THE PROGRESSIi FARMER, OCTOBER 6, 1887.
Editor.
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Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N. C.
. To Correspondents :
Write all communications, designed for publica
tion, on one side of the paper only.
We want intelligent correspondents in every
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sults accomplished of value, experiences of value,
pfcunlyand briefly told. One solid, demonstrated
act, is worth a thousand theories.
Address all communications to
The Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N. C.
RALEIGH, N. C, OCT. G, 1887.
TIus paper entered as second-class matter at the Post
Office m neueign, i. o.j ,
ENDORSED
BY THE
TION.
CONVEN-
The following resolution was passed by
the Farmers' Mass Convention in Raleigh,
January 2Gth, 1887 : '
Rcolved, That The Progressive Farmer, pub
lished by L. L. Polk, Winston. N. C, be declared
the Official Organ of the North Carolina Fanners'
Association, and that its Editor, L. L. Polk, be ad
mitted to the privileges of the floor as an honorary
member of this Convention.
"We ask every Grange and Farm
ers' Club in the State to send us at once,
the number of members in the organiza
tion, together with the name and post
office address of each officer.
PLEASE NOTICE.
Iu writing to this office to change the
address of a paper, our subscribers will do
us a favor by stating the office at which
the paper is received, as well as the one
to which it is desired to be sent. Failure
to do this puts us to a great deal of trouble
and the necessity of going through a long
list of names, involving not only much
work, but much loss of time, when time
is valuable.
SUBSCRIBERS, READ THIS.
Is there a Cross Mark on the margin of
your paper ? We adopt this as the simp
lest and easiest method of informing our
patrons that their terms of subscription
have expired, and that the paper will be
stopped if we do not hear from vou. We
Ictiow "times are hard" on every
body, and especially is this true of
newspapers, and parti cularly agri
cultural papers. But we must help
each other as best we can. If, therefore,
you are not prepared to renew for the
whole year, renew for ajxtrt of the time,
and this will enable you to have time to
make us up a club, for which rou will get
the paper one year free of charge. So if
you see the Cross Mark, let us hear from
you.
BOYCOTTING IN RALEIGH.
Boycotters Boycotted.
As Gov. Yance said in the opening
sentence of his Inaugural Address,
.January 1st, 1877 1 There is retribu
tion in history" that is to say, things
will come around tfccasionaHy.
An anonymous correspondent last
winter said some sharp things in The
I rogressive Farmer about Southern
Pines, whereupon the managers of the
R. & G. R. R. "got their backs up"
and joined in the fight against the
! Farmers' Convention called through
Tue Progressive Farmer. But the
Convention didn't " crush " even
with the ponderous weight of a great
railroad on it, nor did The Pro
gressive Farmer. Both are still alive
and kicking. Well, if the Farmers'
! Convention wouldn't crush, they
would see, if its, organ wouldn't yield;
so they hoycotted The Progressive
Farmer.
The facts are these : We applied, in
1886, for an annual pass over the R.
k G. and R. & A. R. R. We were
informed that it was against the rules
of the Road to grant passes to papers
not operated on its lines. We then
had our paper in Winston. After re
moving the paper to Raleigh we ap
plied again to Maj. Winder. He gave
a plausible excuse, but made no refer
ence to any alleged offence committed
by this paper. Some time thereafter
we applied for a trip pass and sug
gested that if we were to have a pass
oyer his roads that it would save
lu L, POLK, - -Raleigh,
N. C.
trouble and possible annoyancejtonave
it issued each time statin gAh&t we
. . .. f
were
willing 10 give
111." ' a : A. a 1
load
an
equivalent in our advertismgcolumns.
Again came the platisible excuse, but
no reference still to any offence given
by the paper. ' During our absence,
May 28th, our Associate, Mr. John E.
Ray, applied for a trip pass, to Wel
don thenf for the first time, were we
told that it would not be granted, be
cause The Progressive Farmer "has
seen fit to ridicule our efforts to build
up aiiealth resort at Southern Pines,"
Thi was the" alleged offence for
wlu'ch The Progressive Farmer was
tobe singled out and suffer the dire
displeasure of this Railroad, and in
this we have been enabled to read the
rewritten explanation of the active
and earnest work o that Road against
he Farmers' Convention which met
n this city on the 26th of January, for
the "ridicule" of bur anonymous cor
respondent appeared before the meet
ing of that Convention.
