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7 .1 THE INbuSTBIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY, RALEIQH, N. O., APRIL 22, 1890. Vol. 5. No. 11 a i THE NATIONAL FARMERS' AL LIANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. President L. L. Polk, North Carolina. Address, 511 9th St.,N. W., Washington, D.C. Vice-President B. H. Clover, Cam bridge, Kansas. . Secretary J. H. Turner, Georgia. Ad dress, 511 9th St, N. W., Washington, D. C. Treasurer W. H. Hickman, Puxico, Missouri. Lecturer Ben Terrell, Texas. EXECUTIVE BOARD. C. W. Macune, Washington, D. C. Alonzo Wardall, Huron, South Dakota. J. F. Tillman, Palmetto, Tennessee. JUDICIARY. R. C. Patty, Macon, Mississippi. Isaac McCracken, Ozone, Arkansas. Evan Jones, Dublin, Texas. KftttTW f! A H.OL.TN A FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. President Elias Carr, Old Sparta, tf.C. Vice-President A. H. Hayes, Bird- town, N. C. Secretary E. C. Beddingfield, Raleigh, N. 0. Treasurer J. D. Allen, Falls, K C. Lecturer Thos. B. Long, Asheville, N CL Assistant Lecturer R. B. Hunter, Char !ntt.Pi "NT n Chaplain J. J. Scott, Alfordsville, Door Keeper W. H. Tomlinson, Fay- etteville, JN. U. 1 , T-l TT TT T? TTl-r,r, ASSlSiant JJOOr jveeuci iu-oi Sergeant-at-Arms J. S. Holt, Chalk Level, JN. U. State Business Agent W. H. Worth, RaIpiVK N. C. Trustee Business Agency Fund W. A. Graham, Machpelah, JN. U IXEOUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH CARO LINA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. S. B. Alexander, Charlotte, N. C, Chairman; J. M. Mewborne, Kinston N. C; J. S. Johnston, Kuan, JN. J. LETTER FROM ALAMANCE. Ray Alliance, No. 603, Alamance county. Mb. Editob: Our County Alliance met on Good Friday. In this honor able body your humble correspondent nils the office of County Lecturer for the second term. After the visits of brothers Picket, Tracy and our worthy District Lecturer, Bro. Massey, I felt some hesitation in entering upon the role of a public lecturer, but being urged to do so by our President and Executive Committee, I made the venture. I find all the territory of Alamance occupied. Perhaps two more Sub-Alliances, one in the south east and another in the northwest ; corners of the county should be or- ganized. I find most of the Subs in a growing condition. All they need now is plenty of good Alliance papers, such as the National Economist and The Progressive Farmer. In fact I cannot see how any one can be an intelligent man without them, much less a live Alliance man. I find those Sub Alliances where these pa pers are extensively read in good working order and the best repre sented in our County Alliance. The interest in our County Alliance meetings is increasing and the attend ance pretty good. Our body endorsed the' sub-treasury plan and will send up a large petition for it to Congress. Our Alliance took steps towards en tering ginto the manufacture of tobac co, plug and granulated, and cigar ettes, and the matter will be thor oughly discussed at our next meeting, by which time it is thought that the necessary amount of capital can be raised. In taking such steps we do not aim to break down the Durham Bull or the Dukes, but in a small way get some of the profits out of the to bacco which we grow. We reason bhus: that if these companies within 'twenty years can from such small be ginnings make millions and nearly every member become a millionaire, why may not we make at least a profit on our capital instead of sinking money on the raising of tobacco. I am aware that many good Alliance men oppose such schemes by the farmers. So did I once, but that was when I got a good price for my tobacco. I wrote in the opposition and my prices were widely copied in -the Tobacco Journal. I now pent my self in dust and ashes, and can see what a big fool I was. It does not take a very large num ber of men to superintend a tobacco manufactory. Enough idle negroes and whites can be picked up about any of our railroad depots to run a hundred thousand dollar factory and yet the farming interest of the com munity suffer very little. I regret that the worthy President of the Border Tobacco Alliance at that meeting in Oxford poured could wa ter or ridicule " upon a resolution to reduce the acreage of tobacco. I believe that there are enough tobacco j growers in the Alliance to control the acreage, cause a reduction in the number of pounds produced and thus enhance the price. In the days of slavery there was once such an over production of tobacco that thousands of pounds were hauled to the field for manure. If Vance, Nash, Wilson, Wayne, Johnston, Wake and Chatham, also portions of Edgecombe, Wilson, Pitt, Green and Lenoir, Duplin and Samp son counties abandon to a large ex tent the cultivation of cotton and take up that of tobacco they can pro duce more smokers and cutters than the Durham Bull Company or the Dukes together can manufacture. Franklin, Nash, Johnston, Wake and Chatham will no more quit tobacco to take up cotton. Cotton can only be raised profitably