PROGRESSIVE
C. .
nn
FARMER.
S. M W
LB
THE 1ND UAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTIIER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
RALEIGH, N. C, OCTOBER 13, 1891.
Vol. 6.
No. 34
THE NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI
ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL
UNION.
President L. L. Polk, North Caro
lina. Address, 344 D. St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.
Vice President B. H. Clover, Cam
bridge, Kansas.
Secretary-Treasurer J. H. Turner,
Georgia. Address, 239 North Capitol
St., N. W., Washington, D. C.
Lecturer J. H. Willetts, Kansas.
EXECUTIVE BOARD.
C. V. Macune, Washington, D. C.
Alonzo Ward all, Huron, South Da
kota. m
J. F. Tillman, Palmetto. Tennessee.
JUDICIARY.
H. C. Demming, Chairman.
Isaac McCraeken, Ozone. Ark.
A. E. Cole, Fowlerville, Mich.
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
The Presidents of all the State organ
izations with L. L. Polk Ex-ofieio
(Tiairman.
NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS' STATE ALLI
ANCE. President Marion Butler, Clinton,
N C
Vice-President T. B. Long. Ashe
vi le, N. C.
Secretary -Treasurer W. S. Barnes,
Raleigh, . C. -
Lecturer J. S. Bell, Brasstown, N.C.
Steward C. C. Wright, Glass, N. C.
Chaplain Rev. E. Pope, Chalk
Level, N. C.
Door-Keeper W. II. Tomlmson,
Fayetteville, N. C.
Assistant Door-Keeper II. E. King,
Peanut, X. C.
Sergeant-at-Arms J. S. Holt, Chalk
Level, N. C.
State Business Agent W. II . Worth,
ttaleigh, N. C.
Trustee Business Agency Fund W.
A. Graham. Maehpelah, N. C.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH
CAROLINA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE.
S. B. Alexander, Charlotte. N. C,
Chairman: J. M. Mewborne, Kinston,
NT. C. ; J. 5. Johnston, Ruffin, N. C.
STATE ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE.
Ellas Carr. A. Leazer, N. M. Cul
breth, M. G. Gregory, Wm. C. Connell.
3TATE ALLIANCE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE.
R. J. Powell, Raleigh, N. C. : N. C.
English, Trinity College: J. J. Young,
Polenta; II. A. Forney, Newton, N. C.
North Carolina Reform Press Association.
Officers J. L. Ramsey, President;
Marion Butler, Vice-President ; W. S.
Barnes, Secretary.
PAPERS.
Progressive Farmer, State Oran, Raleigh. N. C.
C'aucusian, Clinton, X.
Rural Home, VVilson, N. C.
Watchman, Salisbury, N.C
Farmers' Advocate, Tarboro, N. ('.
Mountain Home Journal, Asheville, N. C
Alliance Sentinel, Goldsboro, N. C.
Country Lite, Trinity College. N. C
Mercury, Hickory, N. V.
Rattler, Whitakers, N. C.
Each of the above-named papers are
requested to keep the list standing on
the first page and add others, provided
they are duty elected. Any paper fail
ing to advocate the Ocala platform will
be dropped from the list promptly. Oar
people can noiv see what jtapers are
published in their interest.
THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.
Panics and Remedies.
Mr. Editor: Panics are the residt
of one financial system. We have five
years of fair times, then comes the
panic, and it takes five years for our
industries to get themselves together.
During panics we have enforced econ
omy on every hand ; millions are out
of employment, poverty and crime in
creases and the tax-payers are hard
pressed to meet expenses; capital is
limited, and those who have money
will not invest for fear of loss. The
wonder is that capital invests at all.
These panics in the past have been
periodical and regular as the seasons.
The financial doctors say panics have
always l.eu and must continue;
that what cannot be cured must be en
dured. They never think of looking
for thee uiKo, mu 'h less for the remedy.
The politician dares not advocate a
remedy for the better. He knows the
minority interested in perpetuating
existing conditions would defeat him.
