Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-06-26
WHAT THEY WAIST.
The k0tGhfs Of I.sber Committee sub.
NIT Their Wants 50 Congress.
fRv faleoro nh IN fha pIanafch

The katehfs OF labor Committee sub-
INIT Their Wants 50 Congress-.
lBy telegraph TO the Dispatch.l
WASHINGTON, June 25--The CON-
mittee of the Knights OF Labor ap-
pointed at the meeting Of the General
Assembly held at Cleveland, Ohio, have
sent long letter to Speaker Carlisle,
copies of which have also been sent to
Representatives Randall and Morrison.
The letter says: At special session
Of the General Assembly of the Knights
OF Labor held at Cleveland, Ohio,
May 25 to June 4, 1886, committee
of three, consisting Of Messrs. Ralph
Beaumont, James Campbell, and John
J. Mccartney, were appointed to visit
the Capitol during the present session
Of Congress for the purpose Of asking
that body to pass laws to carry out the
principles as LAID down in our platform
of principles, copy which we enclose
to you. The committee have selected
few measures and embodied them in
the memorial looking to that end, and
have sent out several thousand to their
different branches throughout the coun-
try for signatures and endorsements
from the people, and we expect to be
able in few days to present your body
these petitions with an endorsement of
at least five hundred thousand sigma.
lures.
The following is brief summary of
the petition. They ask the passage
Of
First. House bill No.7SG7, repeating
The timber. culture, presumption, and
desert-land acts.
Second. House bill No. 1921, for the
adjustment of railroad and other land
grants.
Third. Bills iorfeitiDg all railroad
Immigrants the conditions OF which
have not strictly been complied with.
Fourth. House bill organizing the
Territory of Oklohama.
Fifth. Senate bill opening the great
Sioux reservation to settlement.
Sixth. Bill prohibiting aliens from
holding lands in the United States.
Seventh. Bill making the presiden-
tial and congressional election days |
holidays, and Furnishing bribery.
Eighth. Bill directing Disbursement of
at least 500, 100000 of the Treasury
surplus and substituting Treasury notes
for bank notes retired.
The party Of which you are mem
Der is in the majority some forty votes,
and we therefore look to the majority |
party to enact the necessary legislation |
to make these measures part OF the |
law Of the land.
In making these requests we feel that |
We are not enunciating any new doc
trines but, on the contrary, we find |
the groundwork of nearly every one of |
them laid down in the Democratic plat !
form adopted at Chicago in 1884, on
which the present majority of the
dominant party was elected. We find
that paragraph 3 of our memorial is
fully covered by that document, as fol-
lows:
ave believe that the public lands
ought, as far as possible, to be kept as
homesteads for actual settlers; that all
unearned lands heretofore improvidently
granted to railroad corporations by the
action of the Republican party should
be restored to the public domain, and
that no more grants of land shall be
made to corporations or be allowed to
fall into the ownership Of alien alb
sentees."
We also find that the last paragraph
in our memorial ought to meet with
your hearty approval from the follow
ing, which We copy from the Chicago
platform That a change is necessary
is proved by an existing surplus of more
than 900, 100000, which has yearly
been collected from the suffering peo-
pie"
Therefore again we say in request
ing the passage of these measures that
We are not asking anything from the
dominant party, only to fulfil the pro-
misses it made TO the people when it was
seeking their sufirages, by which it OBJ
tanned its present majority. We arein-
formed that at a caucus of the members
Of the dominant party in the House,
held on Thursday, June oath, you were
appointed one of committee Of three,
whose duty it is to shape legislation
that is to come before the House
during the balance of this session
hence we present to you this letter con-
veying to you the desires Of our con-
stituencies. We do not ask your party
to support them. We only look to
you and your party to see that the mea-
suIes are brought forward and submit
ted to the House for its action, and we
are willing to trust them to the good
Judgment of the members, regardless
Of party.
We remain, yours, respectfully,
JOHN MCCARTNEY,
Secretary;
RALPH BEAUMONT,
Chairman