on large, fertile farms. Hired hands in any considerable number require an overseer, every squad a good leader or first-class hand. The poor foot hills and rolling lands of the above named counties cannot be farmed profitably on hired labor, and there is nothing left in the tenant or slave system to the land-holder but impoverished land. The negroes are leaving these counties not because they wish to do so, but simply be cause they have nothing to live on. The landlord is unable to feed them, and there is little for them to steal. The result will be diversified farming, with tobacco for a money crop. All this section producing the lighter smoker and cutter varieties while our old tobacco sections with their heavier and more tenacious soils will be com pelled in a great measure to return to the raising of the heavier goods, of fillers and wrappers, raise le&s of these than they did many years ago, manu facture by joint stock companies their own tobacco and thus get the profits of their labor. Respectfully, B. F. White. LETTER FROM IREDELL. Sweet Home Alliance, No. 1,769. Mr. Editor: It is not often that we bother you with anything from our corner and now we come asking just space enough for a line or two. Our Alliance is now looking forward and we all with our shoulders to the wheel, are moving on very rapidly in this grand and noble work. Sweet Home has more than doubled the number of members duriDg the quarter which is now about to expire. Have 7 females and 25 males with three applicants knocking at the door for admission. At our last meeting we initiated a good brother 74 years old, who we was proud to get and no doubt he will be the means of ad ding much to our order. It d-es seem to me when an old man like him joins the Alliance that it should be proof enough for those that don't be long if they would take it, for we all know he has seen his way through. Fraternally, T. F. Guy, Sec'y. A CLEVER CLERK. "I knew an entry clerk," said the Rev. W. S. Crowe, in a lecture before the students of Eastman College, "who would sit at his desk, while the salesmen filed past him and read their items not the amounts but the items; 14-J yard 3 of cloth at 78f cents a yard; 22 1-8 pounds of lard at 11 7-8 cents per pound reading right along with rapid voice; and when the last item was announced he would have the total, and when the last salesman announced the final item he would have the grand total, and would put on his hat and go horn j with the rest. I asked him how he did it; if it was a gift. 'Not mush,' said he; 'at least I paid very dearly for that gift;' then he told me how he came to be a genius. Once,' he said, I could tell that in a group of men, or a pile of boxes, there were three or five, with out counting them. Now I can just as readily tell that there are nineteen or twenty-six or thirty-five without counting. I have acquired this ability by persistently counting thousands upon thousands of groups of objects, and associating the correct number with the size and appearance of each group. I learned addition in the same way, by infinite practice, until now I can sum up four or five columns at a time as readily and ac curately as one column. I learned fractions in the same way, by cease less persistency and care. For many years I have dwelt in a world of figures, till all their combinations are as familiar to me as the keys of his instrument to a skilled pianist.' " NUTS TO CRACK AT THE FARM ER'S FIRESIDE. That party is wise this fall that al lows the farmers to name their ticket. Politicians have run it long enough. Paola Times. Protect the farmers from the high protection and from all trusts and combines which rob him of his profits. -Paola Times. The planting time is drawing nigh when the Kansas farmer can turn the sod and plant the seed for another crop of " fuel " next winter. Wilming ton Star. We believe the politicians should come over to the people now. The people have followed long enough. They will now lead awhile. Fall in, old ringster. Paola Times. Things have come to a pretty pass when a mortgaged farm will not sell for the price of the loan upon it. Still the mortgage was given upon it at 1-3 valuation. Home Mule. If we must have the democratic and republican parties we want it straight Jacksonian democracy and Lincoln Republicanism. No man however fastidious would growl at that. Home Rule. Ingalls is sometimes called "the Kansas wasp." While there may be points of resemblance, they are dis similar in so me respects. Ingalls parts his hair in the middle, the wasp never does. Wilmington Star. In 1864 we had about $47 per capita, in 1888 about $6,10. In 1864 we had 495 failures and in 1888 we had 13,348. , Thanks to the deadly work of the contraction policy of the two old parties. Home Mule. An aggressive, organized army can be successfully resisted only by a counter organization. You are en listed against the organized forces of Greed. Will you permit " deserter" to be written opposite your name ? New farmer. It looks like it would rain all around. Now comes the