On one hand he sees an intelligent
but FeltisH minority alive to their in
terest, and on the other hand the pro
ducers divided and filled with partv
rancor. What can he do but quietly
glide along and let this minority have
its way? We are in the era of .steam,
railroad, telegraph and mammoth ma
chinery. The financial system that
answered to the age of the slow coach,
sickle and spinning wheel will not re
spond to this. We have had a revolu
tion in manufactures and transporta
tion, and we must have a radical
change ia our financial system. As
the child outgrows its swadling bands
and demands apparel suited to its
changed condition, so we have out
grown the old industrial system, and
under a n-w financial system to meet
the changed condition. Until this is
done there can be no permanent pros
perity. THE REMEDY FOR PANICS.
1. The abolition of all banks of issue
and the issuing by the government of
full legal tender United States notes in
sufficient quantity to do the business
of the country on a cash basis, putting
them into circulation by paying a por
tion of government expenditures.
2. Unlimited coinage of gold and
f-ilver, each a full legal tender.
3. The establishment by the govern
ment of postal savings banks.
4- The abolition of the credit system.
This system would give us the ready
money to do our business on a cash
basis; it would stop an immense
amount of litigation and add a large
number to the industrial class now a
burden on labor; it would reduce pov
erty and crime one half, restore confi
dence in all business, labor would be
steadily employed, we would have no
panics," for all the conditions are elimi
nated. All having money would in
vest and there would be no conflicting
interests. There would be no money
lost through failures of banks There
would bo no run on the postal banks,
for the whole wealth of the nation
would be behind it. A system where
every transaction is cash and every
dollar deposited is guaranteed, there
can be no panics.
The establishment of the above sys
tem would give an impetus to our in
dustries such as the masses have never
dreamed of, and we would produce
double the wealth in a decade to be
distributed among the wealth-producers.
The advantages to be derived from
the abolition of the credit system are
vital and should receive the closest at
tention of students of finance. Money,
the sign of the substance, holds a posi
tion far more commanding than the
substance. This is a condition that
should not exist and cannot exist in a
financial system adapted to the indus
trial classes.
Money is the creature of law, created
by the people for their convenience,
vice to assist in exchanging the neces
saries and luxuries of life. It has be
come the master of the people, having
fallen into the hands of those who use
it to oppress. The sign of the substance
is increasing in value and the substance
is decreasing in value. The thing you
cannot eat, drink or wear, is increas
ing in value, and the things you want
to get cheaper, and yet it is harder
to fret because of the increased value of
money. Let us tes: the old system and
then the new.
UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM.
A. has money to loin. He finds it
more profitable to loan his money,
secured by first class real estate.
B. has a mine but no money to de
velop it. B. goes to A. and says, "you
have the money, I have a fine mine ;
put your money into it and we will
make money."
A. savs " I do not want to invest,
but I wi)l loan you ten thousand dollars
on five Tears' time at S per cent., prin
cipal and interest payable in legal ten
der, and you to give me a trust deed."
B. borrows the money, hires labor,
develops the 'mine and in five years
h;ts paid in interest four thousand dol
lars or two fifths of the capital loaned.
TESTED UNDER THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM.
A. has ten thousand dollars to invest
and he knows B. has a good mine. A.
goes to B. and says, " I have ten thou
sand dollars that isnon productive and
you have a mine that is non-productive.
I will put my ten thousand dol
lars against a one-half interest in your
mine.' They arrive at an agreement,
hire labor, develop the mine, and the
four thousand dollars saved to capital
and labor and one thousand million to
the nation.
Under the old financial system
money and property is in antagonism.
The money holder wants the largest
possible amount of the products of
labor for his money, To do this he
must depreciate the substance by hav
ing a small volume of money. The in
dustrial class wants the largest number
of the money-holders' money for a
given amount of their labor. To do
this they must have a larger volume
of money. Under the old system there
is endless antagonism bet ween the sign
and the substance. Under the new
there is perfect harmony, for the sign
and the substance are partners. Under
the old the sign made the substance
pay a tribute of one thousand millions
each year. Under the new the sub
stance pays no tribute, and one thou
sand million dollars is saved to produc
tive capital and labor.
