National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-04-25

well as It's enJoymontB, and finally, at its
close. provide requiem In harmony with
the peculiar social characters tics Of these
people. A studied effort has been mado
within tho past twenty years to science
the labor movement by prese nting IL to
the people as philosophy. and thus
marking out clearer lines and wider in
contives than was afforded by the old,
much .hagRled notion Of egotistical self
interest under which tho men for
mally organized themselves. Tho
new school built upon tho presumption
that working people having nothing but
their labor as capital had right to sell
this stock in trade to the best advantage
to themselves, Just like any other dealer.
This could not bo done, however, without
combination. Consequently egotism must
give way to altruism, wherein largo mum.
bers combine TO work mutually for each
other. Since this the trade unions have
had o sc cond and higher incentive which
is toning them up and causing larger
amount of socalistic literatu re to be
studied. The result of this Is that thoy
support labor papers, of which they al
ready have some twenty-seven in tho
United States. Through the enterprise
of the editors thore has been established q
thriving Associated Labor Press through
which all the news regarding labor and
other matters is brought to each paper
without having TO pay tho prices de-
manded by tho regular Associated Press.
Such is tho growing demand for lively
papors of this sort that almost every month
announcements are being made of new
papers devoted TO labor. The far west IS
alive to tho work aud Oregon and Cali
fornia have their representatives.
THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
The principal propelling force to these
movements Is the secret organization Of
the above named, of which there arc be-
tween 5000 and 1000 lodges In tho
United States. tho three thousand. three
hundred and seventh happening to be in
Washington. This organization is tho
biggest baby ever born to the proletariat.
To the monopolies 1t Is already viewed as
the twin ogre to trade unions. tho Goulds
aud Vanderbilts regarding its march rs
that Of tho Minotaur. 1t was founded
some fifteen years since at Philadelphia
by an enterprising American named
Stevens, and has grown not only with
the growth Of trade unionism, but also
with every years growth Of the philoso-
ply, and has manifested itself as n fear
less champion of both. Its recent con-
vention added to tho platform of its prin-
ciples demand for tho naturalization
of the railroads and telegraphs, and It
will push bill to that effect during the
next session of Congress-
7. v. PowDERLY, EX-MAYoR OF scRAN.
TON.
This gentleman has long been the grand
master Of this order. He is young man
who, while practicing his trade as ma
chiuist at Scranton, organized the lodges
of the knights with so much ability that
they responded by electing him mayor of
that city, which position he held several
terms, until his increasing duties in the
order made it impossible to accept another
| nomination.
The Federation of Labor and the diff
ferent state trades assemblies may also be
reckoned among the powerful organiza-
tions Of this country. They have tenet
which they strongly adhere to-to the Of.
fect that "the power of his own organiza-
tion constitutes the workman's only
court of appeals." The capitalist the So
ciety man, and the scholar have a law to
appeal to aud court OF adjudication,
easy Of access in all cases Of grievance;
but the workingman has no court Of ap-
peals except his union, and he regards his
protection from danger of every sort as
about in ratio with the numbers and dis
cipline thereof.
These organizations wisely refuse to
commit themselves to any political creed,
although there IL growing tendency
among them to drift in political direc.
tions, aud since the boycotting habit ar
rived here from Ireland several repre-
sentatiyes and q larger number of legisla-
tors, aldermen, &C., have "got left"
through pre-arranged decisions of the
secret orders.
The labor movement involves o new
set OF issues, which may force serious
| ah In ha ..oIf q
at no very distant day. 1t claims TO
have for its duty the emancipation of
wages slavery. and 10 az enthusiastic upon
the subject rs the members OF the old
Anti-Slavery Society were thirty years
ago on tho mooted subject Of abolition of
chAttel slavery in America.
The exact date Of tho period Of English.
speaking labor organizations is 1924, when
the English law prohibiting trade unions
was repealed by act Of tho British parlia-
ment. From that moment-when labor
was certainly ground and crushed worse
than ever before or sinOe-the hope OF
tradesmen and laborers of nearly all
kinds has revived.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ABROAD.
1t must be confessed that England took
the lead in tho movement against the So
called wages slavery during the years iu
WhlOh VIZ WoIo ouBuBou III Iuo great
movement against chattel slavery and
any observer may notice the strong evil
dences of sympathy that always have OK.
listed between the working people Of the
two nationalities on this point. The Eng
lish working people, not having tho dark
obstacle Of human slavery in chRttel form
to contend with, got the start OF tho
Americans by about fifty years, and
they well improved tho time. AS
consequence they have such
enormous trade organizations as the
Amalgamated Engineers, numbering In
Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, India,
and America a million and half OF
members. and possessing permanent
capital Of over million of dollars All
branches Of labor are organized in Eng
land.
Germany is doing the same. but in ad.
dition to trado unionism known to us
the Germans are pushing their votlvt
franchise to tho front by dint of labor
examinations In a secret fashion known