Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-04-01
POWDERLY'S POWDER.
A Brand Warranted Safe From
Premature Explosion.
A Circular Not Intended For the Public
Eye, But Concerning Matters in Which
the Public Are Deeply Interested
The Ring of the True Metal.

ST. LOUIS, March 26.-The following
remarkable circular was made public
this morning. 1t is the first official ut
terance of General Master Workma n
Powderly of the Knights of Labor, and
in it he defines with startling clearness
his very sensible views concerning
strikes, ooycotting, the eight-hour sys-
tenn and other important questions con-
corning organized labor:
lSecret CircuIar.l
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, March Is, 1886.
Noble Order of the Knights of Labor Of Amer
The recording secretary will, on receipt of
this circular, place it in the hands of the mas
ter workman, whose duty it shall be to issue a
red-letter call for a full meeting, either reg
ular or special, have full attendance, and
read it. Its extreme length must be excused,
for / can not go to each assembly to speak
on the present crisis, and take this method
of reaching them.
An order was recently issued to suspend
organization of new assemblies for forty
days. 1t did not go out until a careful
view of the field had been taken. Had 1
not been convinced that it was absolu teiy
necessary for the salvation of the order my
c6SSa
ton of the work.
faced a human being stands squarely before
the head of this order to- day. 1t Is not COM
with. Before taking another step in any d.
rection / want to go before the great mass of
our membership. through the medium of
this circular, ask of them to speak to me as
frankly as now talk to them, and tell me
what Is best to be done. If the order is to
perform its mission as intended by its found
ers and those who have worked with it from
the beginning, radical change must be eff
fected; sop must be called, and the ship
always been, and is at the present time,
my policy to advocate Cancellation and arbi
.tratfon in the settlement of disputes be-
tween employer and employee. The law of
Knighthood demands at the hands of our
members an adherence to that policy: Thou;
with the ruinous policy of the strike as the
only remedy for the ills we complain of we're
mankind that we had discarded the strike
until all else had failed. The men and WON
en- who flock to our standard have
have endured these wrongs for years,
and in reason are in duty bound to learn
pensive and lmostl satisfactory. as well as
lasting remedy Six months will not teach
men are impressed n with p the sne idea that St
they can learn them in six weeks or six
days, and before the ground work for
proper education Is laid we find our assem-
blies on a strike or locked out; and in too
many cases the provocation comes from
their own hasty and inconsiderate action.
No matter what advantage gain by the
strike, it Is only indicating the symptoms;
it does not penetrate the system. and, there
ural sequence is a relapse, and relapse
always means more medicine and a weaker
@ .nan th Tet1re t h must pear with
be the last one will ever write to you. My
duties to the order and humanity must not
De measured by the standard of dollars and
cents. My policy must no longer be mis-
understood. While 1, as the chosen mouth
world that the Knights Of Labor do not ad-
Vocate or countenance strikes until every
other remedy has failed, the wires from a
thousand cities and towns are bearing the
news of as many strikes by Knights of La
Dor. in which arbitration and Cancellation
they we've in many cases scorned and re-
1ected by our own members. In some cases
these strikes were entered upon against the
claimed by our members that arbitration Is
one sided. That may be true of the past
i'm the last three months prove most conclu-
sfveiy that the just claims of labor will be
started out 1t is claimed that this is a year
for concessions and advances. Be that as it
may. we can not force them by striking.
am aware that the machinery of our or
der Is not capable of performing the work
required by the large gains in membership,
and this fact must have restraining fnf1u-
ence upon our members until the next gen
bIies were added to the roll in February-as
years of the orders existence It is not
within the bounds of human possibility to
pneperIy trained ' before " the Assemblies
are founded. The organizers seldom
visit them for Instructions but
They must devote their spare moments to
educating those already organized before
der. To attempt to win concessions or gains
with our present raw, undisciplined MEM
bership would be like hurting an morgan
army. Again, it is not fair to the older as
semblies to bring in new members, pick up
their Quarrels as soon as organized, and
have them expect pecunary aid from those
who helped build the order up for noble
purpose. 1t is not wise to give men and
women premium for joining 1t Is
wrong to encourage them in the idea that
they have nothing to do themselves,
depend upon themselves. and in any case
can not receive assistance inside of six
months, and 1 will hold out no inducements
that will encourage them in the belief that
they will receive assistance even then.
We have built up moral force that will
1ai In the H Country. We We must nos fritter
away our strength and miss the golden op-
portunity to crown every effort with success
dinal principles of the order we must add
another-patience. You have had patience
eGr eeor a appeared n npon the seens
you would still be waiting. Your scales
of prices must stand as they are
for the present IL you can not raise them by
any other process than a strike. You must
submit to injustice at the hands of the EN-
ployer in patience for while longer. Bide
well your time. Make no display of organ
ization or strength until you have every
man and woman in your department. of In
but study, not only your own condition. but
that of your employer. Find out how much
bHnai of arbitration will settle the rest. Or
ganizers who publish an account of their
work to the world; assemblies that publisi
an account of their strength to the world
and members, whether public or private,
who speak boastingiy of our strength to the
world, are very indiscreet. Mind your own
business. Keep your own counsel If the
world wishes to learn anything concerning
us. let it ask for information. If it Is proper
where We win a victory let MS be magnan
Smous. and not boast of it or speak slight
a coward. Each district assembly, each
local assembly must appoint a competent
committee on instructions, to teach our
members what the order was intended for;
have no advice as to how much they should
be taught Let them learn all they can.
The Knights of Labor are not opposed to
the employer of labor, but it was not intend
ed that the order should harbor unjust en-
ployers. In many assemblies the employer
'ence. The men who work for them will ex
press themselves as they feel and, in my
employer as he is rather than brother
Knight We can deal just as fairly by him
beyond the walls as within the sanctuary
Take in as few employers possible.
the name OF this order and it's principles
are published everywhere. and men who
stooi openly arrayed against us two years
ago are now our friends. Beware of them
Take them in u you will, but watch them
The politician Is planning night and day
s.lnw to catch the knights of Labor for the
advantages of himself or party, and. rest
assured, he has his emisssries In our ranks
We must expect this, and we must stamp
out every effort of the party man-it
matters not of which party-who at
tempts to use us for political purposes. To
those assemblies which drag the name of the