They can both exclaim, whereas,
under the old dispensation we were
enemies, now, under the new, we are
fast friends; let the nation benefited
rejoice. Peace, good will to all. Any
system that perpetuates the credit sys
tem will retain the present antagonism
to a large degree. The object in all
financial legislation should be to reduce
cost to the lowest figures. Any objec
tion to this change I will answer
through The Progressive Farmer.
I will pay one hundred dollars to any
one favoring the present financial
system if they will show how it is pos
sible to produce a panic where every
transaction is cash and where every
dollar deposited is guaranteed.
Supplement this with the Sub-Treasury
plan to relieve the farmers from
their present distress, and you have a
system perfectly free from panics.
Business men can spread their sails to
their fullest extent without fear of con
fidence being destroyed and their busi
ness paralyzed. James Murdock.
REMEDY FOR STAGGERS.
MOYOCK, N. C.
Mr. Editor : Below is a remedy for
the staggers in hogs, which was given
me by a neighbor to send you for pub
lication for the benefit of the farmers.
He says he has tried it in several cases
and some of them of the most aggra
vated nature, and he has never known
it to fail to effect a cure. The remedy is
as follows : Take epsom salts as much
as can be held in one hand, place it in
a bottle and to it pour a pint of water,
let it dissolve and with this drench the
hog. This quantity haviDg proved suf
ficient in every case to effect a cure
without having to repeat the dose.
Yours fraternally, T. J. Holt.
THE SUB-TREASURY.
Mooresville N. C.
Mr. Editor: Both your correspon
dents, R. J. Coen and the editors of the
Faidkner County Wlieel, seem to mis
understand my arguments, for if they
had read my crmmunication in your
issue of June 16th they would see that
I am just as much in favor of the gov
ernment issuing more money and loan
ing it to the farmers as they are. But
I was trying to show that it could be
done, better and easier, without build
ing a quantity of warehouses and ap
pointing an army of non-producing
officials, and trying to make a
"corner" on cotton or wheat, thus
trying to break up the universal law of
supply and, demand, which would be
found, in the end, only "kicking
against the prices."
The difference between the editors of
the Wheel and myself is, I am entirely
dependent for my facts on which to
base my arguments on what I read
and hear, "while he sneers at statisti
cians, and appears to have some source
of information unattainable to the rest
of the world.
I do not know, of my own knowl
edge, that there has been a bale of cot
ton shipped to Liverpool for ten years,
but I have read that there was, and
base my opinions on those statistics.
He states as a fact that the "fall in
the price of cotton was not caused by
the abundant crop, for the world is
still in need, but by our false monetary
system."
Now, I read at the time the news of
the collapse of the Argentine system
was given, that cotton cloths had de
clined in Liverpool, and a day or so
following that cotton had fallen in
prices, and the New York market did
not fall as fast as the Liverpool market
did, and there was a sale of cotton in
this town at 12 cents, after the price
had fallen in Liverpool J of a penny,
equal to H cents here. It may bo pos
sible but I can't understand why "our
false monetary system " should reduce
the price in Liverpool before it does
here. About the world being still in
need, I read the statistics, Sept. 19th:
Total stock of American cotton visible,
1,330,015 bales. One year ago (Sept.
18th) (after the largest crop that had
ever been raised there) 61)9,721. But
the statisticians mav be wrong and the
editors of the Wheel righT there may
be a great need of more cotton.
I did not contend that we were de
pendent on Europe for our daily bread
or our clothes I was writing about a
market for our cotton. Now. from
what I read, I believe that the United
States raises over three quarters of the
cotton of the world; that over five
sixths of this amount is exported either
in b lies, yarn or cloth, nearly all of
which goes to Europe. If the price of
cotton was raised 50 per cent, and to
have this all sold in this country, it
would require the people to spend nine
times as much for clothes as they do
now. If the people had nine times as
much money to spend for clothes as
they do now, would not the most of it
be spent for silk, linen, wool, furs and
ornaments? I do not believe there
would be as much cotton worn as there
is now, and I do not believe the Alli
ance nor the United States Govern
ment can force the European dealers
to pay more for cotton than the de
mand for the goods will warrant them
a fair return for.
