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THE PBOO-RESSIVB PARMER :' MARCH tB, 1892. I i k. . THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER ,! L. POLK, Editor and Proprietor. X L. RAMSEY, - Associate Editor. J. W. DENMARK, - Business Manaq'b. Raleigh, N. C. SUBSCRIPTION Single Subscriber, .75 5.00 Ix Months.. One Year..... .....- lve SabecrfoerB, Ontfcopy one year free, to the one sending Club One Year 10.00 ' Caj Invariably in Advance. r rr of nr,r rut. if sent by registered letter money order. Please don't send stamp. Advertising Rates quoted on application. To Correspondent: Write all communications, designed for publi cation, on one side of the paper only. We want intelligent correspondents in every mnntv in the State. We want facts of value, re- -suits accompiif Hainlv and or: tpe olic ffiSd& is worth a iiirWk. drafts orir-fithev orders intended tor this pag.tai-shojTbe made payable to The gressive Farmer. " Address all correspondence intended for this .aper to The Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, RALEIGH, N. C, MARCH 8, 1891. Thin paper entered as eecnnd-clam matter at the Post Office in Raleigh, IV. C. The Progressive Farmer is the Official Organ of the N. C. Farmers' State Alliance Do you want your paper changed to another office ? State the one at wnicn you have been getting it. Do you want your communication .published t If so, give us your real asme and your postoffice. In writing to anybody, always be ure to give the name of your postoffice, xid sign your own name plainly. Our friends in writing to any of jur advertisers will favor us by men tioning the fact that they saw the advertisement in The Progressive Farmer iT" The date on your label tells you when your time is out. N. R. P. A. EDITORIAL NOTES. Bro. P. A. Dunn, of Wake Forest, - was in the city Wednesday. That letter of Bro. Jack Turner, -our National Secretary, is a "rattler." Head it We haven't seen any better re form paper than the Cincinnati Herald. It is a hustler. " Chicago is stirred up over the doings of a "baronet" who is said to he an ex jail bird. Col. Harry Skinner, of Greenville, vrs in the city Wednesday. His faith in the Sub-Treasury is unshaken. V Bro. C. F. McCarthy, of Chat ham county, gave us a pleasant call Thursday. He is solid for reform. . The boys are not going to wave the "bloody shirt" during this year, but look out for the "ragged-shirt." . Now is a good time for Alliince 7m en to keep their own secrets. At tend tD your own business and let -others do the same. We saw a man plowing land not "long ago when it was too wet. Don't do this. It ruins the land and your prospects for a crop. ' 1 Bro. W. J. Rogers, of Northamp ton county, spent two days in the city last week. We are glad to know that his health is improving, The fellow who robbed a woman -34 year3 old in Alleghany county the other day ought to go into politic?. He is mean enough, sure. This is the month of March and a good month to plant upland corn. : Plant every spot in corn you can this jyear. Raise your own supplies. The gentleman who is now get , ting a lot of free adverti-ing is said to live in Warren county. He has fell out with the Alliance, ah, well, you know the rest. Along about now you can. find out who has the Alliance real bad and , who has not. Some of the fellows who -want office and have been promised yne haven't got it bad. V See the appointments of Bro. .Butler and Harry Skinner, begining at - JS .vtnxon on me ism auu cuum uu ,x Staville on the 19 th. Bro. Butler - -will continue at other points by him self. Advertise them. T -.V The Asheville Democrat and other : rpape.s state that the " North Carolina ' 4 and ether Southern delegates withdrew Jrom- the St. Louis Convention." We rare authorized by the delegates to say ha"this is absolutely false. Bro, W. L. Kivett, Business Agjent of Randolph county, passed though the city Wednesday on his ar to Baltimore, where he will pur- chaLe goods for the Exchange at Lib ertyj. Bro. Kivett is one of the solid, rnde awake young Alliancemen m trv ' ltate. . " A Washington correspondent that the fellows who were going -otentrap the farmer members of Con gress ly wine suppers have given up ob The hayseeders are too much '2r thim. Ha further sws that the y-frv" of the havflfiAd Congressmen hAVfl not been introduced into Wash ington society. This is a startling story indeed! But the hayseeder's wives should thank the Lord that they have not been introduced into Washington society. Washington so ciety is a soft name for the avenue that leads direct to hades. - "TheiVeu's and Observer says that Polk has withdrawn from the Col. Democratic party, and bids the Colonel farewell. But the Colonel has a great big army of the boys with him, and that paper slighted them. Say, can't you take off your hat and bid them a sweet "good-bye" too? Ingalls has sent in anjfe'rori to become a membbl the G. A. R. has accepted. He should nave no trouble in joining as he has been fighting rebels ever since the war. As his fighting is finished he probably thought it a good time to join the G. A. R., says the Alliance Review. We call special attention to the new advertisement of the Durham Fertilizer Company in this issue. This company is a home concern and has shown itself worthy of the patronage of our farmers by fair dealing and an extra quality of goods at low prices. Read the advertisement for further particulars. The people are rushing together all over the country and holding meet ings to ratify the platform and action of the St. Louis Convention. A big mass -meeting was held in AtlanCa last Monday night. A State mass-meeting will be held in Lansing, Mich., on the 20th. In Clark county, 111 , thirty