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About The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1890)
THE FAKMBBS' ALLIANCE: LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JAN. 25, 1890. THE ALLIANCE. PUBLISHED EVE8Y SATURDAY U03NIHG. BY THE ALLIMCE PUBLISaiHS GO. BOH ANN AN BLOCK, Lincoln, - - - Nebraska. j; BURROWS, : : ; Editor. J. M. THOMPSON, Business Manager. EDITORIAL. The State of Nebraska on its Knees to the Railroaks. Every right-minded citizen of the state of Nebraska must feel humiliated and disgraced by the attitude in which its chief executive John M. Thayer has placed the state. This attitude is sim ply one of servile entreaty and supplica tion to the railroads of Nebraska to ex tend simple justice to its people. Gov." Thayer has addressed a letter to the general managers of the six railroads operating lines in this state "earnestly urging" them to "reduce the rate on corn say 5 cts a hundred." He says: "'lease fry it; see if it will not start a portion of this commodity, now lying idle, to market." "Please, gentlemen railroad managers, please do be merciful to us your humble suppliants and slaves, and give us rates on our corn that will at least enable us to haul it to your stations and turn, it over to you!" That's what it is, and that's the Avay it sounds. The sov ereign state of Nebraska, the creator, and by all law and decisions the su preme controller and arbiter of these roads, on its feet before them in the position of an humble suppliant! This alone is enough to bring a blush of shame to the brow of every honest and sturdy Nebraskan. We believe every one of them would see his last bushel of corn rot before consenting to have his state placed in such a contemptible attitude. Our people have too long been placed in a false and degrading position by the time serving and truck ling legislators and governors of this state men who are bought with free passes, and who fawn upon and bend the supple knee to railroad managers like G. W. Holdredge, instead of man fully and fairly uxholding the honor and dignity of the state. John M. Thayer returns from a junketing tour to Mexico in Pullman palace cars, and then, as Chief Executive of Nebraska, indites this disgraceful letter to the railroad magnates. This act, on the face of it, is a dis grace; but this disgrace is deepened and heightened and intensified when it is known that the act itself is a mere Xolitical trick, prompted solely by a low desire to gain personal political capital, instead of a desire to serve the farmers of the state, or by any feeling of sympathy for their condition. The Board of Trade has full power, under the law and decisions, to fix rates in this state. Certain members of the "Board have been for some time at work at this problem, with a view of procur ing an order reducing rates. It became apparent that this move was likely to be successful; and therefore to give the appearance of having by a personal ef fort secured a reduction of rates this disgraceful, supplicating, truckling let ter is written, placing the sovereign state of Nebraska in the attitude of a Xetitioner to the managers of railroads under its jurisdiction. So this aet, in addition to being disgraceful of itself, is simply the trick of a crafty politician. We do not believe the next executive officers of Nebraska, nor the next legis lature, will be selected from the brass collared free-pass junketing brigade. Vigorous Words That Touch the Right Spot. The Great West is published in Minne sota, and espouses the cause of the la boring man and farmers. Its language is vigorous and to the point, and tallies so entirely with our humor that no man can tell where we leave off and it be gins. There never has been a time in the history of the world when an awak ning of all the people was so much needed as now; and there probably has never been so peculiar a circumstance in human history as the quietude of the great majority of the farmers under the system of robbery and oppression being perpetrated by capitalized corporations and wheat combines. Thousands and thousands simply mutter, "Well, what can you do?" They don't say "What can I do?" It is what can you do? They can, of course,' do anything they n tve a mmu to. A hey can break up the government if they want to! Of course they don't want to nobodv wants to. but the idea of men asking "what cau you do." and trying to do nothing. Why, they could hang some traitors to a lamp post! Too severe? Not at all. There were men in the last legislature who were traitors to the government. Any man who buys a vote is a traitor a peculiar kind of a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly If it isn't a crime, then it is legitimate and honorable and that ends the mat tcr for poor people. The farmers could put a stop to such legislatures if they want to. It is . the silent, inactive, "what-ean-you-do" farmer who is drag gmg down the great producers. No such condition has ever occurred be fore in history when men can, but wil not, right their wrongs. What God wants is brave men. We always thought He would let a wicked man down easy-like if he stood up to his tasks with a manly heroism. God hates a coward. He loathes a man afraid-of-his-conscience. But He has a more sublimo detestation for a man who peddles out his principles by the ounce, and then hides his little infamy with the every-body -does-so blanket, Tne church is full of such men, ana they jostle each