Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-30
KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR APPROACH
ING GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
Great Questions TO be Settled and I'm
portant officers to be
Elected, &c.

Of the body will be held in Armory
Hall. the largest building Of the kind
in the city, which has seating capscity
OF about 1900. The local committee
charged with arranging for the comfort
Of the members OF the General Assem-
bly, have about completed their work.
There will he no stage or stand. The
speakers will address the Chair from
the floor. The acoustics Of the hall are
not as good as they might be, but this
will be remedied as far as possible By
the use Of sounding. boards.
Governor Lee will welcome the men,
bers Of the National Convention to Vir-
einia. General-Master- Workman Pow
derly will reply to Governor Lee.
GENERAL OFFICERS.
The present general officers are
General Master workman Z. v. Powder
| y. No. 400 north Main avenue scranton
| General Worthy Foreman Richard Grlf-
/ ttns. 23l Wells street, Chicago.
| General Secretary Treasurer-Frederics
| Turnsr Lock-BoX s34, Philadelphia.
| General John q. Cavlll, 359 Ful
| ton street, Brooklyn. n. Y.
Secretary OF the Insurance Association
| Homer l.. BcGaw, ais south Main street
| Pittsburgh.
| EXECUTIVE BOARD.
| r. V. P0wderly (chairman) Frederick
| Turner (secretary). John w. Hays Box 27l.
New Brunswick, n; j., r; b; Barry. Eas,
| shawnee. o.; James r. Quinn, OF New
| York: william II. Mullen. OF Richmond,
! Va. owen CavaDaugh; OF Clncinnatl; Da'
| yid X. Gibson. OF Hamilton. Ont Ira y.
| E al Pol NtF.fe u
| nan, Of Denver.
THE DELEGATES.
There will be altogether between
500 and | 1000 delegates from the United
States and Canada. These are chosen
by District Assemblies. Of these there
are four in Virginia-two in Richmond,
one white and one cOlOred, one in Nor
folk, and one in Petersburg (both
whi,e). The delegates are elected upon
the basis of one for every one thousand
members in good standing. In the
! Richmond district there are about three
thousand white and four thousand col
ored members in good standing, besides
two or three thousand more who are
not entitled to representation. Messrs.
William II. Mullen, Henry L. Carter,
and John NJ. Ryall have been elected
as The white ones, and among the col
cred ones is a " sister,"
THE CoLoRED MEMBERS.
There will be in the Assembly, it i
estimated, ten or fifteen colored nam
bers. There will be one from Wash
ingtcn, ore from New York, probably
one from Pennsylvania, four from this
city, and, III all probability, one or
more from several other southern
States. The question arises, "Where
will these cOlored members be enter
tained?" The declaration Of tho
order, that all it's members, regardless
Of race or creed, are on the same
footing, is likely to be put to thc
test during this session. The colored
delegates will not be able to secure &C
commoj.tions at any Of the hotels or
bosFciDg.hOusos kept by whites. 4
contract made by the delegates from
District 40, Of New York, for board a.
a well.known hotel here has been can-
celled because the members insistec
that cOlOTed associate should be
placed on the same footing with them
selves. This the house declined, and
the delegation will now have to make
other arrangements for board during
their stay here. 1t is probable thai
these men will bring tents with them
and camp out. The local committees
having in charge the entertainment Of
the visiting delegations will, upon the
latter's arrival, furnish them list Of
hotels and boarding. houses with their
respective rates, and let them select
at what place they will stop. The
coloIed delegates from Richmond will
doubtless make ample provision for
their visiting friends.
AN IMPORTANT SESsION-GROWTH
OF TIE ORDER.
This session will be by far the most
important in the history OF the order,
both by reason of the great increase in
membership since the session in ilamll.
ton, Ont, last October, and the many
questions vital to the future usefulness
of the order which will have to be set
tied. At the last General Assembly
there were less than 100 district assem-
blies represented by about l4O dele
gates, each delegate representing 1000
men CT majority fraction Of that mum
Der. At the coming Assembly there
will be nearly $50 district assemblies
with about 1000 delegates on the same
basis Of representation. The growth
has been generally distributed all over
the country, though it has perhaps
been more rapid in the States east o
the Mississippi.
From Georgia several delegates will
come to Richmond. This State has
never before been represented in the
General Assembly. The same may be
said Of q number Of other southern
States. 1t is expected that the session
will last at least two weeks, possibly
longer. Much Of the time will be taken
up with changes in the constitution Of
the order, which must be accommodated
to its rapid growth. 1t is said that
plan of government will be introduced
based on the State system, each State
to have q State district with an Execu-
tive Board having jurisdiction iu State
affairs. Over this will be the General
Assembly with its general officers and
General Executive Board, which will
have general supervision over the en-
tire order. This Board will be clothed
with more power in the affairs of the
order than the national Government is
in the affairs Of the nation.
Then the affairs Of the Home Club,
it is said, will take up much time. The
committee appointed at Cleveland to
look into the affairs Of this orgsniza-
tion was in session in New York for
more than two weeks, and took the tes-
timony of everybody who knew any
thing Of the Home Club and Of q good
many who did not know anything about
it. II is said that there is great mass
Of testimony to present to the General
Assembly Of a decidedly sensational
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