mass meetings were held last week, and so it goes. We publish the St. Louis plat form in official form. Let every man read and study it carefully. It is the same glorious old Alliance doctrine that we have had before the country all the time. Bro. S. B. Alexander, in another column, says it is all right, and so will the friends of the people say, all over the land, when the day comes to speak. What is the use of an agricultu ral paper to teach the people how to raise more ;otton, corn, wheat, tobacco or fine horses, hogs, sheep or cattle while the prices for these things are below actual cost? If an agricultural paper cannot do anything else it would be more useful if it should urge the people to raise less. Reform should be the motto of every agricultural paper. We note that several of the dele gates to the Sf Louis Conference, and some of them members of the platform committee, say that it is an error to put the pension clause in the platform that it was recommended by the committee only as a resolution and is not a part of the platform. The Na tiondl Economist and other papers publish the platform with the correc tion as above. . . LAST YEAR'S FAILURES. The Globe-Democrat is brought face to face with a "calamity" argument, and feels compelled to confess it. The commercial failures of last year aggre gated 12,394, an increase of 1721 over those of the year before. .The Globe squirms terribly, and flounders around among the startling figures in a way almost to excite pity, but s ill tries vainly t smile and explain them away. "In a general way," says the Globe, it 13 well known, 1891 was not a good year for business." Now, every reader of that paper, and of any other of the plutocratic sheets, knows that they have almost worn their type out, as they certainly have the patience of the people, proclaiming the year was ova of unparalelled pros perity, descanting upon the great crops, and the plentifulness of money. This has been the constant burden of their song, and anyone who has dared to say the people were in straightened cir cumstances was promptly sat down upon as a calamity howler. Now that tho record shows more than a thousand failures a month, " the year was not a good one for business anyway." The Globe's attempt at explanation is weak in the extreme. There is one potent cause, and it is a crime to deny it. Our great business is based upon the narrow gold standard, the gold itself being at the mercy of the money manipulators. Our business structure is an invested cone of most unstable equilibrium; it is an enforced credit business whose stability no one can judge, and bankruptcy and failure are the inevitable consequence. It has been so ever since the goldites got possession of the currency, and it must continue to be so. Each year has rolled up its increased number of fail ures, until the last year, the year when " great crops were to bring tros- A..ity, an increase of nearly two thou sand failures appears on the bulletin board. A longer attempt to disguise these facts and hide the cause is criminal. The above is from our namesake, the Progressive Farmer, of Mt. Verson, Til A T71 -m T T-k A Ta m., organ or xne x? . m.. a. jlc is a ringing article. THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL CON FERENCE. Editorial Correspondence. The Conference of the great indus trial organizations of the country, at St Louis on the 22d ult., was an event th it is destined to become memorable in history. It was not a convocation of partisan leaders to devise methods for the ascendence of party, to pro mote personal ends, to plan for the dis tribution of patronage among partisan favorites, to further the designs and de mands of dictatorial money power, but it was a mighty gathering of honest LwdntdHerSj bread winners and taxpayers, from the farms, Liotrie. and shops all over the land, earnestly and honestly seeking a remedy for the evils and oppre:sive and unjust bur dens which have been heaped upon them through corrupt class legislation, and which so seriously threaten the safety of the country and the liberties of the people. No grander body of men with a grander purpose ever assembled in any age or country. In some respects it was the most re markable body that ever convened in our country. Every State in the Union, except, perhaps, Rhode Island and Delaware, were represented. Life long Democrats, lifelong Republicans, Greenbackers, Prohibitionists, single tax men, equal suffragists, old soldiers of the "blue" and the "gray,"repre senting thirteen different industrial organizations, met together and with wonderf ll unanimity and fraternity, aligned themselves solidly under one banner and pledged their.faithul alle giance to one platform of principles. The commitQe was composed of one hundred and twenty delegates, repre senting every irtate. It unanimously recommended the address and the plat form. The conference, composed of over one thousand delegates, unani mously adopted the address and the platform, except two votes cast against the address. When before in the history of this or any other country has such thorough and harmonious concord of action characterized sach a body? Can any one doubt for a moment the ultimate and overwhelming success of such a force and power ? The friends of reform throughout the Union will recognize the fact that the great principles set forth are sub stantially the same, as those of the St. Louis meeting in 1S89, and the Ocala and Indianapoli3 meetings, and are confined chiefly to the great questions of Money, Land and Transportation. A generous spirit of concession and fraternity prevailed throughout. A large portion of the delegates were in favor of one open declaration by the Conference for independent political action, but in deference to those who held that the Conference should not take such action as would appear to bind the different organizations to any particular political party, generously yielded their views on this point. But they immediately availed themselves of the opportunity afforded by the . r . 