The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-11-20

Washington, D. c., Nov. 1.-THE chief
public interest in the meeting of the
Knights Of Labor yesterday were the ad-
dresses of General Master Workman Sow
ereign and General Worthy Foreman
Michael j. Bishop. Much of Mr.. Sover-
eign's address was devoted to the alleged
treachery of those who headed the revolt
against the general officers of the order
during the past year. He reviewed what
he termed their 'devilish treachery'' and
their efforts to disrupt the order" He
claimed that they had exhausted all their
power maligning the general officers
through the columns of the press and dis
couraging loyal and confiding members
through secret agencies. They publicly
boasted that $1,000 members had joined
their revolt. He explained the heroic
methods which had been used to weed out
the disloyalists and said that today for
the first time the order presented to the
for the brotherhood of man and the free
dom Of labor from the thraldom of greed.
world a solid and unbroken front, battling
Labor is now between the devil and
the deep sea, he continued. Capital has
monopolized the elements of production,
and labor is in competition with itself
for the right to live.
A money oligarchy is fast wiping out
the last vestige of individual liberty.
Construction by judicial authority is al
ready given to law, placing all labor
organizations in the category of criminal
conspiracy MiSdemeanOrS Of the most
trivial character have been raised to fell
Ony without sanction of the law and used
to imprisOn representatives Of labor or
CARNATIONS and injunctiOns followed by
charges of contempt have been used to
condemn labor leaders to the felons cell
xxyifI of cr11i1 or fri i'll
The associated banks have declared war
on the money of the people and the whole
plutocratic fraternity has invaded the
realm of free government and constltu-
tional security.
He made some suggestion as to the best
methods of strengthening the order, but
the principal feature of the address was
his appeal to the general assembly to give
to his recent order bOycOtting national
banknotes, it's official sanction. He de-
nounced the action of the bankers con-
vention, held at Atlanta, and said:
After carefully reviewing the wreck
and ruin wrought by the money power
and the designs of the sound-money
clubs which propose bonds and gatllng
guns for a solution of the labor question,
I issued a boycott on the notes OF ma
tional banks, and if 1 were to die tomor-
row, l would declare it the most right
eous act of my life. 1t exposed the un-
sound money of the sound-money advo-
Gates, threw plutOcracy on the defensive,
and forced the national banks into hu-
initiating confession of their prepOster-
Gus acts of bad faith with the people.
And now, I urge this general assembly
to indorse that boycott, and give it every
possible force of official sanction. The
conflict between the working people and
the idle holders of idle capital is inevita-
BILE. The wealth of the many is gravi-
tating to the few with increasing ratio,
and labor is drifting towards serfdOm
faster than ever before"
The address of General Worthy Fore
man Bishop also dealt with the attacks
made upon the K. of L. by the revolving
members, but contains little of general
Importance beyond an appeal for strong
err organizations, because of the "abnor-
NAL progress made by the concentrated
wealth, and the fact that it Is constantly
more firmly entrenching itself behind
barriers which every day become more
difficult to overthrow" He called atten-
ton to the evolution of machinery during
the last few years, and the elimination
of human skill from all forms of pro-
ductive industry
This has gone on" he said until the
typographical compOsitor, the cigar ma
ker, the locomotive engineer, the skilled
worker in wood, the craftsman hitherto
considered safe from the general danger,
have this year seen the final quietus of
their hopes. In the near future common
laborer' will be fitting universal appel
latiOn"