Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-04-23
HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS OF
LABOR.
From the New York journal.

From the New York Journal
Among the great patches of mail which
reach the Jonrhal office every day there
are scores of letters of inquiry from me-
chanlcS, laborers, working girls, and in
some cases, from employers, who want
to know something about the Knights of
Labor and how to gain membership.
The organization was started ON
Thanksgiving Day. 1869. in PHILADELPHIA
by riah ;. Stevens. a garment cutter.
who had six other garment cutters asso-
ciated with him. They formed what was
afterwards known as Local Assembly.
NO. of the Knights of Labor. The or
der was confined to garment cutters. hut
eventually other branches of industry
were organized under the shield of the
order.
The organization grew slowly until
January |. ISIS. 1t was all this time
without recognized head. Through
the efforts of few energetic members
general convention was held in Reading.
Penn. on January l, 1873, when the gen
eral assembly was formed with Mr..
stephens as grand master workman and
Charles II. Lehman of Marblebead.
Mass. rs grand secretary.
There were about l2OO branches of the
order formed up to that time. They
worked secretly until January |. 1SS2,
when the existence of the order was nub-
licly proclaimed.
Since that time the growth of the
knights of Labor has been wonderful
ana enormous. SO great has been the
increase that the chief officers have de-
cided not to allow any more branches 70
be started until April -.
To gain admission person must be
engaged at some honorable branch of in
duStry. Both sexes are admitted TO
membership. As rule it is useless to
apply for admission. because it is n rule
of the order TO select members. Thus
person may be proposed and rejected
without ever knowing it. Men are usu-
ally proposed by friends who Judge them
worthy of fellowship.
Business men can join. In an assem-
bly, of one hundred strong. seventv-tiye
members must be employees.
Meetings. as a rule. are held weekly.
but some assemblies do not meet so oft
en-. 1t is mistake to suppose that the
order favors strikes. a one of the orders
fundamental rules is that labor difficult
ties must be settled by arbitration. If a
trade orders IA strike without first trying
arbitration it will not get any financial
support from the order.
The order is not oath-bound Each
member takes solemn pledge. and if he
violates it he is expelled and black-listed
all over the country. Violation of the
rules renders a member liable to "A Sus-
pension ranging from one month to five
years.
There are two kinds of assemblies
trade and mixed assemblies. \ trade
assembly is composed of men engaged at
one special branch of industry. 4 mixed
assembly is composed of mechanics, la
borers. clerks. professional men, and
so on.
If printer is willing to Join. and if
the printers have an assembly conven-
lent to his home, he must Join the print
ers' assembly. If not. he is at liberty
to join mixed assembly. The same
rule applies to all branches of industry.
Local assemblies are governed by
district assembly which may include five
or 800 local assemblies. The district as
sembly is in turn governed by the gener-
al assembly.
The order is benevolent, protective and
educational. The expenses of members
are very light. \ man may admit that
he is a member, but he is not allowed to
give the names of other members with
out their consent.