Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1886-10-06
KNIGHTS OFLABoR
The Session st Richmond-yirss Day
Procecdfngs-Powds Addrees

sossion OF toe 5eneral Assembly 10 ted
from 3 O'Clock this afternoon until z In
the evening, and was taken mp In hear.
ing the report Of the COMMITTEES on
ICredentials which was not ready the
middle of the afternoon. 1t favored The
seating OF all delegates sgaiast whom
there were no contests, and excluding
tor the time being the Representatives OF
eight or ten Assemblies against whom
objections were raised, and SLOWING
the General Assembly itself to pass on
the credentials ofthe latter.
The committee ID said to have been
unanimous In the report which was
adopted. One Of the delegates elect,
Who was thus com pelled TO retire, was
John Morrison, Master Workmen OF
National Carpet Trade District, No.
l2S0. District Assembly 40 claimed
that bis transfer from the latter was
irregular, and member of the COM
mittee said that, under the constitution
or the orde Mr.. Morrison was clearly
Ineligible. Messrs. Brown, Raft and
Mille1, Of the Brooklyn district, which,
at the cleveland session, was author
lied to withdraw from District Assem-
bly 49, were also excluded becaus the
General Executive Board had refused,
Tor some reason, TO charter the body.
1t WAS decided that the General As.
sembly should sit daily from 8 .. M.
till IL %. land 06p.m RE. Treyellick.
of Detroit, and James A. Wrieat. OF
Phtlad elphia, addressed an open meet
| ing OF deleg Who assembled In Arm.
ory Hall this morning in expectation
that q regular session won Id be held.
General Master Workman Powderly
to-day received q telegram, containing
q fraternal greeting from the Brother
hood Of Locomotive Firemeu, in session
in Terre Haute, Indiana, and another
from j. N. Townsend, colored, of Rich.
mond, Indiana, thanking Linn for the
"diguifed stand taken in behalf of the
colored people"
The following is an sbstract of Mr..
Powderley's address TO the General
Assembly:
"The rapid increase 10 organisation
since the Hamilton session of the Gem
eral Assembly was most marvellous.
An examination of the reports Of the
gene raj secretary treasurer for the year
ending July 1, 1886, will show that In
one year 4,068 Assem- blies have BET n
organized. The new members 30 sud-
denly brought together could not be
properly Assimilated. Thousands have
been attracted toward the Order
through mere curiosity; others have
come for purely selesh motives, while
the great bulk Of our new recruits have
Joined us for the good that they could
do.
10 lite few have entered our Order
for Inc purpose of redressing existing
wrongs, and, before waiting to learn
anything con corning the duty of the
Knights to the Order, have plunged
into rash and ill.copsidered strikes.
The South west strike began when the
time and attention of the general OFF,
GERS were taken up with other matters
of vital Importance. No notice Of the
ocntempla ed action was given to us,
and we knew nothing whatever con.
|cerDing it or the causes leading to 1t
until 1t had been in progress several
days.
sit has been asserted that / condemned
the men while they were OIL strike. No
such statement ever escaped my lips. The
only statement Of mine that could be
made to appear in the light of q condem
nation was that contained in my secret
circular of the 18th of March, a CODY of
which is herewith submitted. uId nvt
approve of that strike. l could not do
so, since confidence enough was not re-
posed in the General Executive Board to
give them q chance 10 examine into the
grievances which the members of d. A.
101 complained of. 1t was only when the
threat was made to stop every wheel in
the United States and engage the whole
Order in the difficulty that / raised my
voice In denial. did that in defence of
the Order and the country. l am quite
willing to assume all the responsibilities
attached to the act, and would do the
same thing again under similar circum-
stances.
THE EIGHT HOUR STRIKE.
"The eight-hour strike which took
place May / was not successful except In
cases where employers and employees
were acting in harmony, or where en-
ployers were willing to adopt the plan.
l opposed the strike on May 1, because l
knew that neither workmen nor employ
ers were ready for it, because the educa-
tion which must al ways precede intelli-
gent action had not been given to those
most In need of 1t, because no definite,
business like plan for the Inauguration
of the eighthour movement had been
mapped out.
u NlONS.
"The trouble with trade unions in
which certain of our members and as
semblies have been engaged was greatly
magnifed and distorted. The proceedings
of the Cleveland special session of the
General Assembly, and the report of the
General Executive Board, submitted to
you to-day, will be sufficient. l need
not enter into detail further than to saw
that there were mistakes made on both
sides. Some of our organizers have been
so jealous in their way of organizing that
they have encroached upon the preroga-
tives of other associations, and on several
Occasions the rights of our members have
been seriously interfered with by members
of trade unions. To dig up past troubles
is unnecessary, and in consultation with
prominent men of the trade unions / was
gratified to learn that they had no desire
to revive the past. For the future rec
ommend that all matters likely to create
breach of the peace between our Order
and any o'her be at once submitted to
the executives of both organizations"
AS PLENTY OF BACKBONE.
81 have been accused of displaying a
lack of nerve,' of want of backbone ,
and of being too weak man to lead a
strong movement have never replied
to these charges. nor wi ! do so now.
simply point back to record of seven
years Of service and ask this question. If,
while holding position such as no man
living or dead ever held before, with the
full blaze of public scrutiny shining upon
| my every action, with public opinion as
ready to condemn as to applaud, ! have
displayed q lack OF nerve or backbone,
why is it that million men and women
of nerve, backbone and common sense
have gathered around the standard which
was placed in my hands seven years ago
by the founder Of the Order HIMSELF
If haye been proven a weak man, why