L. L. POLK, - Proprjxtor.
BAYLU3 CADE, - Editor.
J. W. DENMARK, - Business Manager.
Raleigh, N. C.
SUBSCRIPTION:
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To Correspondents :
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ion. on one side of tht paper only.
We want intelligent correspondents in every
connty in the State. We want facts of value, re
suiteliccompliaaed of value, experiences of value,
plainly and briefly told. One solid, demonstrated
fact, is worth a thousand theories.
Acldres? all communications to ,
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RALEIGH, N. C, JAN. 6, 1891.
t Thi$ paper entered as second-data natter at the Pot
Gflce in Baliigh,X-
The Progressive Farmer is the
Oleial Organ of the N. C. Fanners'
State A iiance.
Do you want your paper changed to
nother office? State the one at which
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Do you want your communication pub
lished? If so, give us your real name
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fT Our friend in writing to any of
our advertisers, will favor us by mention
ing the fact that they saw the advertise
ment in The Pbogefssive Farmer.
07" The date on your label tells you
when your time is out.
We are indebted to Postmaster
General Wanamaker for valuable pub
lic documents.
The address of L. It. Polk, Presi
dent of the National Alliance, is 344
D St , Washington, D. C. (Reform
papers please copy )
Brother Sinclair, of the Sanford
Express, called one day last week, and
gave us a hearty welcome to the quill
fraternity of North Carolina.
We want the postoffice address of
0. M. Roberson, C. E. Webb and G.
S. Hawkins. We have received a
letter containing cash to be placed to
their credit, and their address was not
given.
Sunday morning, Dec. 28, the round
house of Vie Raleigh and Gaston Rail
way was burned. There were seven
teen locomotives some of them new
burned. The loss has been esti
mated at $50,000.
.
Brother Ramsey, late associate
editor of this papsr, and now editor
and owner of the Watchman, at Salis
bury, gave us a pleasant call one day
last week. We are always glad to see
brother Ramsey.
--
The Convention was composed of a
splendid lot of men and women.
Through the laborious session of six
days and nights, no member was
called to order and no appeal was
taken from the decision of the Chair.
The Twin City Daily office was
destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve.
But," PLoeaixlike, the paper, as the
Twin-City Daily Sentinel, arises from
the flames and comes to our sanctum,
"bright, hopeful and newsy. Oar re
gret at our contemporary's loss is
greatly lessened by the evidence it
has given us of brother Foy's heroic
pluck and energy. " Adversity, like
night, brings out the stars."
Our correspondents will have to
be patient with us. We could fill
The Progressive Farmer with the
letters on our desk. Of course we
cannot print all these letters. We
would gladly print them if we could.
Bat our space is limited and we must
do the best we can. If you do not see
the. letters you have written in The
Progressive Farmer, don't get mad.
Try again, and maybe you'll have
better luck next time.
The memorials of the National
Farmers' Alliance and of some other
industrial organizations, printed else
where in this issue, make it perfectly
certain. that the pork packers of the
country, led by a Boston pork house,
are trying to injure the farming in
terestsof the. South and Southwest in
the Conger bill, now before the Senate
These industrial organizations do not
seek to antagonize any measure, pend
ing or to be introduced, whose object
is to secure to the people articles, of
pure food. They are in favor, be it
remembered; of. the Paddock pure
will mi '
i
Awvu uui. me monger Dill is no
THE PROGRESSIVE -FA
: r 1 i . ? -
aimed against impure lard but against
compound lard. The compound lard
is compose! of cotton seed oil, beef
fat and the fat of the hog; and is as
pure and wholesome as any article of
lard can be. Let our readers remem
ber that this Conger bill is another at
tempt of the monopolists to enrich
themselves at the expense of the
farmers and stock raisers.
- -" .
Legislation is demanded in the pub
lic interest, requiring that the capital
and mortgage bonds of a railroad
shall never exceed its actual cash cost.
Then the public would willingly pay
a freight and passenger tariff which
would net a fair remuneration to the
owners. It is unfair to ask farmers
and shippers to contribute to. the pay
ment of dividends on a sum two or
three times the honest cost of a rail
road. It is a swindle. The farmers
should rebel against such injustice.
