knights, talking about their political platform to a newspaper reporter at the Cleveland Convention. " That's w hat we think, but then they call us cianks." A labour editor standing by rejoined, quick as a flash, "Cranks turn the world."