The alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1889, July 31, 1889, Image 1
I OFFICIAL ORGAN NEBRASKA STATE FARMERS' ALLIANCE. 51.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE. LLIANCE I I i LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1889. N0.7. VOL. I. 1 The Editorial Notes and Clippings. x Clubbing Rates. To those of our readers who might wish to take a Daily newspaper one whose opinions are its own, fearless and outspoken, we would say that we have made arrangements witn the pub lishers of the Daily Call, of this city, whereby we can furnish their Daily and The Alliance at $6 per year. Or, The Alliance and Weekly Call, one year for $1,50. The weekly Call is a 6 col. quarto well tilled with good family reading. This is an excellent chance to get two papers for nearly the price of one. Sample copies of Daily or Weekly Call will be sent upon ap plication. The people want a change that means something besides a change in office holders. -Advocate, Lewiston, Maine. It is laws and systems that we have declared war against not individu als. If your system gets hurt we cannot help it. President Clover, of the Kansas State Alliance, has issued a call for the meeing of the State Mliance at Newton, Harvey county, Wednesday, August 14, 18S9. Thanks to Bro. Armstrong, of the Western News, of Ainsworth, for good words spoken for our paper. We ap preciate such kind recognition from our brethren of the press, as it shows a kindly feeling for the cause in which we are engaged. The rain of Monday night was gen eral over bout hern Kansas, ana now the uncertainty concerning a mamoth corn cron has disappeared. Kansas will have millions of bushels this year. There will be plenty of corn bread and 'lasses if nothing else. Noncon formist, Winfield, Kansas. The Dexter Free Press, of .Cowley county, Kansas, comes marked with the neighborly X this week. To be sure. Bro. Craiar. we are more than pleased to reciprocate. These Kan sas reformers have such a square out and out way of doing things that they are bound to win. success to our brethren in-Kansas. : the .banners Alliance has now reached a point the critical point where it is beginning to attract uni versal attention, and combination up on combination will soon be forming to crush it out. It therefore stands every one of its members in hand to redouble their diligence. Double the pickets! As Bro. Root, of Omaha, says, "we are getting into the ene mies' country." Look out! A good article fro.ii Bro. J. A. Porter, of Plainview, is on the hook for next week. Also a good one from Fillmore county, questions from "Querist," and several lengthy con tributions. We ask the patient in dulgence of writers of long communi cations. We can only run about one in each issue and consequently it takes some time to get around to all. By and by we hope to be able to "widen out" and then, like a church denomination we once heard of, we'll have "room for all." The great contest of the age has drifted beyond mere party lines, mere sectional and local differences. It has become a struggle of life and death; for the lite of individual lib erty and a just return for labor on the one side, for the death of inde pendence and the absolute subjuga tion of industry on the other. The fight is -capitalism against industry, and that means the industry of every section and every class. The ulti mate aim of capitalism is universal empire, and it is the natural enemy of every freeman of every section. A united opposition is the only hope for the people. National Econo mist, If a man is worth a million and wants to start a national bank, he buys one million of bonds which he deposits with the government who pay him interest for every dollar in gold twice a year. These bonds are not taxed one cent to help defray the expenses of the government. Now then, the government carrying out its policy to make the rich richer, issues 1 . - him $900,000 in greenbacks to bank on and get all the interest he can and charge him 1 per cent on the green backs to cover expense of engraving, etc. The man was worth $ 1,000,000, me government makes him worth AL. . 900, coo, and untaxed. Is this right farmer? You bear the burden and your land can't Toiler. escape taxation. MASSIVE AND MAGNIFICENT. President Barrows of the National Farmers' Alliance of America Makes a Powernl and Eloquent Argu ment on the Great Money Question. Let Every Thinking Producer Study It With Care. What's the Matter? (Continued from last week.) From the Farmers Voice. As distinctive factors of production the law confers no powers whatever upon either land or labor, while it does confer absolutely on money the power j to liquidate debts and accumulate by interest. Money, therefore, is the transcendent power which controls the other fac tors exchanges the other factors de termines the value of the other fac tors, and therefore determines the in come which may be derived from the other factors in rent or wages. There fore, money, being the creation of man by law, and receiving its effective powers by law, may