. THE ALLIANCE.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING.
BY THE
ALLIANCE PUBLISHING
CO.
BOHANNAN BLOCK, '
Lincoln, - - - Nebraska.
J. BURROWS, :
J, M. THOMPSON,
: . Editor.
Associate Editor.
- - All communications for the paper should
e addressed to THE ALLIANCE PUBLISH
ING CO., aud all matters pertaining to the
.Farmers Alliance, includitg subscriptions to
the pape, to the Secretary.
EDITORIAL-
ABOUT RATES. .
Is there any reason why a railroad
Bhould charge a higher rate for carrying
.anthracite coal than for carrying bitu
minous coal? In fact, according to their
own principle of charging less for the
long haul,' should they not carry anthra
cite coal the cheapest? But on the vi
cious principle of what the traffic will
bear they charge more for hauling an
thracitecharge so much, in fact, that
.many of the people of this state are de
barred from its use. At a fair rate,
uch as the roads could afford to carry
it for, their income from it would he
vastly increased, and the comfort of
many of our citizens Ixj enhanced. Hard
-coal costs no more , at the mine than
soft. Its enhanced cost to our people
is caused by exorbitant transportation
charges.
No man knows just how low freights
may be carried by rail, and still leave a
margin of profit. In 1869 freights were
carried between New York and Chicago
as low as $5 per ton, and between St.
Louis and Chicago as low as $7 per ton.
In the same year the Erie railway car
ried goods to Chicago, by rail and lake,
for $2 per ton. According to English
reports coal has been carried in quanti
ty on roads costing nearly three times
sis much as our own for 3.2 mills per
ton per mile. But the lowest average
charge reported for the year 1886, in
this countey, was 5.2 mills a ton prmile.
This was by the Phil'a and Erie. In
the same year theC. & N. W. reported
an average of a little over 10 mills.
Taking the average distance of the
Pennsylvania anthracite mines from
Omaha at 1,400 miles, the English rate
would give $4,48 per ton freight to that
point. Taking the C. & N. W. average
of 10 mills for the same distance, would
make $14.00. A fair rate lays very near
the first figure. In fact the roads can
make good returns on their actual cost,
if their fancy figure-head officers were
dispensed with, and the business brought
lown to a business basis, at the English
rate.
As an illustration of what' might be
done if the roads would supply the de
'jnand for anthracite at a fair rate, we
-give a short sketch of what was done in
' Belgium between 1856 and 1865, where
the government owned a portion of
-the roads, and the power of combina
tion was destroyed by this infusion of
: an honest element that would not com
bine. The facts arc taken from a re
port of the Minister of Public Works.
In 1865 the freight movement of the
Belgian roads was found to have se
riously decreased. Instead of making
rood the deficiency by increased rates,
as private companies would have done,
the' government adopted greatly re
duced rates. The return, from this poli
vy was so satisfactory that in 1861 a
regular low scale on minerals and . raAv
materials, vlth a reduction according
to distance, was adopted. The increase
-of tonnage in the following year on this
class of goods amounted to 12 per cent.
In 1862 the principle was extended to
the next class with similar results, and
in 1861 the new principle was applied to
all freight except small parcels, and the
Minister of Public Works reported the
result as follows: "In eight years, be
"tween 1856 61, the charges on goods
""have been lowered 28 per cent; the
-"public has sent 2,706,000 tons more
"goods, while it has actually saved
"more than $4,000,000 on cost of car
riage, and the public treasury has
'earned an increased net profit of $1,
150,000." .
If the alxve -principle was adopted in
the coal trade we have no doubt the in
creased traffic would give the roads an
increased net return.
The question of coal rates will soon
-come up for adjustment before our
board of transportation. -The roads
have succeeded in delaying this matter
until a large part of the coal supply is
hauled, and may probably succeed in
putting off a decision still longer. But
the board will do a creditable thing for
itself if it will compel the roads to make
the Nebraska rate on anthracite and bi
luminous coal exactly alike.
Every refusal of fair rates by the
roads, and every contest between them
and the people, hastens the day when
the government will own the roads.
This willl be the final and true solution.
.'PRICES AM) WANES.
The Bee of the 18th quotes
-contemporary as follows:
a
local
"If a market house would have the effect of
-'Cheapening labor, its establishment should be
. indefinitely postponed. Low wages and low
prices for life's necessaries would not bo ben
eficial to either the toiler or the merchant.
. Europe has both and the capitalist cla8S seem
to monopolize the prosperity over here. If
nnana cannot secure lactones without re-
luciisr her wujre standard, she must struggle
ulong without them."
