The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-12
THE FUTURE OF THE WORKER
The Labor Question Discussed by John
Swinton and George ". Curtis.
Discussion of the Aims and Purposes of the
Knights of Labor-The Present Movement
Must Inevitably Lead to Reaction.

Inc editor Oh Tue Wor.u ASKS me 10 attemp9 w
forecast the Culture Of the present labor move
ment.r
In seeking to do SO, one must glance at the
predominant features, taking especial notice of
those in which it differs from previous move
ments.
The discomfort and the struggles of labor are
everlasting, but latterly they have reached an
unprecedented magnitude, and are raising ap-
prehenslon if not alarm. The strikes and the
unrest Of other times are not at all comparable
with what we now see, and neither the empiri-
cism nor the repression once in vogue is applica-
BILE to existing conditions.
The present phenomena are produced by the
tremendous social and industrial transformation
that is being wrought by the development of
machinery, the concentration of capital, the IN
paral,eled growth of huge cities, the advance of
intelligence among the masses, and the tendency
of the working millions to organize for mutual
defense and welfare under the revolutionary
changes of the times. These are current forces
which must be Complementary studied by every
man who attempts to form a judgment as to their
outcome.
There are several novel features Of the present
labor movement which strike one at the first
glance, more especially if he turn his eye upon
that unique organization, the Knights Of Labor.
i. Organization is to-day as wide as our
boundaries, covering every State and all their
Industries. There are local and State labor
parliaments: there are a score of trades possess
ing national organizations; there is the National
Federation of Unions, and there is the order of
the Knights of Labor, which embraces all pro-
6f1cfiva urraffnnc md avfordc nuor thu mhn1o
country. The last-named organization, at the
opening of the present year. had the power of a
quarter OF o million of members, and its numer-
ical strength will probably be double that num-
Der before the close of the present month, when
the number who have been waiting for the with
drawal of the quarantine against new assemblies
shall have passed '.behind the veil" Never in
olden times did such bodies exist anywhere, and
they are formidable agencies that cannot be left
out of account.
2. This also is a feature without precedent in
any previous labor movement. It approaches
the solidity of military method. The rude hosts
are rapidly acquiring discipline, and recruits who
but yesterday were being put through the goose
step are to-day in full line, under the watchword
of obedience" with officers holding power
through free and democratic election, by uni
versal suffrage. For example, the order Of
Knights of Labor is governed according to the
federal system under the authority of the Gen.
eral Assembly, which annually elects an execu-
~ 0oh Jun ~ ~ VI
our political system in the township. which has
its correspondent unit in the local assembly, and
just as in politics we ascend from the township
to the county, the State and the federal union,
with Congress and the administration, so in this
industrial organization the ascent is from the
local to the district" the State" (~recently
provided for), and the general assembly," with
the executive board" The mechanism is sys-
tematic and solid. It's operation has been har-
monious ever since its origin. seventeen years
ago. repeat that the present movement. thus
exemplifed, is in this respect also different
from any other of times past.
3. The present labor movement has a larger
object than that of the old unions, which con
fined their energies to the fixing of wages and
trade rules. Look at the platform of any GEN.
trail labor union, or of any State organization. or
of the federation. and look especially at the ''de-
c~laration Of principles" of the Knights of Labor,
who are in the van. You will find that the lat
ter is as broad as the commonwealth, dealing not
only with wages and hours of labor, but touch
ing the land question, the financial question, the
establishment of a cooperative system of indus
try. and the relations of capital. The working
man of America has discovered that these things
concern him, and that he has power over them.
Here again is a differencing feature of the move
ment of to-day.from its predecessors.
4. The exemplifcations of this feature in re-
cent years have been as surprising as they are
novel. The local assemblies of the furthest
West and South give the full measure of service
to their brethren of the furthest East and
North. They all join hands in aiding an ap-
proved strike, in raising supplies, in the boycott.
in defending any brother who suffers on their
account, and for such other objects as get the
approval of the executive board. There have
been not a few cases Of mutual aid that may we'll
c%onfound the pessimists. For example, in his
letter on the late Southwestern railroad strike,
Vice-president Hoxie said that it had grown out
of 8 supposed wrong to a single member in Texas.
The statement was inaccurate. and yet the motto
of the Knights of Labor, which Is copied from a
maxim of Scion, runs thus: A injury to one
is the concern of ALL" Here again is a feature
of the pretent movement that gives it a power
not before known to labor.
5. The intensity Of the earnestness of the
present labor movement is another of it's pre-
dominant features. Those who watch its work
ings know that the hosts united in it feel that they
are confronted by what the English call burn
ing questions" l have, within the past few
years, addressed hundreds of labor meetings
here and there. at many of which the audience
seemed to be possessed by the spirit of the con-
queriug Saracens of the seventh century, or of
the Crusaders of the eleventh. This is not the
mere effervescence of log-cabin campaign poll
sics. 1t is a deep and mighty force not to be
overlooked.
6. All the organizations of labor are in some
measure training schools for their members. and
those who know the most about them will best
appreciate their work as such; but, among the
Knights of Labor, 'education"-that is to say,
schooling in the principles of the order
lis the supreme and never-ending duty
Of all members The methods adopted
are known only to those who
have taken upon themselves the obligations of
membership, but the results may be discovered
by any man who looks for them in the proper
quarters. 1t is a lesson in high morals even to
be made aware of the fact that four of the feec-
ing classes of modern society are prescribed as
unfit to enter the organization. The educational
features of this great body add stability to the
present labor movement, Of which it is the vital
energy.
7. The present labor movement is not a flor
eign importation" as Jay Gauld implied in that
Tribune interview which the World copied.
The Order of the Knights of Labor was founded
by an American of the old auti-slavery school,
upon an American basis, and has developed ac-
cording to the forms and instincts Of American
life. There never has been an organization like
it in any partof Europe. tits American through
out in its system; and the massiveness and in
clusiveness of its groundwork made it worthy of
American idealism.