Europeans, Irish, Catholics, and Protestants. It was originally founded in 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and eventually spread throughout Canada during the 1870s. It was actually a meeting of the Garmentcutters' Association which sparked the formation of the Knights of Labor, and in turn the local name of the new assembly was to be called the Garmentcutters' Assembly. The original committee consisted of U.S. Stephens, R.W. Keen, James L. Wright, James M. Hilsea, Joseph S. Kennedy, William Cook, and Robert McCauley. On December 30, 1869, at the third Knights of Labor meeting at the United States Engine House, G.W. Cook, H.L. Sinexon, W.C. Yost, Samuel Wright, G.W. Hornberger, and James Barron were also elected to membership. At the meeting held in February, 1870, it was decided to fix the initiation fee at $1. On May 5th of that year, the first ever newspaper advertisement published by the Knights of Labor appeared in the Ledger of May 10th and 11th, 1870, and read as follows:
             "FOUNTAIN OF POWER- Knights of Labor. Officers and Representative.- A special meeting will be held on Thursday, 12TH inst., to act on first report from State Labor Union, giving aid to Garmentcutters' Branch; to resist the attempt of certain oppressive houses in the trade to reduce the wages of skilled workmen; secondly, shall the patronage of industrials be given to establishments that refuse just remuneration? By order." (pp 70,Thirty Years of Labor)
             Every member of the Knights of Labor shared a common labor theory of value. They believed those who were rich but did not labor, stole for the people who labored in which in turn, made them rich. The members of the organization were all sworn to secrecy; subsequently, they had many secret signals that allowed them to communicate only with each other. For instance, if one member said, " I am a worker," the correct response for a member was, " I too earn my bread by the swe...