| Show LE C IT ALONE Master Workman POWDERIT of tho Knights of Labor proposes that after January Jan-uary 1 next local assemblies of the order be permitted to discuss the question Which will bring the greatest good to the greatest number a high tariff or free trade 11 That is a question which should be studied by everybody and especially b y workingmen We wish all would make it their business to investigate the question in all its bearings for then we are certain the abominable robber tariff would be abolished and all classes in this country II save the favored few who profit by reason of protection would get along better Bat the wisdom of discussing this question ian n i-an organization like the Knights of Labor may be doubted The tariff is something more than an economic question It is apolitical a-political one and its two sides are represented repre-sented by the two great political parties one party standing for the principle prin-ciple of protection the other for a tariff for revenue Therefore to carry the question into the Knights of labor assemblies would bo to take partisan parti-san politics into those societies and endanger en-danger the existence of the organizations themselves it would be an easy thing to driftfrom a discussion of the question into the adoption of aresolution to support one or the other of the parties ana thus disrupt dis-rupt and destroy the order It is all right for Mr POWCERLT as a citizen to go into politics and be as a partisan as he wants to be but it will be all wrong for him to enter en-ter politics as head of the great labor organization or-ganization In the same way it is proper for the knights as citizens to be politicians politi-cians and advocate parties and tickets but it will be all wrong for them to be partisan politicians as Knights of Labor |