other in the marts o trade. They are ignoring conscience and compromising with hell every day Usury is a crime against God and man and our fashionable divines preach Christ crucified week after week to men whom they know are week after week by usury robbing the poor. Re spectable men, who would really scorn to steal, go into politics and resort to tricks and corruption that would dis grace an Apache Indian. Will the day ever come when social position, and wealth and good clothes will not gloze over dishonesty and villianyf High Taxes and Cheap Lands. Governor Crackett, of Massachusetts, de votes a considerable part of nis message to the question of taxation. He recommends a succession and legacy tax, and expresses a , hope that such a system would relieve the state from its present necessity of raising , 000,1)00 by a direct state tax. The governor says that there are grave inequalities in the Trfspnt. Rvst em. and that rates vary from $4 on the $1,000 in the town of Cohasset to on the $1,000 in the towns of Florida and Hawley. ihe Boston Globe recently declared that farms can be bought In the town of Florida for just about the cost of improvements. Ke ferring to the fact that Governor Brackett's message shows that Florida's tax is the high est in the state, the Globe says: "Doubtless the two facts have some relation to each other. High taxes on land make land cheap." The Globe begins to see things in their true light. If the town of Florida will stop taxing buildings and tax land alone, land will be cheaper still and buildings more numerous. Standard. . The comment of the Standard on 'the Globe, "the Globe begins to see things in their true light," seems decidedly gleeful. And yet, Avhat is the true sig nificance of the fact stated by the Globe, that "farms can be bought in the town of Florida for just about the cost of im provements?" It must be this: that farming in Florida had become so un profitable had been loaded with so many burdens which could not be shift ed that the one absolutely indispensa ble instrument of farming, viz: land, could be had for just about nothing. Under such circumstances what class of men will seek farming as a means of obtaining a livelihood? Obviously only those who can obtain a livelihood in no other manner. Obviously only the very lowest order of people men who can live like brutes, and deny them selves and their families most of the ne cessities and all the amenities of civil ized life. It is absolutely true that where farming is profitable land is not cheap. It is absolutely quite as true that in agricultural districts "high taxes on land make cheap land." These things being conceded, what will the re sult be when all taxes are loaded on land, as Mr. George proposes? Are the downtrodden and impoverished workmen of New York rushing with greedy haste to the cheap farms of Flor ida or other townships of Massachu setts where land may be had for the cost of the improvements, we would ask the Standard. In that paper for Jan. 8, we see it stated that Thos. G. Sherman has dem onstrated, in an article in the Spring field Republican, that "a tax on land values cannot be shifted." This is true of just one class of taxpayers, viz: the actual tiller of the soil, and of no other class. If this tax is in the form of rent he must produce it and pay it over to the landlord before he can enioy a dol- ar of the fruits of his labor. If he owns the soil, and it is in the form of a tax, it must as inevitably be produced and paid as in the first case. Death of Hon. H. G. Armitage. Just as our forms were going to press ast week came the sad news of the death of Hon. H. G. Armitage, at his home in Kenesaw, on Jan.. 13. Mr. A. had been ill for five weeks with a linger ing fever, and was afflicted with an in herited lung trouble; so his death was not altogether unexpected. Mr. Armitage was born in, Clarion Co., Pa., Nov. 11, 1852. He passed his boyhood and youth on a farm in Kan kakee Co., 111., where his parents moved when he was four years old. He married Miss Chloe Mecham in 1876, and the next year moved to Nebraska and located on a farm in Wanda pre cinct, Adams Co. He was elected to the legislature in 1882, on the Alliance ticket, and served with credit and hon or. Mr. Armitage was a genial com panion and a reliable friend. His so ciability and integrity were of the high est order, and endeared him to all who knew him. He was devoted to the cause of reform and ' the people, and was unflinching in maintaining his con victions. He leaves a wife and three children, and an aged father and moth er to mourn his loss. Sorrow for his early death is universal in the commu nity where he was best known. Norval Justifies the CoRroiiA tions' Choice. the first ofheial act of Judge Norval was to vote for Ed. Cams as clerk of the supreme court. Cams is a notorious railroad capper. Thus it is shown that the confidence of the rail roads when they packed a convention to defeat Judge Reese and nominate Norval, was not misplaced. Birds of a feather flock togother. The York Times says it still "has confidence in Judge Norval as a jurist." So have we; and still greater confidence that his powers as a jurist will be used in the interest of his masters the railroads. Another Seat in the Senate Sold. Calvin S. Brice is a millionaire. If he had not been it is safe to say he would not now be U. S. Senator from Ohio. He managed the financial part of the democratic campaign last year, being