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PBOGEESSIV 1 THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 7. RALEIGH, N. C JUNE 28, 1892. No. 20 FAEMER. IJlii i S- - TaTIONAL FARMERS' ALLI "nce AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. - .r ent H. L. Loucks, Huron, outb Dakota. Address, Washington, Dc?;-Ptarv-Treasurer J. II. Turner, Address, 239 North Capitol ffV., Washington, D. C. kSurcr-J. H. Willetts, Kansas. EXECUTIVE BOARD. V Uicune. Washington, D. C. Vl'V.vzVWardall, Huron, South Da- ' 'x. 'uHman, Palmetto, Tennessee. JUDICIARY. Cole, Michigan, h' V. Cock, Alabama, II. P. Iavie, Kentucky. NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. II L Loucks, Chairman. 0 W. Macune, Washington, D. C. tfV'i Page, Brandon, Va. L Featherstone, Forest City, Ar- VT. F. Gwmn, v nue, xeimcssue. AROLINA FARMERS STATE ALLI ANCE. preei Lnt Marion Butler, Clinton, Vice-President T. B. Long, Ashe .11. v n 4cretarv-Trcasurcr W. S. Barnes, Si C Lecturer J. S. Bell, Brasstown, N.C. Steward-C. C. Wright, Glass, N. C Chaplain Rev. E. Pope, Chalk :evel, N. C. Door-Keeper W. H. Tomlinson, 'avetteville, N. C. Assistant Door-Keeper II . E. Kmg, it 5er-eant-at-Arms J. S Holt, Chalk ievel, X. C. State Business Agent W. II. W orth, teleigh, N. C. Trustee Business Agency una Y. . Graham, Machpelah, N. C. C-ECrriVE COMMITTEE OP THE NORTH 'Al'LIXA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. S. 13. Alexander, Charlotte, N. C, hairman; J. M. Mewborne, Kinston, ". C. ; J. S. Johnston, Ruffin, N. C. TATE ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. El Lis Carr, A. Leaser, N. M. Cul sreth, M. G. Gregory, Wm. C. Connell. TATE ALLIANCE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. R. J. Powell, Raleigh, N. C. ; N. C. Cntfish, Trinity College: J. J. Young, Polenta; H. A. Forney, Newton, N. C. 'Isrth Carolina Reform Press Association. Officers J. L. Ramsey, President; tiarion Butler, Vice-President ; W. S. Harncs, Secretary, PAPERS. Progressive Farmer, Caucasian. The Workwoman's Helper, W&tfhinan. Raleigh, N. C. Clinton, N. C. Pinnacle, N, C. Sfllisbnrv. X. C. Farmers' Advocate, Country Life, Mercury, Rattler. Agricultural Bee, Alliance Echo. ?Ieual Informer, Tarboro, N. C. Trinity College, N. C. Hickory, N. C. Whitakers, N. C. Goldsboro. N. J. Moncure, X. C. Raleigh, X. C. Each of the above-named papers are quested to keep the list standing on the first page and add others, provided they are duly elected. Any paper fa il ing to advocate the Ocala platform will , dropped from the list promptly. Our feople can now see what papers are published in their interest. RESOLUTIONS BY MARTIN COUNTY PEOPLE'S PAR TY CONVENTION. Mr. Editor: We your committee on platform or resolutions beg leave to submit the following report: This being the first regular reform or Peo ole's Dartv convention of Martin county, we assert that the St. Louis and Ocala demands of organized labor are the true principles of Democracy as taught by our forefathers as we understand them. We therefore enter protest against the unequal, unjust condition that seriously threatens to undermine, paralyze and dwarf the in dustrial energies of the people. There fore be it Resolved, That we endorse the State platform of the Democratic party, or that part of it borrowed from the Alli ance demands, and that we make no party issue against the State ticket nominated at Raleigh on the 18th of May, except we reserve the right as in dependent citizens to erase such objec tionable names and inserting others in their place as wo in our wisdom see to be just and proper. 2. That we are fully determined to oppose any man or men who shall op pose our demands in either the county, State or Nation, and we will hold a county convention at some time in the future to either indorse or oppose other nominations made by the two old parties. 3. That we will make party issue against all national candidates who do not fully endorse the demands as put forth Feb. 22-24, 1S92, at St. Louis, Mo. 4. That we will oooose the forca hill . by demanding a free Dallot and a fair count, tor we realize that a true de mocracy must rest upon the faith and strength of a majority of its citizens. 