The Bee. denounces the writer of the
above as "devoid of common sense,
and goes on to argue against the trutl
of the proposition. In the course of its
comments it. says:
"It is not so much a question with wage-
workers how much they can earn, as how
much it eosts them to live, "and how much, if
anything, they can stive out of their earnings,
High cost of living does not necessarily make
high wages."
The Bee advances some very specious
. . smruments in favor of its position, but
they are on the side of the manufacturer
instead of the laborer. lor instanc:
"If the price of living: Is cheapened two dol
lars a week for each family the head or that
f amS'y can afford to work for a dollar a week
less and still lay up a dollar a week more than
he does cow. flun the difference of one dollar
a week will eave o the mill owner or manu
facturer who employs a hundred workmen
Ave thousand dollars a year, which is eqmal to
interest at ten per cent on an investment of
fifty thousand dollars."
We will not discuss the question of
common sense. It is relative. But
there is no doubt whatever that low
prices all along the line, such as we are
now experiencing, are vastly detriment
al to all producers, including wage
Earners; and that anything that would
make prices still lower ought to "be
avoided. If the Bee's theory is true the
wage-earner ought to be in clover now.
At no time in twenty years, probably,
could he buy so much of the necessaries
of life with a dollar as now. But what
are the actual f acts? At no time in
twenty years, except for a short period
after the panic of '73, have the wage
earners been harder pushed for a liveli
hood, have more of them been idle, has
it been harder to get the dollar, than at
the present time. t If the writer in the
Bee , knows this fact, he does not. seem
at all to understand , the philosophy of
it. We will explain it to him. Falling
values and consequent low prices, what
ever may be their cause, narrow the
margin of profit in all branches of in
dustry. It often happens that these
low prices entirely wipe out the profit
in certain pursuits. Where the margin
of profit is unduly narrowed producers
are compelled to proportionately nar
row their expenditures. In such cases
labor is the 'first point attacked. Its
hours are shortened or its wage:.- actu
ally reduced. These not sufficing, a
portion of it is thrown out of employ
ment. This portion must live, either
upon contributions of accumulated cap
ital by the balance of the community,
or by such odd and uncertain jobs of
work as can be obtained. In this way
the competition of labor is intensified
labor seeks emyloyment at any price
and the cupidity of selfish employers is
brought into full play. It thus happens
that as prices are lowered as the nec
essaries of life become cheaper the
dollar is harder to obtain, and the con
ditions of life become severer for the
laboring man.
As for the "dollar a week" from which
the Bee infers the five thousand dollars
a year for the mill owner, its philosophy
is as much at fault as in the case of the
operative. The mill owner never saves
as much by his shaving of labor as he
oses by the depression of prices. How
ever much the Bee's theories may seem
to support its position, facts are against
it. In times of high prices prosperity
igns. In eras of low prices misery
takes its place. This truth applies with
equal force to farmers, manufacturers,
merchants and wasre-earners. In fact
it applies to all producers. There is
only one class of citizens, who are, out
side of the pale of this law, and these
are not producers. This class is the
money-lenders. The radical difference
between these men and all other classes
is this: . They buy products with money
which other men have earned; all pro
ducers buy money with products which
they themselves have created.
If the Bee, which has achieved its
prominence ana its- patronage by its
championship of the peopled interests,
abandons tho.c interests now that it
has acquired a strong position, it will
soon discover that the people will aban
don it. -
PHIL ARMOUR IX CUSTODY.
The above is the caption of seme of
the Chicago dispatches. It means that
a Sergeant at Arms of the U. S. Sen
ate has served " a subpoena upon Mr.
Armour to appear before Senator Vest'
committee in Washington. The same
officer had a subpoena for Messrs. Swift
and Morris, but they were noff to be
found in other words ran awav.
The above facts set at rest entirely
the doubts as to whether the Senate
has power to compel the attendance of
witenesses, and punish for contempt.
If it had not power to compel attendance
Senator Vest would not have sent an of
ficer to Chicago with subpoenas nor
would Swift and Morris have rmi
away to avoid their service.
The effort ot certain Chicago papers
to give this matter the color of a strife
between St. Louis and Chicago because
Senator Vest is a Missouri man, has no
force. The country is deeply interested
in two things one being full informa
tion as to the doings of the beef com
bine, arid ihe other the complete vindi
cation of the authority of the Legislative
branch of the government to fully in
vestigate all subjects which seem to re
quire legislative action, and punish for
contempt. The spectacle of Phil Ar
mour looking through the bars would
afford immense satisfaction to a large
majority of the American . people.
