The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-07-01
THE KNIGHTS.
LETTER TO CARLISLE, RAN
DALI AND MORRISON
THEIR DEMANDS.
THEY WANT CONGRESS TO PASS
LAWS TO SUIT THEIR OWN
WISHES.

WASHINGTON, jane PA committee of knights
of Labor appointed at the meeting of the general
assembly held at Cleveland, have sent the follow
ing letter to speaker Carlisle Copies have also
been sent to Representatives Randall and MOrri.
SON.
WASHINGTON, d. c., June 26, 1886
To hon. John q. Car lie. Speaker of the House o
Representatives.
DEAR SIR-At sneCial session of the general as
semhy, Knights of Labor, held at Cleveland, Ma
- to June 4, 1885,, committee of three, cons
ing Of Ralph Beaumont, James Campbell and John
j. Mccartney, we're appointed to visit the capital
daIing the present session Of congress for the pur
pOse of asking that body to pass laws to carry out
the principles as laid down in our proceedings, a
copy Of which we enclose you. The committee
have selected few measures and
embodied them in a testimonial, looking
to that end, and have sent out several thousand to
their di erent branches throughout the country for
signatures aid endorsement by the people, and we
expect to he able to present to your body these
petitions with the endorsement OF at least 100000
signatures.
The following is a brief summary of the petitions
that they will ask:
let House bill No 1887 repeating the timber cul-
ture, pre.emption and desert land acts.
I'd. House bill No. 7Ol for the adjustment Of rail
road and other land grants.
3D.. Bills forfeiting all railroad land grants the
conditions of which have not been strictly com
piled with.
4th House bill organizing the territory Of Okla
hOma.
5th Pills prohibiting aliens from holding lands
In the United States.
9th A bill making presidential and congress
sional elections holidays, and Furnishing bribery.
eth A hill directing the disbursement of at least
S2OO,0OO,OOO tr asury surplus, and substituting
treasury notes for bank notes retired.
The party of viii you are members is in the
majority by some forty votes, and we therefore
look to majority of the party to enact the
airy legislation 70 make these measures part of
the law of the land. In making these requests we
feel not enunciating any new doctrines, but,
on the contrary, we find the groundwork of nearly
every one laid down in the democratic platform
adopted at Chicago in 1884, on which the present
majority of the dominant party was elected. We
find that paragraph three of our memorial is fully
covered by that document, as follows:
ave believe that the public land ought as far IA
possible to he kept as homesteads for actual set
tiers: that all nnearned lands heretofore mprOv-
identity granted to railroad corporations by action
OF the republican party should be restored to the
public domain, and that no more grants of lands
shall be made to corporations or he allowed to fall
into the ownership Of alien absentoes"
We also believe that the last paragraph in our
memorial ought to M 1t with your approval from
the following, which we copy from the Chicago
platform: 'rhat change is necessary is proved by
an existing surplus of more than
Slno,0OO which has yearly been collected from
suffering people
TnereIore, gain we say in requesting the pas
sage of these measures, we are not asking anything
from the dominant party, only to fulfill the prom
se il made to the people when it was seeking their
sufrages by which it obtained its present majority
We are informed that at a caucus OF members of
the dominant pat y in the mouse, held on Thursday
evening, June "a, yOn were appointed one of a
committee of three. whose duty it e to shape legis
lation that IL to Com1 before the house during the
balance of this session. Hence we present to you
this letter conveying TO you the desire of our con
We do not ask your party to support
them. We only look to you and your party to see
that the measure Is brought forwa d and submitted
to the house for its action and are willing to
trust them to the good judgment of members, re
gardless of party.
We remain, yours respectfully,
RALPH BEAUMONT, hartman
JoHE j, MCCARTNEY, Secretary.