The above clipping from the Ameri
can Cultivator expresses our sentiments
exactly; and has more sense in it than
many a thundering leader. It hits
the mark exactly. Keep it going
A committee of Kansas Senators
appointed two years ago to recom
mend retrenchments in the expendi
tures of the State, has completed its
work, and will give it into the hands
of the Governor in a few days. If
tho recommendations of this commit
tee shall be enacted into law by the
legislature, there will be secured to
the people of Kansas the most econ
omical administration of public affairs
which has ever been given to any
Sta.e of this Union. We note with
pleasure that the nesv plan of reform
provides for the supervision of rail
ways by the State. We congratulate
the farmers of Kansas upon the work
they have done in forcing these re
forms. You will observe in another column
of this paper, to day, a general notice
from a reliable boot and shoe house
Messrs. Hano & Wolf, 117 and 119
N. 8th street, Philadelphia, Pa. This
is one of the largest wholesale boot
and shoe houses in the United States,
and a house that has built up an enor
mous business entirely through the
merits of their goods. Messrs. Hano
& Wolf will take pleasure in sending
to any member of the Alliance their
catalogue and price list, and any goods
.hat may be selected. We trust every
member in need of boots and. shoes
will send their orders to Messrs Hano
& Wolf, of 117 and 119 N 8ta St,
Philadelphia, Pa, where all orders
will receive the best of care and most
prompt attention.
We should feel much easier about
the late fight betwixt troops of the
United States and the Indians in Da
kota, if we knew that the Indians had
been treated fairly by the agents ap
pointed by the government to deal
with them. It is sickening to think
of mounted troops riding down and
killing women and little chileren, even
if those women and children are
savages. But we do not know the
circumstances of the case, and we do
not pretend to blame the troops. One
thing about this Indian business is
certain, the government should treat
them with justice, and then it should
make them behave themselves. But
behave themselves they never will, so
long as they live in a wild country
and are allowed to retain their tribal
organizations.
AGAINST VANCE.
Mr. Editor: At a joint meeting of
Juvenile and Rocky Mount Sub-Alliances,
held in the town of Rocky
Mount, N. C, on Dec 13th, 1890, it
was unanimously resolved that we
stand by the Sub-Treasury plan, and
aequest our representatives in the
legislatuae to carry out this resolution,
Vance or no Vance.
Respectfully, .
Geo. W. Proctor, Sec'y.
We publish the above joint action
of Juvenile and Rocky Mount Alii-
ances. This action was taken before
Senator Vance's late letter was made
public. It is only fair to the Alliances
and to our readers to say that we
have on our desk resolutions to the
same purport from the following Alii
ances, viz:r Red House, Sandy Creek,
White Oak, Deep -Creek; Liberty,
Gillsburg, Piney Forest, .Harrellsville
Coinjock, Oak Grove, South Durham,
Osgood, Womble, Oak Shoal, and
Stoney Creek.
We assume that Senator Vance's
late letter was not known to the
brethren when their action was taken,
and we await their pleasure.
DOES HE EVAD2 ?
By reference to the correspondence
in this issue of The Progressive
Farmer it will be seen that some of
our people think Senator Vance's let
ter to President Cair evades the issue
presented to him in Carr's letter.
In this view of the case The Pro
gressive Farmer dots not concur.
We think the Senator's letter is a full,
fair, unequivocal answer to the ques
tion presented to him; and we make
no doubt at all that Senator Vance
will carry out . in good faith any in
structions which the General Assembly
may give him, if such instruct ons do
not involve him in a moral wrong; and,
in case the instructions should involve
a "moral wrong," he says it would be
his duty to resign.
In all this paper has said in the past
in opposition to the re election of Sen
ator Vance, we have never said one
word that could be construed to the
damage of his honesty or patriotism.
We believe the Senator to be able,
brave, honest and patriotic; and we
have never said one word in criticism
of him, or in opposition to him that
would indicate that we held any other
opinion of him. Our quarrel hitherto
has been with the Senator's position,
and not with the man.
As we said in our last issue, it is
the duty of the General Assembly to
instruct Senator Vance to vote for the
Sub Treasury plan, if they want him
to vote for and - support it. And we
think these instructions should be
given before a single ballot is taken
for Senator.
One word more. If the General
Assembly should deem it wise to give
Senator Vance instructions, it is our
opinion that these instructions should
be as liberal as possible. The instruc
tions should set forth clearly the ends
to be attained, and leave the Senator
the largest liberty of action in connec
tion with the selection of his methods,
which consists with the ends proposed.
The All.ancas should earnestly desire
to make their Senator a warm friend
to their measures of reform; and this
they cannot do by unnecessarially cir
cumssrioing his action.
caution
The rapid growth of the Firmer'
Alliance, and its astonishing success,
achieved by its aaitation of reform
principles, are likely to beget an over
weening confidence that may do the
causa great harm. The laws relating
to finance are, many of them, wicked
ly partial and oppressive. Many
features of the system of national reve-
nue are unpnnosopaic and hurtful.
