Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-03-29
THE CRITICAL PERIOD.
which will Test whether the
Jonahs or tho knights Of Labor
are to Go Overheard.
A Member of the order who believes
IN Powderly and Tells About
the Leoches.


Mr.. Powdorly's letter to the knights Of
/ Labor continues 10 be the chief theme OF
conversation among the knights It's
publication was so unexpected that in.
terest Is divided between speculation as
I to how the secret leaked out, and specu-
/ lation as to the results of the letter. The
/ fact that 10 was written at Philadelphia,
and first discovered by THE GAZETTE,
1 has elected, even from the knights
themselves, favorable comment on West
ern newspaper enterprise which modesty
prevents THE GAZETTE from repeating.
Said Knight yesterday; =
"THE GAZETTE gave the substance arSl
! tenor Of the letter with but slight mac
curacies, twelve hours before the assem-
blies here had 1t read to them,
and II was through THE GAZETTE
the body OF the Fort Worth Knights first
heard Of the Powderly circular. Its'all
right-but we'd like TO know how you got
lit.n
GLOW do the members generally feel
about the letter."
"Some OF them were very mad at first,
but all who have stopped to think about 1t
arc beginning to realize that
Powderly was right. The truth is, as he
says, this Is the critical period in the his
tory Of the order We have been so anx-
ious to get large membership that we
took in any and everybody without ques-
tioning their motives, and the re-
suit is too large a number of mem
bers whose purposes In becoming
such were purely selfish. Look
at the order right here In Fort Worth. /
could point you to men who never did an
honest days work In their lives, that are
now posing as champions OF the cause of
labor. Some of them have been specu-
lating on the misfortunes Of the
Woodworking Knights. They do
more talking than anybody else,
and sometimes manage 10 get
into position. Everything they have done
has tended to degrade the order. They
have violated the constitution by con-
stantly trying to make trouble, and as
Stunning to dictate to entire communities.
1t is enough to make a true Knight sick
at heart to- think how these men have
prostituted the order and subyerted
its ends. They brought about the
condition of things which Mr.. Powderly
deplores, and il his advice Is needed they
will be cast overboard-if not, well for
one am going to get out, that is all there
is about it,"
"Do you think the conservative ele.
ment will be able to control the order?"
al think scat least | hope so.
Powderly's letter has been gem
orally Endorsed, but that doesn't
signify anything. OF course the
black sheep are not going to fight Pow
derly openly. Hypocrisy comes easy
with them, and now they are swearing
against the boycott, the strike and all the
extreme measures which they delighted
to invoke but short time ago. Yet,
mark what l tell you, from this time
on they will scheme to yet Mr.
Powderly out of position. They would
call him traitor If they dared to. They
want TO be tyrants themselves, and they
can't do IL unless there Is would-be
tyrant at the head of the order. The idea
that the intelligence of the order may
object to its conversion into mis-
chief-making concern is too big
for their brains. Their chief aim
is to draw salary from it If possible, to
make that salary as large as possible and
to attain as much Importance as pos
sibIe. 1t remains to be seen whether
they are to lead or to be lead"
"What about politics?"
"Opr constitution forbids us from hay
ing anything to do with politics as an
organization, and when man talks about
the knights of Labor going for this or
that man, depend opon it, he is simply a
babbler of nonsense. Unfortunately, too
many politicians are trying to make pill
low OF the order, but the intelligent men,
bers understand very well the causes of
their pretended friendship, Whenever the
order begins TO take a hand in elections
II Will 90 the way of all secret political
parties, and we are not so blind as to fail
to see this.'
"What does Mr.. Powderly mean when
he suggests reorganization on the basis
OF the Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineersg"
"He simply proposes to turn out and
keep out all the Adventures, dead-beats
and barnacles who have fastened their
clutches on the order to make money out
OF 1t. He wants to limit the membership
to the actual lahorer, for whom the or
eanization was originally Intended"