The daily gazette., 1883-08-20
KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
Mass Meeting saturday Evening Address
by PhiIadelphiA Speaker.


by q PhiIadelphin Speaker.
The meeting under the auspices Of the
Knights Of Labor, at Fourth and Shipley
streets, Saturday evening, was attended py
between 300 and 400 people, and was pre-
sided over by NJ Colwell, who introduced
Dewitt Clinton Davis, of Philadelphia. The
speaker, after Significantly stating that
though he had just come from days work
OF ten hours, and was proportionately IA
tigued, yet felt bound to Keep his engage
ment, and said he WAS not there IN thelnter-
est of any law disturbing, socialistie or COM
muuistic demonstration. The knights OF
Labor had been subjected to great deal OF
ridicule in the past and expected to be en,
posed to more In the future, but they would
be able to stand it. He would remind
them of the fact that while the
abolition of slavery bad set iree
1000. 600 of black people Il had left $4,000 |
900 OF white men slaves, Workingmen had
the right to vote for their masters and they |
did it right along--Democrats or Repubh |
cans It made no difference. SO long as
workingmen continued to trust these men
In power so long they would remain in their |
present condition. He did not blame these
IHen, these Jay Goulds aud Vanderbilts, for
monopolizing power as they did be blamed
he workingmtn who permitted IT. The
negroes in the South had remained slaves
because the law allowed 1t; his working
friends were owned because they allowed
themselves to be owned.
Much has been said about the interests OF
labor and capital being identical. 1t re-
minded him of the cammon notion that
when two people were made man and wife,
they became one, but he generally noticed
that the man was generally the one
(laughter). So with Capital and Labor;
Capital was always the One. Over produc-
ion has been spoken of as a cause of suffer
ing. Would any man say that God had
spread plenty on the earth to be q cause OF
sufferingg Would they blame God Gould
there be said to be reproduction when
people were in want of shoes and OF food
No, the fault was in the commercial ma
| chine operated uniustly.
Abraham Lincoln had said that labor was
| superior to capital and existed before it;
| therefore it deserves the higher considera-
ton. Let, then, the laboring people beware
| of surrendering political power which once
surrendered would result in new disabilities
| being placed upon them till all their privi-
| leges were lost.
The first thing to be done was to organ
| ize, not to create new organization, for the
| Knights OF Labor supplied all that was
wanted. The speaker recommended his
| hearers to go home and consider well what
they had heard. The Knights Of Labor
| made one boast-they did not allow any
rumsellers among them Laughter and
applause. They did not want any bankers
or lawyers. The rumsellers, lawyers and
bankers must go. Laughter. Labor was
in the hands of capital We men who
| toiled to build and guide the ship were In
the hands Of the merchant who owned it.
OF the church, he would say that 1t made
| a mistake in going to the working men and
saying to them: You do not need this
thing and that thing-what you need Ii
Christ. He would say to the Christian min
isters Of this land-go to the working mar
with your Bible in one hand and the pro
duct OF your labor in the other-not as th'
English do in Ireland, with Bib'e in one
hand aud a shot gun in the other
| (Laughter.) There were a great many
Christians outside of the church. Let then
not forget however, that Christianity wa
the true friend of the laboring man. Tn,
despised Nazarine was carpenter. He did
not go TO the money changers and the rich
but to the poor.
The speaker evoked loud laughter b!
drawing a smile OF the condition Of societ,
based on column OF four men standing
8 on each others shoulders. On the top wa
o the King who said, II govern ALL" Beneat
was the soldier who. said, II fight for all.
Then below him came the preacher who said
81 pray for ALL" Still lower and suppoftin
the whole was the workman, who said, g
work for all" Laughter.
: The worEineman was next compared t
/ the Israeites in Egypt. They had toiled 70
that great monopolist, Pharaoh, who create
a corner in wheat and made his subject
sell their houses, themselves and thei
: children to purchase the grain they ha
raised with their own hands When tn
Israelites were free but hungering in th
the wilderness, they sighed to return to th
bondage under the Egyptians.
The speaker alluded to the defeat of Rob-
= son in New Jersey by labor candidate 8
: an instance of what might be done by o.
/ ganization. The Secretary OF the Navy wit
:, five millions at his back was beaten by
: man not worth so cents.
3 He said the Knights of Labor did n
It counsel or approve Of strikes, always e
deayoriDg to arrange matters by an arbitr
tion committee. The telegraphers had be'
! beaten not by Jay Gould but by an emp
: stomach. Organization was the remed
le They should serve no party, Republicans
b. Democrats, but look to their swn intere
as Jay Gould did to his.
Mr. MpFeely of Philadelphia followed
a brief address aud the meeting dispers
shortly before 10 O'Clock