Some'Chicago papers are immensely
amused at the spectacle of a Senate
Sergeant-at-arms decoyed through the
stock-yards iu search of Mr. Swift. But
he who laughs last laughs best. . . '
NICE NEBRASKA APPLES.
Mr. Lemasler, of Elmwood, has
made us his debtor for a generous sam
ple of beautiful Nebraska apples, for
which he win please accept thanks un
til we can more liberally reward him.
Eastern apples aie good keepers, wes
tern apples are brilliantly colored, mid
dle state apples are fine flavored; but
for keeping qualities, color and flavor,
Nebraska beats the world. And the
climate that gives good apples gives fine
color to women's cheeks. If these
two qualities are good tests Nebraska
is the finest couutry in the world and
we think it is. ".--''
To ADVEitTiSERS.-rOur advertising
columns are valuable because we will
advertise no frauds. We intend to ad
vertise no article we cannot vouch for.
THE NATIONAL SILVER CON YEN-
.V: ,: TION.
On the. 26th instant there will assem
ble at St. Louis a convention which will
mark an epoch in the financial history
of this country. The object of this con
vention, as stated by its promoters, Lb
the rehabilitation of silver as one of the
money metals of this country. The call
ers of the convention have struck a pop
ular chord, and the convention prom
ises to be a gathering not merely of
financiers,but of the people of the United
States, to protest against the conspiracy
of the money power which through the
demonetization of silver worked a prac
tical confiscation of the earnings of la
bor, the products and property of debt
ors, and transferred them to the coffers
of creditors, causing a depression in the
markets for labor and its products, and
in trade and business enterprises al
most unparalleled in history.
The calling of this convention is a
practical recognition by eminent finan
cial and business men of the justice of
the money agitation which has been
carried on so long by the cranks. The
Committee at St. Louis makes substan
tially the same statements that were
made by the Alliance Memorial last
winter, accepts as true the same princi
ples, attributes to the same causes the
present financial depression, and pro
poses the same remedy. That remedy
is an increase in the volume of money.
It is presumed that the men who have
called this silver convention are in fa
vor of a coin basis for our money, and
of the delusion of specie redemption.
But their arguments in favor of the re
storation of silver to its okj place in our
money system are also unanswerable
arguments in favor of an increase of our
money volume to an amount much
greater than would be possible and
maintain the redemption theory. We
favor the unlimited coinage of silver be
cause it would give us more money, not
because it would give us enough money.
The addition to our monev volume bv
the unlimited coinage of silver would
not be as rapid as might be supposed.
We now coin out of $24,000,000 worth
of silver bullion about $33,000,000 each
year. ' If free coinage is adopted the
bullion value and the coin value would
be the same, as it is now with gold.
The product of our silver mines last
year was in round numbers $60,000,000.
With the price of bullion increased to
coin value the product would be worth
about $85,000,000. There was con
sumed in the art's last year $8,000,000
worth of silver bullion, which under
the increased price would amount to
$11,000,000. There was a net exporta
tion of silver bullion last year of $12,'
000,000, which under the increased
price would amount to about $17,000,
000: Adding the $17,000,000 exports to
the $11,000,000 consumed in the arts, we
have $28,000,000, which must be deduct
ed from the $85,000,000 total value of
silver product under increased price,
to ascertain the amount that would be
coined under free coinage. $28,000,000
from $85,000,000 and we have $57,000,
000 as the highest amount that could be
coined in one year, an increase over the
present annual coinage of $24,000,000.
The coinage of fifty-seven million dol
lars in silver per annum would hardly
keep the per capita circulation up to
what it is now. So about all that we
could expect from free silver is that it
would check, the downward tendency
of the general level of prices that prices
would get no lower. No relief from
present ills would be given by it. As to
the gold product, it amounted to $33,-
000,000 last year, of which $16,000,000
worth was consumed in the arts, leav
ing, but 817,000,000 to add to our circu
lating medium from that source, while
the net exports of gold amounted to
over $49,000,000, showing a net contrac
tion of gold money of $32,000,000 last
year.
To simply check the downward ten
dency of prices would give no practical
relief to our . producers and laborers;
nor would it stop the flow of produced
wealth into the coffers of the rich which
is now caused and aggravated by low
prices. The only thing that will give
permanent relief to our farmers and
producers and our debtor class is higher
prices for poducts. Higher prices will
not be caused except by an increase of
our volume of money in proportion to
our increased population and produc
tion.. This increase cannot be had by
gold and silver alone, as the product is
insufficient, YV c must therefore resort
to some species of paper money,, which
will be issued and controlled by the na
tional government, will be of uniform
character, will be receivable for all
debts public and private, and will be
based upon some kind of unvarying
value which is not a burden upon the
people. This value is land.