chairman of the national demo cratic committee. He joins the Wash ington contingent of lumber barons, Pacific railroad Croesuses, millionaire railroad attorneys and oil kings. It makes no difference to which party they belong after they get there; they are all the servants of the money power and against the people. The number of people killed on our railroads last year was 5,693, and in jured 27,898. Five brakemen on the Alliance line were injured in one day last week. Five in one day were also injured in Lincoln, and one fireman killed. This is the price our people pay for progress, and the price the railroad employes pay for the stingy frugality of railroad managers in refusing to adopt improved automatic car couplers. The Bankers and the Farmers. We have received a letter from an es- teemed friend, a farmer oi uage county, in relation to the proposed meeting of bankers in Omaha for the purpose of forming a state bankers' association, the price of products and the foreclosure of mortgages. Our friend is a law-abiding, peaceable citizen, whom no one would expect to advocate radical or unreason able measures. But his letter illustrates what extreme ideas and extreme measures a burning sense of injustice may drive a man to propose. He be lieves, and correctly, that it is through the influence of the money power ex erted by the national banking associa tion that our laws have been so shaped and perverted as to contract our money volume in the interest of the fixed in come classes, and to the incalculable in jury of the producers. Believing this, knowing it in fact, our friend believes that the producers should combine and force the holders of mortgages to take their products at a fair valuation 30 cents for corn, 25 cents for oats, $4 for hogs, and Z cents for cattle or wait for their pay until these products can be sold for those prices. These prices are certainly moderate. There is no doubt whatever if the currency of the country had been maintained at a vol ume in any fair degree proportioned to population and production, that higher prices than even these would have been realized. But the other part of our friend's proposition is revolution. VV e are not ready for revolution yet. We have not vet exhausted all peaceable methods Will our friend name to us any single election in Gage county when the in debted farmers, or even half of them, came squarely up to the polls and voted for relief. Have a majority of them at any time shown by their votes that they demanded relief. We believe not. They have divided on every immaterial issue they have oftener divided on a mere choice between names of parties they have repeatedly gone to the polls and voted for men in whom they had no confidence simply to defeat other men who deserved none forgetting that they themselves had any interests at stake, and that the ballot was their most potent weapon to protect and conserve them. Now if our Gage county friend will see to it in his precinct and county that this money question by all odds the most important question of the day is made the prominent issue in the next campaign, and will see to it that no man is chosen for any office who is not sound to the core on that question, he will get relief from the oppression of shylock sooner and for more people, than by any conflict or any resort to force. As for asking Shylock to wait, there will be no trouble about that. He is only too glad to wait. At 10, 8 or even 7 per cent, he is getting more net in come out of the farm on the amount he has invested than any farmer. All he wants is security. The time relief for the mortgaged farmers will not come through a system that will compel them to get their debts extended or contract new ones, but from a system that will raise the prices of their products so that they will have a margin of income above expenses, and be able to pay their debts. WHO OWNS THE FARM P Leland Stanford says the essence of ownership is control. He applied this statement to railroads, and intended to say that whoever controlled and ad ministered the revenues of the roads was practically their owner. We sup pose that is as applicable to farms as it is to railroads. Whoever controls and administers their revenues possesses the essence of ownership. If one can con trol revenues without the bother of nominal ownership without the trouble of repairs, taxes, insurance, and with out the expens and labor of cultiva tion, certainly he has found the essence of ownership in fact the oil of it, the soul of it. Has any natural or artificial person found this? In trying to solve this question we publish the following account of sales of one acre or corn: Sales. A One car corn, 674 bus. 36 lbs. at per bushel $149,96 Charges. Freiarht. S58.56. Inspection. 