His statement, as a fact, that "Eu
rope would have bought just as much
cotton at 12 cts, or perhaps at 15 cts.
as at 8 cts." is a staggerer. It is some
thing new in political economy, worthy
of giving its author a professor's chair
in the highest institution of learning
in the land, if he can demonstrate it.
It has always been thought that the
cheaper anything could be produced
without deterioration cf quality, the
more would be used. I know I should
buy a suit of clothes oftener if I could
get them for $10 than if I had to pay
$15 for them.
In my first two communications I
did endeavor to "correct the details"
and all the "finding fault " I have done
was with the view of doing what I
could to induce the dropping of the
warehouse system and 'spending all
our energy on the more practical and
as I beh'eve more beneficial objects of
the platform. My plan is that the gov
ernment issue notes, payable in specie,
some to be loaned to the farmers
through the State and local officials,
and that every postoflice that is now a
money order office be made a savings
bank, and that a certain part of the
deposits may be loaned on good per
sonal security. Both of these I believe
to be perfectly constitutional, and the
postal savings bank has been advocated
by many men who could not be in
duced to favor the Sub Treasury ware
house scheme. Now I do not think the
editor of the Wheel believes that the
amount of money that would be issued
on warehoused crops in one year
would be sufficient to bring about the
great changes he describes, but that he
means the other plans of financial re
form also. I tee in your paper that a
West Virginia Alliance paper thinks
that not one man in a hundred would
avail himself of the advantages of the
warehouses. I don't know but that is
a little strong, but I don't believe one
fourth of the crops would be ware
housed. In either case, the increase
of the currency in one year would be
very small, from the warehouse plan
alone.
But there is another matter which I
have not seen mentioned yet in any
Alliance paper, which I think is of
more immediate importance than
either of these, in connection with the
free coinage of silver. There was pub
lished, about two weeks ago. in the
Richmond Dispatch, an open letter
from Maj. Dabley to Senator Daniel,
in which he showed that the bankers
and capitalists were hoarding the gol i,
gold certificates and demand notes,
payable in gold, and making all notes
ana mortgages with any time to run
payable in gold, with the evident in
tention of forcing gold to a premium if
any free coinage or silver bill became
a law, and gave it as his opinion that
Congress had power to make a silver
dollar a legal tender for all debts what
ever, even if the contract called for
gold. I thought this rather doubtful,
as the government had themselves
issued a large. amount of certificates
payable only in gold, but a letter of
Judge Hughes in the same paper last
week -affirmed the opinion of Maj.
Dooley and also gave the opinions of
several of the Judges of the U. S. Su
preme Court in the legal-tender decis
ions, which all show the same power
to lie in the Congress of the United
States. Now if this is so, it is the in
terest of every laboring man and of
every debtor in the country that Con
gress should at once pass an act declar
ing that a silver dollar and also a U.
S. note shall be full legal-tender for all
debts whatever specified to be paid in
gold or note. This would bring the
gold which is now hoarded into circu
lation and thereby do more to increase
the circulating medium than all the
mints could do by coining silver for
five years, and do more to bring the
price of silver bullion to a par with
gold than any free coinage bill could
possibly do. It would also enable the
debtor to pay his debts in the same
value in which they were contracted,
otherwise the creditor will force the
debtor to pay him 20 or 30 more silver
dollars on the hundred to cancel his
debt than what he loaned him.
But Senator Daniel replies in this
week's Disjiatch, admitting all that
Dooley and Hughes had said about the
power of Congres to enact such a law,
hut does not think it is 7iecessary to do
it noic. Now if it is right to pass such
a law at all if the principle of it is
just why should not such a law be
passed at the earliest possible moment?
