Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-11-30

sembly: II
Labor has maintained an existence in the face
of circumstances the most discouraging and dis |
heartening. Struggling forward in its infancy |
from those in whose behalf it contended. Later |
on it faced the world as the advocate OF justice
the oppressed arrayed against it. In all Of these
years it has had to brave the taunts and insults
of many whose interests 1t served. Since the
years ago. this order has had the opposition of
all who despised their principles, but the year
whose ending we witness at this season has been
the most trying and dscouragiug to those whose
wish was to see the harmonious blending of all
classes Of workers beneath the shield Of knight
number Of those who swore ailegiance to the
principles of the Knights of Labor. Their cir
culation of false statements concerning the
regarded quantity az being superior to quality
in the makeup Of the membership Of 2 labor
t sne e
dropping down, those members, who looked to
others for what they should do themselves,
ion between the general officers became her
aided b. oadcast by those who always magnifed,
those members VINO looked for unity among the
officers, instead Of doing theirduty by waiting UNI
til they could replace those officers with others,
withdrew from the order temporarily. The
meayned Of the extravasanee Of tbe pensra
officers frightened others, and they, too, stood
still until this session would assemble. In the
ed, whose selfish desires could not be suppress
ed for the common veal, and on no occasion
would they consent to sink self for the good Of
sickened and drove many from the order. With
an executive board whose members were not in
place to place denouncing their fellow
officers and condemning actions that they
were not responsible for, it could not be
The unwse strikes which were entered upon
against the laws and principles of the knights
ooyerty and forced chem from the order Add
TO all OF those causes the campaign which has
just closed in the United States in which men,
bers and assemblies were pitted against each
other on question which never was made
part of the declaration OF principles. and on
which they could very we'll afford to differ with.
out dividing on any point in the laws rules of
the order, and we wonder not that there has
been a falling of, but that we have passed
ken as we find them to-day.
He states that these trials have resulted in
good for the order, and denies anything like Off
cial dishonesty, inviting thorough examine
| tion of oil books and accounts. Many changes
| are desired in the constitution, SO us to avoid
! the frequent changes which are recommended at
each session He recommends the total abol1-
ton Of sections which provide for the appoint
ment and governing of examining organizers.
| The law as at present framed is u dead letter.
| An examination Of sections - and % will show
/ that in addition to his other duties the General
Master Workman is required to examine tho
! statement OF expenses as reported by the Cen
4 eral Secretary. "rhe TREASURY department
| should be held responsible for all money passing
! through it's channels, and the General Treasurer
should be vested with the veto power SO far as
delaying payment on bills, Of which he is in
d035s, is concerned. At present he thinks the
financial aisairs are Entrusted in too many hands
Tho responsible pnsty should be Entrusted with
the management of the fininces.
After speaking of tho high estimation III which
the order. is held by many outside of it, and
showing the multiplicity of details he must look
after he continues: I'VE have been treated to
many discourse during the past year on the
with our order is because of the lack of one-1nan
power. Our power has been divided in the past
and it has worked injury to us. The will of this
| order crystallized into law. and imprinted upon
the pages of our constitution by the representa-
tives here assembled should be carried out to
the letter. To do this the duty is assigned to
| one man to execute these laws. Where the many
| execute the laws themselves they always fail !;
i where each man interprets the law for himself
there is sure to be babel of sound and confusion
Vest in one man the power to execute the laws
which the many favor and pass upon; allow no
interference with that man in the performance
of his duties, and you may expect results. AL
low every self seeker, every knave, every dis
turber and fault finder to interpret the laws and
we have anarchy pure and simple. A panderins
to ignorance by some has given rise to tho inn
preston that the man who rallied against the
one-man power was O friend to the masses. No
tells the people that they can all act indie
pendent of each other on every issue that
arises and do it intelligently, is demugogue.
No matter how intelligent people may be,
they. must meet to determine. not what one
man wants, but what IN. best Tor ail men.
When they meet many cherished theories must
give way to practical IDEAS and when these are
enacted into law and intrusted to the hands of
one man for enforcement, every hand should be
stretched forth to aid that one man to carry out
the will of oil men rather than to have as have
had, SO many hands stretched forth to stay the
! work that your predecessors assigned to me.
One man power is an absolute necessity in order
| to insure success, but those who confer that
power should first know what power to give, and
when the end of that mans term of office ar
rives they should know whether he has welded
serve his constituents. If he has, accord
to him the merit OF having done SO; ii
the e @ 6ns 90 ee moi Mha
the authority to do SO was not placed in his
hands, and when the power to thwart his every
move was delegated, to Others, who were sup
been paced In office with me with whom
would not for o moment associate in a private
business enterprise with o any hope Of success
silence forbearance under such circumstances
has been observed by me- Fancy the condition
which the united colonies would have found
government of the United States been delegated
to such men as have described; and the
interest Of the sQ9o,coo ct that day were
in the keeping Of the General Executive Board
Of the Knights Of abor Your General Master
Workman realized full well his own incapacity
to deal with the great questions which faced him
but it was not necessary to retard the progress
Of the order by placing an equal power in the
} hands of each member of the General Executive
Board, and then expect the General Master
Workman to achieve the success so much d.
, sired by oil true knights"
After remarking the influence of the order or
public opinion, he takes up pending questions
:The most important questions that can com.
before this body for consideration ore those o
finance, land, md transportation. These grea
questions are up before the people for discussion
. and solution; they must be settled by the PEG