KNIGHTS OF LABOK 359 KNOTS KNIGHTS OF LABOR, a national labor organization in the United States, founded in Philadelphia in 1869. It is to be distinguished from trades-unions as embracing all classes and kinds of la- bor, and extending, through its local as- semblies, over the whole country. The first general assembly was held in 1878. In 1886 there were 730,000; in 1886 and 1887, however, the system of "boycotting" having been introduced, the business of the country was greatly disturbed, and since then the strength of the organiza- tion declined. At the convention of 1888 the total was admitted to have fallen be- low 500,000; and dissensions have since further weakened the body. It is esti- mated that the membership now (1920) is less than 100,000. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS, a secret fraternal order organized at Washing- ton, D. C, in 1864, and numbering in the United States in 1920 746,034 mem- bers. KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES, a benevolent association, founded in 1881. In 1917, the membership was 722,075; 5000 sub-lodges, governed by nine Grand Lodges and one Supreme Lodge. KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. See Round Table, Knights of the. KNIGHTS TEMPLAR, a degree or order of modern Freemasonry ranking in dignity above the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter. The orders con- ferred in a commandery of Knights Templar are Red Cross, Knight Templar, and Knight of Malta. A Mason to ob- tain these orders must be a Master Mason and Royal Arch Mason in good standing. See Freemason. KNOBLOCK, EDWARD, an American playwright. He was born in New York in 1874, and was educated at Harvard. In 1896 he went to Paris and studied the drama there for a year, later going to London where he wrote plays. The first of his works to be produced was an adaptation from the French, "The Par- tikler Pet." Others have been: "The Shulamite" (with Claude Askew) ; "The Cottage in the Air," "The Faun," "Kis- met," "Milestones" (with Arnold Ben- nett) ; "Discovering America," "The Headmaster" (with Wilfred T. Coleby) ; "My Lady's Dress," "Marie-Odile," "Mouse," "Paganini," "Home on Leave." In 1916 he became a naturalized British subject and lieutenant in the British service. KNOT, a nautical synonym for the geographical mile. The length of the geographical mile, or knot, or nautical mile (as it is also called) is 6,080 feet. Hence when a ship has gone 1 knot it has gone 1.1515 statute miles, or, what is nearly the same thing, a ship which is running 13 knots an hour is traveling at the same speed as a railway train which is going 15 miles an hour. The name is derived from the knots tied on the ap- pendages of a ship's log line. KNOT, a wading bird, which has the breast deep chestnut in summer and white in winter, and the back dark with fulvous spots in summer and ashy-gray in winter. It breeds within the Arctic circle, from which it migrates in autumn to the Eastern Hemisphere, as far even as the Cape and Australia. KNOT GRASS, a prostrate plant, with internodes, narrow leaves, silvery stipules, and white, pink, crimson, or green inconspicuous flowers, clustered in the axils of various leaves. It is com- mon in fields and waste places. KNOTS and SPLICES include all the various methods of tying, fastening, and joining ropes or cords. From 150 to 200 different kinds of knots may be enumer- ated, mostly used on shipboard, though almost all occupations using ropes or cordage have special kinds of knots adapted to their different requirements. "Splicing" is the process employed to join two ropes when it is not advisable to use a knot. The three chief varieties of the splice are the short splice, the long splice, and the eye splice. The short splice is made by unlaying the ends of two ropes for a short distance and fitting them closely together; then, by the help of a marlinspike, the ends are laced over and under the strands of the opposite rope. When each strand has been passed through once, half of it is cut away and the remainder passed through again; half of the remainder being also cut away, it is passed a third time, and, when all the strands are so treated, they are hauled taut and cut close. This reduc- ing the thickness of the strands tapers off the splice. The long splice is em- ployed when the rope is used to run through a block, as it does not thicken it. The ends of the two ropes are unlaid for a much longer distance than for the short splice, and similarly placed together. Then one strand is taken and further un- wound for a considerable distance, and its vacant place filled up with the cor- responding strand of the other rope, and the ends fastened as in the short splice. Other two of the strands are similarly spliced in the opposite direction, and the remaining two fastened at the original joining place. The eye splice is, as the
