The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, another of those
societies of workingmen, was organized in November, 1869, by
Uriah S. Stephens, a Philadelphia garment cutter, with the
assistance of six fellow craftsmen. It has been said of Stephens
that he was "a man of great force of character, a skilled
mechanic, with the love of books which enabled him to pursue his
studies during his apprenticeship, and feeling withal a strong
affection for secret organizations, having been for many years
connected with the Masonic Order." He was to have been educated
for the ministry but, owing to financial reverses in his family,
was obliged instead to learn a trade. Later he taught school for
a few years, traveled extensively in the West Indies, South
America, and California, and became an accomplished public
speaker and a diligent observer of social conditions.

Stephens and his six associates had witnessed the dissolution of
the local garment cutters' union. They resolved that the new
society should not be limited by the lines of their own trade but
should embrace "all branches of honorable toil." Subsequently a
rule was adopted stipulating that at least three-fourths of the
membership of lodges must be wage-earners eighteen years of age.
Moreover, "no one who either sells or makes a living, or any part
of it, by the sale of intoxicating drinks either as manufacturer,
dealer, or agent, or through any member of his family, can be
admitted to membership in this order; and no lawyer, banker,
professional gambler, or stock broker can be admitted." They
chose their motto from Solon, the wisest of lawgivers: "That is
the most perfect government in which an injury to one is the