St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-07-25

legal arbitration; prohibiting the employ
ment OF children under Is years of age; four
teen delegates were elected to attend the
next general assembly, ;.. The assembly
adjourned to meet in Saltwater on the
Third Sunday in September.
ssA MACHINE Fob STRIKING"
Charges Against the X. of L.. That
Should be Answered.
The Railway Master Mechanic of Chi
cago in recent number printed the follow
ing attack upon the Knights of Labor,
which is quoted for the purpose of afford
ing the friends of the order an opportunity
of answering some direct charges against it
that should not be allowed to pass unno-
ticed.
Whatever may have been the purpose of
those who organized the Knights of Labor at
the first; whatever may now be the theoretical
objects of the organization as they are stated
by its official head, the simple, plain fact is
that it is 8 machine for striking. In order to
organize and maintain great standing army
some hundreds of thousands of men are fed,
clothed, taught to stand straight, to perform
various motions with accuracy and grace, to
march in orderly ranks. etc. But if one
should explain that the purpose Of the stand
ing armies of Europe is to feed and clothe the
soldiers and to make them stand erect and
move gracefully he would talk sheer non
sense. Standing armies mean war. That is
what they are for, and if no one ever meant
to make war there would be no standing
armies. So the machinery of the organiza-
ton called the Knights of Labor is devised to
promote strikes and to make them so effec-
ive-that is, so injurious to employers-that
this object will always be accomplished.
kSEhere are two methods by which employers
can be brought to meet the demands of en-
ployes; by reason and by force. If the Or
ganization in question really has for its main
object the advancement of the interest of the
wageworker by peaceful means, then its ma
chlnery ought to be adapted to this IN ethod.
But what are the means by which opinions
are changed? By what peaceful methods can
employers be convinced that they are in the
wrong-if they are in the wrong-and that
the wageworkers are in the right, and tina t
their demands are just and reasonable? 1t
must be by discussion, by argument in news
papers, In books, in debates, in conversations.
These are methods adopted by our churches,
by our political parties and in all the ost
important matters of life.
But the organization in question does not
adopt this method 1t has no such ammunI-
ton in its arsenal The army is not organized
for that kind of warfare. 1t is organized not
to convince, but to compel. Free discussion,
careful consideration arguments, facts, fig
ures, lessons drawn from history-such means
OF accomplishing their ends are not used by
the organization called Knights of Labor. 1t
does not argue, it does not reason, it does not
teach-dt simply threatens and Injuries. 1t
says to the employer, 'If you do not grant
our demand we will stop work. If that does
not force you to yield, the employees of all of
those with whom you have business relations
shall stop work. And while we refuse to
work we will see that no one else works in
our places. If you dare try to bring us to
your terms we will strke-if you refuse to
accede to our terms we will strike. Yield or
be ruined"
The evident aim and effort of the knights
OF Labor has been to get so many wage
workers IN the organization that strike
would be practically irresistible. The leaders
have argued that If ali who work for wages
could be persuaded to join the organization
and surrender to the domination of its officers
their bodies and their souls, then, when they
''went OUT no one could be found to take
their places, and manufacturers and railways
would be compelled to yield. And they have
been amazingly successful. The extent to
which workingmen have focked to this Or
ganiZation, surrendered their wills, their
opinions and their personal interests is re-
markable. In their surrender of personal in
dependence and their fear OF standing up for
what they feel to be right and best, they have
become sheep. Their timidity, their blind
obedience to officers who know no more than
they dois something new in this country.
If the Knights of Labor organization had
for its object to discuss the relations of en-
ployes and employers to enlighten the Igno-
rant workman. to persuade him to support
schools and churches by the hundred instead
of saloons by the thousand, and to bring
about condition of things in which the best
workman should get the best pay instead of
being kept down in wages to the level OF his
careless, incompetent associates, we might
expect 1t to be permanent institution. But
it has no machinery for accomplishing
such purposes, but, on the contrary. is sim
ply organized to brighten and force employers
to meet the demands OF its members, its eX-
istence must necessarily be temporary. The
world, in the long run, is governed by reason.
In spite OF temporary outbursts of unSpeak-
able idiocy the conclusions reached by the
public mind are correct. And this sober
second thought of the public long ago
reached the conclusion that law and
order are better than passion and
force. An organization whose influence, if
not whose avowed purpose, is to bring about
disorder and to ignore law cannot last long.
| All the tremendous forces of business, social
and civil life will gradually concentrate to
| oppose il, and where they oppose resistance
| is useless. The Knights of Labor has shown
| itself to be a standing army, prompt to create
| disorder and mischief. 1t has cost the work
| ingmen in this country a thousand times
| more than it has benefited them. 1t is an
| army for which a peaceful and free country
in which a mans manhood and capacity are
| the measure of his value, has no use.
| No skillful man who means to rise in life
| can afford tC tie himself down by membership
! in such an organization. 1t cannot help him
| No railway or manufacturing company car
| afford to yield to the dominance of such ar
organization. And if they will stand firm
the sober second thought of the great public
will bring all the most powerful forces Of
law, order and government to their side. Ant
out of the shattered fragments of this grea
and dangerous organization, societies ant
associations may be formed which will uphold
| by rational and effective method the dignity
| OF labor, and secure to the laborer large right:
and large rewards by making him worthy o.
them