1 xl mass convention to empnas'ze ineir position as to independent political action. Any other course would have been rediculously inconsistent, unman ly and cowardly. If that great body of representative men had adopted the address and the platform and had dis persed without providing for some definite and decisive method for en forcing its principles, it would have in curred the contempt of all intellight men and would have been laughed to scorn by the whole country. All the Southern States were well represented, and between tbejrjjele gates and those from tbe North there existed a generous 'and magnanimous rivalry in the grand and manly work of unifying and fraternalizing the two sections. Presuming that you will procure the details from our special correspondent and other sources, they may be omitted here Since my arrival in this city I had the pleasure of meeting Hon. S. B. Alexander, and asked his opinion of the action of the St. Louis meeting. He said: " I have seen only the accounts that were given out by the Associated Press, and I have been patiently await ing the truth. Fortunately, I have just seen President Butler and from him have learned the truth of the mat ter. I am greatly gratified to learn of the harmony that prevailed and espe cially am I pleased with the platform. It is one that I think all true Alliance men can and will heartily support. The three planks money, land and transportation, are the exact doctrines which I have advocated as President of our State Alliance and by all my votes in our meetings. You will re member that on the government owner ship of railroads you and I were the only ones in the Ocala Convention who cast our votes in favor of it, and we are so reported in the official proceed: ings." - I have not, as yet, had the pleasure of meeting the other Alliance members of Congress from our State, and am, t therefore, unable to give tneir Views. .... . w - New Yorfc, vvaii street anat rsew England will reject this platforni and will struggle desperately to defekt it that they may thereby hold theirliron grasp on the throats of the industrial classes and agricultural States of the country. The people of the West, jthe Northwest and the South will accept it and thus repudiate the insolent arrogant dictation of the money po and restore our government to t principles of our fathers, and run it the interest of the whole people. Tnousands or tne descendants or tnesie old revolutionary tatners, are to-aayf living in North Carolina. They are .true and loyal to the principles pro 0 claimed on tne reiL- 'u-Jttfc vu--ii-zrt . .... x ... , court nouse id tne town ci jnarioneon the 20th of May, 1775, and they realize that the liberties and rights of the peo ple were no more in jeopardy at that time than they are to-day, and they will remain true to liberty and justice by standing manfully and faithfully by this second Declaration of Indepen dence It embodies the principles enunciated at St. Louis in 1889 en dorsed at Ocala reaffirmed at In dianapolis and ratified -by the Alliance in thousands of meetings all over the land. L. L. P. LET IT BE UNDERSTOOD. That the Alliance, as an organization, cannot be converted into a political party. It had the largest delegation of any one organization in the St. Louis Conference. But it did not have more than one fourth of the aggregate num ber. A large majority of the Confer ence was for prompt action by the body in favor of a new party, but in deference to this recognized restraint on the Alliance, that action was de ferred until the work of the Confer ence had been completed and it ad journed. But almost every delegate, in his capacity as a citizen, with thou sands of other citizens, joined in the great ratification mass meeting, which was held immediately on the adjourn ment of the Conference and ratified its action and appointed a committee to confer with the central committee of the People's party to arrange for a time and place to hold a National Con vention to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States. This joint committee met and decided on July 4th as the date, and the city of Omaha as the place for the convention, and issued an address calling upon the people to hold meetings on the last Saturday in the present month and ratify the platform adopted by the Conference and to ar range and organize for representation in the National Convention four for each Congressional district in the United States and eight for each State at large. This statement cf facts is made to show that so far as the action of the Conference went it did not change the relation of the Alliance or any other organization, as such, to-4he political parties. It did not nor could not bind the Alliance, as an organization, to the Democratic, the Republican or the Peo ple's party. No one man, no one thou sand men, could do this. No power could force its members to remain in the Democratic or Republican parties no power could prevent them from going into the new party. The Con ference left every man just where the Alliance principles places him on his own individual responsibility to do as he pleases, guided by an honest and earnest purpose to discharge the high duty of taking such political action as will best meet his honest convictions and secure the enforcement of his pfiRciples. Then"Tnat is our duty as Alliance men? Plainly, it is to stand closer