Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Dec. 1, 1887, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER, DECEMBER 1, 1887. .. v. Editor. SUBSCRIPTION: $2.00 FOR ONE YEAR. $1.00 EQR p. MONTHS -POST-PAID. T Invariably in Advance. Special and Liberal Bates to Clubs. Subscribers will be notified 'two weeks before, their time expires, and if they do not renew, the , paper will stopped promptly. , ' Active ageniu. wanted in ever county, city, town . and Tillage in the State. Write, for terms. , Money at our risk, if sent by registered letter-or money order. ?' -.; ' 1 Advertising Rates quoted on application. - On 11 business matters relating to the paper, . Address. . .., . - . ... , Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N. C. ... ; . , r Jo Correspondents : jM . ' Write all communications',' desigried f 6r' publica 'tlon, on one gid of the paper only.- " We want intelligent correspondents in every county in the State. We want facts of -Value, re sults accomplished tof value, experiences of value, plainly and briefly told. One solid, demonstrated fact, is worth a thousand theories. :" ---'. Addres8,all communications to The' Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, NV C. ... -, I, ..'.) - ) 'im. - . : raleigh; ; n: c.;; Dec i, im. This paper entered as second-class matter at the Post Office in Raleigh, N. C. The Progressive" "Farmer is the Official Organ of the N. C. Farmers' Association and N. C. State Farmers' Alliance. PLEASE NOTICE, In 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 namesj 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 you. So if you see the Cross Mark," let us hear from you. ' WHO IS TO BE OUR NEXT GOV ERNOR ? This question, seems tpr'be agitating the public mind, or rather the press of our State, justXat present. The strength and avajlirjlity of particular gentlemen is Wng presented by their respective friends. Judge Clark, Maj. Steaclman, Col. Hlt, Capt. S. B. Alexander," Judge Rusfeell, Hon. J. Nichols, Judge Settle each is the strongest and most available man in his party, according as he is strongest with the editor who does the writing. For instance, The Progressive Farmer, as the organ of the farmers of the State, has' ventured the opinion that the truly typical North Carolina gen tleman, the clear-headed legislator, the patriotic citizen and friend of the farmers of. the State, . Capt. . S. B. Alexander, is a very strong man with the great mass of the voters of the State. But it may. be that all we editors are a little premature in this matter. Suppbse, therefore, the papers and the little squads about the cifies, towns and. villages of the State quit this "booming" business, and wait for an expression of choice by the people. If they caji have a fair, .honest and untrammeled expression of their will, we will be relie ved of all this guess work, for; in that event we would know who are, the strongest men. And by way of getting at that choice and getting ' the. voice ? of th people, fairly and honestly expressed, suppose, instead of Jxoming certain gentlemen, we all turn loose in our columns and advocate some good plan by which wer can get at the wishes of the people? Sup pose, instead' of "primary meetings'.' or " primary conventions," which are too often manipulated by " wire pull ers" in the interest of the few, with out regard, to the wishes of the many, we substitute primary elections. With a well-digfested. system of primary elections, where ever yotery could, by his ballot, say who he prefers as dele gates and candidate, we then would have, indeed and in reality, nomina tions by the people'.- Whether correct r not, tjiere is a belief among the people that self constituted political leaders have very little regard for their wishes, and that they do not and L. L. POLK, - - -Raleigh, N. C. cannot have a fair showing in these "primary meetings." And- whether true or not, ' would it not be wisdom on the parfT of . leaders to recognize the existence of this belief, and act so as to dispel it ? We had a correspond ent to say in these columns some weeks ago that : " The people have about made up their minds that, here after, they will have more to do with nominations, or less to do with the elec tions. In our anxiety to . advance the po litical interests of our friends, let us not forget, that each one of the great arirty of voters of the State has a right to his "choice, and that after all they are the rones who make parties an elect candidates or defeat them. ; We ... , arfj. approaching a political contest, which we" fear, will be marked by its bitterness, and on behalf of the quiet, honest voters of he State, we would delicately suggest that they be con sulted in the important matter of selecting the men for whom they will be asked to vote. Let the people speak, and let their voice be respected. Elect your delegates to the Farmers' Convention and report your action to The Progressive Farmer. LOW-GRADE COTTON. How Can It be Utilized? The Cotton Association of Great Britain has ransacked the world to find those climatic and other physical con ditions that would produce a cotton which would compete with ours of the Southern States. But they have sig nally failed. It is safe to assume that for years, if not for all time, American cotton will hold the front rank in all the great markets of the world. Its superiority for manufacturing pur poses will be more strongly denned, as the demands of material progress shall develop and expand. The pecu liar adaptability of the Southern States to the successful production of of a quality which the manufacturing world cannot do without, will increase the acreage to meet increasing de mands. And should the commercial world call for 25,000,000 bales, we have the soil and the area to meet it. But through the manipulations of capital employed in transforming the raw material into the various forms required by commerce, the price of it has been nicely narrowed down to the bare cost Of its production. The Southern farmer finds that he is fur nishing the land, the stock, the imple ments, the labar in fact all the cost and expense of its production and gets none of the profits. He sees every one who touches it, after it' passes from his hands, make money on it. He is beginning to cast about for plans by which he can get a just share of these profits. Hence, the Farmers' Alliance, and hence the plans it has instituted. Hence their demand on the Ameri can Congress for relief from the unjust t and oppressive 'discriminations against this great interest in our tariff system. Hence, the cotton factories that are springing up all over Texas and other States, where the Alliance Co-operative Union is well organized.