Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-05-12
BOTH SIDES TALK.
A CURIOUS STATE OF AF-
FAIRS I'M THE x. OF l..
The Provisional Committee Of Kick.
ers" Continue Their Kick"
The Salaried Ring Deny
the Allegati0ns-Go.
ing into De-
tails.

A portion Of the Knights of Labor
known as the Klckers" issued a
circular through their Provisional
Committee some time ago, arraign
ing the salaried general officers Of
the Order in manner which, to say
the least, must have been astonish-
ing to the innocent payers of the per
capjta tax.
The general secretary of the
Order, a well-known Massachusetts
politician named Litchman, and
another member Of the Executive
Board denied the charges made
against them, whereupon the secre-
tary of the Provisional Committee,
in last weeks issue of the Chicago
Labor Enquirer, published a more
detailed account in rebuttal, fr.m
which are taken the following:
"Mr. Litchman denies the statement
that the Order has been reduced, under
his administration, from 7O2 900 to 2O4,-
600 members. With a consistency that
does credit to his fame as prevarlcatOr
and a trickster, Litchman asserts that
the Order has nearly half a million mem-
bers in good standing. He failed, how
ever. to - come back when the secre-
tary of the Provisional published that the
figures given in the circular were made
uD from the records in Mr.. Litchman's
office. Since then the writer has been
assured by those who are in position to
know that 100000 is too high an esti-
mate.
1.-The secretary has been challenged to
show detailed statement, by districts,
of the condition of the Order, and the
Euouirer assures him that if he attempts
TO mislead, the actual membership OF
three-fourths of the districts will be eX-
posed in these columns, fully verified.
"The member of the General Executive
Board who contradicted the circular,
confined himself almost exclusively to
denial that the Order is threatened with
financial ruin. He said the statement
that bankruptcy stared it in the face was
absolutely false and that there was no
thought of selling the Cannelburg mlne
Now, what are the facts:
ION or about the twentieth OF last
month the treasurer had i'll his posses
sion something like -, 900 of the Orders
funds; and at that time nearly all the
quarterly tax was in. Bills to the amount
of S6 900 were due-many of them pres
sing. Members of the Board, who were
assigned to special work IN different
parts of the country, drew upon the S2,-
600 for expenses; and the amount was
reduced more than one-half before April
%.
"Not only is an effort to sell the mine
being made, but so eager is the admins
tration to secure money, that Is has Of
fered the property at Sl2,OOO. In 1880.
when it was not near 50 valuable as IL
now is, the Board refused to sell this
mine for less than S3O,OOO.
80 Leaders come high, especially II
they are of the administration ring or
der, and palaces for officials are eXpen-
sive. even if they do not require the pay
ment of vulgar rent. The atmosphere
of the palace whets the princely appetite,
and royalty must be appropriately en-
vironed, no matter what the PICK and
shovel taxpayer may say
For the benefit of the loil mite who
hates them derned kickers,' the En-
quirer has gone to the trouble of compil-
ing a tabulated statement of the expense
of maintaining the chiefs and their retl-
nues. Only the larger items are i'll
cluded in this table; but those omitted
do not amount to a great deal:
EVpENGF EACH WEEK