We rejoice that this convention is to
be held. This money question is the
great question before this country to
day. It includes and transcends all
others. As an agency for its agitation,
as a means of educating the people on
this question, we hail this convention,
and look for good results" from it.
Congress must be made to see that:
the people understand this subject, and
the president must be made to know
that further truckling to Wall street
will hurl his party from power.
COIN INTEREST AND EXPORTS.
Orleans, Neb ., Nov. 17, 1889.
Editor Alluncei-Iii regard to silver be
ing coined at the maximum rate required by
law, what effect will it have on our American
securities held in other countries, i. e. pro
viding we should have a short crop and not
be able to pay a large part of our foreign
debt with our exports? Would ft not draw
too heavily on our treasury, taking all of our
gold and leaving those secuiities on the New
York market? I should be pleased to have
you answer the above through The Aixi
axce. . Respectfully, W. J. H.
Balances of exports between nations
are"" paid in one of the precious metals,
or in interest-bearing obligations. If
by such a calamity as our correspondent
names, or 'some other, the balance of
trade should go against us, Ave would
be obliged to settle this balance in one of
the above methods. But aswe have no
law requiring us to pay our obligations
in gold, and as we have no money re
deemable in gold alone except gold cer
tificates, it does not appear that-an un
usual drain of gold would injure any
body", providing some other equally as
good money, such as silver or green
backs, should take its place here, so
that the drain did not act to further
contract our money volume. Of course
it is easy to suppose anything. But as
long as our credit is so good that we are
compelled to pay 25 to 28 per cent
premium on our unmatured debts, there
does not seem to be any danger of an
oversupply of our matured ones.
Our coirespondent seems to be under
the impression that we are compelled to
pay our securities in gold. This is a
mistake. We are only compelled to pay J
in coin. Whatever our coin may be,
whether silver or.gold, it would be used
to settle international balances at its
bullion value. Neither our coin nor our
paper are current outside of our borders.
Our correspondent will see herein a for
cible illustration of the fact that money is
a creation of law. He may also see an
illustration of the fearful folly of our
aiding in the depreciation of one of our
staple products like silver, Which is a
money metal 'in three-fourths of the
world, while we are a debtor instead of
a creditor nation. It will also be plain,
upon reflection, that the demonetization
of silver and the limitation of its coin
age, by aiding in making money scarcer
and lowering prices, tends constantly to
lessen the money value of the exports
upon which we depend to pay our for
eign interest, and at the same time to
increase the amount of wealth which
may be absorbed by those to whom we
pay it.
"ONLY A TAX IN FORM."
In Henry George's paper, the Stand
ard, of Nov. 16, occurs the following
passage, in editorial.
"The truth is, as I have often
said, that the single tax is only a tax in form.
It is not a tax in the sense of taking by the
gpvernment anything that belongs to indi
viduals." It is undoubtedly true that the ardent
advocacacy of a favorite scheme leads
men into absurd anil untenable posi
tions without at the same time impair
ing their sincerity.- The capacity of hu
man nature for self decepiion is pro
digious.. "The wish is father to the
thought," is the homely aphorism in
which this idea is expressed. To com
pletely refute the statement above quot
ed it is only necessary to place beside it
Mr. George's own proposition, in his
own words, viz:
"I do not propose either to purchase or to
confiscate private property in land. The first
would be unjust; the second needless.
IT IS NOT NECESSARr TO CONFIS
CATE Land; it is only, necessary to con
fiscate rent." Progress and Poverty, p.
oqo " . . . . . .
MUM .
A few lines below he says "We al
"ready take some rent in taxation. We
"have only to make some changes in
"our mode of taxation to take it all."
As we have before shown, rent has
no existence separate from labor, and is
in fact a current annual- creation of la
bor. It forms a large part of the in
come, and in many cases the only in
come, of a large proportion of our fel
low citizens. Mr. George says that this
can be taken by the state can be con
fiscated, not for one time, but annu
ally and thatJt will be "a tax only in
form."
After the first sweeping confiscation
had been accomplished, and private
property in land destroyed by the sin
gle tax after that time, we say, land
owners could no longer suffer, as they
would not exist. The state would own
all the land. But rent would have to
be annually created by labor the same
as now. It would then be taken from
its creators for the state the same as
now taken for private uses." How this
would be "a tax only in form" needs
elucidating.
In the same No. of the Standard, in
commenling upon an article of the
Springfield Republican, Mr. George
says: .