The statute books of tie United
States are burdened with enactments,
which invite and help all sorts of self
ish combinations of the few against
the many.
The people, and especially the
farmers, feel most keenly the evil
effects of bad administration, as well
as those of bad legislation. The peo
ple are beginning to understand their
enormous power, lncv have about
made up their minds to take matters
into their own hands and apply, for
their relief, the remedies they have
been asking from the law-makers of
the country for vears. Indiernant
under a sense of iii justice, and im
pelled by the mockery of those whom
they have heretofore trusted, there is
danger that Ihey may commit them
selves to schemes of reform tnat
will not stand the test of experience.
in o inougnuui person needs to oe
T V a
told that a scheme of reform enacted
into law, which would break down in
practice, would be fatal to the present
movement of the farmers, and of
other working people.
Hasty legislation is always imper
fect legislation, and very often it is
absolutely bad legislation. If ;he
farmers and other laboring men of
this country are to take any large and
honorable part in governing them
selves in the future, they must make
so sure of every step forward as that
there can be no successful demands
made upon them for retrogression.
Retreat will be disaster.
. The . cause represented t by the re
form-demanding farmers and laborers
of this country at the present time is
as just ..as v any cause evar 'was; and
cautious, patient action is sure to vin
dicate its justness Let us, therefore,
go about' the matter of reforming and
purifying the politics of the country
Him wo caimuess or. men vyno Jfnow
what is right, and who mean to hare
R, JANUAKY X 1891.
r : ; ' r.
what is right, not only for themselves
but for all other classes of their fellow
citizens.
We see signs of most cheering
hope in the manifest eagerness of the
people to read upon the great ques
tions of popular government. Let
them read read carefully, widely
and deeply upon all these great ques
tions. Turn on the light; teach the
people to think; cultivate the habit of
examining and digesting every feature
of existing law, and every part of
any plans that may be offered for en
actment into law; and then there .will
be no longer need to fear that our re-
brm will be forced to go backward.
It would be idle to'attempt to dis
guise the fact that many. Alliancemen
-good and true Alliancemen in this
country entertain serious doubts about
both the desirability and practicability
of some of the measures that have
been offered for their acceptance. It
i3 unwise to brush these men aside as
enemies of our order and obstruction
ists to our reforms because they do
not agree with us upon all points.
Whether they are right or wrong is
not now the question The question
is, shall there be an open, free, full
and fair discussion of all reasonable
plans and opinions,""and the ultimate
selection of those to be carried
through, which are best for all classes
of our citizenship ?
Some of the anti reform papers are
expressing a tear tnat tne iarmers
will use their immense power to
bring about hasty and ill digested
legislation. It is only fair to assume
that these papers are honest in express
ing these fears. But if it should turn
out that they are dishonest, and are
only predicting hasty action in the
hope of bringing it about, that would
not make it any the less necessary for
us to be sure of every step before tak
ing it.
For one, we believe in the Alliance.
We think its principles are just and
righteous; and we want to see those
principles so perfectly embodied in
the institutions of the country thit no
member of a future generation shall
have cause to regret the rise and reign
of the Farmers' Alliance.
CHIVALRY IN JOURNALISM.
It speak ) well for human nature,
and it speaks well for journalism in
North Carolina, when one member of
the profession has the chivalrous
courage, the high-class manhood, to
come to the defense of one of his
order, whom he regards as having
been most foully assailed. This cour
age, this manhood, Mr. Josephus
Daniels, editor of the State Chronicle,
of this city, displayed when he, last
week, took up the task of clearing the
character of the editor of this paper
trom most foul and most false
aspesions cast upon it without provo
cation of any sort. We take this
method of assuring Mr.- Daniels and
the public generally of our profound
sense of gratitude to him for the ser-
vice which he has rendered to us, and
to the cause of decent journalism, at
one and the same time.
MR. HAL. W. AYER
Mr. Hal. W. Ayer retires from the
State Chronicle to day to become the
private secretary of Col. L. L. Polk,
President of the National Farmers'
Alliance and Industrial Union. He
will leave this morning to enter upon
his new labors. He is in thorough
a .cord and sympathy with the reforms
for which the Alliance is earnestly
striving and will prove of real service
to Col. Polk and the Alliance.
We have no words with which to
express our appreciation of the labors
of Mir. Ayer or the sincere esteem in
which we hold him. Much of the ex
cellence of the State Chronicle has been
due to his ability as a journalist; and
in his withdrawal we feel the loss at
once of an efficient co-worker and
esteemed friend.' -He wil1 write oc
casionally letters to the Chronicle and
thus keep up his connection with the
paper. k
No young man in Raleigh is held in
higher esteem by the general public
than Mr. Ayer,. and the Chronicle
voices the sentiment of the entire
community in wishing for him every
success ana happiness in his new field
of labor and usefulness. -State Chron
tele, 30fA.