than ever by our organization. At tend the meetings, promote, in every honorable way, its glorious principles and strengthen it atevery point in its grand work of educating, elevating and unifying the farmers of the country. Cultivate forbearance, charity and fraternity among ourselves. Discuss methods and policies in a spirit of kindness and concession, but stand as firm a Gibraltar on principles. Vote for no man nor party which opposes our principles vote only for the man or party which truly and honestly stands by our principles. This has been the teaching of the Alliance from the day of its birth. This is our onlj safety, our only hope. THE PEOPLE WILL ATTEND TO IT. J. P. Caldwell, a member of the State Democratic Committee, says in the Charlotte Chronicle that there is no use concealing the fact that the State Convention was called earlier than usual to tako action "before Col Polk could get in his fine work." The friends of reform, all over the State, will take due notice and govern themselves ac cordingly, and propose at once to see that they, are fully and fairly repre sented in that convention. The people, and not Col. Polk, are going to shape that convention. 8md wer, AN ADDRESS. The Great Industrial Conference to the Brotherhood of the Farmers' Alli ance of North Carolina. Having been honored with a commis sion from you as delegates to the In: dustrial Conference on the 22d ult., we deem it due you that we should render at the earliest practical mo ment, a truthful statement of the work accomplished, and of our action as your representatives in that body. Too six organizations embraced in the official call issued by the Committee on Corporations, were represented by seven hundred and thirty-seven prop erly accredited delegates. To these were added the delegates of seven other , . iundred. or mendation of the Committee on Cre dentials) making in the aggregate over one thousand delegates, and represent ing almost every State in the Union. The Committee on Platform consisted of one hundred and twenty members, representing every State in every or ganization. The committee labored faithfully and without intermission fourteen hours, and presented as their unanimous report the following: SECOND DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDE PENDENCE. Platform Adopted by the Confederated In dustrial Organizations at St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 22-24, 1892. PREAMBLE. This, the first great labor conference of the United States and of the world, representing all divisions of urban and rural organized industry, assembled in national congress, invoking upon its action the blessings and protection of Almighty God, puts forth to and for the producers of the nation this declar ation of union and independence. The conditions which surround us best justify our co operatitT. We meet in the midst of a nation brought , to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corru ption dominates the ballot box, the legislature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized. Many of the States have been compelled to iso late the voters at the polling places in order to prevent universal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are sub sidized or muzz'ed, public opinion sil enced, business prostrated, our homes covered with mortgages, labor impov erished, and the land concentrating in the hands of capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right of organ ization for self protection ; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages: a hireling standing army, un recognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down ; and they are rapidly degenerating to European con ditions. 1 ' The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal for tunes, unprecedented in the history of tue world, wnile their possessors de spise the republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of gov ernmental injustice breed the two great classes -paupers and millionaires. The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders; silver, which has been accepted as coin since the dawn of historv, has been de monetized to add to the purchasing power of gold by decreasing the value of all forms of property, as well as hu man labor, and the supply of currency is purposely abridged to fatten usurers, bankrupt enterprise, and enslave in dustry. A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two continents, and is taking possession of the world. If not met and overthrown at once it forbodes terrible social con vulsions, the destruction of civilization, or the establishment of an absolute despotism. In this crisis of human affairs the in telligent working people and producers of the United States have come to gether in the name of peace, order, and society to defend liberty, prosperity and justice. We declare our union and indepen dence. We assert our purpose to sup port the political organization which represents our principles. We charge that the controlmg influ ence dominating the old political par ties have allowed the existing dreadful conditions to develop without serious effort to restrain or prevent them. They'ave agreed toother to ignore, in tne coming campaign, every issue but one. They propose to drown the outcries of a plundered people with the uproar of a sham battle over the tariff; so that corporations national banks, rings, trusts, "watered stock," the de monetization of silver, and the oppres- sion or usurers, may all De lost signt of. They propose to sacrifice our homes and children upon the altar of mam mon ; to destroy the hopes or tne multi tude in order to secure corruption funds from the great lords of plunder. We assert that a political