"It is simply amazing that a paper capable
of discussing any subject with intelligence
should remain so impenetrably ignorant of
the relations between man and land. Who
on earth owns land more valuable than that
specially enriched by the sovereign power for
the benefit of the Goulds, Vanderbilts and
others enjoying a monopoly of the public
highways of this country." ,
The railway companies, possess sim
ply a right of way. The land that they
arc using belongs to the community, and
the community asserted its right to it
when it conceded to the roads its use.
and it can resume possession at any
time. If there, is any value connected
with a railroad, it is the value of this
granted franchise, and a value created
solely by labor, not a value derived
from the land on'-which the road rests.
It is the height of inconsistency for Mr.
George to propose to tax this value, as
he has not proposed to tax franchises,
and expressly repudiates the taxation
of all products of labor. If he wishes
to tax a franchise, wcil and good. We
contend that such a tax will distribute
its burden more evenly over the com
munity than any other tax. But to tax
a franchise under the pretext of taxing
the land value of the land used as a
road-bed is absolutely an absurdity. So
long as a railroad is permitted to fix
rate3 on traffic any tax upon it is a tax
upon the community; and it comes so
straight home , that it can hardly be
called an indirect tax. Apply the sin
gle tax to land "specially enriched by
the sovereign power for the benefit of
the Goulds and the Vanderbilts," and
these gentlemen will make admirable
collectors of taxes, but they would smile
blandly at the idea that such tax im
posed any burden upon them.
To establish through decisions by our
higher courts, that lands used for right
of way can be acquired and held in fee,
which' is deducible from Mr. George's
remarks, M ould be a great accession to
the power of railroad corporations, and
a staggering blow to the' liberties of this
country, -
THE POTENT PRESS.
The most potent agency for educating
and influencing public sentiment is the
press. Fifteen or twenty years ago an
association known as the Associated
Press was formed. The original object
of this association was to obtain for its
members earlier news at lower cost.
This society was composed of some of
the ablest and wealthiest journals of the
country, and it soon became a power.
Jay Gould and his associates soon
recognized this fact, and more fully
than its founders they realized its ex
pansive ami controlling force. From
that time these men sought to control
this agency, not only as an aid in their
stoek-jobbing schemes, but as an engine
to misinform the public and mould pop
ular sentiment in their favor. To-daj-the
dispatches of the associated press,
and the editorial work of the patent
sides are manipulated and colored in
favor of the monopolies which are seek
ing to control the productive forces of
this country. The farmers of the na
tion are organizing quietly, determined
to thwart and overthrow these combi
nations. No point should be fortified
sooner than this one of the press. It is
of vital importance that the literature
that 'enters the household should not
only be pure, but should be true, 'and
should clearly and honestly voice the
aspirations of a people who are deter
mined that a "government of the peo
ple, by the people and for the people
shall not perish from the earth." With
draw your aid and comfort from the
enemy. Every dollar that you pay to
the organ of monopoly is a stick with
which to break your own head.
EXTRACTS
From the Address of Col. It. I. Polk, De
livered at the Peidmont Exposition
at Atlanta, Ga., October 24, 1889.
i
Among the many seductive consider
ations presented in the cordial and
courteous letter of invitation from my
gifted friend, Mr. Grady, was the fact
that this is the Alliance and Farmers'
day of your exposition. This recogni
tion of the great agricultural interests is
as just and considerate as it is
graceful and appropriate, for in
the south it represents 71 per cent of our
population and 38 per cent of the entire
agricultural population of the United
States. It represents $12,000,000,000 in
lands, $1,750,000,000 in live stock, $500,
000,000 in implements and machinery
and $4,000,000,000 in - the annual pro
ducts of its labor.! It supplies over 72
per cent of our domestic exports and
pay four-fifths of the taxes of the coun
try. The entire human family is de
pendent upon it for raiment and daily
food. The great propelling power
which freights and drives our ponderous
trains to and fro over our 150,000 miles
of railway, which sends - our ships of
commerce to the ports of the world,
which keeps in motion the vast machin
ery of all our industries, is the muscle
of the strong and brawny arm of the
American farmer.
In 1860 the farmers numbered one
half our population and owned one-half
the wealth of the country. In 1880,
though still about one-half our popula
tion, they owned only about one-fourth
the wealth of the country. From 1850
to 1860 they had increased the value of
their farms 101 per cent. From 1870 to
1880 the increase was only 9 per cent,
and yet our agricultural population had
increased over 29 per cent, while the
aggregate wealth of the country in
creased 170 per cent. In your own state
of Georgia, while your population in
creased 60 per cent from 1860 to 1886,
your land decreased in value 33 per
cent.