The Alliance has endorsed Senator
Daniels for re-election, but this excuse
for delay shows he is not really in sym
pathy with the laboring and debtor
class which is supposed to be repr -seated
in the Alliance. In fact 1 do
not believe that any of the reforms de
manded l3r the Alliance can be ob
tained through the politicians of either
old political party. The half-hearted
and ambiguous endorsements which
thej give to our demands give very
little hope of any result. Every Sen
ator and Representative to Congress
should be pledged to work to secure a
law which would make a silver dollar
and a U. S. paper dollar as good for
use in all cases in this country as a
gold dollar, no matter what the note
may call for, and, to make itself con
sistent, tht all gold certificates and
silver certificates be called in and can
celled and notes payable in specie is
sued in their place. But I have no
hope that this or any other reform of
any importance wilf be effected while
either the Republican or Democratic
party are in power, and I have very
small faith that tHe People's party will
get in power with the Sub-Treasury
warehouse as the principal emblem on
their banners.
As for your other critic, such argu
ments as "humbug," "fancies of a dis
ordered imagination," "another rotten
chestnut," are hard arguments to an
swer by any one who tries to write
common sense and reason. The few
days work for a few carpenters or ma
sons building the warehouses is a very
small sup to offer the whole body of
mechanics, but if you could make me
believe it would really be a benefit to
the farmers, I would never say a word
against it. As for office seekers and
mossback politicians, does he think
there are none in the Alliance? Can
he find no one among the officers and
lecturers who have ever been promi
nent in politics? As for myself I have
never sought any office, except one
year as clerk of a school board, with
out any pay. Nearly all the rest of his
letter is good old-fashioned truth, with
which I can heartily concur. If he
had read my communication carefully,
lie would see that I approved of "class
legislation" in favor of farmers if it
would really benefit them and not cre
ate a burden for the rest of the nation.
B. J. N.
RESOLUTIONS.
Mr. Editor : Having read the pro
ceedings of a meeting held in the rooms
of Red House Alliance on the 22d day
of August at which time and place,
they being true Alliancemen, did re
resolve 1st, that they demanded re
form in the administration of our gov
ernment and would not co operate with
any party nor vote for any man for
any political office that does not adopt
the measures they approve; 2d, that
they fully approve the Ocala platform,
be it
Resolved, That Auburn Alliance, No.
41, do hereby endorse the above reso
lutions and ask the co operation of all
true Alliancemen in every section of
our country.
2d. That we do endorse all the acts
of our worthy President, Col. L. L.
Polk, so long as he shall strive to ele
vate the working class of our country
and defend the principles of the Alii
ance laid down in our Constitution, as
he has heretofore done.
3d. That these resolutions be sent to
The Progressive Farmer with request
that they be published.
Yours fraternally,
M. T. Wilder, Sec'y.
THE FARMER AND THE DOLLAR.
Or, the Unjust and Oppressive Power of
Money to Oppress A Remedy
Proposed.
Mr. Editor: The familiar and well
worn proverb that " in the multitude
of counselors there is safety," is con
sidered a sufficient apology for an
effort to aid my brethren of the plow
to solve a question of such vast import
ance to us, that when properly consid
ered and viewed in its true light, all
other so called great economic ques
tions of the day dwindle into utter in
significanrje. The farmer feels the burden of the
yoke of oppression. How it has been
fastened upon him, and how to. thro w
it off, is his constant inquiry. The
great upheaval among the farmers and
other laboring classes is due to a long
concealed or hidden cause which be
gins now to be exposed to view as the
great host of labor gradually ascends
the eminences in the wilderness of de
spair and looks over into the promised
land of just inheritance, wherein the
shylocks and usurers have no portion.
the power of labor
To create and accumulate value must
be understood in order to contrast it
intelligently with the power of money
to accumulate value. Labor possesses
creative as well as accumulative power,
while money possesses the power only
to represent, measure and exchange
values and to accumulate value by in
terest. The power of labor is inherent,
natural and limited only by the physi
cal and mental capacity of man, while
the power of money is artificial fixed
by law and the dollar is the creature
of law. The essential and wide apart
difference between labor and money
is that the former is a creator and the
latter a creature.
the creative power or labor
Was conferred upon man and fixed by
the fiat of Jehovah which went forth
from Eden, " in the sweat of thy face
thou s5ia.lt eat bread " From that day
man became a creator of values.
