PIOGRESSIV
. THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Vol. 6. RALEIGH, N. C, APRIL 21, 1891. Na 9
i " 1 " i I '
CIRCULATION.
The actual circulation of Volume V,
which closed with the issue of Febru
ary 17th, 1S91, was as follows:
February 1M890' 12.0
Augrust
Sept.
19,1890, 16,680
25,
12,240
12,10
10,500
10.5t
26,
16,680
16,800
16,800
17,040
16,800
17,20
17,040
17,280
17,280
17,280
17,280
17,760
17,760
17,760
18,230
18,240
18,240
March
4,
11,
1",
25,
1,
8,
15,
;
,
13,
SO,
27,
3,
10,
17,
24,
1,
,
15,
22
29,'
5,
12,
9
e,
16,
21,
30,
7,
14,
21,
28,
4.
U,
10,800
10,800
10,800
10,800
10,800
11,040
11,040
11,160
11,100
11,400
11,280
11,280
11,400
11,400
11,400
11,520
11,640
12,360
13,800
16,320
16,680
April
October
Nov.
18,
25,
Decemb'r 2,
9,
16,
June
23,
18,240
July
January
6. 1891, 13,240
13. " 18,240
20, " 18,240
27, " 18,240
February 3, " 18,240
10, " 18,240
17, " 18,240
August
First 6 months, 307,080
Second 6 months, 458,160
Making a total circulation for the
year of 765,240; averaging for 52 suc
cessive issues, per issue, 14,716, and
showing a net increase for the year of
5,400, or more than 113 per week.
The above statement is taken from
the records kept in the office of The
Progressive Farmer, and is correct to
the best of my knowledge and belief.
J. W. Denmark,
Business Manager.
I am Book-keeper for Edwards &
Broughton, Printers and Binders, Ral
eigh, N. C. The press-work on The
Progressive Farmer has been done
for the past three years by Edwards &
Broughton, and I have kept account of
the same. I have compared the above
statement with the account I have
kept, and find it tallies throughout,
and is correct. T. J. Bashford.
Personally appeared before me, W.
T. Womble, Notary Public, J. W. Den
mark, Business Manager of The Pro
gressive Farmer, als) T. J. Bashford,
Book-keeper for Edwards & Broughton,
and mike oath that the statements
contained above are correct to the best
of their knowledge and belief.
In witness where f, I have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my notarial
seal of office this day, February 26th,
1891. W. T. Womble,
Notarial Seal Notary Public.
EDITORIAL NOTES.
Senator Vance denies that there
was any drunkenness or bad behavior
on the funeral train to California. The
Senator also denies that the expenses
were as great as they were reported to
be. The Senator thinks, however, that
these Senatorial funerals are altogether
too expensive. We think so too.
Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, has
resigned his place in the Senate of the
United States. We are not sorry to see
this man go. He is a man of great
ability. But he has been standing and
voting with the classes against the
masses for a great many years. The
country can spare all the men of that
kind from the activities of public life
without loss and without regret.
We have heard of waterspouts; we
have heard of small waterspouts ; we
have heard of dangerous waterspouts,
and we have heard of several other
kinds of waterspouts. But the New
York Herald has recently discovered
"a ferocious waterspout." Since the
Herald has discovered this "ferocious
waterspout," we feel it to be our duty
to warn Gen. Greely.When waterspouts
become "ferocious" there is no telling
what terrible thing they may do to a
man that goes prowling around o'nights
studying the habits of the weather.
The Herald thinks New York will
soon get small portions of the spring
weather that the West and South have
been enjoying for some time past. But
there is a tone of sad doubtfulness about
its predictions upon that subject. Cer
tainly this desponding tone is not due
to the decay of the Herald"s confidence
in its ability to get its orders for
special weather filled by the clerk of
that industry. We suspect that the
Herald's low spirits, just now, must
be due to the unwillingness of Mr.