Virginia legislature and passes a concurrent resolution memorializing Congress to immediately provide for an issue of legal tender greenbacks, to be loaned to the people on real estate security at two per cent, per annum. Paola Times. Puck talks to the laboring man in this way : You are in the soup, just where your friends, the politicians, left you when they were done with you last November. You are in the soup, and there you will stay for the next four years, unless in the mean time you learn wisdom of exercising common sense. "What fools we mortals be." After alio wine: about 95 per cent, of the wealth of the people to be filched by less than 5 per cent, of the population and three fifths of all the wealth to be owned by less than 30,000 persons we wake up to the tact that we have be come " industrial slaves " and must agitate and organize to recover our 1 i TT T t rignts. nome ituie. What's got into our lordly lords ? benator Stanford maks the proposition to loan the people money directly from the treasury vaults and President Alton of the C. & A. R. R. proposes that the government shall own the Railroads. We now look for an alien or native land speculator to propose that the ownership of lands in large 1 1 1 11 T r ooaies snail cease. Home Kule. The Industrial Aqe of Duluth. Minn comes to us burdened with 32 notices or just half its pages of mortgage fore closures. It is 8 pages 40 column. Its editorials are gems of high order and its general make up is up with the times. But what a work of de struction must be taking place in that locs-i y in view of the notices. How lo.g can we thus continue? Home Mule. The Farmes' Alliance of Kansas in convention at Topeka on the 25th ult., resolved to oppose the election of the nigger lover, John J. Ingalls, of high tariff renown. They are just 100,000 strong and this bit of news causes the royal gentleman to be nauseate at the stomach. Poor old down-trod den Kansas would be better off had Ingalls never been born. Bloomfield (Mo.) Vindicator. Many a Kansas farmer is glad to sell his crop for enough to pay the in terest on his mortgage and enough to carry him over another year, but the profits of the Pittsburg plate glass company for 1880 were nearly $1, 000,000. Regular dividends to the amount of 23 per cent, were paid dur ing the year, and January 29 a special dividend of 11 3-4 per cent, was de clared, making $950,000 net profit. I Is our financial and economic system all right when one class of the com munity make such profits when an other class make nothing, even though tney worK as industriously: Alliance Iribune, lopeka, Kansas. Congress keeDs ud a howl over rules, and the two great (?) parties seem to have nothing to do, nor to have anything at heart but to beai each other, while the cries of the peo pie for help go unheeded. Such a state of affairs is becoming alarming, and tne people should rise in ail their majesty and place men there who have more people and less party at heart. Southern Messenger. Of course it pays best to run a paper in the interest of railroad kings, political rings, brewries and all the monopolistic associates and aids; ba cause they have the money, and are not afraid" to spend a little of it to support their organs. Not until the farmers and laborers realize the worth of the papers that dare to advocate their cause and come with their votes and support can we expect much change for them. Eye Opener. A meeting of the representatives of the Farmers' Alliance met in Topeka last Tuesday to discuss matters con nected with the policy to be pursued during the coming campaign. At this meeting a demand was made to Gov. Humphrey to call an extra ses sion of the legislature for the passage of the stay law. If the Governor does not comply with their request, it is probable his days will be numbered, and that A. W. Smith, of McPherson, a man of ability, with considerable ex perience as a legislator, will be the candidate for governor. Paola Times. Democratic papers are jubilant over the manifest dissatisfaction of the Farmers' Alliance with the Republi can party, and are counting on a clean sweep for Democracy through the aid of this organization. Don't be too fresh, gentlemen. If you held the reins of government, we would be after your scalp just as we are now after that of your Republican ally. Both parties are owned, body and soul, by capitalistic corporations in this world, and Satan has a mortgage upon them and their masters in the next. Honest men and honest measure's are what the farmers are looking for just now, and these are scarce among the leading characters of the old parties. Republican defeat does not mean Democratic victory, by a jug full, and all this Democratic hilarity in view of the prospective loaves and fishes, is just the least bit previous. - Advocate, lopeka, Kansas. GATES COUNTY RETURNS THANKS. Mesolved, That we tender to the Hon. Z. B. Vance and the Hon. J. A. Pickler our thanks for the part they have taken in our behalf and request Senators Ransom and Vance and the Hon. T. G. Skinner, our