A fov hundred years ago there were
no values counted as such and avail
able for the use of civilized man in
the whole of the then vast unknown
wilderness of America. All the great
cities and towns, the thousands of
miles of railways, the millions of farms,
the mines and factories, and evt-ry
other adjunct of modern civilization
which now exist in all of these great
American States aie the creations of
labor. The labor of the farmer creates
the billions of bushels of grain, the
pounds of cotton and tobacco, and to
day there are more than sixty billions
of dollars of accumulated values, all
of which owe their existence to the
labor of man.
Labor the God-given power of brain
and muscle is the creator of all values
and the whole vast fabric of civiliza
tion itself rest upon labor.
A COMPARISON OF LABOR AND MONEY.
The accumulative power of labor is
denied by none, but understood by
but few. This power can never be as
certained with exact mathematical ac
curacy, as it depends entirely upon the
power of production, which cannot be
otherwise than variable.
Labor necessarily consumes a cer
tain proportion of its product for sup
port. Laboring men have families to
feed, clothe and educate, after which
there is a surplus more or less in
quantity, dependent upon their sur
roundings.
The writer cannot undertake in a
newspaper article to introduce the
statistics which would be required to
show, approximately even, the net
surplus earnings of labor, nor the rate
per cent, increase of the accumulations
of such surplus ; but any farmer can
satisfy himself on this point by an ex
amination of his own financial condi
tion, or that of his neighbors, while
those who will take the trouble to ex
amine the statistics of the increase of
wealth, by farming and other manual
labor, will find that its net surplus ac
cumulates at a very low rate per cent.
And it may be stated with reasonable
certainty that labor, upon an average,
is only able to double its capital basis,
so to speak, once in a life-time of about
seventy years, while money at 8 per
cent, compounded will double itself in
less than nine years. If this statement
be true, which we think can be verified
by the experience of thousands of farm
ers and other laborers, it is a startling
fact, and deserves the very careful
study of all of us who are concerned.
Suppose a young man starting life as
a farm laborer at the age of twenty -one,
without inheritance of money or other
property and having a wife similarly
circumstanced. A fair amount of
wages for a year's labor would be $S5,
with house, garden, fire-wood, and
usual allowance for rations added,
amounting to not less than $120. Out
of the $85 would have to be deducted,
say $40 for wife's board, and $30 for
clothing for himself and wife, which
would leave the saving, or surplus of
wages at SI 5, without taking into ac
count all the risks of loss of time by
sickness, accidents or other contingen
cies to which all laborers are subject.
This net surplus of $15 would be exactly
1 per cent, on $1500, which represents
the gross amount of the laborer's capi
tal oasis on which he receives 8 per
cent, gross, or $120, but after support
he only saves $15. In other words, the
young man'" labor the output of his
brain and brawn, enforced by the eter
nal law of his Maker is set against the
power of $1500 of lifeless, soulless and
sordid dust, which neither eats, drinks,
sleeps nor wears clothes, and which is
endowed by his fellow man, with the
eight
times as
much m a year.
Stated in another way.
the voung
man is able to accumulate, by his labor,
1 per cent, net, annually, which will
double his capital basis in a little less
than seventy years, amounting to
$3,000, if he lives to the age of ninety
one years; but, if death should over
take him at that age, his net surplus
derived from the labor of an unusually
long life would only be $1500, while
$1500 loaned at 8 per cent, interest,
payable annually and re loaned, would
double itself in nine years, and in
eighteen would amount to $0,000;
in twenty-seven years, to $12,000; in
thirty-six years, $24,000 ; in forty-five
years, $18,000; in fifty-four years, $96.