5. That while we would hail with joy the co operation of all labor forces in the restoration or equal rights to all and special favors to none, yet we will strenuously oppose any effort on the part of the Republican or Democratic parties to usurp or take the advantage of this reform movement. T. E. McCaskey. COL. L. L. POLK. A Brief Sketch of His Life and Work in the Service of His Countrymen. BY W. J. PEELE. Leonidas LaFayet'e Polk was born in Anson county. North Carolina, on the 24th of April, 1837. liis tamily is of Irish extraction and several of its members were honorably distinguished in the early history of this countrv. One of them was Thomas Polk, a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and a col onel in the subsequent struggle for freedom. Another, a distant relative, James K. Polk, at a later period be came President of the Unit-d States. lie was the son of Andrew Polk, a farmer of Mecklenburg county, and was himself trained for the same pur suit. His early boyhood was spent upon the farm and at school in his na tive county. At the age of fourteen he lost both father and mother. In 1855 and 1856 he took a course relating to scientific agriculture at Davidton College, and the next year at the age of twenty, he wai married to Sarah P. Gaddy, a daughter of Joel Gaddy, a prosperous farmer of Anson county. About that time he purchased his father's old homestead from the execu tors and settled down to farming. In 1S0O he was elected by the Whigs at the head of his ticket a member of the legislature from his native county He made the canvass openly as a Union man. In the legislature along with many other Whigs he exerted his ut most power to prevent the calling of the State convention, but President Lincoln's proclamation calling on North Carolina for troops to invade her sister States broke the back bone of the opposition and converted him and the others into open secessionists. When ia the fall of 1801 measures were taken to put the State on a war f K)t ing, he was detailed under the commis sion of colonel to organize the militia in his own county. This difficult and delicate task he performed with much credit until May, 1862, when he volun teered as a private in the Twenty sixth North Carolina regiment then com manded by Colonel (now Senator) Vance. Ho deo'ined the position of captain offered him by his colonel but did subsequently accept that of ser jeant major. lie was with his regi ment in the battle at Kuiston, New Berne, Washington and Plymouth, in North Carolina2 and in the seven days' fight around Richmond. When Vance was eleotc-d Governor of North Carolina, Colonel Polk, though a mere youth, was chosen by the officers to present hini with a sverri on his taking leave of the regiment He subsequently joined the Forty-third North Carolina regiment under Col onel Kenan and was with it in the bat tle of Gettysburg where he received a wound. lie recovered in August and re joined his regiment which was then with Lee's army Early in 1S64 he fought under Hoke at Plymouth and later at Drury's Bluff under Beaure gard. His regiment then again joined Lee's army as it was falling back from Spotsylvania and he was in the battles at North Anna Bridge, Hanover June tion, Bethesda Church and other points. He also took part with his regiment in the battles of Washington City, Semecker's Ferry, Bunker Hill, Berry -ville and Kerns Town, being under fire forty -one time in the course of that summer. While serving in the army of Virginia in 1664 he was elected by his people at home to the legislature. On leaving the army to accept this honor, the officers of his regiment, in which ho then held the position of Lieutenant, passed resolutions of com pliment and regret. One of his first acts in the legislature was the intro duction of the resolution relieving wounded soldiers from the necessity of long journeys to headquarters t: get extensions of furloughs, which had often produced great hardships. Accepting, after the war, the changed condition of affairs, he with his faith ful wife, who had been hitherto unused to toil, set resolutely to work, she to her domestic duties and he to the plough, where he continued for seven years. In 1865 his neighbors sent him to the State Convention. His service ended he returned to the plough. Ac cumulating a little money ho presently opened a store. But his delight was in public eervice, little or great, for while he was farmer and merchant he was also magistrate and editor, and he never saw the day when he would not drop the most important private con cern to serve the people in any capac ity. In 1873 he founded the village of Polkton on,his farm, and shortly after, sold it off to settlers and began to de vote himself more exclusively to the service of his State. As chairman of the committee for the State Grange, he was the moving spirit in the establish ment of the Agricultural Department. When