Workmen's advocate., 1889-12-14

asked Comrade Sanial to state what he knew of them and of their tendencies
 In reply the latter said that in his opinion the step taken by Powderly and his chief followers must result either in the complete elimination of the Knights of Labor as a factor in the labor movement, or in the opening of an entirely new field of labor organization. Which of these two pos abilities will prove a fact depends upon the actual objects of the leaders in question. If their motive is mere per sonal ambition of a political character, they will achieve nothing more than a temporary aggrandizement of their own persons at the cost of the permanent de- struCtiOn of their order. The speaker was unwilling to believe that such was the case. A more probable supposition was, that, having failed to carry out, through their past policy, the funda- mental object of the order, and having thereby suffered great loss of prestige, members and power, they have, under the pressure of circumstances, altered somewhat both their object and their policy.
 "The original dream of the Knights" nnttnrnl tha lnr t, all classes of labor into one grand organ ization. It was noble idea, but it could only be carried out by conforming to that law of evolution which is plainly taught by the history of the labor move. ment. The first natural tendency of labor is to organize in trades; the second is to federate the organized trades. When the Knights at last became aware that they had made a serious mistake in taking no account of the first tendency, they formed trade assemblies Then, however, they committed a second mis- take by ignoring the second, or feder- ative, tendency, and in the conflict which ensued between them and the trade unions they lost most of the ground that they had previously gained among the skilled workmen. Any fur ther advance that they can make lies plainly in the field of unskilled and un- organized labor. This field is practically unlimited, and the portion of it by far the largest consists of agricultural labor. It is therefore, to be taken as matter of course that they should seek an en- trance into that field.
 "Here, then, the question arises, can they effect such an entrance by amalgamating with the farmers?
 "This expression, farmers en- braces several classes of people: |, the wealthy owners of great farms, actual capitalists, who do nothing personally but employ number of wagelaborers 2, the well-to-do farmers, who indivld- ually work more or less, but also employ wage-labor; 3, the small farmers, who, with their families till their few acres and occasionally, though seldom, em- ploy one or two hands; this class is still numerous, especially in the West; but it's tendency is to decrease with the in- crease of population, and in tLe Eastern States it is fast disappearing 4, the ten ants, whose class is increasing at a 1 tremendous rate ,, and last, the farm laborers, whose rate of increase is far greater still than that of the tenant.
 "Now, the farmers organizations with which the Knights contemplate an alliance embrace all those classes; but the last does not figure in them to any extent; and while the small farmers and tenants necessarily constitute their bulk and strength, they are, as rule, conduct ed and controlled by wealthy farmers some of whom are ambitious politicians while others are simply anxious tt secure rebates from the railroads upor their own freight, and such other favor as may enable them to crush out thu small farmers and tenants.
 "Nothing, therefore, is less eviden at first sight, than that any benefit tt labor could accrue from combination between the K. of l.. and those farmers organizations as now conducted. With out further insight into the matter, i is even difficult to conceive how tn
 idea of a possible combination can b entertained at all. And yet, from tn
 reports published in the newspapers from the utterances of the men wh
 actually govern those organizations such a combination is actually effected subject only to the ratification by tn Farmers Convention in St. Louis.
 "The only possible explanation c