The Progressive Farmer, we pre
sume, is the only paper in all Central
darolina, which enjoys 'the distinction
of paying full fare for every mile it
rides on this Road. But, possibly,
it
will be all right when it dries."
A copy of this
bull of ex-com-
muntcation " this official manifesto
agains The Progressive Farmer
now lic before us in all its stately
and appkjling dignity, and we are
made to realize the awful diminutive
ness of our littleness. We are trying
to settle in our mind whether or not
we shall ever again say, or permit
anything to be said,., through these
columns, against anybody, or any
thing, or any place in which, by possi
bility, the lordly R. & G. R. R. shall
be directly or indirectly interested,
and we have about concluded that
well, that we will act by the R. & G.
R. R. as we would by any man or set
of men.
And now we hasten, at the earliest
opportunity, to express to the said R.
& G. R. R. our sincere and profound
sympathy. They now " know how it
feels." The merchants of Raleigh,
for reasons satisfactory to themselves,
have boycotted the R. & G. R. R.
They now ship their cotton and their
goods by way of the R. & D. R. R.
The said R. & G. Road waked up one
fine morning last week to find the
platform surrounded with scores of
drays and wagons, and to see about
800 bales of cotton loaded and hauled
off to the other depot in a jiffy.
And now a word of counsel to our
friend in distress the R. & G. R. R. :
This boycott may be hasty, ill-advised
and unjust, but " grin and bear it like
a little man," as we did. It is true
'you got hold of a blade that cuts two
ways and perhaps it is all right, after
all. At all events, it mav result in
a
showing us a plan by which we can
dispense with" the boycott. It may be
that the business men of the State,
The Progressive Farmer and the
one hundred thousand farmers whom
it represents, may conclude that a
railroad commission could regulate
these little matters, and they may take
it into their heads to send a legislature
to Raleigh next year who will estab
lish that commission. So let us all
keep cool and wait and see.
Meantime we presume the R. & G.
R. R. will continue to run, notwith
standing the boycott of the Raleigh
merchants, and we presume The Pro
gressive Farmer and its friends will
continue to paddle along notwith
standing the boycott of the R. & G.
R. R. Let us all keep cool and icait
and see. Some things can't be de
veloped in a day, you know.
Kinston Free Press : Our North Car
olina people are turning to the manu
facture of sorghum molasses. The
present crop of sugar cane in the State
is said to be the largest we have had
in twenty years and the article of
syrup now turned out is, thanks to re
cent improvement in methods, the best
ever made. Home supplies at home
is to be commended heartily.
THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE AND
CO-OPERATIVE .UNION
OF AMERICA f
It. has Come to North Carolina to Stay
A. Southern Institution Adapted to the
Wants and Needs of Southern Agricid
ture An Official Statement of Its Scope,
Character and 'Purposes.
Mr. X. H. C. Elliott, of Brown
wood, Texas, arrived in this city a
few days ago. Being regularly com
missionedx as National Lecturer and
Organizer bythe National Alliance,
and coming with the highest testi
monials as to his character and posi
tion, we sought an interview with him
with the view of presenting some of
the chief features of this young but
powerful and rapidly growing insti
tution, to the readers . of The Pro
gressive Farmer.' We found Mr.
Elliott an intelligent, straightforward
man, franiv and unreserved in his
manner and thoroughly confident of
the ultimate and grand success of the
order. We give our questions and
his answers :
Q. "When and where did the Alli
ance originate ?"
A. " It originated in 1872, in Lam
passas county, Texas, among farmers
and stockmen for protection against
depredations of horse and cattle thieves
and land swindlers ?"
Q. " When did it begin to enlarge
the scope of its purposes ?"
A. "In 1875 it appeared in Parker
county, and was then cultivating
social and charitable relations among
its members and also inaugurating in
a small way a crude system of selling
and buying together. It has grown
and spread and developed until now
we have 134 organized counties in our
State, with a membership of 251,000,
and a State Alliance, officered and
fully equipped to manage the business
and look after the interests of this
large body of members."
Q. "To what do you ascribe the
rapid growth of your order in Texas ?"
A. " It is due to several causes, but
it may be briefly stated, that the great
depression in agricultural interests
the utter helplessness of the farmers
to control the products of their labor
the general system of servile de.
j)endence which was gradually but
surely fastening itself upon us. These
crushing evils were growing upon us
and excited deep concern, if not alarm
among our thinking farmers, and
they were anxiously looking for relief;
so, they were not only ready, but anx
ious, to adopt- just such measures of
relief as are offered by the Allance ;
hence they went into it by hundreds
and thousands."