be modified and controlled by law. The prime factors of all distribution are rent, wages, and interest, these be ing the natural dirivities of land, la bor and money-capital. Let us briefly analyze these factors of distribution, and see if we cannot discover the cause of increasing poverty, aud ad vancing wealth the source of com munal sickness which seems to be af flicting us the power that gives Astor and Vanderbilt their annual millions, and their neighbors, the poor sewing women, their daily starvation. Rent is the amount of money the use of land will command. It is de termined by the money ' value of the land, that is by the amount of money the land can be exchanged for, and the rate per cent, of interest the money will command. These are determined primarily, and on an average by the volume cf money existing in a country relative to the land and the exchange able commodities of that country. The volume of money is determined by law, modified only in a small degree by the balance of trade. Therefore rent, as a factor of distribution, is entirely subordinate to and controlled by mon ey, whk-h is the creation of law. Therefore rent may be controlled by law through its control of the volume of money-capital. Wages is the amount of money re ceived by labor as compensation for its exercise in the production of wealth. The economists say that this is deter mined by competition that is by the number of laborers relative to the uum ber of employers. This -may be con ceded, with the reservation that the number of employers, and the ability of laborers to employ themselves, is determined by the volume of money relative to the land and its products, or the natural opportunity to labor. If such money volume is relatively small, business will stagnate, opportunities for self-employment be diminished employers become fewer, laborers more plentiful, and wages lowrer. If such money volume is relatively large, business will be active, the production of wealth stimulated, opportunities for self-employment multiplied, employers increased in numbers, ana wages higher. The money volume being de termined by law, wages are also indi rectly determined by law, modified of course to a certain extent by local cir cumstances, such as calamities, wars, drouths, etc. What is interest? Interest is the rate per cent, allowed by law for the use or money-capital. This rate per cent, is determined by the method and conditions upon which money is issued bv the government, and by its vol ume relative to population and produe tion. - Interest is the controlling factor of distribution. , Its rate determines what proportion of the earnings of la bor shall be paid for the use of capital, and what proportion shall be retained as wages. Interest and rent are nearly synonymous terms, rent being in terest paid for the use of capital in other forms than capital, and interest being the amount paid for capital in the form of money. Viewed in this light there are only two purposes to which the product ol labor can be ap plied, one being rent or interest, the other being wages. Whatever increases one must dimin ish the other. I have said that interest has no ex istence apart from labor. Money of itself produces nothing. If the mere possession of money produced interest, no burden would be imposed upon any body by any rate of interest. But it is not the money, but the notes, mort gages, bonds, etc., into which money is transmuted which bear interest, and labor has to create the wealth and sell it to obtain the money to pay the in terest. Hence money, through inter est, controls labor, and the products of labor. Interest is the great accumulator. There is no known legitimate business that will so rapidly and surely accum ulate wealth as money loaned at 7 per cent interest. For example, suppose A at 21 years of age owns a farm of 100 acres which he rents at 7 per cent payable in land. At the age of 91 he can bequeath to his posterity one hun dred and twenty-seven farms from the mere rent of the first one. Now suppose A labors 300 days in the year at $1 per day over and above his subsistence until he- is 91, and saves all his earnings, he can leave his posterity only $21 ,000. Set apart one hundred families, each having $250,000, or $25,000,000, to loan at 6 per cent. Allow each family $3,000 per year for expenses, or the in terest at 6 per cent on $50,000. -. Allow for an increase of 25 per cent in popu lation every 12 years. They inter marry for five generations of thirty years each, and each couple upon mar riage receives $50,000, or its annual in come of $3,000. Follow this computa tion out for five generations of thirty years, and it will be found that these 100 families have accumulated over and above all the expenses named the astonishing sum of $75,131,750,000! To 'comprehend the power with which interest in this country is con centrating the products of labor in the hands of the men who control money, it is only necessary to consider the volume of bonds and mortgages owned by individuals and insurance and loan