Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1897-02-18
SOVEREIGN WARNS.
The Leader Of the Knights Of Labor
Writes q Sensational Letter.
REVOLUTIONARY ORDERS FORMING.
Tho Members Lesgued Together 10 Resort
to Civil War ~ = Means Of Securing
Remedies for the Popuisce Unob-
tainable by the Ballot.

DENVER, COL, Feb l5.-J. r. Sover.
eign, grand master workman Of the
Knights of Labor, has written sensa-
tional letter to the Industrial Advo-
cate, with Private Dalzelrs exhorta.
ton for war with foreign nation as
his text. He declares secret revolu-
tionary societies known as the Iron
Brotherhood and the Industrial Army
are being organized in every part Of
the country, with their members
leagued together to resort to civil war
as means Of obtaining remedies for
the populace" which they cannot Sc
cnre by the ballot. He deprecates Pri-
vate Dalzells talk as being in line
which might tend dangerously to fan
this sentiment into an open flame, but
asserts that when such revolution
comes he will not be "among the cow
ards nor on the side of the plutocratic
classes" His letter is dated at Sulphur
Springs, Ark, February 5, and is, in
part, as follows:
Private Dalzell, In o recent article in the
Washington Post, writes long tale OF woe
He mentions our 2,OOO,0OO enforced oilers, our
l,OW,0U tramps, the Overcr0wdIg OF our penal
institutions the increase Of landlords and ten
ants, the hopeless increase Of debt, and long
list OF other lamentable conditions Conclud-
ing, he says.
Civilization as Napoleon says Of armies,
travels on It's stomach and 1t Is very hun
cry now, for the most part But where can it
be flled' Hence oil this unrest, all this wild
war talk and discussion Of silver ind gold and
tariff by people who have neither gold nor sill
yer nor anything to pay customs Relief shall
not come In that way 1t never did at this stage
Of society. 1t will come in the old way, In war,
and not otherwise; either insurrectionary,
which God forbid or foreign which Heaven
hasten, II 1t shall quiet this people and give
them rest, II only the honored rest Of patriots
grave, fighting for humanity"
Replying directly to the sentence
quoted, Mr.. Sovereign goes on to say
that what the people Of the United
States need is an agitation at home
that will force them to test against
their own social and economic disor-
ders, but that 1t should come through
insurrection, with all its revolving hor-
rors, is proposition repulsive to all
the higher impulses Of humanity.
Mr.. Sovereign then devotes consider
able space to history of two secret
revolutionary orders known as the Iron
Brotherhood and the Industrial Army,
now being formed in this country, and
for fear Mr.. Dalzell may not know
what these societies are doing he
quotes for his benefit several sentences
from the prelude Of a secret circular
now being distributed by one Of the
secret societies, viz:
Comrades There comes o time In the affairs
Of men and nations when desperation compels
the human mind to pause and bring to It's aid
that element Of reason so long discarded. We
have reached such d crisis In the destinies Of
this American republic One hundred years OF
national existence has demonstrated that the
political fabric Of our government contains
within Its warp and wool the elements Of its
own destruction, with the fact that the ballot
has proven most lamentable failure as q safe
guard Of free institutions. In the closing Of
the nineteenth century we see class despotlsm
establishing itself upon the ruins OF the repub-
lic-an oligarchy is In power, ind already the
hideous phantom Of Imperialism overshadows
us, as embodied In the autOcratic claims Of the
federal court and the acts OF unbridled military
despotism characteristic OF the federal govern
ment Of to-day. What Is to be done? We have
appealed In vain to the ballot Every trial Of
strength In the political arena has resulted in
victory for the INSCRIPTIONS money power.
History proves that you cannot be freed
through the ballot
Continuing, Mr.. Sovereign says
Scarcely day passes that l do not receive
one or more appeals to Join one or the other OF
the revolutionary orders being formed in this
country and offers Of money and arms are fire.
Quently received II will give my efforts to the
cause OF revolution. Thus far I have persist
emily declined to give aid or encouragement to
such movement But H. through the writings
Of such men as Private Dalzell, revolution
comes, In spite OF all efforts to prevent It, will
not be found among the towards nor on the side
OF the putOcratlc classes