We join the Chronicle in good
wishes for Mr. Ayer. While we re
gret to lose him from the ranks of
journalism in North Carolina, we re
joice that he goes to the National
Capital where he will have an oppor
tunity to study men and measures
under the -most favorable
circum
stances.
THE PUBLIC PRINTING
Inasmuch as it has been charged
that The Progressive Farmer has
been conspiring to secure for itself
the Public Printing contrast -lor the
nex; two years, it will not be amiss to
say one or two things upon that sub
ject.
The Progressive Farvcer does not
want the public printing. The Pro
gressive Farmer would not have the
public printing... The Progressive
Farmer does not want, and does not
desire public patronage of any sort.
The Progressive Farmer is an inde
pendent reform paper; and means to
. . .1-1
say lust wnat it inmjts upuu mo
economic issues before the people; but
it intends to make no factious fights,
and engage in no personal conflicts
with anybody for private gam. We
advocate reforms for the sake of the
reforms; and we mean to keep our
hands and our conscience clean
while doing this blessed work.
We have little hope that the above
statements will be taken as true, by
the little men who have measured our
manhood with the rule of their own
conscious meanness, and we have little
care whether they are . so taken or
not by the contemptible fellows who
stick out their lips at us.
IMPOVERISHING A DOZEN MEN
AND ENRICHING ONE.
At a banquet given by the Reform
Club of New York City, on the 23 iH
ult., quite a number of distinguished
gentlemen delivered speeches. Among
them was the Governor of Iowa; and
we reproduce his speech, as reported
by the press, as worthy the serious
consideration of all patriotic men. It
will be seen that as far as he goes he
plants himself squarely on the de
mands of the Alliance. He is right
when he declares that agriculture
shall be put on a different basis, or
the politicians must prepare for a
storm. Read and ponder his weighty
and truthful words:
Gov. Horace Boies, of Iowa, was
the next speaker, in response to the
toast, "Our new allies in the North
west; what our farmers have a right
to demand."
The situation in his own Slate of
Iowa, Mr. Boies thought, fairly re
fleeted the conditio a of the agricul
tural classes throughout the North
west, the principal food producing dis
trict of the continent. During the
last five years the production oi corn
in Iowa had been carried on at a net
yearly loss of 67 cents aa acre, a con
dition of adversity which no other
business in the country could have
withstood. What is true of corn is
equally true of all the great staples
raised on farms. Had it been prac
ticable for the farmers to withdraw
their capital from this line of industry
their numbers would have been great
ly reduced; but this was impracticable,
and from the very necessity of their
situation they have continued a busi
ness, burdened with less, out of which
this nation has gathered three fourths
of all its exports, and by reason of
which it has been able to preserve a
balance of trade in i;s favor that has
constantly added to the national
wealth. If the cruel business of a
country is being done at a loss, and
yet the country as a whole is growing
richer, there must be some -flagrant
error in the industrial system that
produces such a result; that so operates
that those who produce the grea .er
part of the wealth do not enjoy it; that
by law compels the great body of men
engaged in agricultural pursuits to
surrender to a few the profits cf their
labor; that, in short, impoverishes a
dozen men where it enriches one.
There is no possible justification for
a system of laws that produces, such
a result. No plea for the nation's
prosperity can smother the indefensible
wrong that takes a single dollar from
the earnings of one class of its citi
zens and bestows it as a bounty upon
those of another. Time alone is
required to divide these classes ,in
this, the proudest Republic on the
globe, as the human family is already
divided in the aristocratic monarchies
of the old world. It is infinitely
better that this nation should remain
poor, with its property distributed
among all classes, than become the
richest on the globe with its wealth
concentrated in the hand of a few.
No tariff levied on products which
a nation produces in excess of its own
wants, which must find a market
elsewhere, can have any effect upon
the prices of such Commodities. On
the other hand a tariff upon foreign
manufactured goods increases their
cost and the cost of like goods
produced at home, because of such
goods we produce less than we use,
and hence must supply our wants in
part by import Uion.
Bat tnis increased cost is not the
farmers' chief ground "of complaint
against protective tariff. A tariff
that kpeps the products of any foreign
nauon out oi our market must to a
considerable extent keep ours out of its
" ""ugu W1- me i act tW
nation could long pay in gold f 110
considerable amount of our rr ny
and escape bankruptcy If wl fct8
foreign nations, we must buy o 10
Inasmuch as our farmers sudvIv tCeia
fourths of all our exports; thev
the chief sufferers from any I vre
that closes foreign markets a,;.; f
In conclusion, Gov. Boies said-
I want now to oav t.n v..