companies, the U. S., State, County, City, Railroad, School and other bonds, and'ull the moneys lent -on notes by bankSjbrokers and individuals, and to remember that all are operating alike with a terribly centralizing power against the producers and in favor of the money lenders. "This is the great centralizing agency whiceJs'seized and controlled by the classes against the masses. Banks are based on Nobliga- tions of the people which bear inter est. Railroad bonds, based on theJ taxing power of rates, bear interest. Money issued by the people in their sovereign capacity reaches the people only through the hands of corpora tions, and bears an exorbitant interest. There is said to be $30,000,000,000 of debt in the United States. At 6 per cent this takes $1,800,000,000 annually of the earnings of labor from the pock ets of the laborers, and transfers it to the pockets of those who "toil not, neither do they spin," but who con; trol money,-and are continually trans muting it int o some form of interest bearing securities. Thus we have found the seat of our commercial disease. It is the seizure by the money interests of every legal avenue for the accumulation of money through interest. This is the secret of Vanderbilt'a wrealth, and the sewing woman's poverty. It is the grip the classes have upon the masses. It is what's the "matter. Is there a remedy? Most certainly there is. It is to be found in law in a reform of our pres ent financial system by law. As rent and wages are controlled by money and determined by interest, and as money is the creation of law, and is controlled bj law, therefore law through its control of money and in terest controls rent and wrages. It controls them now in the interest of the classes. The reform must be to control them in the interest cf the masses. It is controlled now by the classes through the agency of a specie basis, and through the restriction of the vol ume of money to an amount entirely inadequate to do the business of the country. By this means men are forced to use all kinds of substitutes for money, and to do their business on a credit instead of a cash system, and the accumulative power of interest is constantly brought into play, always against the laborer and producer, and in favor of the capital owner. The reform will come by the substi tution of land security as the basis for money, and adequately increasing its volume. I invite study on these points, and shall write about "a true monetary system" hereafter. The present money system has the prescriptive right of old age. It has nothing more. It is a hoary-headed monster. Old things are passing away, and all things becoming new. In these latter days single days develop more progress than ages have done be fore. The inventive force of humanity is not spent, but is only just coming into play. , - Of one thing there is no manner of doubt a new money system must be established a system that will unbind men's energies instead of shackle them that will develop instead of retard that will reward labor instead of pun ish it; that will distribute wrealth in stead of concentrate it. That men are beginning to see this truth is herald of the day when they will proclaim and establish it. ' It must be established, or this re public will go the cruel way of those which have preceded it. "There's a fount about to stream. There's ft light about to beam. There's a warmth about to glow, There's a flower about to blow, There's a midnight blackness changing into - gray; ' . ,. Men of thought, and men of . action, Clear - the way!" "Aid the dawning tongue and pen ! Aid it, hopes of honest men Aid it, paper! aid it type I Aid it, for the hour is ripe, And our earnest must not sicken into play; Men of thought, and men of action, Clear the way!" J. Burrows. But why multiply .words. All thoughtful men agree that the pres ent aspect of society is portentious of great coming changes. The only question is, whether they will be for the better or the worse. Those who believe in man's essential nobleness lean to the former view, those who believe m his essential baseness to the latter. For my part, I hold to the former opinion. .." "Looking Back ward" was written in the belief that the golden age lies before. us and not behind us, and is not far away. Our children will surely see it, and we too, who are already men and women, if we deserve it by our faith and works. Edward Bellamy. In an interview with a leading banker of this city, last week, he ad mitted frankly that the farmers of the northwest could never pay off their mortgages with present prices of pro ducts, rates of interest, railroad charges, etc. He further said his bank was compelled to scrutinize more and more carefully its custo mers and to. refuse men loans who have always been good customers heretofore, because they had nothing behind them but incumbered real es tate. Thus the cords are being drawn around the victims as they journey the nard-pan j road to panic- rupcy. lviorai vote ,ine 01a way, yote torWall street, vote for a money famine, and cover the