lay claim that he was born infallible.

So much have the influences under which men are forced, and over which they have no control, to do with their action and the forming of their ideas, that to know the conditions under which their youth was passed and the succeeding influence will go a long ways toward a knowledge of what the thoughts will be under the varied conditions of manhood.

If when young he saw and felt only hunger, oppression and want, he will except such as a matter of course in manhood, unless he is met by an influence that will show him that it is unnecessary, and should not be.

If the contrary was the experience of his youth, then will he be galled, restless, and it will not be submitted to willingly.

Bitter water will be considered sweet by one who never tasted other. There is no man in a labor organization or in any reform movement tending to improve the condition of the wage worker, and there with honest intent, but what was forced there by influences over which he had no control; this is what I must confess to.

Born at a time when our country in the north was agitated over the wrongs inflicted on the slaves of the south, listening to the stories of how men were owned by others and forced to do their bidding under the lash, and how the war that followed was said to have made all men free in this land, and to see how the men who had suffered in the cause for humanity were made heroes of, certainly left an impression that was never entirely removed by succeeding influences; there had been kindled a fire of the heart that burned whenever an injustice was seen being done.

I had been taught that all in my native land had equal rights, the enjoyment of which our constitution guaranteed to all.

Starting out with these impressions of youth well marked, there certainly was required very strong convincing evidence to raise any doubt in my mind that all were not true, and that I had been led into a false belief.

I confess that I may have started with over ambition and over estimation of the world, but if true it was not my fault.

I had been led to believe that every man willing to work, and blessed with the average physical strength, could reap bountifully of the enjoyments of the world, and it was not till I saw men more than thus qualified fail, that doubt commenced to raise; experience was certainly proving the most practical teacher.

When I saw men engaged in business, either of manufacturing or of distributive, unsuccessful because they could not meet the competition of others, who were given greater advantages by having their goods transported for less than their neighbors, and learned at the same time that those who had the making of such charges had been given certain rights or franchises of the people, by the people in the hope of reaping a benefit equal to all, I knew that those who the people had thus favored had proven false to their promises, and I saw that under such conditions, all did not depend upon the industry of a man.

When I saw men actively engaged in the production of necessities of which they are not the consumers; and again that those who had the directing of their labor had with it the power to tell them when to work and when to stop, and could dictate to them what their wages should be; that those who worked suffered when a stop was ordered, while those with the directing power did not, that it proved to be their benefit either way, I could not make myself believe that it was just as it

should be, that there was no remedy for such inequality.

I learned that our circulating medium was the peoples; that it was their fiat that gave it existence, that the presence of and the industry of each citizen equally made it pass current; when I saw one citizen pay another an enormous percentage for the sake of using it, I was convinced that this was not as it should be.

I had been placed on earth, in which my wish had not been consulted, and over which I had no control. I could not get off from it, and I did not care to. I was a child of earth, and from mother earth must gather my sustenance, and should have an equal right with any of her children to access to the natural sources from which, by industry, her riches flow.

I found that some of her children born before me had pre-empted many of these natural resources, more than they needed for themselves, and which they would not use nor allow another. to use without being paid for the privilege; and that they were still grabbing and retaining them wherever possible; claiming them as theirs and their assigns forever.

I certainly could not see where one gained the right to levy a tax on another for the privilege of living, or to receive of earth's bounties more than they gathered.

I considered that there was a gloomy prospect for the children yet unborn, as well as for those who at present were compelled to contribute to another for the right of access to earth.

I learned that one part of earth's children were the servants of the other, and that all means were being used to keep that relation up forever; that the favored class did all in their power to prevent the other tasting of their sweets, undoubtedly fearing that it might cause them to want them.

I find that any inclination to

ward securing such was called "the insolence of the poor, 99.66 upstartishness," and that they were "forgetting their station in life."

I saw the libine, swindler and drunken pimp, dressed in fine cloths; out driving and heard him spoken of thus: 66 What a beautiful team that gentleman is driving."