40c. Com mission, (3.37 62.33 Total net product $87.63 It will be seen that the freight on above car of corn amounts to a little over 8J- cents per bushel. This is the gross share the railroad company gets. Its net share is about half that amount, or 41 cents, per bushel. Now let us see how much ' the farmer gets out of it this corn was raised in Cass county, and it is fair to suppose that the land it was raised on was worth $30 per acre. It was raised in a good corn year, and it is fair to suppose the yield was about fifty bushels per acre. The account then would stand thus: Rent per acre Plowing... Harrowing Planting 2 50 1 00 25 50 seed.. 10 Plowing three times 1 50 Picking 2 00 Shelling 50 Hauling 1 00 Total expense of acre... $9 So Income 50 bus. corn at 13c 6 50 Loss $2 84 The above is a fair estimate of the cost of raising an acre of corn in Cass county, and the yield given is a good one. In order to come out without any loss, the expense must be reduced $2.85 per acre, and it cannot be done. But on that same corn on which the farmer loses in unrecompensed labor nearly live cents per bushel, the railroad makes a net gain of 4i cents per bushel. Now you know who owns the farm. The railroad owns it, and owns it by virtue of the laws the people have made and the laws the people have neglected to make. Without any investment, without any taxes, repairs, insurance, without any bother of any sort from nominal ownership, the roads take a net income of $?.75 to $3.50 per acre on every 50 bushels of corn shipped over their lines. This is what Stanford called "the essence of ownership," and he knew what he was talking about. It can be demonstrated that corn can be carried to New York for less than one-third of the present rate, and leave a good return on actual capital invested. But to aggravate the fact that the railroad rates are extortionate and un just, it is strongly intimated that com binations exist between the elevator men and the railroads to still further depress prices and make a complete scoop of the magnificent crop of 1889. Te Hastings Jkebraslan and the Kearney Hub state facts in support of these, sus picions. A man who has long been a grain shipper at this point assures us that there is some sort of combination among the shippers, but he does not know the extent of it. In 1885 T. W. Lowry shipped corn from Chicago to Boston at 13 cents per 100. The present rate is 25 cents. The rate now from this point to Chicago is 22 cents, and to St. Louis 17 cents per 100. The Hub says: ' " 'Something should be dSne. Nebraska farmers should organize to a man to prevent if possiole-this complete robbery of their crop of 1889. Hold mass meetings and organ ize! Form into organizations by townships and districts. Pool interests, compel the railroads to furnish cars for transportation, ship direct to market through a designated agent, and see whether there is any power to secure a share of the profits from the world's greatest industry the tilling the soil. Outside of the direct effect upon the farmer, business of nearly every kind is depressed, and there is not a gleam of hope that for many months to come the situation will be impx-oved." A BONANZA FOR LINCOLN. Our friend Hon. C. V. Gardner, of the Black Hills, has been in Lincoln for the past ten days presenting to our leading citizens the feasibility of erect ing tin smelting works in this city. Mr. Gardner is one of the most enter prising and reliable citizens of the Black Hills country. The fact that he" is one of the foremost of Dakota's stirring Alliance men also considerably elevates him in our estimation. Mr. Gardner is interested with others in developing the tin mines which have been discovered in the Black Hills. That a tin smelting establishment would be a bonanza to Lincoln goes without saying. It is one of those grand enter prises, having no wild-cat speculative features about it, which give legitimate employment to labor, extend commerce, create wealth, and build up great cities. Tin deposits in paying quantities are very rare. The oldest known deposit of one is that of Cornwall. It also oc curs in the Saxon and Bohemian Erze gebirge, in Brittany, and in Gallicia in Spain. A considerable deposit of pure ore (so-called stream tin in which particles of the ore are found mixed with sand) exists in the island of Batica; and tin tone is also found in Malacca, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Finland, Queensland and New-South Wales. The last two named are late discoveries. As far as we know there is no tin smelting establishment in the western hemisphere. It would cer tainly be a proud distinction for the capital city of Nebraska to locate one in her borders. . .a: In regard to the comparative richness of the Black Hills ore, Mr. Gardner in forms that it assays a higher per cent than any other known ore. The yield in Cornwall is 1 7-10 per cent of black tin; in Hungary of 1 per cent; in Spain li to H per cent; in the Black Hills over 3 per cent. We are pleased to learn that some of our leading capitalists are taking great interest in this matter, and that a com mittee of investigation will start for the mine in a few days, and if the facts are f ound to be as stated the capital . for a smelting plant will be at once forth coming. Got. Thayer's "Appeal." The Bee says "Gov. Thayer's appea to the managers of the Nebraska rail roads is commendable, and deserves fa vorable consideration." The Bee is a long way off from its old- time vigorous denunciation of railroad extortions and abuses, when it can tamely submit to see the state of Ne braska placed in such a despicable atti tude by its chief executive. There is a State Board of Transportation created by law in this state for the express pur pose of "correcting abuses and prevent ing unjust discrimination and cxtor tion" by railroad and other corpora tions. Under decisions of our supreme court this board has full power to fix freight rates. Now, instead of placing the state on its knees to some private gentlemen, employes of railroad com panies, wny aid not tne governor re mind this board of its duty in the prem ises, and recommend specific action