Q. "Is vour order, in anv sense, a
political organization ?"
A. "In a partisan sense. No.
There are important reasons why it
cannot be. The Alliance is of necessity
a secret order, and we know that party
politics introduced into asecret busi
ness organization would kill it, then we
could not belong to any order that
would require us to keep our political
principles or action a secret. Of
course we not only tolerate, but we
encourage and require our members
to study the science of economic gov-
j T t -I
eminent, n is a ousiness ana not a
political organization."
V- jl ou say it is oi necessity a
secret order : will you please explain
why T1
A. " Simply to insure success. We
are learning some lessons from other
interests and other classes. One of
the most important lessons is, that to
succeed in any business, the plans and
methods to be employed in its prose
cution are not to be made public.
Merchants, banks!, railroads, corpora
tions of any kind do not throw open
their plans and purposes to the world,
if they did they would never succeed.
We, the farmers of the South, must
adopt the same wise precautions. We
are a secret order simply because the
recognized successful systems of our
age admonish us that it is the road to
success in all business enterprise. The
only secrets, I am free to say, that we
have, are our business plans and some
machinery by which we protect our
selves against imposition."
Q. " Who are eligible to member,
ship in your order 7"
A. "I will quoted the language of
, J jL 4Yfra mi V"l 4"
our constitution vu iuio ouujcvu
And he read as follows : " Farmers,
farm laborers, - mechanics, country
school teachers, country ' physicians,
(not engaged in the drug business)
and ministers of the gospe All per
sons becoming members must be of
good moral character, believe m the
existence of a Supreme .Being, oe oi
industrious habits must b&: a white
person and over the age of 16 years."
O. " Does vour order in any way
conflict with the Grange, the Agricul
tural Wheel, or the farmers' clubs ?"
A . " It does not, but is in thorough
accord with the general purposes of
all these organizations. Indeed, the
Wheel in Arkansas, Tennessee, Ken
tucky and Missouri, have adopted our
work, and now affiliate fully with us.
The Farmers' Union of Louisiana and.
the Farmers' Relief in Mississippi, have
adopted our work." j
Q. " What is your aggregate mem
bership, and chiefly in what territory?"
A. "About 1,200,000, chiefly in
eight Southern States."
Q. "'Are you not Affiliated with the
Alliance of the Nothwest ?"
A. " We are not. That was origi
nated in Chicago by Milton George, a
brother of the oted Henry George.
Theirs is an open political organization,
and there is not, nor can there be, any
affiliation between us."
Q. "How was your order received
by the press and the business men of
your State, and how do they regard it
now ?"
A. "At first the business men
treated the matter very lightly, and
predicted its early and utter failure,
and the press sympathized with that
view, and assumed and declared that
we were a secret political order, but
now there is not a paper in the whole
State that is not our steadfast friend,
and the leading dames are giving us
their active and earnest support. fThe
business men, as a rule, are most
kindlv disposed toward us and our
order, and its success has their conn
dence and encouragement. Indeed we
have over 100 Alliance cotton yards
established in the State, and most of
these were built for us with money
and contributions of the business men
in the towns in which they are located.
.As an inducement to estaoiisn our
State Headquarters in that city, Dallas
made a contribution to us in lots, lands,
money, buildings, &c, amounting to
not less than 8100,000. This shows
what the business men of Texas think
of us."
Q. " Well, have you had any trouble
with political parties or politicians ?"
A. "With the parties, as such, no.
Chronic office seekers, political trick
sters and disappointed sore-heads have
given us tome trouble, but we are
now in a position to paddle our own
canoe."
Q. " You say you have cotton yards
of your own will you give me the
methods by which you run these yards,
and something of the benefits you
claim for them ?"
A. "A detailed statement of the
whole system, would perhaps be longer
than you would like to have in your
paper at this time, and as it is the duty
of myself and all organizers to explain
fully and in detail this system to your
pe"bple. I will give you only an out
line. Each of these cotton yards is
in charge of a bonded officer (by the
way. all our officers are bonded,
salaried men. We have no men paid
in any way by commissions.) We
have every facility that any cotton ex
change or mercantile association has
for obtaining the exact state of the
market at any point in the world and
at any hour, and our machinery is
such that within one hour from the
time our dispatches are received at
State headquarters, every agent in the
State knows the price of cotton for
that day, and every farmer belonging
to the Alliance can know what his cot
ton is worth if he will ask. So, a
farmer bringing his cotton to our
yard can take his sample and go on
his local market (and we always en
courage them to do so) and know
whether or not he is offered its value.