McKinley to let the weather come in
free of customs duties.
We challenge any man anywhere,
to give a sound argument, based upon
facts, against the free coinage of silver;
the air is blue with assertions that such
coinage will ruin the country. But
not one of these peddlers of economic
dogma, from Mr. Cleveland down, has
brought forward one fact of history,
or one conclusion of philosophy, to
support his bold assertion. These men
bring forward no facts and conclusions
to support their case, simply because
there are do such facts and conclusions
to bring forward. We defy the anti
silver men to bring forward one fact
to sustain them in their insane devo
tion to a gold standard. The pages of
The Progressive Farmer are open to
these men. Let them come forward
with their facts, or hush.
'
Senator Vance told a reporter the
other day that he understood that he
had been instructed by the North Car
olina legislature to support the "plan
of financial reform as contemplated by
the Ocala Convention, and not any
particular bill." This is our under
standing of the matter also. So far as
we know, there has never been any
disposition in the Alliance to embarrass
Senators and Representatives with par
ticular bills. The Alliance demands
certain objects at the hands of legisla
tion, and it is willing to leave men in
Congress free to embody those objects
in such legislation as may be wisest.
.
The Hon. Thomas B. Reed, of Maine,
lately described the McKinley bill as
"a bill which has for its object the
aiding of the poor by raising their
wages." And yet, as the Neiv York
Times has shown, since the enactment
of that infamous measure the wages
of working men in all the branches of
the protected industries have been re
duced. Did anybody expect anything
else ? If a man can be found anywhere
who really expected the McKinley bill
to raise anybody's wages, he may
safely be classed as not of sound mind ;
and those who claimed that the tariff
outrage of the last Congress would
raise wages, can be as safely classed as
not of sound heart. In our secret soul
we believe that the man who favors
protection by the imposition of customs
duties, is either incompetent to think
correctly, or else he is a knave. The
man who honestly thought the Mc
Kinley law would benefit wage-earners
must have been born an original stupid.
But Tom Reed, was not born a stupid.
Benjamin Harrison, President of the
United States, is now travelling in
the South. We hope he may make a
careful study of our section ; and we
shall be glad if such study shall make
him heartily ashamed of having given
the great weight of his influence to a
tariff system that robs the South to
build up the North and East. We could
not work up our personal enthusiasm
to the yelling point over the President's
visit to our section if we should tiy.
We do not believe in wineing and din
ing and lionizing a man whose whole
official and personal weight is thrown
against our people. If the Southern
people would take our advice, they
would let the President pursue his way
through the South, without any demon
strations of enthusiasm. We may not
be able to rid ourselves, at once, of the
intolerable tariff burdens Mr. Harrison
has helped to fix upon us. But we are
not bound to lick the hand that smites
us. We can bear our burdens in silence
and be men. We cannot fawn and
cringe before this representative of a
wicked system without entitling our
selves to be called a lot of whining
curs. The above is meant to be plain
speech.
We gather from our exchanges that
some of the leaders of the Democratic
party in this country are still in favor
of running Mr. Cleveland for the presi
dency next year, in spite of his notions
upon the silver question. We do not
know how it will be. But we do know
that Alliance votes will not be cast for
Mr. Cleveland, or for any other anti
silver man. We say this, because we
do not want anybody to lay the flatter
ing unction to his soul that Southern
Alliancemen can be made to fall into
line and support any man that may be
set up up, simply because he is a Demo
crat. The Alliance demands of the
present parties contain well-known
financial reforms. These reforms are
just and fair to all parties and classes.
And we mean to beat the men at the
polls who may be set up against these
demands, no matter what party they
may belong to. The old cry of negro
domination in these States has lost its
power, for the reason that the negroes
of the South the great masses of them
are honestly at work in the fields
and shops, trying to earn a living for
themselves and families, notwithstand
ing the burdens that have been put
upon them by the McKinley bill.
Dear brother, if you are behind with
your subscription, please pay up.