000; in sixty-three years, $192,000; and
in seventy years, a little less than
$300,000. Thus accumulating two hun
dred times faster than labor.
In the case stated above, the young
man starting in business at twenty
one years would have to reach the ex
tremely advanced age of ninety -one
before doubling his surplus accumula
tions; but, comparatively few men
reach such an age, and it is unreason
able to conclude that those who do,
would be able to accumulate anything
during the last twenty or thirty years
of their life-time. And it would prob
ably be fair to say that instead of
doubling his capital basis at the end of
seventy years, the young man would
only increase it to $2500, leaving at the
expiration of an ordinary life-time,
only a net accumulation of $1,000, be
ing three hundred times less than fif
teen hundred dollars would accumula te
in the same length of time. And so it
is, that money the creature has the
power, by law, to accumulate by in
terest, during the ordinary life-time of
a laborer three hundred times more
than labor.
Labor, truly, accumulates to some
extent after receiving a support ; but,
as has been sho wn, only as a drop in
the bucket compared to money. No
wonder that the wealth of country ac
cumulates in the hands of the few to
the impoverishment of the many.
Labor serves, while money commands.
Libor is the slave. Money is the master.
And so it comes, that in this free
land of boasted equality, where we
claim "equal rights for all and special
privileges to none," that the young
laborer, whose capital of brain and
brawn, flesh and blood, body and soul,
is represented by fifteen hundred dol
lars of money, and can only gain, in a
life time, one thousand dollars, and
then cease to exist; wh'Ie fifteen hun
dred dollars of actual money dead
metal and dead paper, is allowed by
human law, contrary to God s law, to
gain the enormous sum of three hun
dred thousand dollars, and still con
tinue to exist to increase the oppres
sions and burdens of unborn genera
tions. Rufus Averis.
RESOLUTIONS AND THE COTTON
ACREAGE.
Alfordsville, N. C.
Whereas, It is claimed that the
present low price of cotton will not
meet the expense of production, and
that the only remedy for obtaining a
higher marketable price for this great
staple product of the South lies in the
reduction of the acreage ; and , where
as, this question is now agitating the
minds of a great many of the Alliance
bodies to the extent of causing them
in their meetings to pass some resolu
tions in respect to it. Such resolutions
as follows, viz: Not to plant more
than ten acres to the horse, &e. ; and
whereas, we believe that any and all
resolutions passed by any Alliance
body, on any matter whatever, should
be kept and faithfully carried out;
therefore we advise that all Alliances
would move slowly and cautiously on
this line, knowing full well that if such
steps were taken and carried out on
the part of the Alliancemen alone that
it would play liberally into the hands
of our largest and fullest handed cot
ton planters who are non-Alliancemen
and are to-day opposing the onward
and upward progress of our grand
Order with all their might and main.
Therefore Ave have resolved not to give
any encouragement to our Alliance
brethren to tackle this desired reduc
tion of acreage unless we get the full
assistance of all cotton planters, of
whatever color, class or aflliliation.
Now we therefore recommend that
the various Alliances throughout the
cotton growing States address com
munications to the Governors and
heads of agricultural bureaus of their
respective States askiag them to take
such steps as would lead to the assem
bling of a convention of cotton plant
ers at some convenient place in the
Southern States to take into considera
tion the situation and devise some
remedy if possible. And we here take
the privilege of suggesting that when
the convention meets that they have
some suitable forms of obligations
printed and sent out among te Alli
ances, to be presented by them to all
cotton planters of whatever class,
order or distinction, to be filled out
and signed by as many as can be got
ten to do so in every community, mak
ing first twenty acres planted to the
horse as a basis of the present acreage
planted, and requiring a reduction of
10 per cent.
When these obligations are collected
back by the Alliances and forwarded
to the secretary of the cotton conven
tion, with a full report of what portion
of cotton planters in each community
were gotten to sign them, it would be
clearly shovn whether the Alliance
should tackle it or not.
Alex. Alford, Sec'y.
legal power to earn
i
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