in 1877 the act for its establish ment was passed, he became its first and most efficient commissioner. He subsequently resigned this office when he felt himself handicapped in the management of the department. In 1884, 1885, 1886 and 1887 he was the most powerful factor in the estab lishment of the Agricultural and Me chanical College. When, in 1887,. a legislature elected as usual m the in terest of 4,the party" was going to ad journ without forwarding much else but partisan interests, he called to gether a convention of the people con sisting of representatives from forty counties, and helped the passage of the measure by the weight of public opinion so expressed. He , has been a constant friend to this it titu- I tion in spite of much ignorant osi- A? L p3 r 7tM -1 '-'ft lis -v.v 1 PRESIDENT L. f'7i:X. J ...j,...,.,..,,' Mourn for the foremost bravo, Po'.k, of immortal name, Worthiest to lead us on, Wielc'ing truth's sword of flame, llonortd by honest men, Hope of the humblest men. Millions commanding when God called him home. Tyrants rejoice o'er thee, struck in thy ueanly prime Working men weep for thee, Leader of love sublime, Fighting to disenthrall, Brother endeared to all Earth felt a giant fall When the blow came. tion among many with whom he was so popular. This convention organized the North Carolina Farmers' Associa tion, adopted a constitution and by laws, elected Elias Carr its President, endorsed The Progressive Farmer as its organ and put Col. Polk on its ex ecutive committee. A convention of the farmers of the cotton States was called which met in the city of Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 16, 1887. This convention of above GOO of the most progressive farmers of all the cotton States, re solved itself, on the third day of its session, into a permanent organization to be known as the Inter state Farm ers' Association. Of this Association Col. Polk was unanimously elected President. At the next annual meet ing of this Association which was held in Raleigh, N. C, Aug. 21-23, 18SS, Col. Polk was again unanimously elected President. He begun to publish The Progressive Farmer, of which at the time of his death he was owner and editor, at Winston, N. C, and the first issue is dated February 10th, 1886. His first editorial in this issue i3 devoted to stating the policy of his paper, which he said should be carried out "serving no master, ruled by no faction, circum scribed by no narrow or selfish policy." In the same issue I find these signifi cant words in capitals: "The indus trial and educational interests of our people paramount to all other consid erations of State policy is the motto of the Progressive Farmer, and upon this platform it shall rise or fall." It rose to twenty thousand subscribers and is far more widely read than any newspaper ever published in North Carolina. His second editorial in the first issue was on "Our State Depart ment of Agriculture," and his third was on "Industrial or Practical Edu cation the Great Need of the Times How it is regarded in North Carolina." These last two take up about six col umns of his paper. In another column he notifies his readers of his intention of organizing "farmers clubs." moved his paper to B '" and for a short while ' in si' its management byi P - VBV' -Ti-J" VvS-' 'rfV Hon. L. L. POLK,- D JUNE 11, 1892. '1 am standing now just behind the curtain, and in full glow of the coming- sunset. Behind me are the shadows on the track, before , me lies the dark valley and the river. "When I mingle with its dark waters I want to casjhsae lingering look upon a country whose gov ernment is of the people, for the people, and by the people." L. L. Folk, July 4, 1S90.. L. POLK. Philip of Maccdon, Hero of phalanx fame, And bis yet greater son, Joining the spears became Captains invincible Greater thy Aoric we tell. Fell in 4 the gates of he'l." Kings to cast down. Phalanxes leader of Mil; ions with ballots blest, Wise as the Greeks, shall move, spirit of tbine impressed, Joined against tyranny. Fighting till all are free Thou, from thy he ghts shal- see Justice enthroned. Gc)yc Howard Gi ai. Lincoln, Neb., June Uth. was also associated with him at Win ston, and by John E. Ray, On July Sth, 1SS7, he joined Oak Ridge Alliance, No. 24, in Wake county, N. C July 30th of the same yeir his paper was made the organ of this County Alliance. In October follow ing it was made the organ of the State Alliance at its first meeting, which it continued to be until this position was resigned just before his death. At