Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-10-16
KNIGHTS AT RICHMOND.
" hat the Convention is Planning to Do
All the Remaining Officers Elected
The Next Convention to be Held at
Minneapolis, Minnesota.

RICHMOND, Va, Oct. l5.
When the general assembly of Knights of
Labor went into session this morning at nine
O'Clock, the first business to be completed
was the election of the remsinng general
| offlcers, two members of the general co op-
erstive board. 1t va. expected thar this
| would take but a short time and that the con-
sideratlon of the report on the revision of the
constitution presented by the committee on
law would be resumed This in turn was to
followed by reports from other committees,
nearly all of which are ready to report
Among the first to be presented is the report
or the committee on the state of the order of
which Ralph Beaumont is chairman. This
report endorses the report of the committee
on legislation of which Beaumont is also
chairman, and recommends that the supple
mentary report of the same committee iu
whlch plan for congress composed of rep
resentatives of the Knights of Labor be estab-
| llshea at Washington, and be sent out to all
local assemblies for their approval. Beau
mont Is daily in receipt of letters, both from
knights of Labor and others, commencing
his idea. The committee on state of the or
| der also endorses the Master Workman's ad-
dress to the general assembly and recon-
monds the endorsement of the report of c.
ii. Litchman. especial agent appointed by
the General Master Workman 70 represent
the order before the Congressional committee
appointed to investigate the cause and effect
of the Southwestern railroad strikes
In his report Litchman recites that hear
ings were held at various places in Texas
and Arkansas and SAYS: Testimony in be-
half of the railroad was mainly TO shox what
great damage has been caused by the strike
to the railroad prosperity and commerce.
that 1t had been begun on a frivolous pre-
text without real cause, and that the order of
knights of Labor was directly responsible
for all the damage done and all acts of vio-
| lence committed With unlimited resources
at their command it was comparatively easv
for the railroad officials to carefully instruct
Witnesses in the line of statements which
should fit each other, and this preliminary
drilling was painfully apparent in the test-
mony given Like a lot of parrots, they all
re-echoed the statement that the only cause
they had ever heard assigned for the strike
was the discharge of man named Hall at
Marshall. Texas
l.. {. |. Sahtieber of Massachusetts, and
j. NJ Broughton of Raleigh. n. c., were
elected members of the general cooperative
board David X Gibson of Hamilton, Ont,
was elected Canadian supply agent. His
duty Is to receive supplies of printed docu-
mentS of all kinds in bulk and distribute
them to the local assemblies throughout
Canada. This completed the full corps of
general officers, and then the installation i'm
medlatelv followed Powdery in addressing
the general assembly, expressed full conf
dence in the men elected, and pledged him
self to the faithful performance of the dutie.
entrusted to him. He urged upon the as
sembly the Importance of temperance and
asked them to endeavor to impress the i'm
portance of this subject on the various local
assemblies. He called the attention to the
fact that not one of the general officers at
this general assembly used intoxicating IL
quors. Each of the general officers then
formally pledged himself to the total absti-
nence from Intoxicating liquors during his
two years term of office
The general master workman installed all
the officers elected. A resolution was passed
that the organization of X. of l.. promises
civil and political equality of all men and in
the broad field of labor it recognized no dis
tinction account of color, but it has no
purpose to interfere with or disrupt the soci-
al relation, which may exist between the diff
ferent races in various portions of the
country.
The next convention be held in Oct, 1887,
at Mimi. it is not known how much longer
the present convention will last.