THE TRUSTS.
Something of Interest Concerning Them.
Hyco, Va., April 1, 1891.
The student of modern political econ
omy, especially of American economics, :
as compared with the teachings of
Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and
John Stewart Mill, recognizes a wide
departure from the old school econ
omics, resulting from radical changes
going on in the existing industrial sys
tern now pervading all business.
There is a manifest growing ten
dency to eliminate competition as the
controlling economic force ; and, so far
as possible, to circumscribe the area
within which its influence is effectual.
There is an impelling cause behind this
movement, the chief economic reason
for which is claimed to be the concen
tration and conservation of energy
with the least expense and competative
waste savings in the wages of officers,
agents, traveling salesmen ; and, above
all, the expenses of competitive strife.
But the real cause underlying the for
mation of trusts and combinations is
the advantages and opportunities which
come through the concentration of
large amounts of capital in the hands
of their controllers, by which they are
enabled to over-reach and effectually
crush out all competition, thus giving
the power to monopolize and control
the business for which the combines
and trusts were formed.
THEY HAVE COME.
The trusts have come; and, while
there remains individual competion in
a restricted sense, its social supremacy,
as a factor in the life-work of these
later times, is gone, and with it large
ly the power of the people to right
themselves. Machinery has largely
taken the place of manual labor, and
the progress of invention in all indus
trial development has largely increased
profits under a prorata reduction of
manual labor, and thereby giving to
manufacturers commanding large capi
tal not only a more certain control but
larger profits. The king of the trusts,
"The Standard Oil," was formed in
1874, and since then more than three
score trusts have been formed in many
of the leading industries of the coun
try, and they are still stretching their
briarean arms "to grasp in all the'
shore."
NATURAL THAT THOSE AFFECTED ABUSE
THEM.
It is but natural that the people
mostly affected by the trusts should
declaim against and abuse them ; but
have not the organizers of syndicates
simply adjusted themselves to prevent
economic conditions, to avail of oppor
tunities for personal gain, made possi
ble under the politics economic sys
tem now in vogue? There is a princi
ple pervading all human nature, how
ever civilized and cultured, that invites
the individual to grasp all that is at
tainable and utilize every opportunity
for personal gain not interdicted by
law. Many blame the organizers of
trusts who would gladly themselves
get. into them, and "on the ground
floor," were it possible.
Success in war is greatly determined
by heavy battallions skillfully handled,
and the largest profits are realized from
concentrated capital so employed as to
crush out and defy competition. Then
again capital the money class in this
country has always received special
favor and been granted special privi
leges. The tendency of economic de
velopment has for years been in the
direction of combinations and trusts,
and they have grown so powerful as
not only to menace all individual enter
prise but the public welfare.
NO EASY PROBLEM.
To control trusts and keep them
within the bonds of ethical economy
just and fair to all trades, industries
and classes i no easy problem, and
is made more difficult since capital has
leaned its potency in controlling leg
islation in its behalf.
There seams but one way to success
fully meet and oppose the encroach
ments of trusts, combinations and syn
dicates formed and forming to rob
the people, and that is to increase, ex
tend and magnify the functions and
power of the State, or of the Union, to
deal with them. Individual effort is
powerless, and the way has not yet
been opened for association and organ
izations of the people to successfully
oppose monopolies.
THE TOBACCO TRUST.
The tobacco trust, formed and form
ing, threatens the entire tobacco in
dustry. Its influence has already
proved so pernicious, hurtful, and ob
noxious to the great mass of planters
and dealers, and so threatening to all
the manufacturers outside of the trusts,
as to already paralyze the industry
and cause the gravest fears. Various
measures have been suggested to thwart
the purposes of the trusts. One of
these, concerted or forced obstention
from planting for a time, might prove
effectual, if forced through taxation i
or otherwise so as to make it general ;
but this would hurt innocent manu
facturers, the planter's main customers
and best friends. Boycotting trust
goods offers a fairer, and, as some claim,
a surer method. This writer suggests
a graduated tax cumulative with the in
crease of the product manufactured as
likely t prove more effectual.