country ten feet deep withNbonds and mortgages to enslave ypurself and your posteri ty. Iowa Journal. X f THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. Under this head we solicit short articles from the people upon any and all - subjects of interest. We cannot undertake to be re sponsible however for any matter appearing1 under this head the design being to allow the greatest freedom to writers whereby they can discuss, and thus take an interest in the great questions of the day which are so materially affecting-the people. Write plain but never mind your spelling, grammar, or anything1 of that sort, we'll attend to that. Sign what you choose to 3-our articles, but send us your name always.! Silver Creek, July 29. Editor Alliance: While the Farmers' Alli ance is said to be noh partisan, its objects are supposed to be largely po litical, viz: To secure the election to office of upright and capable men and the enactment of equal and just laws. No one can question that these are Very worthy objects of de sire, but the question arises, how are they to be attained? How are the farmers effectively to exert their pow er? The answer will commonly be, through the ballot. But, how through the ballot? Two ways are presented to us, either to work within old party lines, or, to form a new party. It is true we might all agree to join some one of the minor parties, but that is utterly impracticable, and not to be thought of, as a vast and over whelming majority of the farmers now belong to one or the other of these old parties, either republican or "democratic, I shall speak particularly with reference to them, and, not withstanding all the denunciation that is heaped upon them,' and much of it justly so, I am free to say that of the two plans proposed, I think the true policy of the' farmer is to choose the former, viz: to work with in the old party lines.- For the, pur pose of this discussion " we may sup pose them to have existed cotempor aneously since the foundation of the government. While each may have many stains upon the pages of its his tory,' each has a record of which, oh the whole it may well be proud Theoretically the party leaders, party platforms and public acts of these parties as represented in congress and state legislatures, faithfully represent the sentiment of the parties them selves, and, if this is not true, prac tically the fault is with the people themselves, in this, that they do not i... i . .1 mm out 10 me primaries en masse and choose faithful and efficient men to represent them in party councils. I have no patience with- the goody- goody citizen who declaims against the old parties because they some times and far too often, I admit elect to office, county, state and na tional, tricksters, incompetents and skunks, when at the same time he never in his life took an active "part in his party primary. These are the men, who, wrapped in their robes of political self-righteousness, form new parties which are expected to take possession of the government and the offices and by the enactment of salutary laws, regenerate the world and usher in the millenium. Brother farmers, if you can't succeed in the old parties, where, at least in the great northwest you have a majority, you could not succeed in a new par ty. But remember that it will often take hard work and skillful work to carry your points; numbers alone are not sufficient. You must go to the pri maries and to the polls with a clear and definite understanding of what you wish to accomplish and of the means by which you expect to carry your points. You must have a good knowledge of parliamentary law and be familiar with the tricks ot your opponents. You must even be pre pared to fight the devil with fire. If, after due attention and work,you find . the nominee ot your party is one whom you cannot conscientiously support, then I would exercise my God-given right to bolt, subjecting my party for the time to the disci pline of disaster, hoping that through defeat it might learn wisdom. But while we may have the power of a tyrant latent though it be we should not use it like a tyrant. I would not have all the offices filled by farmers if I could. All citizens are equal before the law; all classes and callings having special interests which become the subjects of legisla tion, in so far as practicable, are en titled to an equitable representation; and no one class of citizens, simply" because it might have the numerical strength, should seek to dominate ev- erything. Chas. Wooster. Mr. Editor: Enclosed fiud a pos tal note for subscriptions to Tiie Alli ance. Heading the brother s com ment about the orator on the 4th of July speaking of anarchists with a na tional banker as, chairman of the day, made me feel like saying to him that he would not have to look very far to see one, for national bankers in this country do not regard law and that is what constitutes an anarchist. J. L. From Liberty Alliance. Mr. Editor: Thinking perhaps you wonld like to hear from your old home Alliance, of its general prosperi ty etc., I