This would have been proper and dig nined, and would have made quite as much political capital for the governor as the contemptible course he jmrsued THE STATE FAIR TO REMAIN AT LINCOLN. The State Board of Agriculture, at its annual meeting held this week, de cided that the State Fair should be lo cated at Lincoln for the next five years The vote was 56 for Lincoln to 10 for Omaha. It will be seen, therefore, that while Omaha made a great bluster about her ability to get the Fair, there were very few men on the board who were willing to hold the Fair at a little town on the side of the state instead of the State Capital. When the Omaha com mittee told the saloon-keepers of that city that "next to the hotels they were the greatest beneficiaries of the fair," it insulted the farmers of the state, and didn't help the cause of Omaha. ' The Elmwood Elevator Case went to the supreme court of this state on the application of the State Board of Trans portation for a mandamus to compe the M. P. Railroad Co. to comply with the order. It will be argued next Tues day. The power of the board to com pel; the road to grant elevator privi leges will be questioned. If this power is affirmed the case will probably be appealed to the' supreme court of the United States.' The Clergy and the Single Tax. In the Standard of Jan. 15, (Henry GeorgKs paper,) is a letter from Rev. R. HeberNewton, of New York, to the ed itor, the length of which only prevents our publishing entire. It is drawn out by the discussion resulting from, the proposition by Dr. Huntington, of Grace Church, that the Episcopal Church, by way of contributing to the settlement of the labor question, should add two clauses to her liturgy, one asking God to incline the hearts of employers and employed to mutual forbearance and good will, and the other asking Him not to suffer the hire of laborers to be kept back by fraud. The letter was in reply to a long question asked by the editor of the Standard direct of Mr. Newton, tending to impeach the atti tude of the clergy on social questions. We give some extracts from Mr. New ton's reply, which we think fairly state the attitude of a great many men in re- ation to Henry George's single tax theory. They accept the abstract the ory that all men are entitled to the same access to land, or natural oppor tunities, but doubt the efficacy of Mr. George's proposed application of the principle. "Before 'Progress and Poverty' appeared, my own mind had reached the conviction which was ex pressed in an essay, since reprinted in my Social Studies, concerning this gen eral principle, l had come to recognize the fact that land was the. basic factor among the three, factors going to the production of wealth; that it had a pe culiar quality of its own, demanding pe culiar treatment; that it lifted the relig ious aspect of the social question more distinctly into view than did either of the other factors, l had expressed my conviction that, in the trend of social progress, if it be found necessary, soci ety would exercise its inherent right of readjusting its tenure oi land in tne in terest of the community at large, and, if found needful, would hold land as common property in some way or other Avas delighted and entranced, as hosts of others were, with the magnificent setting forth of this truth in "Progress and Poverty. 1 have never lost tor an hour the intense sympathy that that work awakened in me. It still searches me through and through with its moral and religious appeal as no other eco nomic work that I have ever read Why, then, have 1 not been an out-and out disciple? Why have I not thrown in my lot heartily with the movement you have so courageousry and magnm centlv led? Simply because, while per fectly clear on this general principle, I never have been clear concerning your application of it. 1 have, at any mo ment, been ready to go as far in the ex pression of my belief in the general principle as did not commit me to the special method of working it out which you have embodied in 'Progress and Poverty' and made the very point oi the work. I well recall going over this ground with 3011, soon after the appear ance of 'Progress and Poverty.' and re monstrating with you for the conclusion of your great argument. My ground was that it would have been better to have let the principle stand by itself and work its own way out; that your method involved a wholly novel experi ment in taxation, concerning whose practical results history gave us no light Avhatever; that the time was not ripe for any such radical and revolt! tionary method 01 applying the princi pie; that its premature enunciation would drive hosts or men irorn your side who might otherwise be found ral lying around you; that no man was prophetic enough to anticipate the evo ution which time carries on, and .say y what means and methods a great idea is to be worked out; that your methods seemed to me to ignore the fundamental law of social evolution, viz: that of taking one step at a time and going slowly and caiefully in the right direction. Such was the sub stance of my criticism of your method." "Had I strength that indispensable qualification for any work of social re form I should have been trying what will seem to you the preposterous at tempt to crystalize a sentiment around your own principle, applied in a differ ent practical method, lor example It seems to me that the time is entirely ripe for the application of that princi ple