Every tobacco man outside of the
trust should unite and combine to down
the tobacco trust, or else the planters,
warehouse men and dealers will be
forced to abandon the industry. A
resolute determined people can accom
plish much in the way of reform, espe
cially when they have right and justice
on their side and are impelled by na
ture's fundamental law, self-preservation.
Let us start right, do right, and
continue right onward, and as Judge
Daniel once said substantially, "some
law will surely be found to uphold us
in so doing." The tobacco trust has
already "set its coulter so deep" as, in
time to effectually balk the whole trust
team, which means ruin to the busi
ness. It has surely brought great
damage to the tobacco industry al
ready, and when the rebound comes,
as surely it will come soon or late,
where will the trust be then ?
A SOCKDOLAGER.
The reader may ask, what is meant
by a "sockdolager?" We reply, it is
what old Tom Blackwell, the grand
father of Buck Blackwell, of Durham,
was wont to call a knock-down. Here
is a "sockdolager" knock-down for the
trusts :
Let the State recognize trusts as it
has railroad corporations, and then
pass laws to effectually control them.
"Fight the devil with fire," and big
chunks of it well heaped on. Give to
them distinct public functions and
characters, as distinct from private
business; require public supervision
over them in order to rectify abuses
and to protect the citizens and Com
monwealth. There is no necessity to
make a communistic State, but there
is a palpable and urgent necessity to
protect private property, individual
rights and enterprise, and to promote
the industrial welfare and well-being
of all the people.
IMPERATIVELY DEMANDED.
There is a growing inequality of con
dition of the people of this great re
public that menaces its stability and
the perpetuation of true Democracy.
Something is imperatively demanded
to correct the evil tendency in the
aggrandizement of immense wealth in
the hands of the favored few. Tax
ation is the factor needed as the great
equalizer in solving this irregular so
cial equation. Let the State levy a
graduated income tax, cumulative on
the amount taxed, on all corporations,
trusts and individuals ; tax all inher
itances and bequests, and levy a spe
cial tax on the succession of all estates
over $100,000, and thus accomplish for
the next generation what our fore
fathers so wisely and beneficiently did
in the inauguration of this republic,
in the abolishment of primogeniture
and entail.
Desperate diseases require heroic
remedies, and the diseased body politic
must be treated accordingly. The
economic conscience, at its best, is not
above par; and "corporations have no
souls," and therefore the State alone
must govern them. The autonomy
of the State, so greatly endangered by
trusts, must be preserved at all haz
ards, and everything in conflict there
with must be suppressed or brought
into subjection to law, or we will soon
witness what is fast approaching an
aristocracy of wealth a despicable
plutocracy that will crush out all
enterprise and thrift outside of their
favored arenas, and inaugurate a ty
ranny more cruel and enslaving than
feudalism or serfdom, because of its
being inflicted on a people that have
once known and enjoyed the blessings
of civil and industrial liberty. ..
Beware of trusts !
R. L. Rag land.
Senator Vance tninks Mr. Cleve
land cannot be elected President, on
account of his anti silver notions. We
think so too. But then we are a "pop
gun editor," and people of such small
metal are not expected to have opin
ions that the great ones of earth are
bound to respect. We wonder if Sen
ator Vance can have joined the "pop
gun" editorial fraternity.
RESOLUTIONS OF SASSAFRAS
FORK ALLIANCE, NO. 591.
Elkin, N. C, March 1891.
Mr. Editor : We do hereby declare
our disapproval of the Modern Con
gressional funeral, and they have be
come not only uselessly extravagant,
but indicate disreputable and insulting
to the memory of our dead representa
tives, as well as corrupting to the mem
bers appointed to attend as mourners.
