The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1886-10-07
KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
ADDRESS OF GRAND MASTER
WORKMAN POWDERLY.

WORKMAN POWDERLY.
In response to the speech of welcome
by Gov. Lee. Mr.. PowderlY begun by re-
turning thanks for the reception Il ey
had met with, and pleasantly alluced to
the fame of Southern hospitality. The
fight in which the Knights of Labor are
engaged, he said, is not war of labor
against capital, but war in which the
manhood of the American laborer is
fighting for recognition. In this war it
must be determined which shall rule,
monopoly or the American people-gold
or manhood. Popular disregard of poll
teal duty, and tolerated and continued
political corruption, will weaken our
Government and destroy our liberties,
for the worm can eat its way through the
oak which storm or tempest could not
bend, and political dishonesty will strike
where lightning could not reach. If this
land was worthy that brave men should
die for it, it is at least worthy that un-
selfish, thoughtful men. should live and
work in grand devotion to the ideas OF
real, true Democracy. We come here
not alone to settle question of dispute
in regard to wages or hours of labor, we
come here partly to study and learn some
lessons of head and heart in practical
citizenship. To rescue the toiler from
the grasp of the selfish is work worthy
of the noblest and best of our race. 1t is
to the accomplishment of that grand
object that every Knight of Labor should
bend his every energy. Lack of success
or encouragement must not diEhearten,
detection in friends, or fancied friends,
must not turn him aside from his pur-
pose, love of ease must not prevent him
from working.
The question is asked, "Why have you
such an organization as the Knights of
Labor ?" We. are Knights of Labor be-
cause we believe that the Declaration of
independence means something more
than mere words and beautiful sentences.
We are Knights of Labor because we be-
lieve that it is wrong for an alien king to
Cypress the people and rob them. It is
also wrong for any other man to oppress
or rob his fellow creatures. We are
Knights of Labor because we believe "to
whom belongs the soil it is his, even
unto heaven" We are Knights of Labor
because we believe that the rights of the
poorest, humblest man or woman of toll
should stand forth more clearly and be
treated with more of respect than privil-
eges conferred upon or stolen by the
wealthiest in the nation. We are Knights
of Labor because politicians and political
parties have derided, degraded and de.
bauched the people, because they have
too often gained power through deception
and fraud, and in return for the confid.
ence reposed in them they have basely
deserted the common people and knelt
at the shrine of gold. We are Knights
OF Labor because we believe that law and
order should prevail and that both should
be founded in equity. We are Knights
of Labor because we believe that the
thief who steals a dollar is no worse than
the thief who steals a railroad; that the
burglar who breaks open a house or
vault is no worse than the criminal who
destroys or orders the destruction of the
property of a railroad, or a telegraph
company, and we believe that the same
law should Eeaeh oat with firm, mistaken
hand and punish both criminals accord
ing to the magnitude of their guilt. We
believe that if it is wrong to steal a loaf
of bread, it is also wrong to stea! land
Whereon grain was raised, from which
bread was made, and if land was stolen
according to law made bv dishonest
time serving politicians, we believe that
law should be repealed and the land re-
stored to the people. We are Knights
OF Labor because we believe that if an
article manufactured by the hand of the
American laborer is worthy of protection
from foreign competition, that hand,
whose skill lends value to the article
should be protected, and we have de-
termlned to protect our labor independ-
ent of politicians and of political parties
hot
ago was terrible, but bad as it was it
never developed millionaire, while the
new slavery, which now reaches out
with far stronger hand than the old,
has developed hundreds ofthem. \
The lash was stricken from the hand
of the sIave-owner over twenty five years
ago, and it must be taken from the hand
of the new slave. owner as well. The
monopolist of to-day is more dangerous
than the slave-oWner of the past. Mono
poly takes land from people in million
acre plots; it sends its agents abroad and
brings hordes of uneducated. desperate
men to this country; it imports ignorance
and scatters it broadcast throughout the
land. 1t, and it alone, is responsible for
every manifestation of anarchy that our
country has witnessed. All men may
not be willing to admit that this state
ment is true, but when monopoly dies
no more Anarchists will be born unto
this country, for anarchy is the legitimate
child of monopoly. While 1 condemn
and denounce the deeds of violence COM
mitted in the name of labor during the
present year, l am proud to say that the
Knights of Labor, as an organization, are
not in any way responsible for such
conduct. He is true knight of Labor
who, with one hand clutches anarchy by
the throat and with the other strangles