in certain forms. We could sweep the country within half a dozen years upon two points. First, the retention of all mineral resources hereafter to be opened as the property of the people at large. This would secure an enormous public fund for many of the states whereby their educational system could be developed as never has been done in history, and vast beeneficences be wrought for the public good. It would also be the introduction of the thin end of the wedge, in which would be the recognition of the principle of the right of the people at large to land, of the wrong of private proprietorship in the purely natural resources of the land Secondly, the time seems to me ripe for the application 01 that form of the pnn ciple which is already coming to the front in England, in the taxation of un used land in our great cities and towns up to their full value, thus to prevent their speculative holding. I say our towns and cities, because it is here that the evil concentrates itself, though o of course it is felt in other directions." The two propositions made in the second extract would certainly, when fairly understood, receive the support of a very large majority of thinking people. In coal, for instance, the op pressions that are made possible by the monopoly of those mines, and the com bination of their owners and the com mon carriers, aro of such a character that it is simply amazing that any civil ized people would endure theitf for an hour. Their ownership by the people would cure all this. But isn't it a little surprising that men likeR. Heber Newton and Henry George should fail to advocate the taxa tion of franchises to their full value, or their retention and use by the cominu nity as a source of revenue? The value of franchises is the absolute creation o the community. It is next in value to day to that of land. There is no hu man being who can set up a claim to this value, except by gift or sale by the people. Franchises, or monopolies, created by society, given away by so ciety, are a source of oppression and tyranny. Resume them and use them, and this oppression would disappear. Echoes of the State Meeting. Kearney Hub. The Farmers' Alliance is an organiza tion which is very apt to rule Nebraska politically this year. This is just as sure as it is that the world do move. While the Hub is republican to the core, and fully realizes the disastrous results which are in store for the party this all, it cannot shut its eyes and poo-hoo in order to keep. up courage. Ulysses Dispatch. , The Alliance At the State Alliance convention held at Grand Island last week, the president in his address de clared for independence from party allegiance, hard labor, and honest study as the only way to better the condition of the Nebraska farmers. This was the unanimous sentiment of the members in attendance. Independence from party J allegiance means a desertion from both old parties. Now what has brought this about? It is simply the high-handed manner in which our legislature has been run; the arrogance and the merci less exacting of the toll gatherers for transportation; and the pooling and the combinations of the elevator men. They nave become too much putfed-up. Like Vanderbilt they say: "The people be damned. What are you going to do about it!" Hence it is that never before in the history of reforms and uprisings in our state has anything been seen like the upheaval which is now going on. The armers arc alive in their interests. They are working, working, organizing, . .1 r organizing, agitating uuu penecinig mo plans to sweep meoraska ponticauy. And they will do it. We all know who is to blame for the result, and it will be happy day for Nebraska when the new broom commences sweeping. Ihe feeling among the farmers is running tngh against the railroads, and will, with proper direction, if it continues until next fall, put a two-thirds major ity in both houses of our legislature, when t.e question as to who runs the state of Nebraska, the railroads or the people, will be brought to a final and decisive issue. Grand Island Independent. Between six and seven hundred dele gates from local Alliances.are in attend ance at the meeting 01 the .Nebraska State Alliance now holding sessions in the opera house in this city. They come from all sections of Nebraska, and represent a membership of upwards of twenty thousand of the most intelligent farmers of Nebraska, and the member ship is rapidly increasing, aud it may be saiely stated tnat tne uprising means something for the material and political interests of this state and it will be well to heed the significance of this gather ing which represents not only the brawn and muscle of the state but also some of the best intelligence and highest in teerritv. That the producing classes are being , : - . deprived of the proper portion of their earnest toil, must be apparent to all, and unless some attention is paid to curbing the greed of trusts, combina tions and corporations, and legislation enacted which will protect the rights of honest toil, serious political disturb ance is inevitable. Omaha World-Herald. The meeting of the Nebraska State Farmers' Alliance at Grand Island dur ing the last week has shown that the organization is growing in membership, which now reaches over 20,000 persons, and in earnestness of purpose as well. If this organization can succeed in de veloping a strong sentiment throughout the state against the present condition