have to work, and it is harder for them to earn a dollar than for a man, and they know its value when they get it. They never will get it easily until they can vote. Women are the most oppressed class in the United States in the way of labor; the average pay of a man is ten dollars per week, that of a woman is six dollars, and school-teachers who are women are paid but two-thirds as much as men.

Work for woman suffrage, for it means fair labor and equal pay and a better time. Women are more peaceable, temperate, chaste, and economical than men, and their votes would be cast for these qualities, which are the very ones our government lacks. If the women are put by the side of the men we will have a true republic.

At the conclusion of MR. BLACKWELL'S address, the hour of adjournment having arrived, a motion to extend the time was lost, and after singing a hymn the meeting adjourned for dinner.

SEVENTH DAY.-Afternoon Session.

THE LABOR QUESTION.

Long before two o'clock, the hour for opening the meeting on Saturday afternoon, the little meeting-house was filled to its greatest capacity; ladies and gentlemen were sitting on the steps leading to the platform, chairs were carried into the aisles, and both galleries were crowded. The great attraction was MR. T. V. POWDERLY, who was the speaker of the afternoon, and many were willing to be crowded and pushed to hear the leader of the Knights of Labor, who had not attended any previous sessions of the meeting.

The exercises opened with music, "If I were a Sunbeam," beautifully sung by the SWAYNE family. The remaining business before the meeting was then transacted. Several announcements were made, after which the Treasurer's report was read by MRS. KENT. The receipts for the year were two hundred and six dollars and seventy cents. The expenditures

two hundred and five dollars and eighty-five cents, leaving on hand a balance of eighty-five cents. Several testimonials were then read. MR. KENT read one to the effect that, in view of the services rendered by her during the civil war, a pension should be granted to ANNIE E. CARROLL. MR. BLACKWELL presented a testimony for impartial suffrage for all citizens.

MR. POWDERLY'S ADDRESS.

MR. HINCKLEY then introduced in suitable terms the speaker of the afternoon, Grand Master Workman T. V. POWDERLY, of Scranton. Before coming directly to his subject, “The Labor Question," the gentleman said that he had spoken before many gatherings, but the one before which he stood to-day, if its aims and objects are such as that all can come here and talk on an equality, if not the largest, was above all others which he had ever addressed.

An organization which has striven for twenty-six years to bring the toiling population to a higher plane is such as I represent to-day. This organization (the Knights of Labor) is to make brother and sister equal. It must always stand out clearly that those the organization toils for are those whose hands are tied, for they must work all day, and are tied down to toil; their tongues are tied also, and if they are raised it must be by those who are not tied, and so we come among you. The organization knows no creed, color, or other distinction, but stands upon the broad plane of humanity.

The development and aggression of great corporations are increasing, and in order to enjoy the blessings of life these evils must be abated, and the organization of the Knights of Labor is for the benefit of the whole people. The organization aims to make moral worth the basis of advancement. MR. POWDERLY read the preamble and several of the declarations of the order, setting forth the principles upon which they are founded. This preamble in a general way covers and sets forth their mission. Among the things said here to-day will be many to which exception can be taken.

The woman question is taken up by the Knights of Labor; they aim at securing equal pay for equal work. Years ago woman had no place in an industrial organization; man was considered the bread-winner of the family, and woman had no concern in such matters. This picture, once true, is true no longer. We now find the unskilled laborer standing by the side of him who formerly was of importance because of his knowledge of his trade or calling, and receiving the same wages, because both can work the machinery which has effected the change. Wages were going down, and they found themselves at the mercy of machinery, and so they got together, discussed the matter, and organized to see what could be done.

In the old organization women were left out; they were told that they must stay at home; but the introduction of machines enabled women and little girls to do the work as well as the men, the only difference being that their work does not bring as much compensation as that of men.

People tell us it is wrong for woman to go from her home, but we do not say so. If it is her necessity as well as that of man, let her do so, and it is right for her to go.

In 1879 a committee appointed for that purpose reported to the general convention a resolution concerning the women, which report I ruled out of order because it did not place them on an equal standing with the men, and since that time women have been brought into the organization on an equal standing.

Many an eight-hour working-man has a sixteen-hour wife. MR. POWDERLY gave his recollections of sitting up with his mother when a boy. She was resting when she sat up sewing or mending till ten o'clock or midnight. She got up at five o'clock in the morning and rested while she got breakfast and washed the dishes and swept the house, and all her work of the day was only resting. All women who have husbands who work do this too. We claim that if it is right for him to have eight hours of labor, it is right for the

woman too, that she may have equal rights; and so when she must toil in the shop or factory to-day, we wish her to work on the same basis as the men. Twenty years from now. machinery will be so perfected that a man will be able to sit on a bench in an office and direct all the machinery for a factory or a street-car line.

. The Knights of Labor recognize the principle that if it is right for a woman to stand beside a man in one place it is right for her to do so in all others, and it is only right for her to go with him to the polls. If it is right for men to go to the polls and be bribed, as some can, for a drink of beer, then it is right for women, too, and they should be given a chance at the beer. If women make a worse job of the ballot and politics, then let them vote, for it can't be worse than now. Give them equality in this as in other directions.

We find men desiring that stores should be closed at certain hours, and the short-hour system go into use. A lady said to me recently, "Is it not strange that when you close the stores, where our husbands may want to go sometimes in the evenings, the saloons are all left open ?" Yes; why not close the saloons, where liquid damnation goes out every night to make unhappy homes?

The Knights of Labor have no influence that can reach the saloon. Their members are instructed to touch not, taste not, handle not strong drink. No man who is engaged in selling liquor can become a member of this organization, and if he begins such work after joining it, he must leave. It has also been decided that when a member's wife sold liquor he could either get a divorce from her or from the organization. So liquor-sellers have all been driven out of the order, and members are not allowed to go into a saloon, and they cannot take employment in one.

The organization is not opposed to reduction in the hours of labor, but approves of it, believing that by reducing the hours the working-people can do better work.

Franklin's discovery of the power of electricity was a won

derful thing in its day, yet the knowledge of his discovery has so far advanced that he would be greatly surprised at some of the developments since his time. We can now send messages, run street cars, and do many other wonderful things by using God's wrath. Among other fast things, we now have ocean steamers that land fifteen hundred foreigners on our shores in one batch. When my father came here, sixty-five years ago, it took him three months, and he paddled his way over, as it were. All kinds of work are now done with marvellous rapidity. Time and space are wiped away, and therefore people are not unreasonable in asking for reduced hours of labor. We do not ask that it be done through strikes. We believe them to be foolish and suicidal, embittering men and employer against each other, and anything gained in this way is always taken advantage of by the employer at some future time. It is not true to-day that the men, if given the two extra hours, would spend them in a saloon; they would go to their homes and spend the time there.

It is far better for them to meet together in manly fashion. and talk over their wants, that they may understand them better. The expression, "The world owes me a living and I must have it," is often heard. We say, "The world owes me a living and I must earn it." We believe in no man's idleness, but that all shall be equal.

Some men in factories, when leaving in the evenings will go into a saloon. Three men will go together and each one treat; three drinks of beer make a man drunk, as I learned while mayor of Scranton. Then they go reeling through the streets, and when they reach home they are not met by smiles from their wives. When Sunday comes they cannot go to church because they are too poor to buy decent clothes, and the day is not a happy one.

Now go to the home of the employer. He has two friends with him too. They do not drink beer, but brandy and wine; they sit in their handsome rooms with the curtains down, and late at night they are taken to their homes in no very good