The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-06
TIE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
The Downfall of Powderly-The Recent Con
vention a Flat Failure.

vention a Flat Failure.
Cleveland Special.
Ten days ago Mr.. Powderly was the Moses Of
the Knights of Labor. He stood so high above
the order of which he is the official head that
there was none to dispute his sway. His wish
was law. He was the embodiment of all that
was praiseworthy in the order. Tonight he is
only an ordinary knight of Labor. He has
found wanting, bat his fall has been sudden,
so complete, and his surrender to an element
which he has always protested to despise so
thorough, that his warmest adherents are dunn
founded He seems utterly demoralized by
the success of faction which has for years
been struggling to obtain the management of
the order to advance its private aims, and
seemingly threw reputation to the winds in
order to secure its support More than this, he
publicly whtewashes the faction, in the face of
the fact that a committee had been appointed to
investigate serious charges made against it, and
to-day he plowed further into the mire by in
spring an address" which denies that there are
dissensions in the order, or that the manage
ment had been seized by conspirators In de-
nying that the convention had been captured
selves.
The special assembly has been huge farce
and a tremendous failure. 1t has given the order
blow from which it will never fully recover.
1t has shown pitiable incapacity to deal with
questions which affect the very existence of the
order. Its mental caliber can be gagged by the
childish air of mystery with which it endeavored
to shroud its proceedings To be mysterious in
the opinion of the average knight OF Labor, is
to be important. They have reyeled in secrecy,
nd maQnlfied
numbers, their power their wealth, and intelh-
gence. To have the glare or day turned upon
them is new and unpleasant experience. They
have been codded into arrogance. To be crit
icised is strange sensation, but Mr. Powderly
and the men who have spent the last ten days
in Cleveland with him feel to night that from
this time forward they must expect to be judged
on their merits and treated like ordinary, and
very ordinary, people The assembly, which
was to provide panacea for all the ills of labor,
has not only failed to do So but has aggravated
those ills.
Special to New York Sun.
The board furnishes an interesting study now.
First comes T. V. Powderly, a Pennsylvania
and machinist in the dim long ago. He trains
with the Home Club men. Then comes Fred
Turner rich grocer. Home Club favorlte
also of Pennsylvania. Next comes John w.
Hayes, owner of two stores in New Brunswick,
N. j., also favorite Of the Home Club. Then
| comes James E. Quinn, who lives in the same
house with Justus Schwab, the beer-peddler OF
New York. Home Club man. and understood
| to have once been wage-worker. Then follows
! w. FL. Muller, favored by the Home Club. Ia
| Dor editor in Richmond. After him comes Hugh
Cavanaugh, of Cincinnati, either now or former
| ly q shoemaker, and also = favorite with the
| Home Club. After these comes w. d. Bailey
ex-chief of police in Ohio city. and. also. ia
vored by the Home Club
| This leaves only three men who favor con-
| tinuance of the past policy of the Knights of
Labor. One is Thomas B. Barry, an AK maker
| q levelheaded leader, shrewd thinker, and a
| man who lost every dollar he had and So 600
home in order to support the little union he
belonged to when it was on strike Mr.. Barry
/ is not by any means Home Club man. He
does not want the Knights to try to run the
| earth or snatch at the moon, and he sees room
| in the world for trades unions to exist. side by
| side with the Knights. Mr.. Joseph Buchanan,
| editor, of Denver, is the same sort of mana
/ wide-awake. prudent, modest honest man,
whose heart is bound up in the order that is now
| staggering beneath a crushing blow. The Home
| Club does not have any use for Mr.. Buchanan
particularly as he is averse to melting dsstruc-
| ton by means of war with the trades-nnions.
Last of oil comes Mr.. Ira B. Aylesworth, as yet
unplaced.
In this board Mr. Powderly. who was VERT
able king last week, is now a mere unit. and a
| very small unit at that He has kept his place,
| and he thinks he can keep it after the next
election, but he has lost the leadership. He no
longer plays the first part in the Knights of
Labor. He has become a tender to a band OF
schemers in New York. In vain effort to de-
| lude the public, he has authorized the publica-
| ton of an address to the world in which he de-
| MES that there is any dissension in the order or
| the board: but the effort is hopeless Other
| members of the executive board, in conversation
with the Sun reporter, have tonight demon
| strated that they appreciate and understand the
situation exactly as it is seen by the world at
| large.
A glance at the present occupations of the
| members of the executive board will show one
very good reason why the tradesunionists do
| not care to commit their affairs to the hands Of
the Knights. 'They are masters of no trades
and jacks of ail.p said one leading trades-union-
list to-day. I'VE would be unwiss to intrust our
welfare to such a body of shop-keepers and
idlers, even if they were men of great intelli
| gence; but, as a matter of fact, they are singu-
| larly Lniutell:gent in the main. The whole
truth Is that the knights do not fairly represent