We believe that common justice and
fairness should prompt Congress to
provide a place of burial near Wash
ington for such members as die while
in that city on duty, and decency
might make it necessary for the public
to pay for the coffin of such of our rep
resentatives as have drank up or gam
bled off their pay, but we fail to see
any good reason for sending eighteen
members of Congress on a pic mc ex
cursion across the continent, and at a
public cost of $100,000 to accompany
the remains of a man who left to his
heirs twenty millions of dollars. If
the government had this money on
hand and were at a loss what to do
with it, we believe it might have been
more profitably spent in aiding one
thousand poor families in getting
through the winter and making some
thing to live upon in the future, instead
of paying it out for vestibule palace
trains, to enrich corporations and to
give a free excursion to members of
Congress.
We further request our representa
tives in Congress to use their best en
deavors to prevent a repetition of these
scandelous proceedings.
We would also state that we have
grave suspicions that many of the In
vestigating Committees appointed by
Congress are only jobs put up to fur
nish work and pay to members of Con
gress during recess and give, employ
ment to their sons and friends as clerks
to the committees.
Robt. J. Coen, Pres.
C. C. Heggie, Sect'y.
BLAIR IN THE FIRST DISTRICT.
Mr. Editor: I began my tour of the
old Frst district at home in Hertford
county. Notwithstanding the con
tinued rains and swollen streams, and
that a prophet is not without honor
save in his own country, etc., the hall
of Menola Alliance, No. 991, was
packed to more than fulless, while I
declared for more than an hour the
gospel of the Farmers' Alliance and
Laborers' Union to the general public.
Then all were cordially invited to a
public dinner given bv the ladies of
Menola. All were fed, and baskets full
were taken up and nothing wasted.
In the afternoon was held the county
meeting, the largest I have seen in the
county r It filled the hall. The sisters
were in attendance, and one was a dele
gate. Mrs. S. R. Brown, Secretary of
Menola Sub-Alliance, read a speech of
welcome which she had prepared. It
was handsomely responded to in an
impromptu speech by brother Overton,
of Ahoskie Alliance.
Sister Brown's speech was so enthu
siastically received that the County
Alliance unanimously requested it for
publication in The Progressive Far
mer, where you will doubtless see it.
Some singing was lead by that expert
vocalist and singing master, brother
Matthews, of Bethlehem Alli
ance, from "Farmers' Alliance Songs."
The business of the County Alliance
was transacted with life and dispatch
in great harmony. I then addressed
the order, instructing and encourag
ing it to more faith and activity. This
was the first of our circulating county
meetings and pronounced the best ever
held, so that other places asked for the
next meeting, but Ahoskie got it and
will be well filled with visitors, and
will have better meeting, for that is
what we are to do advance; improve
by the mistakes and successes of the
past. ' 'God be with you till we meet
again" was sung with happy effect, and
adjournment followed.
The breaking of the ferry cable
across the Chowan disappointed me,
so I had to go another route to Gates
ville, which I did not reach till 1 :30 p.
m., on Saturday and found the Alliance
in session to economize time. So
anxious were they to hear me that I
addressed them at 2 p. m., without
dinner. Then closed a large meeting
fully in the Alliance spirit. Then,
strange for me, ate a few oysters and
some crackers and soup, hastily, and
went to the court house and addressed
a good audience and an attentive one
till it was time to go home. The Presi
dent, H. C. Williams; the Secretary,
H. J. Reed, James Bond, Treasurer of
the county, J. J. Eggleston, Sheriff, L.
L. Hofler, Register of Deeds, J. S. Fel
ton and others will do to count on for
Gates.
Brother Simpson Hudgins denied
himself to take me in his cart, after
niglis, five miles beyond his home,
entertaining me with Alliance infor
mation and local incidents of interest,
to the hospitable home of brother Wm.