And now as to crops. 'In 1866 the
wheat, corn, rye, barley, buckwheat,
hay, oats, potatoes, cotton and tobacco
sold for $2,007,462,231. In 1884, eighteen
years later, when the cultivated acreage
had been nearly doubled, the number of
farms and farm hands had doubled and
the agricultural emplements and ma
chinery had been vastly improved, the
same crops sold for $2,043,500,481, an
increase of only $36,000,000, or less than
2 per cent more than they were sold for
in 1866.
But ,we are told that this is due to
overproduction. There can be no over
production so long as the cry for bread
shall be heard from a single child in the
land. It is not over-production, but it
is a want of a proper distribution or
equitable disposition of the products of
labor.
Again, we are told that we can buy
more with a dollar than ever before.
But we ask, V here is the dollar? And
how much of the products of our labor
will buy that dollar? And when obtain
ed, will it pay more interest? Will it
pay more debts? Will it pay more
taxes? A pertinent inquiry might bo
appropriately introduced 311st here.
Why should a United States bond bear
ing 4 per cent interest be worth 127
cents on the dollar, while good farms
cannot le mortgaged for more than
one-third their value, at f to 10 per cent
interest? , .
And how stands agriculture in the
race of progress with manufacturing?
From 1850 to i860 agriculture led 'manu
facturing in increased value of products
10 per cent. From 1870 to 1880 manu
facturing led agriculture in increased
value ot products 27 per cent, a differ
ence of 42 per cent in favor of the in
creased" growth of manufacturing.
The figures quoted are but another
powerful witness to prove that through
the rapid congestion of wealth our pop
ulation is being resolved into two class
es the extremely rich and the extreme
poor classes which, in all ages, have
been the weakest defenders of civil lib
erty and human freedom. Centralized
capital, allied to irresponsible corporate
power is the most formidable and dan
gerous evil that threatens the perpetuity
of our form of free government. It an
nuls the ancient law in. trade of "supply
and demand," it overrides individual
rights, it controls conventions, it cor
rupts the ballot-box, it subsidizes the
press, it invades our temples of justice,
it intimidates official authority, it fos
ters official corruption, it robs the many
to enrich the few, it destroys legitimate
competition, and dictates legislation,
state and national. Mighty forces are
being -marshalled which shall test the
strength of our virtue, our patriotism,
our appreciation of self-government,
and our love of liberty. In these closing
years of the nineteeth century is the
struggle again to be renewed for as
cendency, between individual rights and
constitutional government on one side,
and centralized capital and arrogant
monopoly on the other.
Read our Magnificent Premium offer
in our advertising columns. Every
farmer should have Magner's Encyclo
pedia in the house. One consultation
of it may save you'a valuable horse or
cow.
ANNUAL CONVENTION
Of tlie National Farmers' Alliance.
CHANGE OF DATE.
By a mistake the date of the meeting
rtf thei Southern Alliance at St. Louis
was stated to be Thursday, Dec. 5, and
the meeting of the National Alliance
was fixed for the same date. The cor
rect date is Tuesday, Dec. 3rd. All
delegates will therefore please take no
tice that the meeting of the National
Alliance will be held at St. Louis on
Tuesday, Dec, 3rd.
Rates on 'all railroads will be one and
one-third fare for the round trip, on the
certificate plan.
A meeting of the Executive Board and
Nat'l Business Committee will be held
at hotel headquarters on Monday eve
ning, Dec. 2d. .
Notice will be sent as to hotel head
quarters early next week. .
Rates at Hurst's Hotel and the St.
James will be $1.25 per day.:
By order of Committee.
AUGUST POST, Secretary.
" LOOKING BACKWARD."
The Stage Coach Illustration.
Mr. Julian West imagines himself
waked up in Boston in the year 2000.
He learns of the wonderful social sys
tem in practice, and describes to the
astonished people the peculiar serfdom
of this, our day, when Be lived with us
before his long sleep or trance:
I myself was rich and also educated.
and possessed,therefore,all the elements
of happiness enjoyed by the most for
tunate in that age. Living in luxury.
and occupied only with the pursuit of
me pleasures ana rettnements of life,
I derived the means of my support from
the labor of others, rendering no sort
of service in return. My parents and
grandparents had lived in the same way,
and I expected that my descendents,
if I had any, would enjoy a like easy
existence. . '
But how could I live without service
to the world? you ask. Why should
the world have supported in utter idle
ness one who was able to render service?
The answer is that my greatgrand
father had accumulated a. aum of mon
ey on which his descendents had ever
since lived. The sum, you will natur
ally infer, must have been very laige
not to have been exhausted in support
ing three generations in idleness. This,
uowever, was not the fact- The sum
had been originally by no means larffe.