- These are steps, all in the right direction. But while we are discussing and developing plans by which the South ern farmers may have more control over the crop and its price, The Pro gressive Farmer would venture to suggest to the Alliance the policy and expediency of utilizing the lower grades by weaving them into bagging with which to wrap the crop. It re quires about 40,000,000 yards for our crop, which at two pounds per yard, is 80,000,000 pounds. This is an ac tual loss to our farmers, as the tare in the markets of Great Britain deducted from every bale of American cotton and covering fully that amount is an actual and dead loss to our farmers. Suppose we should wrap our cotton in cotton tagging, 'made of the poorer grades, it would command almost as much per pound, directly or indirectly, for various purposes, as in a raw state. it wouiq., consume annually aoout 180,000 bales, and thus withdraw that: amount of; new material from the market. It could be manufactured here by the farmers through their co operative system, and thus furnish a home market for that portion of the crop, and a market too which they could control. - - "' Will your county be represented in the Farmers' Convention in Greens boro on the second Wednesday in January ? .., -) A NEW SCHEME. We see in some 6f our State ex changes a " cock and bull story " from a correspondent of the Atlanta Consti tution at Newman, Ga., Jn regard to troubles between the Alliance and the merchants of , that pjace . We know nothing, of course, of the local trouble which this-correspondent - paints : with high coloring. But we do know that no such ridiculous,' absurd and pre posterous fool -hardiness ever emanated from the Texas Farmers' Alliance as this correspondent ascribes to the Georgia farmers. Nor do we believe that any respectable number of respect able Georgia farmers were ever guilty of suck folly as he describes. A care ful reading of his letter convinces us of only one thing; "and that is, that this correspondent is sq .full of bitter ness and prejudice and hatred towards the farmers, that we would take even his sworn evidence in this matter with several grains of allowance. It would doubtless be interesting to know just who this correspondent is, and in what kind of business he is engaged (if any at all.) The only thing of the slight est importance in the whole , matter is, that a communication bearing so strongly and unmistakably, the dark impress of bitter prejudice against the farmers of Georgia, should have been admitted to the columns of the ordi- narily, fair minded and astute Cbnstitu- . i. tion And we would say, for the benefit of such of our 'North Carolina ex changes as have laid before their read ers this tirade ; against ( what is falsely termed the Alliance, that such an organization as is described differs as widely from the Alliance which is so strong in Texas, and which is now be ing organized in,; North Carolina, as anarchy differs,from good order. But we must have other vitnesses in 'this case. The lawyer said to an interested witness : " Stop ! For Heaven's sake, stop ! I like a liar sometimes, but you please me too well." Whose business is it to call the meeting to select" delegates to the Farmers' Convention ? It is ' your business. ... . THE FARMERS' ANNUAL CON VENTION IN GREENSBORO. v5, ( s The annual meeting of the Vorth Carolina Farmers' Association will be held in the city of Greensboro on the 2nd Wednesday in January. ' The Secretary Mr, B. F. Hester, has (re ceived reduced rates on the railroads and at the hotels and boarding houses for the delegates. It is now only about six weeks until the time. The Christmas holidays will consume, one week of this; this leaves us only five weeks in which to prepare for it. The County Alliance of Mecklenburg, and the farmers of Forsyth, are alive to the importance of this meeting, as was stated by us last week. Mecklenburg appoints not less than twelve delegates to represent that county. What steps have the farmers of your county taken to be represented ? Hve you held a county meeting and elected your del egates? If not, call the meeting at once and elect them. Have you a Farm ers' Club, or an Alliance, or Granges in your county ? Let them call the meet ing at once Remember that body, according to the Constitution, is to be composed of those only whose chief interest is in farming. , It is a farmers' association, and is to be composed of farmers. We confidently . expect to see ; the best body of representative farmers ever assembled in the State. It will be an important meeting. , It will be an interesting meeting. It will be an enjoyable meeting. Each county in the State is en titled to the same number of votes as it has representatives in the lower branch of our Legislature, but each county can send as many delegates as it chooses. Let every farmer in the State see to it that his county is well represented. Hold meetings and, have delegates elected who will go and who will rep resent your best interests. Do not wait until after the holidays to , select the. man whom you would have to represent youjin the Farmers Convention. WE WANT A "NEW-YEARS GIFT." Will not each reader of The Pro gressive Farmer send us a new sub scriber by the first of January as a " New-Years Gift ?" Every one can do this. Will you not try ? We have one thousand subscribers who could easily send us five new subscribers each, by