?n o: this nation, and to nnlit;?es8
as well, that some plan must f!
devised - to cat this inrw
O '"uusny Qjj
different basis or this nation nm
prepare for a storm, the consequent
of which in both a political and
economic sense no man can measur
T want io sav fnrthaT il
engaged in this industry are not
A . i. - I- i
7 . 7J . ual ID6 ffipn
4
going
m ixj 34. ) I. I f I r - m. rinrno TYio&n
up around them that is large enough
to consume the enormous surplus thev
annually produce. It is relief f0y
themselves and not for generations
unborn that they demand.
" Agriculturists are not the enemies
of manufacturing industries. They
will readily consent to stand before
the law upon an equality of privileges
with every other industry, biu they
will not consent to see tht-ir own
destroyed that others may attain phe
nomenal success.
They ure already thoroughly
aroused. They are fast becoming as
thoroughly organized. The law mak
ing power of this nation must revisa
the tariff in their interest or they will
change the men who constitute that
power.
Recalling the sentiment of my toast,
" What our farmers have a right to
iemnd," permit me to add they rep
resent an industry as old at least as
the civilization of man, as laborious
as-any that has ever fallen to his h
without the successful prosecution of
which the whole human fanvly would
lapse into barbarism and end in decay.
A business that fjrrns tin base of
every o;her, without which the chan
nels of trahe would run dry, the cities
of the earth molder into duit, and the
wealth of the world disappear.
Considered apart from their busi
ness they are the bone and sine?? o!
this nation. With their onc Uloused
hands they have produced the bulk of
its wealth; in times of war they hare
been its sturdy defenders, in times of
peace the promoters of its welfare.
Who shall set the limit of their
rightful demand upon a country they
have made and preserved ?
They have a right to demand that
in the future policy of this government
no discrimination be made in favor
of other industries at the expanse of
their own; that the power of the gov
ernment to levy taxes be limi :e i totie
single purpose of raising nesassarj
revenue to be economically expended;
that all property bear its just poj'on
of that burdeD; that markets broad
enough to consume the products ol
their labor and capital at compenss
tory prices, be as carefully looked
after and nurture 1 as those that con
sume the productions of labor and ap
ital employed in other lines of busi
ness. They may also demand that a cur
rency which is good enough for one
man shall be made good enough for
all others and plenty enough to pre
serve a just equality between r.s value
and the value of the products of labor
in all legitimate kinds of business.
That both the nation and the Stite
shall exercise over lines of transpor
tation at reasonable and just control,
to the end that their products, the
most bulky compared to their value of
any produced, shall n:t oo subject
to be charged out of proportion to such
value.
WHO OWNS THIS COUNTRY?
How Class Legislation Creates Million
aires and Paupers.
Mr Shear-nan's statement, reducing
to tabular form the amount of wealtb
in the ttands of persons worth over
. . .. TT J CUQt
$500,UUO each in tne unnea oi
was about as follows:
200 persona
400 persons
1,0 0 persona
2,0t0 persons
6.000 persona
15,000 persona
at
a.
at
.at
at
at
$30,coo.ceo
10,CO0,000
5,00 000
2,500 000
1,00 00)
500.00C
$4,00(1,00 ),000
4 000 0 O.WJ
5,(00, 0,
1,0 oO',0i0
6,0t'0-,0,''j
Total.... t31.MO0W.009
This gave for the whole country
total of 9,600 millionaires. It
gave the startling result is the ag
gregate wealth, according to the high
est estimate, does not exceed $60,0iJV
000,000 that less than 25,000 persons
possess more than one half of the &
tire national wealth, real and persons
of every name and nature. nerej.;
no region on earth where class Ifl,
tion and the control of government dj
the money power are having a m
injurious effect upon the masses, ,
the concentration of wealth in 1
hands, than in the United Spates.
things are going, and have been goS
for thirty years, instead of being
land of the free and the home i oi
brave," we shall be the and or
rich and the home of the elave.
Jackson, Mich, Patriot.
We thank our friends for wtattheJ
helped us Jo accomplish in 18 . 0f
began the year with a circulation
11,520 and closed it with :
net gain of 6,720. We issued dow
the year 719,160 copies of the PC
averaging 13,830 per week tw j
round. Let each subscriber sen
a 'uew one at once and help n
double what we are now doing. j
7