will pen you the following: Liberty Alliance is moving along in an even tenor adding frequently new members, members of sterling worth and staying qualities who will help keep up the reputation this Alliance has always borne of keeping up her end of the plank as high as any of them. We have not done a very great amount of work thus far, but one thing we did accomplish, we pro cured our binding twine at a less price than it cost us last season in spite of the great twine trust, while others, outside of the order, paid an advance above last season. So much - for co operation if even on a small scale. Mr. Editor, it is quite amusing now- a-days to hear the old party line men of one party twitting and jeering the others about the ainerence in prices between democratic versus republican administration. But they go to the elevator men, railroads , and shyster politicians, and are told it is caused by an "overproduction and, oyster like, the old bats and clogs to pros perity, swallow it," and put in a few more acres of grain, a few more hours of toil, deprive themselves of less of the comforts of life, in order to keep the ball a rolling and make the inter est pavment on the farm.- Talk about overproduction when within six hun dred miles of us, according to your last issue, over twenty thousand peo ple are starving and suffering for the want of food, and pray Mr. Republi can what is on the market today that has been produced since Mr. Harri son "was inaugurated? As I under stand it, Mr. Editor, we expect to ac complish our looked for reform by education of the masses, but it seems that with such men as these - that the expression of the Missouri preacher, after being tarred and feathered, would be applicable. When asked about the society down there his an swer was that "death and education would make it far more pleasant. " Likewise with us, it looks; as though It would take something' more than education. Hoping and wishing you success in your good work, I remain Yours &c. Kenesaw, Neb. A Member. BRO. L0UCKS TO THE FRONT. The Zealous and Energetic President of the South Dakota Farmers Alliance Is In the Field to Stay, And the Politicians and Corporations Rend Their Garments and Grab Frantically for a Grain of Comfort. Their Last Hold Has Slipped. . During the past ten days the press of the country has been making mer ry over dispatches from South Dakota that President Loucks ot the State Farmers' Alliance was found to be in eligible to the office of United Slates senator; that he was a Canadian; that he had not been a resident of the United States the time required by constitution, etc. The Omaha Re publican specially paraded this re cently discovered mare's nest with a great flourish of trumpets. To satis fy ourself fully in regard to the mat ter, we wrote to Dakota last week and received the following, which knocks the last prop from under the sinking cause of corporation and ring rule in South Dakota: Office of the Alliance Hail As sociation, Huron, South Dakota, July 28. H. G. Armitage: In re ply to yours of the 23rd to Mr. Crose will say that Mr. Loucks was born in Canada, emigrated to the states about burteen years ago, has been natural ized over ten years, is about forty- five years ot age, has' always voted the republican ticket, is one of the the cleanest, brainiest, and most pop ular farmers in Dakota, and if that doesn't render him eligible to a seat in the United States senate then I see no other way for us to do than to import some fine land thieves from Minnesota or Wisconsin, or railroad robbers from California or Colorado, or Standard Oil boodlers from Ohio for senatorial material. The farmers of both Dakotas are on the. war path and propose to get there this year. Respectfully yours, A. Ward all. Unearthed at LasC The Nonconformist of Winfield', Kansas, has for six months applied itself vigorously to the task of hunt ing out the authors of the Coffeyville dynamite explosion, that created such a commotion in our sister slate just prior to thevlast election. They have located one of the parties in the state house, where it appears he was given an appointment to keep him quiet, and applications for arrest have thus far been declined. The revelations in connection have cre ated the greatest sensation of the sea son in that state. A private letter from the editor states that the full history will be out this week in pam phlet form, to be sold at 15 cts. per copy. Like thousands of others we want that history, for written in the style peculiar to that editor, one can almost imagine the sparks flying as from a dynamo. The Non Con is also one of the strongest supporters of the Alliance in Kansas, an item we are glad to note in its favor. For the past ten years thinking men of our nation h'ave been begging their countrymen to get out of the old ruts,' drop party and sectional strife and shoulder to shoulder work for the repeal of unjust class laws and legislation for the whole people not a few money gods. They have told us of conditions coming just where we find ourselves