of things in which the agricultural west is kept perpetually subservient to the manufacturing east, and can succeed in arousing voters to an active assertion of western rights and interests, it will do a great work. That the producing classes are being deprived of a proper proportion of the proceeds of their toil is too apparent to need argument. Chadron Advocate. The organization of farmers like any other numerous and widely scattered class is not easily done or preserved, but farmers are fast finding out that or ganization is the only enective means of securing attention in the field of leg lslation. THE PARTY COLLAR. I From Pomeroy 's Advance Thought. The worst, the dirtiest collar a man ever wore, is the party collar, lie wears it after it has become so covered with filth that the stench of it would drive a hungry horse from his supper; he wears it after it has become so be grimed with dirt and age that the name is obliterated and its style only be trays its generation; he wears it after its usefulness is gone, simply because, he has got it on and has not independ ence or manhood enough to tear it off; he wears it to his work, wears it to church, wears it to his meals, wears it to bed, and would finally wear it to the other world were it not that death has more respect for him than he has for himself, and breaks the shackle that has bound 'him through life. He don't know what the principles of his party are, don't know as they have any more than he has; don't know what the plat form of his party is; he could not tell it from the platform of the opposite party if it was not labeled; all ne knows is, that some time in the dim past he put on a collar marked "Andrew Jackson," or "Abraham Lincoln," leaders of par ties that in their day represented a prin ciple. He don't know that these leaders are both dead and the principles they advocated have been trampled under foot by the hordes of politicians that have come after them. The clank of the party collar has kept him from hearing of the death of Jackson and Lincoln, and so he goes on year after year casting his votes without asking any questions, expecting to. see them once more elected president. Southern Alliances and Trade. Homestead. Dunn's weekly review for the week closing December 21, says: In some southern states trade is seriously affected for the time by the operations of Farmers' Alliances, which enlist farmers in co-operative trading and absorb money which might otherwise go to settle indebtedness with merchants. The results in some locali ties almost paralyze trade. So far from being a matter of regret it is a sign of progress. Ever since the war the southern farmers have been owned and run by the merchants, who have by their exactions kept them in a state of chronic poverty. The above shows that farmers are.conducting their business on legitimate business princi ples and avoiding the local merchant and money-lender, and whose bills usually draw usurer's interest. Tally, one for the Farmers' Alliance. The railroad tie is . the only manu factured lumber on the free list. It is put there to help out the poor railroads, who take four cents" a bushel' net on every, bushel of corn they- transport, while the farmer loses as much on every bushel he ships. And if you want to build a prairie box house you must pay $2 a thousand tax on rough boards. Paternalism vs. Infernallsm. Henry R. Legate in the Nationalist. "That is right which is for humanity's benefit; that is wrong which is opposed to the welfare of the human race." Criticisms upon the arguments f those who favor governmental control of business enterprises now managed y private individuals seem to be the order of the day, and the outspoken wish of the people to rid themselves of this cap italistic tyranny is often characterized as the "march of paternalism;" and many persons, who have given the sub ject but little thought, find this flippant objection sufficient to deter them from giving their endorsement or aid to any ' movement in this direction, though most thoroughly convinced that the present system is radically wrong, and feeling satisfied that some change must be brought about that will better serve the interests of all. The economic question is the present great issue, and must be fearlessly met and wisely solved, for if it be not done in this way many indications point to an attempted solution that every lover of his kind and country would deplore. Therefore is it not better to approach the subject fairly and candidly, instead of appealing to foolish prejudices which at the most can only slightly retard the swift oncoming of a revolution in our industrial system! No one can claim, with any degree of seriousness, that justice and equity prevail in our land to-day, and any one who would make such a claim need only look at two pic tures to bo convinced of its falsitv. Miners in Illinois have been on a strike against a proposed reduction of wages to sixty cents per day; the condition of themselves and families pitiable in the extreme and starvation staring them in the face; could anything be conceived of that would more naturally impel a re sort to violence? Yet they have re mained orderly and law-abiding citizens. "If they are suffering to such an ex tent, let them return to their work," says he who so deplores the "march of paternalism;" but would the speaker be willing to see his wages or income cut down to sixty cents a day, and Vith that meager allowance