The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1894-06-07
SOvEREIGN'S SPEECH
The Grand Master Addresses the
People at Spokane.
THE BALLOT IS THE REMEDY
He Predicts That Labor VIII BE In Power
n Workngmen VIII Only Stand
Shoulder to Shoulder.

SPOKANE, June Flames r. Sever
eign, general master workman of
the knights of Labor, had an audience
that any public speaker would have
been proud of at Music hall last night,
and he held the people for two hours.
The big hall was packed almost to suf-
location, an unusual number of ladies
being present.
The meeting was called to order by
H. G. Thompson and Mrs. e. G. Patter-
son introduced the speaker.
Mr.. Sovereign is surprise to his
audience. He does not look Ike man
with much humor In his m1ke-up, but
he is, nevertheless. And sometimes it
is of the broad, ludicrous kind that
must be recognized.
Mr.. Sovereign started In by saying
that somewhere, somehow, something
was wrong. In America, where God
had given the people 10 pei cent more
than In any other country, they were
roaming the earth, serving on chain
gangs advancing into records of crime
or tramping with the wealers. There
was something out of shape. There
were two classes in America the tramp
and the vagrant down below and the
dude and the dudine up above. They
represented the din .rence between
nobody and nothing.
He pictured the advance made In
silence-of the rapid progress of the
country when mixture of rags and
whitew God trees were used for news
paper and electricity for hshbait.
''We drop n incaudescent light into
the water and lure the fish into net,
just as the old parties did the laboring
vote" he said. He spoke of the change
of butter making from the product of
the COW to a mixture of cottonseed oil
and Phil Armour's soap grease. 1t was
a great revolution. Once people wore
linseywolseys, but pair of linsey-
wolseys now would give the average
ClklZ-u luC oCNCn- JSdl lhSh III 1908 Tia II
five minutes. Now, instead of the
spinning wheel, 10000 little children
were being dwarfed in The wollen mills
to satisfy the lust and greed of human n
ity. 81 thank Cod" he said, ''that
represent an organization which is un-
alterably opposed to this awful crime
he vii IF n
revolution, and he asserted that no
American citizen could stand on the
rostrum and say we have not been in
dustrious or ingenious, or that we had
not harnessed little brass wheels to dc
the bidding of man. The farmer had
Just as many idle hours and more re
and the fail than now; the carpenter
had more ease and comfort when the
iack-plane and the moulder were OF
his bench than he has now with the
buzzing of machinery, and there were
fewer In the ranks of the commonwea
army then.
1t was impossible to measure thu
vitality of society by the Goulds, the
vanderbilts and that class; no, /
would be measured by the class tina
was close to need, for If that link brok
the loss would be something from
which the country would never re
cover.
Man was only an animal, and tn
stomach was commander In CHIEF
Christ observed that, for he gave tn
loaves and fishes and then preached t
the people.
"Our remedies do not contemp plat
the tearing down of the republic" h
said. "All we want is for the corr ora
tions, the trusts and combines to pleas
step out of our sunshine. We propos
to purge the social atmosphere throug
the ballot"
Mr.. Sovereign said If he would crit
CHE anyone it would be the working
men themselves. They had had it
their power to vote this state of affail
down for years, but had not done it.
They were perfectly satisfied to carr
torch light with the grease all dri
ping over their new clothes, and thin
they were doing something great. TIL
had been done until it was land 4
: soup instead of industry, until 400
people are waiting at the crossroa'
for night freight, until the plutocra
were In charge of the country and CO
j gress in the hands of the peoples en-
q mics.
"The time has come" he said, 60
! line up shouldeTto shoulder for Anne
can homes; stand together on SIN;
> things; stand by the clerks or any 9th
} small organization"
u He urged everybody to join Il
N Knights of Labor, for out of 1t the
went silent power that welded pub
Il sentiment. Organization was doing
= great work at the present time.
The bankers said the rich were bou
% to get richer and the poor poorer c
- of the natural accretions of wealth.
n this system was insisted on this COVE
ment would 60 down into its graz
The system was wrong. The banki
70 70 laws were wrong.
ID Referring to silver the speaker s;
that when CarlIsle's bonds, which we