Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-10-05
pOwDERLY,s MISTAKES.

The selection of the city of Richmond,
Virginia, as the place Of meeting for the
Knights of Labor in annual convention,
was fraught with more trouble to the
Order than it could well foresee and is
likely to result in damage to the work
hoped to be accomplished there. Grand
Master Workman Powderly made Il bad
break when he alluded to the equality of
all men in the Order, for the reason t!tpt
custom and precedent both, hold the
colored man aloof from his white brethren
in all social intercourse, the line being
drawn even in places OF public amnse-
ment, and extending through all
grades OF societies and organiza-
tions, even to the Masonic fraternity.
Not all the benefits promised by a thor
ough equipment for working OF the
Knights of Labor in the South can be
equivalent to the deep seated race preju-
dice held by the white people OF the
South. against their colored fellow citi-
zens, and such Il keen mind as that OF
Powdery's should see that it is idle for
the X. of l.. to hope to do, what only time
and necessary intercourse can bring
about A negro couple on the floor of a
ballroom, occupied by whites in Rich
mond, .or any other city in the South,
would be the signal for most OF the
B. whites to leave, and all the reasoning in
the book cannot change this condition OF
the Southern mans feelings. Powderly
erred again in launching his bolt at mo-
nopoly in the South, and especially when
he said
st sends its agents abroad and brings
herds of uneducated and desperate men TO
this country. 1t imports ignorance and
scatters it broadcast throughout the land.
1t, and 1t alone, is responsible for every
manifestation of anarchy that ever the
country has witnessed. All men may not be
willing to admit that this statement is true,
but when monopoly dies no more Anarchists
Will be born i'll this country, for anarchy IS
the legitimate child of monopoly. While |
condemn and denounce the deeds of violence
committed in the name of labor during the
present year, | am proud to say that the
Knights of Labor, as an organization, is not
in any way responsible for such conduct"
The majority OF the delegates from
the South are OF the very class he stig-
matizes, and were brought out by capital
lists to develop the great iron industry in
Alabama, around Annston Oxford, Ok
ana, and on through the belt to Birmlng-
ham, in which territory lies the greatest
and richest deposit of iron in the world.
The working OF this find was undertaken
after the war, when men were
scarce in the South, and rs it
required skilled labor, thousands OF men
were imported from Europe to do the
work. These men sat and heard Pow
derly say these hard thisgs against them
and they could not like it. In fact Pow
derly has changed his manner marvel
ously in the past year, and seems to be
crowding onto that pernicious pronoun |,
in such manner as to give his admirers
alarm. AS the DEMOCRAT understands
the organization OF the Knights OF Labor,
Powderly has no power other than execu-
tive, and that is given him only through
the executive board, hence it is difficult
to see the application Of the following:
1T was only when the threat was made
to stop every wheel in the United States
that | raised my voice against it."
Mr.. Powderly also speaks of his
wish that the Order would select some
other man to take his place, and the fact
that he has done this same thing several
times before, makes it look like childish
plea for compliments. The Order and its
interests are now in such condition that
to be a success, its leader must pull wide
open from all personal matters, and be
in truth as well as in name, devoted
solely to the good of the Order, holding
self to be secondary consideration.