The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-07-08
THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.


day has practical and sensible edi-
torial which takes the ground that in
asmuch as the lawyers have their
bar association, the bankers, doctors,
dentists and Others, theirs,it is perfectly
just and right that the laboring men
of the country should have their or
CARNATIONS, so long as they "keep
within the laws of the country and of
society,"
The point made is perfectly natur-
al one and not specially,new one, but
it does good to reiterate it and for this
reason THE SENTINEL is glad to see
the Observers editorial.
There has been a studious effort
throughout North Carolina to our GER
tain knowledge, to bring the Knights of
Labor into bad odor by a coupling of
the order with individuals of unsavory
reputation and by the connection of
otherwise damaging and deleterious
associations.
1t is not from the men we form our
ideas every time of a cause or move
ment. It is the principles they repre-
sent, that should merit our respectful
investigation Were popular senti-
ment to antagonize every sect, or or
der, because that sect or order had
bad men within its borders, then pop
ular sentiment would be extremely
unjust and more than that, every sect
or order would be doomed to the I'M
just verdict of popular sentiment, but
popular sentiment is more liberal than
this because it knows very we'll that
the men who represent best the prin-
ciples ofthe sect or order in question,
do not place the stamp of their, en-
dorsement upon the bad men, who
misrepresent these principles
Some papers have taken very illib-
eral views of the trade unions and the
Knights of Labor, for example this
from the New York Journal Of CON-
H,erce:
The violence and bloodshed at the Chicago
and Milwaukee reveal the true spirit of the
trades union against which haye so often
and so earnestly protested, They are not, as
many claim, the wanton excuses of a small
band of socialists, who have transferred the red
flag from the hotbeds of their order in the old
world, and finding themselves unrestrained in
a land of freedom have mistaken liberty for
license, The principles of the first trades I'M
ion ever organized have in them all the Gle
ments of the bloodiest riot, and the policy of
coef cion is everywhere and always the determ-
ined foe of law and order, All such organiza-
tons are violation Of the most sacred natural
rights, and would have been indictable at COM
mon law as criminal oonspracies,
The above does injustice to the
trades unions, the purpose of which
and their ordinary action are as free
from coercion as the action of any
combination of employers.
Men are properly and lawfully
organized in trades unto ms, which they
consider necessary so long as the wages
system continues in its present form as
the sole remuneration of employees
without further interest in the business.
To guard the orderly and fair division
OF tasks in the workshops is the chief
purpose of unions in the skilled trades.
1t is a mistake to attack such organi-
cations of workmen, and has a tend
ency to disgust them with newspapers
representing the employing class, and
even to drive some workingmen into
extreme movements.
:. The coercion which has been exer-
cised by trades unionists at times to
drive men from taking the places Of
strikers is no part of the principles, of
the unions, and if the unions are to be
blamed for that which is done against
their rules and purposes, the govern
ment might by the same rule be
blamed for what is done by its crimi-
nal citizens against its laws. So far
as withdrawal from situations is con-
.cerned, or refusal to work in shop
with non-union men, it is a misuse of
terms to call that coercion, because it
is peaceful action perfectly within the
right of the individual men, It is no
more coercion than the act of the mer-~
chant tailor who refuses to cut out a
coat to be sewed out side his shop, or
that of a contractor who declines to
construct part of "a building unless he
can have the entire job.
The trades unions have distinct
purpose in view, and just, purpose
| in Determining Ia do all or none of