The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1894-12-01
SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF The <. OF |.
An Address by Sovereign ON the Growth
of the order.


of the order.
Philadelphia, Pa, Nov 24.-The
Knights of Labor will be twenty-five
years old at eight o'clock tomorrow
evening. 1t was on the 25th Of Novem-
Der, 1869, and which happened to be the
day appointed by President Grant for
the national Thanksgiving, that seven
garment cutters met at the humble
home of Uriah s. Stephens, member
of that craft and by formal resolution
brought into existence what was at
one time the greatest labor organiza-
ton that the new world has even seen.
All of the seven have gone to their
last reward, but their memories are
still reverenced by those who now COM
pose the organization. Some time since
the general executive board called upon
all the local and district assemblies to
appropriately observe the day. But
when it was discovered that the ami
versary this year fell upon a Sabbath,
the original order was recalled and
the order was requested to hold its cell
ebrations either today or Monday as
might be most convenient. In an ad-
dress from Grand Master Sovereign
and the executive board and which will
be read at every meeting throughout
the length and breadth of the land
the chiefs of the organization say:
when the civil war was over and
men of the New World. America, be-
gan to settle back into the peaceful &C.
equations of wealth-producing, they
found that new class of people had
been brought into existence in the Unit
ed States, a class of wealth-owners
composed largely of men who had staid
at home during the four years of inter
nal strife and grown rich on govern
ment contracts and government neces-
sity. Abraham Lincoln reorganized the
danger of the republic from the class
equally as quick as Salmon p. Chase or
Thadeus Stevens. 1t was a class of
wealth secreters and wealth accumula-
| tors.
Soon also the workers Of the coun-
try began to realize the existence of
this class, and also the dangers to their
liberties and prosperity that lurked in
it's birth and growth. Out of this
realization grew the spirit that made
the 25th of November, 1869, an epoch
making day in the history of civiliza-
ton. On that day, nearly % years age
now, was born new hope to the repub-
lie; new hope to the working people
of the world. For on that day Uriah
Stephens and his confreres organized
| the greatest educational instrument
ever given to the common people-the
knights of Labor.
I'VE need to rehearse the tremen.
dous work of that great organization
From its humble origin with the small
number of seven men, it grew to mil.
lions of members and untold influence
for the good to the workers of the world
1t blazed a pathway in the woods of ig
norance and taught the lesson of edu
cation and organization to the laborers
as we'll as to the millionaires. 1t has
aroused public thought, quickened the
public conscience and defended the pub
lie interest when the apathetic interior
ence benumbed the world and wa;
leading us on to the barren rocks o,
class rule and aristocracy.
For % years the knights of Labor
as an organization has fought the bat
ties of the lowly and taught them t
think and assert their independence.
at is today 25 years since the first or
ganized local assembly saw the ligh
of day. Though there may have beer
mistakes both by leaders and rank anC
file since then, yet the Father of thu
God and the brotherhood of man hav,
been the handspring of all it's act
for a quarter of a century, and battl
cry Of The Interest of One the Con
Germ of AL has penetrated every nool
and corner of the civilized world, teach
ing that broad Christianity which will
eventually dominate civilization AM
develop in man, the most perfect bein
possible in natural life.
"All hail the twenty-fifth anniversar
Of the knights of Labor, the creates
labor organization on earth"