Representa tive in the Lower House of the Con gress of the United States, to use their influence for the passage of that bill or one that will do us equally as much good to relieve us of some of the heavy burdens that we have to carry. Resolved, That a copy of this reso lution be sent to our Senators and representatives and one to Representa tive Tickler and a copy to The Pro gressive Farmer and National Econ omist for publication. Passed unani mously by the Gates County Farmers' Alliance April 4th, 1890. H. Clay Williams, Pres. H. J. Reed, Sec'y. DARE YOU DENY THEM ? If the government can make a good bond, it can make good money. If the government can loan money to the banks, it can loan direct to the people. If it is right to loan it to an associ ation of individuals, it is right to loan it to an individual. If the government has to issue bonds to borrow money, how can it ever pay the bonds off in money ? If the government can make money and is the only power that can make money, why does it issue interest bearing obligations to get it back from the people ? By what authority of law, common decency or honesty, does a govern ment issue bonds to borrow money from a people that would be placed under arrest if they attempted to make money to loan to the govern ment ? The above is for honest and intelli gent people to think about. Fort Scott Globe. BURKE COUNTY ALLIANCE IN SESSION. How They do it up in the Mountains. Mr. Editor: At the request of the County Secretary, I send you the pro ceedings of our county meeting held at Glen Alpine April 5th, couched in as few words as possible. Before the meeting was formally called to order, Mr. G. F. Chase introduced Mr. J. F. Battle, of the firm of Battle & Co. who are now selling goods under contract to the Alliance, who addressed the body for 30 minutes particularly em plasizing the fact that every Alliance man in the county should regard this store as a part and parcel of the organ ization, and the success of thi3 store depends greatly upon the patronage it received from the members of the organization. And this appeal no doubt will have the effect to largely increase the patronage of this enter prise. President Houk then called the Alliance to order and proceeded to regular business. The efficient Sec retary, S. M. Asbury was at his post. R. A. Cobb was requested to act as Vice-President. The delegates all answered to their names except those who were detained on account of high water. The County Lecturer, Mr. J. V. McCall, then delivered his address, and for half an hour he dealt some heavy blows at monopolies, trusts, combines, national banks and men who are hoarding up money by the thousand dishonestly and at the ex pense of the poor wage-earner. The demands that will be made by the Farmers' Alliance all over the country from candidates for office from President down to the lowest county officer before the next cam paign was then freely discussed by R. A. Cobb, P. W. Patton, J. V. McUall and others and a plan unanimously adopted. The bill known as the sub-treasury bill was then read and its merits and demerits discussed and it was decided that tho movement was in the right direction, but in its present shape it would be inoperative in this section from the fact that few if any of the counties would produce the required amount, $500,000 surplus. The enterprise known as the Burke County Fair Association was highly commended and every Alliance man in the county earnestly requested to put his shoulder to the wheel and not slack his hold until the wagon was rolled to the top of the hill. The subject of an experiment sta tion to be located at the Western N. C. Asylum under the supervision of the officers of that institution was brought to the attention of this body, anh if carried into effect will receive the hearty co-operation of this organi zation. A vote was taken to ascertain the sentiment of the members of this body in reference to the no fence law and a large majority voted in favor of no fence. The loss sustained by brethren Clontz and Lawbacker, one by fire, the other by wind, was brought to the attention of the body and a nice amount was raised for their relief. An order was made directing the County Lecturer, J. V. McCall, to visit each Sub-Alliance in the county by the next county meeting, his ex penses to be paid out of the County Alliance fund. The statistical report shows the body to be about eighteen hundred strong in the county and daily increas ing, the machinery all well adjusted and in good working order. Mr. J. L. J. Estes was appointed to take the crop report of the county and forward the same to the State Alliance Statis tician. "When the hour of one o'clock ar rived Mr. G. F. Chase announced that dinner was prepared for all present and a bountiful supply it was. Every body ate and was filled and there was as much left as there was consumed. R. A. Cobb was unanimously elect ed to represent the Alliance at the store of Battle & Co., in Morganton. The trade committee in their re port stated that after careful