If he concludes not to sell, then we
can send sample to State Headquar
ters, where we are thoroughly pre
pared to get him the best prices in the
best markets. It costs him from ten
to twenty-five cents per bale to have
his cotton weighed and for storage
no matter how long he may want it
stored. He pays, of course, the in
surance, which is very little. We are
prepared, under the same system, to
handle our other products and our
stock. Under this system, also, we
have arrangements perfected by
which we can and do make purchases
for our members, and so perfect is the
system that we confidently expect to
make a net saving of over one milliorT
dollars to our members durino- ,mvf
year." - .
Q. "Well, you strike heavv at th
"middle man" by your plan, do vn
not?" " 0U
A. "No, we do not propose to do
away with the middle men they are
an important factor in our great social
fabric and we could not well do with
out them. We make no war on anv
one. We encourage all men enga
in legitimate business and want tooe
them prosper and succeed, but .there
are checks and balances which are
essential to the well-being of societv
and we propose to see that middle men
nor any other class shall absorb what
justly belongs to us. The Alliance is
founded on Truth and Justice and
justice is all we ask at the hands of the
business world. This granted, ami
we will take care of ourselves."
Q. " Does the Alliance own
operate co-operative stores ?"'
and
A. " Yes, a few, but under our sys
tem, known as the "Macune Trade
System" we, as a rule, find that we
are (able to make very satisfactory
terms with our own merchants and for
the present we recommend this system.
It is very perfect and gives satisfaction
to all merchants who deal with us.
This will be explained fully to your
people as we proceed ' in the work of
organization."
Q. "Wrell are the financial advan
tages of your order confined to buying
and selling ?"
A. " Why bless your life these are
only the beginning of a vast system of
financial design, which we hope will
permeate every department of our in
dustries. We have already perfected
a system for establishing manufactur
ing enterprises, and under which we
have now in operation twelve fine
Roller Flouring mills and five others
in process of construction and several
cotton factories projected, two of
which we hope soon to have in opera
tion. The South must become wBat
Nature designed a great manufactur
ing district, we must work up our
vast store of raw material, if we would
become that prosperous and powerful
people that we ought to be. We, of
Texas, cling with filial love to the dear
old South and we want to quicken her
into new life, by grasping and utili
zing new opportunities. We have the
most abiding faith in the nerve and
pluck of our people and in the scheme,
which for eight long years we have
worked earnestly to perfect, and it is
with pride that we all recognize the
truth that to the foresight, wisdom
and indomitable pluck and loyal devo
tion of Dr. C. W. Macune, the Presi
dent of our National Alliance, we are
indebted for our success and the hi.uli
plane we occupy in the business world.
We not only wish to see the material
development of the . South, but we
have other grand objects to accomplish.
We want and must work for the
moral, social and intellectual develop
ment of our. people, and this is a part
of our declared purpose." ,
Q. " What means do you use for
bringing your order "before the people,
and for informing them as to your ob
jects and purposes."
A. "We use organizers, whose lec
tures are always public, but the great
propelling power of the movement in
ourvState is our Alliance organ, the
Southern Mercury, which is largely pat
ronized and extensively read by our
ordea. It is the property of the Alli
ance and we could not do without it,
neither can the Alliance prosper in any
State unless it has an organ, patron
ized and read by the members. It is
a silent but powerful and eloquent ad
vocate of our noble principles and the
father and his whole family are receiv
ing "line upon line and precept upon
precept " every week, and thus we ed
ucate our people to cherish and love
the principles they have espoused, o
alliance can live and grow and prosper
that does not read its paper this we
have found by experience, to be
strictly true. I am therefore gratified
to see that The Progressive Farmer
has been adopted thus far by the Alli
ances in your State and hope they will
use it freely and liberally for the up
building of the order.
Mr. Elliott then went on to say that
he was commissioned and sent to our
State to organize a State Alliance and
to push the matter of organizing suh
ordinate and County Alliances untn
our whole State is brought into the
order. He will attend the meeting of
of the National Alliance at Shrevc
port, in Louisiana, on the 12th
inst., and return to our State
and address himself vigorously
to the . work of organizing. "c
requests that counties and commun
ities wishing an early organization will
aderess him at Raleigh. Care of Tme
Progressive Farmer.