this same meeting he was selected delegate to the National Alliance meeting, which met the next week at Shrieveport, La , where he was elected first Vice Presi dent of that body. In the same month (October) he was made Secretary of the State Alliance, which office he held until December 7h, 1889, when he was elected President of the N. F. A. and I. U., at St. Louis, Mo. He was re elected at Ocala in December, 1890, and again at Indianapolis in Novem ber, 1S91, the two last terms unani mmsly and without opposition. He was unanimously elected permanent chairman of the great conference of confederated labor organizations held t St. Louis, Mo., February 22d, 1892 He served several terms as trustee of Wake Forest College. He was a prime mover in the effort to establish the Baptist University in this State for the edu nation of women, and the first President of its Board of Trustees. Col. Polk was popular as a writer and still more especially as a man, and also as a public speaker. He never joined any "body of men when the peo pie had full sway that he did not im mediately begin to rise toward the top. A member of the Baptist Church and active ki church work, he was twice chosen President of the Baptist State Convention. An humble member of the Farmers' Alliance, he speedily be came its head in the nation. An editor of a newspaper, he made it more influ ential ana widely circulated than any ever in the State before. His enemies said he ws a failure in the manage ment of his private concerns, and ne But it must be re em ohn Sherman, the "r ulent demonetiaat, t understand the mi did die poos. ' Ibered T r, of r a X private business ancmii 22 ml 1& die enormously rich. And herein lies a startling disclosure of the principal public evil which now afflicts this nation, and against which Coi. Polk fought all the days of his life ; it is be cause the people's interests are man aged by men who do look mainly after their own, that there is such misgov ernment and distress. That man who, with the weight of great public respon sibility upon him, can spend too much time in his private affairs, is not only no statesman, but is a scoundrel. In disposition Col. Polk was kind, in character generous. If there was any thing of which he was too vain, it was the good opinion of his fellow-men. It would hurt him to offend the least of the little ones. His culture was not that of the schools, and he was never what men call learned, but he had an easy flowing, graceful style, a wide cc quaintance with men and things and a heart fud of sympathy with the disor eam'zed and helpless. This combina tion made him at all times interesting to the human family wherever found ; they saw he was genuinely interested in them. As a leader he was a better judge of the end which ought to be ac complished than of the means and men requisite and adequate thereto. His faith in mankind and in the final triumph of right was so great that he did not always make sufficient allow ance for the infirmity and cupidity of particular individuals. He was a natural orator, though this was not universally admitted in his native State until his popularity abroad made further denial rediculous. His greatest speech, perhaps, was the one delivered at Indianapolis at his last election. He saw some years ago that the ene mies of civil liberty in both section? were getting in their dark work under cover of sectional agitation and inflam ing race antagonisms and partisan fury. He saw that every political cam paign was more and more a sham fight as far as the sectional leaders were Lconcerned, and that the enemies of American mannood were always vic torious, no matter who won He saw that between certain politicians who divided the people " according to geo graphical discrimination" and then made them fight each other, the most perfect understanding existed, and that they would unite openly against the people if ever their game should be discovered. The magnitude and mas terly conception of this political mechanism nd the fearful conse quences of its operations running through thirty years, appalled him. He rushed into the fight with too little concern for himself. He taxed his power more than his strength could bear. He fell at Washington, D. C, in the thickest of the fight June 11th, 1892, at the age of fifty-five. On the sunset side of a hill and the southward slope of a valley which runs through Oakwcod Cemetery, is the last resting place of Leonidas L. Polk. The hill overlooks the little brook which run3 no r by, meandering under the oaks and