today, and still the great mass of the people have turned a deaf ear or turned in with the very j crowd that have been stealthily forg ing the clinking chains of slavery for ourselves and children during these long years ot warning and yelled "crank." Today these people are finding themselves almost helpless to withstand the vigorous onslaughts of combined capital, and the warnings are growing louder and louder, and the entreaties sharp and quick, to arise from their lethargy or perish. Whatever is to be done must be done now. Xet each and every one of us double our exertions in spreading the light and truth, for, remember if this great move of the present fails, and we all relax back into a state of demoralization, that the worst is speedily to come. Cambridge Alliance Incorporates. Articles of incorporation of the Cam bridge .Farmers' Alliance Business Association were filed with the secre tary of state, last week. The capital stock is placed at $20,000 divided into shares of $10 each. The objects of the association is the shipping and sale of farm products and the purchase of farm snpplies. The incorporators are G. W. Bailey, F. M. llathbua, ami ten others. The Omaha Republican in noticing the filing of these articles ot incorporation childishly "vents its spleen" by ridiculing the color ami kind of paper the document is written upon. In the meantime the Farmers Alliance goes right on attending to its business of making just such transpa rent subjects as the Republican how!. Send Us Your Neighborhood ew. -Will our friends in all parts of the state kindly send us all matters of lo cal interest from time to time in their respective neighborhoods? This way we will all know what is going on around us and make our paper the farmer's newspaper as well as an aid to the organization. Who will be the first to respond with a good local news letter. Winfield, Kans., July. 2S. Edi tor Alliance: I have just been reading one of your recent issues and must say, Good for Nebraska! Your farmers are getting on the right track at last. In this county of Cowley we have over 4,000 mem bersaud upwards of fifty Subordinate Alliances, with an exchange store here that does a cash business of $300 to $1,400 per day. lfh'lee totally revolutionizing everything and politicians are, as never before, wholly at sea. Yours for liberation by the shortest cut. H. Vincent. Fremont, Ned., July 53. Editor Alliance: In traveling around I find that farmers arc glad to get a copy 01 1 he alliance ana the con stitution, and, all agree, that the far mers should organize; and that after the busy season is over they will call a meeting and let me know, and all think that they will go in full length for "Equality before the Law." As this seems prevalent, I think that af ter harvest there will be a general up rising and union of strength among : - 1' r l l .1 me iarmers ana men mere win ue some rattling among the dry benes of monopolists of any and all kinds. J, think that within a month I can add to your subscription list very materi ally, but, of course, time will best tell. Fraternally, J. Y. M. Swkjart, Fort Gaines, Ga., July 23. Kdi tor Alliance: What is the pecuni ary condition ot the agriculturist and laborers in your state? If not in a satisfactory condition, why? Is it caused by laziness and extravagance? The banking system? By freight rates on watered R. R. stocks? By R. R. pools? By trusts? By combi nation of capital? By a too high tariff? If none of these, then why the unsatisfactory condition? Let us reason together, ascertain the cause and apply the remedy. Let us learn of each other what is needed, and, like a band of brothers, forget a solid north, a solid west, a solid south, and only ewe fealty to a solid patriotic union; agree on issues, and elect members to congress that will carry them out. Let me hear from you. Fraternally yours, R. M. Brown. Home More B. At 31. Last week Lieut. Hayes of the 22nd Street Station had to call out a large force of patrolmen to prevent the Chi cago, Burlington & Quincy Company from laying tracks in the Sixth Ward without an ordinance. The employes of the corporation showed fight until Hayes' men showed their guns. The action of the railroad company was unwarranted and illegal and was a gross usurpation of the people' rights and privaleges. The trespass ers have not been prosecuted, though it is the plain duty of the city to do so.- Prom Chicago Tribune of July 17 th. Yes, this is the C. B. & Q. every day in the week. The right to tear down peoples houses, rip up yards and grounds without proceeding ac cording to law is strictly in keeping with a spirit evinced toward the peo ple of this state ever since the road crossed the Missouri river. They assume chartered' rights to mean a life lease on the universe apparently. Job Printing For Alliances. We are prepared to do any and all kinds of printing for Alliances. Letter and note heads, envelopes, cards, by-law , circulars, handbills etc. Send in your orders and we will do the work at pri ces as reasonable as it can be done. .'7 -V"