support the loved ones dependent upon him for their very existence? Finding such a question rather hard to answer, the objector perhaps re marks: "Well then, why don't they seek some other employment?" True, they might do that; and' thus add to the vast army of unemployed that already exists, and take the risk of being ar rested as tramps and confined as crim inals while seeking that indefinite "some other employment!" And what is to become of their families in the mean time? It is very easy to point out a course of action for others to pursue, but if in the poor miner's place, what would you do? Do you think you would then so heartily approve of our present indus trial system, or would you be not only willing, but anxious, to try a change, even if such change did tend toward what you are pleased to call paternal ism? Let us glance briefly at the other and more pleasant picture far pleasanter for the participants therein. Come to Newport; the elect of society are gath ered there; on every hand is wealth, luxury and display; palaces to live in; servants without stint ; horses, carriages, music, dancing, gambling. Votaries of nothing but pleasure, do they ever give a thought to their fellow beings in far away Illinois? Nay, are there not some among those highly favored mortals, whose income will be increased by the reduction of the poor miner's wages? Look at the two pictures and then say whether this is the best possible result our civilization can give us, ami if so. how far are we really removed from barbarism ? And yet our present system does not lack eloquent eulogists! Many, however, of those who oppose us, only oppose because they do not un derstand us. Do we propose (they ask) to remedy the evils pointed out by dividing the wealth of the entire com munity equally among the people? No. nothing of the kind. We are proud of the material prosperity of our country, and its great wealth, but we do not de plore the unequal distribution of that wealth; we have no wish to harm the individual, but we do intend to destroy the system that renders such inequali ties possible, and it is our desire and aim to bring about so radical a change that such glaring injustice will bo im possible in the future. How, we de mand, did the individuals who compose. the private corporations that control these profitable enterprises, by means of which such gigantic fortunes are amassed, acquire the privileges which they enjoy? To this there can be but one answer; from the law-makers elected by the people, to whom is delegated the power to grant these valuable franchises granted upon the supposition that the public interest is best served thereby; but if obtained by misrepresentation or fraud or used selfishly for their own aggrandizement, is it not clear that the people have a right to resume control of their own, providing always that a suit able and just remuneration be given to the individuals whose capital was in vested? Certainly no one could be in jured by such a procedure, and especially is such a course manifestly right if the original intention of the grant has been lost sight of, and has degenerated into a stock-jobbing scheme cui-iching the few at the expense of the many, or if used in thwarting the will of the people by its corrupting influence upon legisla tion. Now the tact is, most of the great fortunes in this country have been made by speculation in railroad, telegraph, telephone, gas, land and mining stocks; the aggregation of capital in a corporate company enables the managers, who are usually large holders of the stock, to so manipulate it as to cause it to rise and fall at their pleasure, and large, profits accrue to themselves from such fluctuations, which, of. course, are dis astrous to those with small holdings who were induced by alluring prospect uses to put their money into such prop erty as an investment, and this has Ih-cii carried to such an extent that to-day there is nothing so utterly unreliable as the financial statements of our great corporations. It seems a curious ab surdity that while we have strict laws against lottery schemes, which from their very nature are limited in capacity for evil, we have yet no law against stock-speculation, which has no limit to the financial and moral ruin it causes. Indeed, of a very large percentage of failures and defalcations, speculation in stocks is the prime cause. But let the principles of nationalism prevail, and all the enterprises now in the hands of individuals be taken back into the hands of the people, to whom they justly belong, and the widespread and constantly increasing evil of specu lation will be eliminated; "Black Fri days" will then be an impossibility; rail road magnates can retire upon the spoils wrung from along-suffering people; the coal barons will then have time to re flect upon the enormity of the crime of limiting the output of that commodity, thereby forcing the poor to pay exorb itant prices forit; and Wall street will no longer be an important factor in congressional action. If an earnest ef fort to bring about such desirable changes can bo justly spoken of as the "march of paternalism," then the pres ert system, with its unlimited power to impoverish and brutalize the peoplo through its trusts, monopolies and com binations, can truthfully l rlir(. ized as the march of infernalism. Fakm and Garden Seeds can bo bought an special terms by Alliance men of Delano Bro's of Custer county. See advertisement.