Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-18
DESERVING THE TRIANGLE.
Why the Knights of Labor are Ret
rograding in Omaha.
THE APPROACHING LABOR DAY.
Great Preparation For it's Fitting
Ce!ebration-Dissat Over
the Neglect of the Girls
Bookbinders Still Out
The Ninety and Nine. ~--

The Ninety and Nine. s~"
AThere are ninety and nine who live and die
In want, and hunger, and cold,
That one may live in luxury,
And be wrapped in its silken fold;
The ninety and nine in novels bare,
The one in palace with riches rare.
They toll in the fields the ninety and nine,
For the fruits of our mother earth;
They dig and delve in the dusky mne
And bring her hidden treasures forth;
And the wealth released by their sturdy
blows
To the hands of one forever flows.
From the sweat of their brows the desert
blooms,
And before them the forest falls;
Their labor has builded humble homes,
And cities with lofty halls;
And the one owns cities, and houses and
lands
And the ninety and nine have empty hands"
Sand the night so dreary, and dark, and long
AT last the morning shall bring,
And over the land the victor's song,
OF the ninety and nine shall ring;
And echo afar from zone to zone,
Rejoice, for labor shall have its own.'n
".
knights OF Labor.
SAID q prominent member of the local as
sembly, X. of L., Friday: "Like the order
abroad the Knights Of Labor of Omaha is
retrograding instead of advancing, and its
numerical strength to-day is far short of
what it was one year ago. The reasons for
this are much the same, if not identical, with
those that have weakened the order else
where. The principles upon which the or
ganization Is based are among the best ever
promulgated. But failure on the part Of
the leaders both general and local has given
rise 10 much dissension. Prominent among the
disturbing causes is the orders antagonism
TO trades unions as promulgated by general
Master Workman Powderly. So anxious
was he and his associates on the executive
board TO make the Knights of Labor the con-
trolling power in labor's movements that the
bounds OF prudence were passed and the
claims OF cool Judgment smothered by the
0ver-zealousness OF an inappropriate policy.
The knights invented and promulgated a
cigar label known as the "white label,n
which they issued to local assemblies COM
posed OF men greater portion OF whom had
either been expelled from or refused admis-
sion 10 the clgarmakers international union.
The union cigarmakers who We're inside the
order of the X. of l.. and outside
protested, but their words were unavailing
as regards u suppression Of the white label
and in the.end all the cigar makers who be-
longed To the International and the X. of l..
were given the alternative OF either leaving
their union or the X. OF l.. They chose the
latter course and have won by so doing.
This policy was pursued by the K OF L. to-
ward nearly every branch OF trade And at
the same time the order professed to be the
friend OF trades unions. The latter bodies
formed into Central LABOR unions similar 10
the X. of. l.. and have since achieved better
results than before. Men are no dictators,
- In the other order. In this city each
union Is represented in the Central K of L.,
and all maiorities rule. In the K of l.. the
action OF an entire district assembly could be
set aside by the general master workman.
II was this that caused the rupture between
che general assembly and district 40, which
resulted In the latter's withdrawal This
also caused trouble in the order. Even In
Omaha, men who hitherto had supported
!. Powderly sided with Mcclure. district mas