Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-11-21
POWDERLY PREVAILS.
The One Man Power Plar
 Adopted.
AN OUTPOURING OF ELOQUENCE

Important Changes Made in the Consti.
 tution-A Lively Day in the General
 Assembly-Barry Fires Another Shot in
 an Open Letter.
 INDIANAPOLIS, Nov 2!.-One man power was established in the Knights of Labor at the session of the general assembly, and inas much as General Master Workman Powder ly's terms have been acceded to there is no doubt but that he is the one man.
 The whole days session was taken up by constitutional lawyers who were interested in changing the fundamental law of tho order. The committee on laws started in at once by reporting in favor of the consolida- tion of the offices of general secretary and general treasurer, making the general execu tive board four, besides the general master workman, instead of six, as at present, and the general cooperative board two besides the general worthy foreman, instead of six as at present. When the lawyers talked themselves out the voting delegates got chance, and the changes recommended by the committee were approved by the necessary vote. The terms of the officers were con. tinued at two years, though q determined effort was made to have it changed to one year.
 The tug of war came when the method of
 
 ported. The committee suggested that tho general master workman should at the same session that he was elected present to the general assembly the names of eight men, who are eligible to the office, and from these names the four members of the general ex. ecutive board should be selected This opened the flood gates of eloquence again. and for couple of hours the one man power advocates and those who were opposed to one man power had it hammer and tongs A propo. sltlon to increase the number of names on the list to twelve was made and rejected, and then the opponents of MT. Powderly took a new tack, and agreed in favor of letting him appoint the general executive board at once. and then to take all the responsibility on his shoulders The original proposition of the committee was adopted by more than the required two-thirds vote
 Among the other changes in the constitu- tion decided on are these: The general mas- ter workman Is given power to fill all vacan. cles among the general officers even to the general executive board. He is relieved from the duty of countersigning financial reports and orders for supplies; the general secre- tary treasurer is instructed to make an item ized financial statement of the affairs of the order to all district assemblies and national trade assemblies every quarter, and to in. clude in the report the standing of all local assemblies attached to the various districts At any regular session of the general assem- ply the seat of any general officer may be declared vacant by a majority vote of the general assembly. The committee recom- mended that that portion of the general master workman's report relating to thd provisional committee be approved, and it was done unanimously. All of the deci. sions of the general master workman since the MiQneaDOliS session yyera
 The committee on cooperation made it's report in the afternoon. The only feature of It was the disapproval of proposition to set aside SoO, ,OOO for cooperative purposes For manifest reasons the report of the committee was concurred in. The committee on mile. age reported that S7, ,593 was required to pay the mileage of the delegates. Delegate Del warte, of Belgium, who has travelled 4, 159 miles, and who gets S332. 56, heads the list. This ended the days proceedings
 Mr. Powderly, when asked who he intended to put on the list for members of the general executive board, said: Don't you think it would be well to wait until l am elected? I may not be wanted, you know"
 The committee on appeals and grievances is engaged now on the cases of H. J. Skeffing- ton, of District Assembly Mo- IS of Cincin- nati, and of the contesting delegation from District Assembly No. 49 of New York.
 l. b. Barry has issued an open letter to the delegates to the general assembly, Among other things, he says: 'In violation of all laws of knighthood and justice, you have denied me a fair trial or an opportunity to be heard in my own defense Your action is contrary to all law and decency. You have outraged justice, lowered your man hood and misrepresented your constituents by your vote"
 He goes on to make charges that ''S1 ,25O of poverty's money was paid to Tom O Reilly on Powderly's order when O'Reilly was not in the employ of the order nor had he done any service" He is able, he says. to prove that members locals and districts were bulldozed into electing administration dele gates to the general assembly, and that the records were so manipulated as to allow dis tricts representatives which were not en- titled to it.
 II can prove" he says, ''that the orders money was spent in the campaign by general officers. At the same time they were threat ening to take away the charters of local assemblies whose members were exercising the right of membership. I can prove that no employer was ever so cruel in victimizins or seeking to victimize those who differ with him in opinion as were the general officers. l can prove that the charges published in The Journal of United Labor about me are absolutely untrue" |