willows on either bank, and creeping through the tangled mass of honeysuckle vines, babbles over the rocks beyocd. Up the little valley, which is intersected at right angles by the brook, sleep many of North Caro lina's distinguished dead. A few yards above, a tall monument marks the resting place of Chief Justice Smith, and a little further up a massive stone, f-rocted by his admiring law students, tells of the virtures of the famous Chief Justice Pearson. Closer than either of these is a monument, raised by those who love the brave, perpetuating the memory of two young men who were drowned in their efforts to save a y oung woman. Nearest of all, and close by his side, is the grave of his daughter, Mrs. Browder, marked by a simple slab of white marble. Across the valley and on the hill top beyond, sleep many hundred Confederate dead. About half way up the opposite elope, under a lofty solitary pine, a monument rests on a mound over the remains tie of Confederate hero, Gen. Geo. B. Anderson. A sturdy white oak, a'most to the top of which an ivy vine has climbed, overshadows the grave of Col. Polk. Nature has not left him unmonumented. Perhaps se me day a monument as tall as nature's shall be erected by man, and upon the keystone, which shall represent North Carolina, supported by an arch, which shall rep resent her sister States, shall be in scribed the last words of Col. Polk's last public speech : "Do your duty." Perhaps he foresaw that he was near life's close, and in his mini's eye be held the valley in which he should so soon sink to rest, when at Winfield, Kansas, on the 4th day of July, 1890, he uttered these words: " I am stand ing now just behind the curtain and in the full glow of the coming e: unset. Be hind me are the shadows on the tnek; before me lies the dark valley of the river. When I mingle with its dark waters, I want to cast one lingering look upon a country whose govern ment is of the people, for the people and by the people." We are going down the valley, one by one, With our faces toward the setting of tbe sun ; Down the valley where the mournful cypress grows, Where the stream of death in silence oLward flows. We are coing down the valley, one by one. When the labors of the weary day are done; One by one the cares of earth forever past, e shall stand upon the river lank at last. THE REFORM MOVEMENT. Bensalem, N. C. Mr. Editor : I have been thinking for a long time I would write a letter for The Progressive Farmer, but can render no excuse, only your columns are so full of the great reform sentiment that it seems hardly necessary for any m :re correspondents. However, I think it gives much re lief to blow off once in awhile, and I will just simply pull the throttle and let go a word of advice to all lovers of reform, and those who love their wives, children, homes, their country and their God. . That advice is : Let none be deceived by the State Democratic platform, and get misled when voting time comes. Read that platform and you will see it utterly ignores the Sub Treasury plan of the Alliance, in which our greatest hope for relief lies. Does not any thinking man know that the great burdens we bear cannot be relieved by the enactment of State laws? Then, why vote for any party, though its platform should coincide exactly with our demands, when the national platform of said party is directly opposite? Any man who says he is in true sympathy with the Alliance demands, and that he stands squarely upon the Ocala and St. Louis platforms, and then goes to the polls and votes his old way for some party whose platform offers him no relief, is not true to his country nor himself. Now, I do hope and trust that every lover of reform will vote in the ensuing election for the party whose national platform has our demands incorporated in it ; then, and not until then, will we get redress for our grievances. Don't "whip the devil around the stump" any longer, but crucify, the old party spirit within and vote ac cording to the dictates of honest con science. Oh, come out, brothers! Come out for God and right; and so sure as you do it, so sure will the blessing come. With best wishes, Fraternally yours, S. P. Seawell. The members 7 :argrass Alliance, No. 1,226, Ma: . unty, met recently at the hou0' a sick brother and planted r rt of his crop for him free ofclK jcl Such acts are commendable, and ,.o would like to see more of thenx X?. V "?' " v a V V7 i
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 28, 1892, edition 1
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