organiza tion, representine: the political princi ples herein stated, is necessary to re dress the grievances or wnun we com plain. Assembled on the anniversary of the birth of the illustrious man who led the first great revolution on this conti nent against oppression, filled with the sentiment which actuated that grand generation, we seek to restore the gov ernment of the republic to the hands of the "plain people," with whom it originated. Our doors are open to all points of the compass. We ask all honest men to join with and help us. In order to restrain the extortions nf aggregate, capital, to drive the money changers out of the temple, to form a perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity we dp ordain and establish the follow lng platform of principles: First We declare the union of the labor forces of the United States this j day accomplished permanent and per- netual. Mav it3 spirit enter into all hearts of the republic and the uplifting 01 mankind. Second Wealth belongs to him who created it. Every dollar taken from industry without an equivalent is rob bery. If any one will not work, neither shall he eat. The interests of rural and urban labor are the same, their enemies are identical. PLATFORM. FINANCE, j First We demand a national cur rency safe, sound and flexible, issued by the general government only, a full legal tender for all debts, public and private ; and that without the use of banting corporations a just, equitable and efficient means of distribution di rect to the people at a tax not to ex ceed 2 per cent, be provided, as set forth in the DtiiHfressury- plan -of the Farmers' Alliance, or some better sys tem ; also, by payments in discharge of its obligations for public improve ments. a. 'We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver. b. We demand that the amount of circulating medium be speedilv in creased to not less than $50 per capita i c. w e aemana a graduated income f tax. J d. We believe that the money of the C country should be kept as much aspoa sible in the hands of the people, aud hence we demand all national and State revenue shall be limited to the -neces sary expenses of the government econ omically and honestly administered. e. We demand that postal savings banks be established by the govern ment for the safe deposit of the earn ings of the people and to facilitate ex change. LAND. Second The land , including all the natural resources of wealth, is the heri tage of all the people and should not monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land now held by rail roads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens, should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only. TRANSPORTATION. Third Transportation being a means of exchange and a public necessity, the government should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people a. The telegraph and telephone, like the postoffice system, being a necessity for transmission of news, should be owned and operated by the government in the interest of the people. While some parts of the above ad dress may seem at a mere glance to make partisan political distinctions, yet upon careful study one will clearly see that it is non-partisan, and further, will be impressed with the truth of its premises, and the ability of the com mittee who framed it. It was adopted with only a few dissenting' votebY'iffiu; the platform was adopted unanimously,; and receive I with great applause. The as a representative body, then ad journed sine die. THE MASS-MEETING. After the adjournment, a mass meet ing was called, in which a great many delegates took part as citizens, together with a number who were not delegates to the Conference, and proceeded 'to take steps looking to political action, The result was a call for a National Convention, to be held on the 4th day of July, in the city of Omaha, Ne braska. This action wa3 entirely dis tinct from the work of the Conferenc? of Labor Organizations to which you sent us as your representatives. It will be seen that the Conference did not, by its action, bind any one of the organizations represented, nor any member thereof, to the support of any particular political party. In a spirit of concession and compromise, all the various States and sections, and aa ehades of political opinion, sought only the common good of the whole peopjs, i and with remarkable unanimitl adopted a decliration ofjraiattV which, in their judgment, will restore! ; in peace, prosperity and justice to the! i roi country. It will also be observed thati ta; this decoration or platform embrace essentially the great principles enunci ated by our Order at St. Louis in 1SSJ. at Ocala in 1890, and at Indian ipols in 1891. The undesigned, therefore, heartily and unanimously gave their endorsement to these principles. impressed with the solemn conviction that the enactment of these principles' into law, and the faithful enforcement; of the law, will bring relief to our dis tressed industrial people, and inure to the common good of all interests and classes, we earnestly appeal to all AUH ancemen, and all patriots of whatever? CalliriS' tn nirl no f 0. v uo xil tiCUlIIJg w Uuv"f only such men as will faithfully- cj It is gratifying to state that all the. Southern States were represented fcj me DOdy, and every delegate voted f the platform. Marion Butler, , . J. F. Brinson, , J. T. B. Hooveb, E. C. Beddingfield ' ' W. C. Wilcox, P. H. Massey, J. F. Johnson, A. C. Shuford, : . J. C. Brown, Are you a Subscriber ? : 7 i t i IS
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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March 8, 1892, edition 1
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