11 was, in ract, much larger now
that three generations had been sup
ported upon it in idleness, than it was
at first. This mystery of use without
consumption, ot warmth with com
bustion, seems like magic, but was
merely an ingenious application of the
art, now happily lost, but carried to
great perfection by our ancestors, of
shifting the burden of one's support
upon the shoulders of others. The man
who had accomplished this, and it was
the end all sought, was said to live on
the income of his investments. To ex
plain at this point how the ancient me
thods of industry made this possible5
would delay us too much. I shall only
stop to say now that interest on invest
ments was a species of tax in perpetui
ty upon the products of those engaged
in industry which a person possessing
or inheriting money was able to levy.
It must not be supposed that an an ange
ment which seems so unnatural and
preposterous, according to modern no
tions, was never criticised by your an
cestors. It had been the effort of law
givers and prophets from the earliest
ages to abolish interest, or at least
to limit it to the smallest possible rates.
These efforts had, however, failed,
as they necessarally must as long as the
ancient social organization prevailed.
At the time of which I write, the!
latter part of the nineteenth century,
governments had generally given up
trying to regulate the subject at all.
By way of attempting to give the read
er some general impression of the way
people lived together in those days, and
especially of the relations of the rich
and poor to one another, perhaps I can
not do better than to compare society
as it then was. to a prodigious coach
which the masses of humanity were
harnessed to and drudged toilesomely
along a very hilly and sandy road. The
driver was hunger, and permitted no
lagging, though the pace was necessarily
very slow. Despite the difficulty of
drawing the coach at all along so hard
a road, the top was covered witn pas
sengers, who never got down even at
the steepest ascents. These seats on
top were very breezy and comfortable
Well up out of the dust, their occupants
could enjoy the scenery at their leisure
or critically discuss the merits of the
straining team. Naturally such places
were in great demand, the competition
for them keen, every one seeking, as
the first end of life, to secure a seat on
the coach for himself and to leave it to
his child after him. By the rule of the
coach a man could leave his seat to
whom he wished, but on the other hand
there were many accidents by which it
mignt at any time be wholly lost. .For
all that they were so easy, the seats
were very insecure, and at everv sudden
jolt of the coach persons were slipping
out 01 mem and falling to the ground,
where they were instantly compelled to
take hold of the rope and help to drag
ine coacn on which they had ridden so
pleasantly, it was naturally regarded
as a terrible misfortune to lose one's
seat, and the apprehension that this
might happen to them or their friends
was a constant cloud upon the happi
ness Of those who rode.
But did they think only of themselves,
you ask. Was not their very luxury
rendered intolerable to them by com
parison with the lot of their brothers
and sisters in the harness, and the
knowlede that their own weight added
to their toilr' Had they no compassion
for fellow beings from whom fortune
only distinguished them? Oh, yes;
commiseration was frequently ex
pressed by those who rode for those who
had to pull the coach, especially when
the vehicle came to a bad place in the
road, as it was constantly doing, or to a
particular steep hill. At such times
the desperate straining of the team,
their agonized leaping and plunging
under the pitiless lashing of hunger, the
many who fainted at the rope and were
trampled in the mire, made a very dis
tressing spectacle, which often called
forth creditable displays of feeling on
the top of the coach. At such times
the passengers would call down en
couragingly to the toilers of the rope,
exhorting them to patience, and hold
ing out hopes of possibla compensation
in another world for the hardness of
their lot, while others contributed to
buy salves and liniments for the crip
pled and injured. It was agreed that
it was a great pity that the coach should
be so hard to pull, and there was a sense
of general relief when the specially bad
piece of road was gotten over. This re
lief was not, indeed, wholly on account
of the team, for there was always some
danger at these bad places of a general
overturn, in which all would lose their
seats.
It must in truth be admitted that the
mam effect of the spectacle of the mis
ery of the' toilers at the rope was to en
hance the passengers' sense of the valu
of their seats upon the coach, and to
cause them to hold on to them more de
sperately than before. If tho passen
gers could only have felt assured that
nether they nor their friends would
ever fall from thetop,itis probable that,
beyond contributing to the fund for lin
iments and bandages, they would have
troubled themselves extrempiv mti
about those who dragged the coach.
1 am wen aware tuat this will appear
to the men and women of the twentieth
century an incredible inhumanity but
there ,.re two facts, both verv curious
which partly explains it. in the first
place it was firmly and sincerely be
lieved that there was no other way in
which society could get along except the
many pulled at the rope and the few
rode; and not only this, but that no very
radical improvement even was possible,
either in the harness, the coach, the
roadway, or the distribution of the toil.
