Workmen's advocate., 1889-11-23

Tax-Eight Hours q Day-Samuel
 Gompers' Appeal to the k. of l..
 As we write, the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor is still in session at Atlanta and only partial account of it's proceedings can be given.
 PowDERLy's ADDRESS.
 Powderly's report dealt at great length with the various phases of the order. After reviewing the labor !egis. ! lation adopted by various States and | by Congress since the formation of the | K. of L.. he said :--
 At the beginning of the last year we | were the target of blind, misguided men whose patience would not admit that seconds of time were necessary to accomplish what centuries had failed to | produce heretofore. The press was filled with startling rumors of the disin- | tegration of the order and thousands withdrew from what they honestly be- leved to be a lost cause. We have lived to see the turn of the tide. and stand here to-day with doubts dispelled with ranks decimated, it is true, but un- broken with better understanding of | our aim and objects than ever before among the masses. Our order has passed through mo st fiery ordeal and having suffered in doing so is deserving l more than ever of the consideration of working people. Battles have been fought in which rivers of human blood have flown with less of gain to the people than the struggle of tho Knights of Labor for the past three years. Heart blood has been spilled with less of pain by soldiers on the field than fell the sorrowful tears that have dropped be- cause of the thoughtlessness and seeming | ingratitude of many who should have given helping hand. During the last twelve months the struggle has been | agalnst misrepresentation, and, in the battle, modesty, gentleness of character and dignity have been thrown aside. Plain speaking and well directed blows were necessary, and they were given to the credit of this order and it's officers There never was charge made against your General Master Workman that he could not successfully refute, and if he did not always lay aside duty to the order to engage in self-defense it was not in fear.
 It would be useless to deny that all this has reduced the membership to expect anything else would be hopeless l never expected that the order would pass so successfully through the ordeal and am perhaps the most surprised among you today, for knew the odds t,Qf htnI, h., tg1 knowing, felt that we were in danger of being annihilated in the struggle. Those who entailed the greatest expend- itures are no longer in the order, and the legacy of debt which they left to us had to be met by your present officers. The work of the ending year was no light task, for we entered upon it's per- formapce with load of debt weighing Us down. It was impossible to adminis- ter the affairs of the order without money. To borrow it would subject us to storm of abuse and criticism; to levy an assessment would create a panic among those who regard dollars as mills when spent in amusement or dissipation, and cents as dollars if given in the cause of labor. Not dollar was borrowed, no assessment was levied and we stand | today the debtors of none outside of | our own ranks.
 Many time have I grown discour- aged and disheartened during the year when contemplating the ease with which | the evil-minded could misconstrue our actions and create distrust. Having watched the growth of the order from it's infancy, having witnessed the strug- gles it went through, 1 realized nat now more than ever was the order a necessity, and that, having fought our way to the front rank in the estimation of the people, it would be worse than a million murders to allow it to die when standing on the threshold of the achieve ment of success. Never in the history of the world was the order so absolutely necessary to the welfare of the masses. never was it possible before for it to do so mnch good, never before a did labor organization stand so high, with all its faults, as does the Knights of Labor now.
 | Powderly then went on to state that unless the officers receive more encour- agement from the order the struggle will be in vain, and if it is to continue for the future as it has during the past three years some other man must take his place. He continued :-
 SALARIES AND EXPENSES.
 Owing to the fact that at the session of 1887 notified the order that would
 Continued on third page.)