In all the multifarious branches of trade
capital has its combinations; and, whether intended or not, it
crushes the manly hopes of labor and tramples poor humanity in
the dust. We mean no conflict with legitimate enterprise, no
antagonism to necessary capital; but men in their haste and
greed, blinded by self-interests, overlook the interests of
others and sometimes violate the rights of those they deem
helpless. We mean to uphold the dignity of labor, to affirm the
nobility of all who earn their bread by the sweat of their brows.
We mean to create a healthy public opinion on the subject of
labor (the only creator of values or capital) and the justice of
its receiving a full, just share of the values or capital it has
created. We shall, with all our strength, support laws made to
harmonize the interests of labor and capital, for labor alone
gives life and value to capital, and also those laws which tend
to lighten the exhaustiveness of toil. To pause in his toil, to
devote himself to his own interests, to gather a knowledge of the
world's commerce, to unite, combine and cooperate in the great
army of peace and industry, to nourish and cherish, build and
develop the temple he lives in is the highest and noblest duty of
man to himself, to his fellow men and to his Creator.
The phenomenal growth and collapse of the Knights of Labor is one
of the outstanding events in American economic history. The
membership in 1869 consisted of eleven tailors.
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