Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-04
P0KDERLY'S ARSE
Decrease of Nearly Half a Mnuo, :.
Lees than Two Years.
New York Tlmes.

|
A Decrease of Nearly Half a Milo. :,
Lees than Two Years.
New York Times.
When the "Home Ciu1" wss 81 -.
height Of its power its stror gest o,no,
nsnt alnong Knights OF Labor was II.
seph W. Bachsnan. At that time h.
WAS a resident of Denver. He iourh,
the club snd its msthCds a. CIays
and, where the special assembly Of No
Knights was held il the spring Of lisa
| The club WAS then 30 well organized
that 1t gained many of its p ints by m,i1
strength, and others by uescberv
AT Richnond, where the Gsper,I
Assembly was held in the fail Of
the same year, the club WAS compeUsd
to struggle desperately to maintain 4,
grip on the management OF the o.ler
Tne opposition had been well orglnlzaf
under very adverse Circumstance nv
Mr.. Buchanan and q number OF o,he,
prominent Knights, who felt that M,
order should not be allowed to die with.
out q struggle.
The opposition to Powderly and n,
clique who supported him from selfish
motives put Buc1ausn forward as,
!eGder. 1t was at first iOtended 10 pit
Buchanan sgainst Powderly for tbs ls,,e,,s
position, bus the writer OF usecTe.n
circulars talked go fsirly, even beseechiue
lY, that 1t was decided TO let MIN
h.ve q wslk-over and put Buchanan il
lbe field for secretary against Litchnau.
The latter, backed by all the power Of the
admin istrsttou, was Just sole to secure
An election. He was to do great thing:
for the order. The ls,ter rapidly
grew smaller under the rule Of such.
combination as POwderly, Litchnar
and Mcguire, and Is much Of tae better
element had deserted to the federation
OF trades before the last general ESSEN.
bly, WAS held at Minneapolis las. iAl
the administration was able 10
handle it. Il even showed is teeth
By attempting to Gust Bailey and
Barry from the general executive board
In return for this these two committgs-
men told some very unpleasant Truths
about the character OF the management
Of the order. Their disclosures had The
effect Of st i'll further decreasing the mem.
bership.
Mr.. BuchSnan WAS in New York Satur.
day. He Is now 6 resilient Of Cnicsgo,
and while well informed Of the general
condition OF the order, can SPEAK
by tine card regarding It's stsie in
the west. He said, when asked for
information or the subject, that the order
was in q bsd way. When the general Sc.
semblv MET OF Richmond the membership
was 7o2, 600; now it YVES 24O, 900. In 1856
the membership Of District Assembly No.
"a Of Chicsgo was 26 600; nov il Wi'
5000. Two years ago the TREASURY OK the
order WAS full Of money; nov it Wss fol
Of emptiness, and the central executive
committee Was bothered 10 get enough
money 10 defsEy running expenses.
In what Light was POwdeFly's recent
request for 15c assessment Y!eTedf
The members Of the order had grown 50
distrustiul Of the management tnat very
few Ct them had paid any attention 10
the request. PowderlV hsd SAD
that the money was needed for educs-
tional purposes. Few believed him. |!
was generally known that the generA
Treasury was empty. l. IVES kn0R1
that the leaders wanted money.
At the last General Assembly It
was decided that the expenses OF
delegates to the nexs GeueIs! Assembly
at IGdisnspolis should be ptid blythe Gs1-
eral Assembly. Where was tre money
to come from? That Wes question
for tre general executive committee
to answer. and It would prove
puzzIer. The order seemed, II
MIR. Buchsnan's opinion, to be losing
strength in proportion to the gan
made by trades unions. TIE lstter were
booming in the west, but there WIS
no boom for the KplghEs Of Lioolr
nor would there be until difeEeh'
set end scr Of men were placed ST Ioe'
head. Nj. Baehsran,has hsen me reclp,
cut of mueh kindly attention iroI
Knights Of Exbor dgksslis visit 10 Nav
YaIk, but more ossis en:ertiiners GIG
&{Su,hers nf ,ba serlFHS rIubD