that time. We have five hundred subscribers who could easily send us ten new subscribers by that time. Will you not do it ? This would add ten thousand to our list. How our heart would go out in gratitude to our friends ! It would place the paper on an independent basis, and we hereby pledge ourselves that we will give to our farmers the best agricultural weekly ever published in the South, if they will thus come to our aid. Will you not send us ten ? Will you you not send us five f Will you not send us one ? A PROPOSITION". To the one who shall send us by th4 first of January the largest list of sub scribers, according to our published club rates, we will send a Patch Corn Sheller. It is simple, light and durable and will shell eight to ten bushels per hour. Shells easily and clean and separates the cobs from the corn. As fast as you procure the names of five sub scribers, send them in with the money and notify us with the first remittance to enter you for this useful premium. If you do not want the premium, send us a list for the good will have for the paper and the great cause it repre sents. Will you not make an effort to strengthen your own paper and thus strengthen the farmers' cause in North Carolina ? - Reduced rates on all railroads have been secured for delegates .to the Farmers' Convention in Greensboro on the second Wednesday in January. 4 ' . V ALLIANCE LECTURER. N. H. C. Elliott, National Lecturer and State Organizer, will deliver a lec ture in the vicinity of Rocky Mount on Friday afternoon, the 9th day of December. He will remain in that section of the State until the holidays, if desired. Farmers in Nash, Wilson, Edgecombe, Pitt and Halifax, desiring him to visit them with a view of organ izing an Alliance, will address him be fore, the 9th of December at. Rocky Mount, N. , C.; care of Mr. Geo'. Q. Battle. - Members of the Alliance, or those willing to become such, desiring to'act as Deputy Organizers in any of the above named or adjoining counties, and who will come properly endorsed as to character and fitness for the po sition, will meet him and the Secretary of the State Alliance at Tarboro, on the 15th and 16th of December to re ceive instructions, outfits and Commis sions in each of the above named coun ties, and others to canvass the adja cent counties. L. L. Polk,' Sec'y N. C. Farmers' State Alliance. THE CONSTITUTION OF THn xt C. FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. rir .i vve give space inis week to thi week publication of thWimportant document and hope our readers will peruse it carefully. TheyFarmers' Alliance ''has come , to stay. We-predict that in the near future more men in North Carolina will belong to our order than was ever before attached to any one organization. It is adapted to the wants and necessities of our farmers It is practical and progressive. Jt deals straightout with' those great evils which are crippling the energies of our farmers, and offers the only remedy for them a strong and effec tive organization of the farmers. The . Alliance conceals none of its purposes or principles, but gladly pro claims them from the highways and the house tops. ." The men composing the Alliance are not the men to en gage in unjust and oppressive conibi nation against any class or interest. They simply want what is just and right " a fair field and an even chance." We publish the Constitution for the benefit of our membership and for the information of the thousands in our State who are "seeking light on this subject. File this copy of The Progressive Farmer, and thus keep a copy of the Constitution where it may be accessi ble at all times. We advise all members of the Alli ance to study it well and thoroughly and thus become familiar with our or ganic law. Every member should be thoroughly informed as to its provis ions. File this paper and study it. Do farmers complain that they "have no showing?" Let them see to it that they have good delegates in the Greensboro Farmers' Convention. OPPOSED TO ANARCHY. W. R. Williams, of North Carolina, on Socialism and Agrarianism. At the recent session of the National Grange, held in Lansing, Michigan, Master W. R. Williams of North Car olina, introduced the following resolu tions. No truer man ever lived than W. R. Williams: Whereas, The grange ever acknowl edges with regard and respect any and all people who organize themselnes in to societies for protection against the monopolists and their aggressive and often coercive measures, yet they view with alarm and regret such socialistic, agrarian societies seem to have for their chief design the subversion of law and the obliteration of good soci ety; therefore Resolved, That the National Grange here assembled in the city of Lansing, do condemn and denounce all such lawless societies as being dangerous to constitutional liberty and to human civilization. Resolved,. That we, the National Grange, do hereby renew our vows and pledge our devotion to our declaration of purposes, and on that basis invite all Dersons who labor and live by the farm, to unite with us in one grand National brotherhood. A Every Alliance should take an in terest in its organ and work for it. The facilities for reaching Greens- boro by rail; and the mighty revolu tion that is going on among the farm ers of the State, guarantees a large. gathering of the farmers m that no- , pitablecity on the second Wednesday, nuary. VjG) ' v'The National Alliance, at its meet- ing at Shreveport, appointed Capt. . B. Alexander President of our State' Alliance, L. L. Polk Secretary and X.f H. C. Elliott National Lecturer, a committee to attend the meeting of. the Farmers' Convention at Greens boro in January, and lay before that body the aims, principles and purpose of the Alliance to the end that a co operation of all the farmers may ho; secured in the great and grand work, of improving and elevating the ag"'; cultural classes and interests of the country.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 1, 1887, edition 1
2
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