The Labor enquirer., 1888-03-31

=.
very interesting character. Th
first publication that met my ey
was a copy of the Denver LABol
ENQUIRER. containing an accoun
lot the memorial services held il
Denver. November I3, 1887, il
commemoration of the Chicag,
martyrs. Close beside it wer,
two copies of the Chicago Lajo
Enquirer, one of which contained
an account of the funeral service
of those martyrs. including Cap
tain Blacks Grafton at the GENE
terry; the other had become Sc
dishgured by time that it wa.
wholly illegible with the exception
of one article which was entitled
"The Free Press" The article ir
question consisted of a list of the
various labor and industrial jour.
nails that had condemned the Chi.
cago judicial murder. Strange tc
say, even that paper upon which
that article was printed was as
new and fresh as when the En-
qniyey had gone topress. 200 years
before. The last issue OF
JolN Ssointon's Paper was
in close proximity to the
last issue of the Alarm pub
lished under Parsons manage
ment. Keeping company with
them were several copies of the
New York Leader. The People of
San Francisco and the People of
Providence we're like twins, lying
side by side, fit emblem of the
brotherhood they both represent.
At the right of them were copies
of LneJfy and Social Science.
Pursuing my Investigations
further, discovered copies of the
constitutions of the Iron Molders'
Union, the Typographical Union,
the Cigar Makers Union, the
American Federation \of Labor
and the order of the Knights of
Labor. The latter organization, !
was informed by the Librarian, was
finally disrupted in ISoo-oI. Ac-
cording to my informant, the
causes leading up to the result,
briefly stated, were as follows;
The growth of Imperialism IN the
order; exorbitant official salaries
out of all proportion to services
rendered and to the financial con-
dition of the members; the total
neglect of the educational features
of the order; the constant blum
dering of the officials which en-
dangered the interests of the
trades unions the order had incor-
porated; the persistent opposition
of the officials to independent po-
litical action by the members;
the two apparent relish for capi-
talistic flattery; and the unlimited
use of arbitrary power. He con-
tinued by saying,that the progress
i've thinkers and workers in the
order had time and again sounded
the note of alarm, but in vain.
They were laughed at, at first, then
scoffed at, and, finally, seeingthey
were in earnest, the "conserva-
tives" as they called themselves
mot knowing that so far as they
we're concerned conservatism was
a mixture of ignorance and cow
ardice) sought by all manner OF
abuse and lying vituperation to
close their mouths. Seeing that
the cupidity, selhshness, ignorance
and lack of liberal thought on the
part of the so-called conservatives
would serve as barrier to eco
nomic educ; ion, the progressives
finally witho W from the order
and es.ahlisht a number of other
labor orgar.z- ions Of more or less
power, one of which, the Brother
hood of Man, existed up to the
time Of the overthrow Of the com
petitive system.
The next objects of interest
were three small pamphlets en-
titled, respectively: The Law
and the Anarchist Cases." "A
Plain Common Sense View of th'
Anarchist Case" and "Was 1t ;
Fair Trial1"
There now remained but ont
book that ! had net examined
Opening it, found it to be alarg