It had always been as it was, and ft al
ways would be so. It was a pity, but it
could not be helped, and philosophy
forbade wasting compassion on what
was beyond remedy.
The other fact is yet more curious.
consisting in a singular hallucination
which those on top of the coach gener
ally shared, that they were not exactly
like their brothers and sisters who
pulled the rope, but of finer clay, iu
some way belonging to a higher order
of beings, who might justly, expect to
be drawn. This seems unaccountable.
but as I rode on this very coach and
shared that very hallucination, I ought
to be believed. The strangest thing
about the hallucination was that those
who just climbed up from the ground.
before they had outgrown the marks of
the rope upon their hands, began to fall
under its influence. As for those whose
parents and grandparents before them
had been sq fortunate as to keep their
seats on the top, the conviction thev
cherished of the essential difference
between their sort of humanity and the
common article was absolute. The ef
fect of such a delusion in moderating
fellow feeling for the sufferings of the
mass of men into a distant philosophi
cal compassion, is obvious.' To it I re
fer as the only extenuation I can offer
for the difference which, at the period
I write of, marked my own attitude to
ward the misery of my brothers.
A MODERN NECESSITY".
THE BUSINESS COLLEGE OF
LIN
COLN, NEBRASKA.
The marvellous growth and develop
ment of the great west in the
cade, with its ever extending
cial relatians and industrial
last dc-commer-advance-
ment, calls for a vast army of well
trained, accurate, intelligent force of
clerks to care for and record business
transactions. In primitive times, when
man's wants were few, when trade was
in its infancy, and consisted simply iu
barter from one individual to another.
a man could retain in his memory, or
possibly, as time moved on, in his note
book all that was necessary of any ex
change or sale that had been made, but
civilzation increases the wants of man
kind. He is not content with what his
own country produces, but must have
commodities from other sections. Hence
it has been simply man's wants that has
built up the great commercial network
that extends all over the world. The
people of frosty climes long for tin
luscious fruits that mellow beneath far
away southern suns, while to them their
fruits become insipid and they desire the
more stable products of a northern
clime. To prepare deft hands and sub
tle minds to care for these multitudinous
transmutations is the task of the mod
ern business college. Men of to-day to
be successful must be specialists. The
field of knowlege is too. extensive for
the average individual to acquire more
than a diminutive portion, hence how
essential it becomes that what is learn
ed be practiccl. ,
Many a youth toils long and ardently
over volumes of ancient lore, written in
antiquated characters and couched iu
obscure phraseology, rec-i?cs his diplo
ma and goes forth into life's aethities
only to find that he is in the midst of a
great warfare without an armour. But
this is not true of the graduate from the
business college. In his mind has been
inculcated all the intricacies and pro
vident methods than are the basis of
the great business world. He launches
his ship upon life's ocean and speedily
reaches the desired haven of financial
success, because his education has been
practical. Such is the work in which
the Lincoln Business College is engaged.
Here can be purused a course in book
keeping, penmanship, shorthand, and
typewriting with other practical stud
ies, all of which lit the student for im
mediate usefulness in business life.
Profs. Lillibridgo ami Koose, the princi
pals and proprietors of this institution
are held m high esteem by the business
men of this section, who have every con
fidence in them as teachers 11; icmI to in
struct the youth in all the difficulties
and perplexities pertaining to a suc
cessful career. We have had the op
portunity of visiting many business col
leges, but nowhere have we been
favorably impressed with the neatness
anil system that prevails in every de
partment. The school is wisely lm-ated
in the business part of the city, eonier
O street and 11th, where the student is
continually coming in contact with bus
iness in its manifold forms. Those de
siring practical business course can not
do better than. to address the principals
who will gladly give all desired infor
mation. Chicago Illustrated Century.
Ciiors and Fkeiuht Rates. Weeopy
from the Bee of Monday an editorial
under the above caption. No crank
could staie the matter more plainly.
But when the Bee speaks of "generous
concessions to producers as a thing
possible for a railroad corporation, it is
invading the realms of the Meal. They
are not built on that plan. When the
people cease asking for concessions, and
take what belongs to them, they will
get justice, and not before.
Bkead rrox the water. Says the
Bee: ."A few hundred thousand dol
lars voted for bridges and viaducts
which will tend to concentrate the rail
roads in this city will be bread cast up
on the water."
Just so. The U. IV has water now tu
the depth of $75,000 per mile. The
more such bread you cast upon that wa
ter the poorer you will be.
