St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-24
THE CLEVELAND CONVENTION
knights of Labor Gathering In the
Forest City.
A Plan for Making PowderIy's Work
Less Onerous.

CLEVELAND. o., May 23.-The officers
OF the general assembly of the knights of
Labor were up early this morning and at
work. The two tardy members of the ex-
ecutive board had not arrived and no session
was held. The Headquarters work was
several days behind, and Secretary Turner
and his stenographer, who arrived from
Philadelphia early in the day, were kept
busy answering letters. During the after
noon and evening the grand master work
man perfected method of pro-
cedure and order of business for
the convention and attended to
other duties. The following gentlemen
are among the delegates already in the city:
L. V. Powderly. grand master workman,
Scranton, Pa; Frederick Turner, general
secretary, Philadelphia, Pa; John w.
Hayes, member of the executive board, New
Brunswick, N. j.; T. S. Kilgallon, Butte
City, Mont; E. l.. Leffingwell, Indianapo-
lis; James Bilson, official stenographer,
Troy, N. Y; S. r. Griffiths, Chicago;
Harvey j. +. Keaffington, Philadelphia;
John Morrison, New York; George F..
Murray, New York; Andrew d. Best,
Brooklyn, N. Y, and James Cunningham,
New York. A reporter asked Secretary
Turner if Irons would be here, and received
the reply, 81 think not" Have you sent
for hlm?" Mr.. Turner seemed surprised at
the question: and said:
mo, we don't want him. He is not a
delegate" A number of the delegates feel
keenly the fact that Grand Master Work
man is overworked, and think that he
should be assisted in some manner.
Two plans have been proposed,
mr. rryi1I O1>ah Ixy I0 fa1 of
the convention. One is that state assem-
blies be organized in each state to look after
the affairs in the district that would come
under their supervision. they in turn being
auxiliary to and under the supervision OF
the general assembly. Each state assem-
bly, would receive instructions and supplies
from the general assembly, and distribute
the supplies as needed by district and local
assemblies. The organization of new as
SemblieS would also be part of the work
looked after, and guided by the state or
ganiZation.
THE OTHER PLAN
is to have an executive board in each state,
subject to the direction of the general
board. The subject of the NEST Importance
to come before the Cleveland convention is
the relation of the knights of Labor to the
trades unions.
This matter must be discussed and acted
upon with caution said q member of a
Cleveland assembly yesterday. II believe
that the Knights of Labor should be subOrdin-
ate to no organization. The difficulty be-
tween the trades unions and our organization
arose with the officers of the former, who are
afraid that there may be no use for trades
unions in the future, in which case their fat
salaries and occupations will be gone. The
Knights of Labor are broader than the unions,
For instance, if, in a shop of twenty-four
men, twenty-three are members of the order
and one is not, as long as the man outside re-
ceives the same pay as the others nothing is
done to coerce him or the employer. He need
not join the order. We invite members, but
do not force any man to unite his lot
with ours and although he is not received as
a brother, no distinction is made, other than
in fraternal feeling. On the other hand,
union shop, the union men would force the
non-unionist to join their order or they would
strike. The National Cigarmakers' union
which, understand, will insist that the as
sembly tables be discontinued, and only the
blue label of the union used. The patrons to
the greatest extent are members of the
Knights OF Labor, and if it were not for us
the labeled cigars would never have become
so well known. 1t seems to me that the
breach can only he healed by a joint conven-
ton of the trades unions and the Knights of
Labor although there may be other ways of
fixing up matters.