Cannon, who next day took me to
Sunday-school and worship at Belvi
dere, that gem of a village for educa
tion, religion, temperance and hospi
tality. From here Josiah Michaelson,
in his top buggy, through rain and
falling snow, behind a swift and veri
table bay, "Beauty," drove to Hert
ford, where I addressed the public, in
the court house, on the reasons why
farmers ought to organize for the good
of themselves and everybody else, to
gether with other things in connection
with our marvelous order. Then we
repaired to the Alliance hall for the
county meeting Avhich, owing to the
inclement weather, was not so large
in quantity but high of quality. Here
is good, intelligent work being done by
the brethren, with only one brave,
lone sister in attendance. The sisters
attend better in country places and in
good weather. The courteous hospi
tality of Perquimans County Alliance
was complete. It delivered me safely
in the beautiful town of Edenton,
where, if this seems acceptable, I will
begin my next report.
I have to answer a great many in
quiries which shows life and is encour
aging. While some become lukewarm
and sigh for the garlic in the flesh-pots
of Egypt, others are coming to the
fold. It is important that all officers,
lecturers especially, should attend
these meetings. I dwelt more on Hert
ford county meeting because I suppose
it perhaps the first one held since the
new lecturing system began.
Fraternally,
F. S. Blair.
WORDS OF WARNING.
Brethren, do not listen to those who
try to weaken your faith in our princi
ples ; snears are being set for you at
nearly every corner of the town and
city, and occasionally one will be found
in the country. The lull that has come
over our cneuiias in regard to the Alli
ance, reminds me of many of the bat
tles of the late war, after the sharp
picket firing, for a time a lull frequent
ly occurred for a few moments, and
then came the storm of battle, with
the shriek of the bullet, the bursting of
shells, the groans and cries of the
wounded and dying. The skirmish
line which was advanced last summer
and fall against our reform movement
by the Wall street corporated power
through a hireling press, has been
withdrawn and only now and then a
few shots can be heard, sometimes
from the north, then the south, then
east and west. A flank movement is
being attempted. Low, despisable tac
tics are being resorted to. Spies with
smooth oily tongues and money, are
being sent into your commands with
instructions to get your leaders to des
sert or to spread mutiny in the ranks.
For the next eighteen months every
species of rascality will be used against
our Order, intimidation and threats in
some cases, and bribery in others, to
get prominent members to desert our
colors. Brethren, the storm of battle
is coming. I warn you to watch those
who have so suddenly become good Al
liance sympathizers ; stand by the de
mands of our Order. Be ready for ac
tion, stand shoulder to shoulder as
our Kansas brethren did. Soon all the
hireling troops of a bitter partisan
press, will open their batteries of slime
upon us at a given signal for some old
"sorehead political outcast," and the
battle will be waged against us with
unrelenting cruelty. The party lash
will again be used to drive the weak
kneed and cowardly into measures.
Brethren, the greatest political contest
ever waged on this American conti
nent for civil liberty will be upon us in
1892. The farmers and laborers will
be arrayed on one side fighting for
their homes and the liberties of them
selves, their wives and children, while
on the other will be found the "gold
bugs," "money sharks," "sore head
politicians" and their hirelings, bat
tling for our enslavement. It de
pends upon each one of us whether we,
our wives and children will be free to '
enjoy the blessings of liberty vouch
safed to us by our forefathers, or wheth
er we shall be the slaves to a monopo
listic aristocracy. You must be up
and doing, not only our leaders, but
each one of you, my brethren, you
must act now. There must be no
skulking. Traitors must be driven
from our camps. See that every mem
ber of your Sub Alliance is tried and
true. Let every one be on guard. Do
your duty, be men. Keep the watch
fires burning for "eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty." "Be just and fear
not. Let all the ends thus aimed at be
they Gods and truths." The demands
of our Order promulgated at St. Louis
and Ocala are the issues for which we
must contend. Stand by them and
"Strike, till the last armed foe expires;
Strike for the green graves of your sires.
For God and your native land."
i