I saw an honest workingman going home from his work; saw his child come to meet him and heard from the lips of the same person who spoke of the driver, "what a pretty child that workingman has," as if it was something strange.

Gentleman and workingman were classifying terms, and gentleman in the superlative with that talker. And there are thousands who use the same classification, but why? Because industrial and moral worth were not their standard by which individual worth was rated.

I

Such and thousands of other injustices and inequalities I have seen convinced me that the Declaration of Independence was a living lie, that the guarantee of the constitution amounted to naught. confess that the hope of being able to assist in improving these conditions and myself at the same time is why I am a Knight of Labor. Since I became a member and have tried to be active, I must confess to having been many times disappointed and discouraged; it has not all been plain sailing.

It is easy to satisfy oneself that something should be changed and how it should be done, but it is difficult to bring others to the same mind. It is equally as difficult to satisfy oneself that the ideas and plans of another are just and suitable.

A man who is honest in his desire to bring about an improved condition of things, is not generally particular whose method is followed so long as there is hope of reaching the desired result, and under such conditions, one without much experience is liable to start off on any

road that is pointed out, only to sooner or later find that it does not lead to where he had hoped, or that the route is a very poor and questionable one; he returns discouraged, perhaps to stand still or to turn in the opposite direction; in other words, may fail to study well first the plan and route and thereby make many mistakes. I must confess that from this cause I have suffered, the particulars of which I will try and make confession to at some future time. N. K.

WHY IS THIS?

When the land is full of workers,
Busy hands and active brains;
When the craftsmen and the thinkers
Feel about them binding chains;
When the laborer is cheated

Of the work his hands have wrought,
And the thinker, vain of logic,

Sees that reason comes to naught;
When the forces men have harnessed
And have trained to do their will,
Ought to leave no homeless people
And no hungry mouths to fill,

Have but proved themselves the servants
Of the shrewd and selfish few,
And the many have but little
For the work they find to do;
When the labor of a million

Goes to swell the gains of one,
As the serfs of ancient Egypt

Starved beneath a burning sun; When the schemer and the sharper,

Hold the wealth and rule the land,
Using up the thinker's brain force,
Mortgaging the craftsman's hand;
When the many shear the sheep,

And the few secure the wool,
And the gallows claims its victims,
And your costly jails are full;-
Then the men who dreamed of progress
And had hopes of peace and bliss,
While they weep and wonder vainly,
Ask each other: "Why is this?"
Then the thinker, while confessing
That his vison yet is dim,
Says that one thing, very clearly,
Is apparent unto him;

That the people, blind, or heedless,
Place themselves beneath the rule,
Either of the fiendish knave, or,
Worse, perhaps, the sodden fool.
-N. P. WILLIS.

Five hundred employes of the Litchfield Car and Machine Works struck for a fortnightly instead of a monthly pay day.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, that all persons in the employment of any railway company shall be entitled to receive thirty days' notice from said company before their wages can be reduced by such company, and in cases of reduction the employe shall be entitled to receive from such company wages at his contract price for the full term of thirty days after such notice is given, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Sec. 2. The notice referred to in this act is declared to mean thirty full days immediately prior to the day upon which such reduction is to take effect, and may be given by posting written or printed handbills, specifying the parties whose wages are to be reduced and the amount of such reduction, in at least three conspicuous places in and about each shop, section house, station, depot, train or other places where said employes are at work; provided, such employe shall within fifteen days from the date of such notice inform such railway company, by posting like notices as given by the railroad company, whether he will or will not accept such reduction, and if no such information is given such company by such employe, then such employe shall forfeit his right to such notice, and such reduction shall take effect from the date of such notice instead of at the expiration of thirty days.

Sec. 3. Any railroad company violating or evading any of the provisions of this act shall pay to each employe effected thereby one month's extra wages, to be recovered by such employe in any court of competent jurisdiction.

A National District Assenbly of the K. L. was formed at Buffalo, N. Y., composed entirely of street car employes.