Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-09

Mayor CarrlngtOn present.
Within the limited time at the com
mand of the committee of arrange
ments they found it impossible to pro-
vide seats, except for the ladies, and
consequently a great many people who
came in stayed only few minutes and
left.
INTRODUCED.
After a few preliminary remarks the
speaker gave brief survey of the his
tory Of labor unions in the eastern
country, and then came down to speak
OF the formation Of them in America.
When they were first organized here
the public press was severe in its criti-
cismS, but now it is fair and liberal.
lie admitted that some of the members
of the order get drunk, and are not as
good as they should be, but so it is in
all organizations. Continuing, the
speaker said. in substance
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
The alarming development and ag-
gresSiyeness Of great capitalists and
corporations unless checked will ineyi-
tably lead to the pauperization and
hopeless degradation Of the tOiling
masses. 1t is imperative, if we desire
to enjoy the full blessings Of life, that
a check be placed upon unjust accumu-
ls.ion and The power Tor evil of agsre-
gated wealth. This much-desired OBJ
ject can be accomplished only by the
united efforts of those who obey the
Divine Injunction, " In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread" There
fore we have formed the order Of the
Knights Of Labor for the purpose Of
organizing and directing the power of
the industrial masses. 1t is not pO-
lltical party it is more. In it are
crystallized sentiments and measures
for the benefit of the whole people;
and we ale determined, if possible, to
make industrial and moral worth, not
wealth, the true standard Of individual
and national greatness, and to secure to
the workers a just share Of the wealth
they create.
WHAT THE KNIGHTS AIM AT.
The aim, said Mr.. Treyellick, is to
secure sufficient leisure to develop their
intellectual. moral. and social faculties,
thereby enabling them to share in gains
and hOnors Of advancing civilization.
TO prepare to meet this higher civiliza-
tion we demand that all children born
in America or brought to America
from any other nation shall be pro-
hibited from entering the factory, work
shop, mill, or mine until they have
reached their fifteenth year and have
received a grammar-schOol education
for ignorance must not be allowed to
increase in America. knowing as we do
that it will endanger the peace Of so
ciety, and finally destroy the structure
of human liberty. Therefore we de-
mand the right peacefully to assemble
together for the purpose of discussing
all questions OF human government.
GODS BLESSINGS.
In no country in the world, said the
speaker. has nature done so much for
the people as in the United States.
With an area twenty-Seyen and one half
times that of Great Britain or seven
teen times that of France, embracing
every variety Of climate that is good
for man or beast, with native forests on
every hilltop, and coal cropping from
the banks of ten thousand streams,
AID iron that stands forth in noun
tains, with vast prairies rich to
grow the golden corn, with thousands
OF miles of mighty rivers to carry our
commerce to the sea, with great and
pure internal lakes for the nations
eternal reservoir,-yet in the midst Of
all these blessings we find four million
people in enforced idleness; debt and
taxation constantly increasing; debt
national, corporate, and individual
hanging like a pail over the hopes Of
the people, the interest on which is
costing the constant labor of four mil
lion two hundred thousand men.
THE SHE-WOLF OF HUNGER.
During the last twenty-five years in-
tellectual and physical labor has added
to the wealth of the nation thirty
thousand millions Of dollars. And
in the presence of this fact sew
enteen-twentieths Of the mechanics,
miners, and laborers are never thirty
days ahead Of the she-wolf hunger.
The average wages of mechanic,
laborer, and miner in the States
of Massachusetts,, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Michigan, and Missouri,
for the past three years have been less
than $3.50 per year, while the ave-
rage family consists of five per-
sons-the two parents and three
children. Fifty per cent. OF this num-
Der in all towns and cities pay rent.
Rent has equalled So a month. or sI2
a year. Add fuel and light to rent, aud
there has been left for the use of the
family, for food, shoes, ard clothing
less than $3.50 per year. This has left
less for each person than it costs to
clothe and feed criminals in the peni-
tentiaries and warehouses in America.
THE GREEDY SCRAMBLE.
This unjust distribution, said Mr.
Treyellick, is blotting out patriotism,