exami nation they found that the merchants who had been adopted as a medium to furnish goods to the Alliance men all complying strictly with their con tract. The question of a county banking fund was brought before the body and after some discussion it was de cided that a sufficient amount be ap propriated and placed at the command of the county busines agent to enable him to operate without embarrass ment. This body was composed of intelli gent representative farmers, laborers and mechanics from all portions of the county and produced a fine effect toon the citizens of the beautiful ity oi Glen Alpine. A resolution of thanks was unani lously adopted in favor of the citi ns of Glen Alpine for the hospita le manner in which they entertained ie delegates and members during heir stay, to the ladies for good hings prepared to eat, and to the nembers of the Baptist church for tie use of their house of worship. The next place selected for holding ie county meeting was Table Rock, rhich will be the first Friday in July (the 4th.) Respectfully, R. A. Cobb. STICK TO THE FARM. Mr. Editor: Stick to the farm, young man, now when land is cheap; ves, when land and its products, the r.rue wealth of the nation, are within your control. When corn, wheat, hay and all of the products of the farm are always in demand at a very good price, while the wages of the farm laborer are always the last to be affected by fluctuations of business or political affairs, have advanced comparatively little if any. Now while the farmer is rapidly gaining the re spect and wealth and influence due to his position as "lord of the land." Be not induced to leave your honorable and independent place by the whis perings of ambition urging you to seek for wealth or ease in city life. Young man you are tempted to put off the hard work of the farm to be come a clerk in a city shop; to put off your heavy boots and homespun shirts and be a gentleman behind the counter. You by birth and education intended to be a manly and upright citizen, to be your own boss and to call no man master. You would first become an errand boy of a shop, to pitch and carry like a Spaniard; then as salesman to fill a place which at best a girl would fill much better, to bow and smile and cringe and flatter to attend upon the wishes of every painted and powdered form of hu manity, to bow and humbly suggest to rakes and harlots as well as to starched and ruffled respectability. What color and fabric becomes the form and complexion of each, and finally to become a trader, a ward liper of Mammon; as Carlisle says a kind of human beaver that has learnd the art of ciphering, compelled to look anxiously at the price current of cot ton and coffee in order to learn each morning whether you are a bankrupt or not, and in the end to fail and compromise with your creditors and you conscience and sigh for your na tive home and grieve for pleasures you once enjoyed on the farm. Boys, before you take this step let me ask you to compare a city life with that of your neighbors. His farm, however small, his cellar is al ways filled with such vegetables as he wishes for his consumption, his smokehouse full of barrels of beef and pork of his own slaughtering, his grainery is full of corn, wheat and oats, his cows yield him all the milk and butter he wishes to use, and so I might go on down the list, but now we will look at our city friend who has everything to buy he consumes. He burs one peck of potatoes for thirty cents, beef at ten or twelve, butter at twenty-five, eggs at fifteen, chickens, not larger than a robin, at twelve or fifteen cents, and so on to the end of the chapter, but this is enough. You see there is no life more full of luxury and pleasure than farm life. Sometimes I think the fathers of these unfortunate boys are to blame for the mistakes their boys have made in leaving the farm and going to town. It is the duty of every farmer to get his boy interested in his own business on the farm, learn him indus trial pursuits, economical habits and all the methods of improvement, and then give him the advantage of a liberal education, educate him so that he may be able to make his living by work and not that he may be able to make it without work. Learn your boys to love the farm from the cradle. The following lines give a truthful picture of farm life: Come eee the fanner at his harveet home, When garden, field and till Conspire with flowing stores to fill . Ills barn and granery. Hia healthful children gaily eport Amid the new mown hay, Or proudly aid with vigoroag arm, His tasfcs as beet they may. The harvest giver is his friend, The maker of the soil. And ea th, the mother, gives, them health. And cheers their patient toil. Come join them around their hearth, The heartfelt pleasures see; And you can better jadge how blest The farmer's life may be. John Kkniblt. ) V V
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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April 22, 1890, edition 1
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