THE ALLIANCE.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING.
BY THE
ALLIANCE PUBLISHING
GO.
Lincoln, - - - Nebraska.
J. BURROWS, : : : Editor.
J. M. THOMPSON, Business Manager.
In the beauty of the lillies
' Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom
That transfigures you and me.
As He strove to make men holy
Let us strive to make men free,
Since God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe.
Laurel crowns cleave to deserts,
And power to him who power exerts."
A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs."
Emerson.
' He who cannot reason is a fool,
He who will not reason is a coward,
He who dare not reason is a slave."
EDITORIAL.
Additional Twine Arrangements.
The Alliance State Agent has perfect
ed additional arrangements in regard to
twine by which he is now enabled to
furnish members sisal, standard manilla
and pure manilla.in addition to the jute.
This makes the Alliance of Nebraska
absolutely independent of all combina
tions in "regard to twine. It is neces
sary that all estimates should be in by
May 25th, as the Agent is compelled to
liavc his orders in, under this new con
tract, by June 1st. So MAKEUP YOUR
ESTIMATES AT ONCE. A circular
will be sent to Secretaries, giving prices
and full information, in a few days.
A False Interpretation.
No Balance 6f Power Wanted.
The Bee's interpretation of our article
of last week on the true policy of the
Alliance, is unfair, and made to suit its
-own views. It says "Mr. Burrows be
lieves that the Alliance will be in po
sition to carry out its aims and objects
by throwing the balance of power where
it will count for the most."
The Bee's quotation from our article
-does not warrant the above statement.
The term balance of power infers a
-vhoice by the person holding it between
selection made ty other parties or per
sons. Nothing in our article was capa
ble of such an interpretation. We dis
tinctly advised the Alliance to select
their own men, and then secure their
nomination and election, or their elec
tion without nomination, by the readiest
and most available agency. We made
no allusion to a balance of power in'our
article. If the Alliance was to be re
stricted to a choice between two parties
equally corrupt, the balance of power
would be of little value. If matters are
judicionsly managed from this time for
ward, it will be one of the old parties
that may hold a balance of power, and
not the Alliance.
Some of the Men Who are too Previous.
From the Omaha World-Herald.
"Mr. O. E. Hall of the state grange of Ne
braska was in Omaha yesterday. Mr. Hall, as
grand master of an organization that repre-
sents between 24.WK) and 28,000 farmers in Ne
braska, has recently issued a circular calling
the grange. Alliance, Knights of Labor, and
all kindred associations together to discuss
the "situation." The circular talks, about
"liberty rather than servitude" and purports
to be in response to a general clamor of far
mers who want to go to Lincoln at a cost of
from $15 to &50 to talk over matters upon
which they are already too well posted.
Mr. Hall stated that he was for reform. He
said that Thayer was the strongest man in the
state: that he was an old soldier, and that
lie was the people's friend. He thought
Thayer would be nominated and elected. He
also said that Messrs. Ilenton, Steen and
Vnvdrv would perhaps be nominated, and
if they were tney would be elected.
This is the kind of talk that Mr. Hall who
Kigns appeals to the people to turn out and
talk about "liltcrty rather than servitude,"
indulges in. He sees in the recreant mem
bers of the board of transportation all the
-virtue and honor that is necessary; he thinks
Thayer is the man for governor, and, brief
ly, if his general talk is a sample of what he
'thinks, will endorse a railroad ticket com
plete and entire.
Mr. Hall insisted that the "people" had
urged him to make his elaborate call, but to
n man a respectable distance up a tree, Mr.
Hall's mass convention looks more like a
railroad scheme than any thing else. It is to
be hoped, however, that the farmers will not
be hoodwinked by any such sweet buncomb.
If the World-Herald will cut off two
figures from its estimate of the numeri
cal strength of the grange in Nebraska,
it will probably lie correct. The grange
is a grand organization. Its objects are
the same as the Alliance, but it is a
more expensive society with more com
plicated machinery, and the Alliance
has superseded it in this state. An at
tempt was made four or five years aga
to reorganize it, and Mr. Hall was
-elected Master. He has held the po
sition ever since. He represents Mr.
Hall.
The calling of Mr. Hall's conference
the dav following the Leesc demonstra
tion, is significant. There are some
men who are so extremely previous,
and at the same time so simple, that
they can be used for any kind of a job.
Messrs. Thayer, Benton, Steen and
st i n TTn i
v-rowucry mav m-iii avii. xia.ii um m ms
conference.
The Silver Situation.
The prospect for an agreement on the
-silver question seems to be not so good
as at date of our last issue. In fact we
have nearly reached the conclusion that
a new and determined effort must be
'made by the people in favor of free coin
-age before Congress will learn what its
exact duty is in this matter. There
'.-seems to be an obstacle in the way of
froey.oinage in Speaker Reed. He is a
Wall street gold bug, and he is also an
.-autocrat. .It is stated that he will not
let a free coinage bill come up in the
house until the senate has acted on its
bill, and that then, if such action is not
an accord with the administration
which means Wall street he will block
all silver legislation by appointing
frnrfis who will not agree to
the senate bill.
Again we say to the advocates of free
oiuacre. make no concessions ana con
sent to no compromises. Accept free
nothing. The
day is soon coming when we will have ft
THE
CO-OPERATION.
Method of Operation
in Co-operative
Stores.
By request of quite a number of our
subscribers we republish the following
editorial from our edition of March 1st,
that issue being exhausted.
There is much desire through the Al
liance for co-operatiye effort in busi
ness lines. Many enterprises are talked
of, such as mills and elevators, more
frequently the latter. There are a few
Alliance co-operative stores in the staie;
but as far as we can learn none of them
are operatod on the correct co-operative
principle. It is generally thought
that the store is the most difficult of the
enterprises named, when in fact it is
the easiest, and should be the primary
move, leading to the others. We have
asked some who wrere talking of build
ing an elevator or mill why they did
not start a co-operative store, and they
replied, "We are not strong enough yet
we'll start that by-and-by." Now the
fact is that the capital that would build
one mill would start twenty co-operative
stores, and the capital that would
build one elevator would start half-a-dozen;
while the benefits of the store
would be much more general and
equally distributed among the member
ship than those .of the other enter
prises. We will first try to give a clear idea
of the true co-operative principle of co
operative merchandizing. The store is
started on the joint-stock principle.
The shares should be put at $5 each.
No person not a member of the Alliance
should be allowed to own shares, and
they not more than ten each. A cer
tain rate of interest is agreed upon
which the share0 capital may receive.
This should not be over 7 or 8 per cent.
In this particular the share-holders are
on an exact equality. They receive the
same rate of interest on their shares.
The man who has $50 in shares receives
interest on $50. The man who has- only
$3 receives interest on only $5. Now
we will suppose the store has been
started and done business for one quar
ter, or three months. The books must
now be squared, an inventory taken,
and the profits divided. To ascertain
the profits expenses must first be ascer
tained and paid. These consist of goods
bought, rent, fuel, light, insurance, pay
of store-keeper and assistants, if any,
and interest on share capital. These
all belong to the expense account, and
must be paid before there are any pro
fits. After these are paid the profit
remaining is divided among the share
holders in proportion to their trade at the
store. That is to sa', each share-holder
receives the profit on the goods he has
bought. To illustrate this point clearly,
suppose A has $50 worth of shares, and
buys only $10 worth of goods during
tne quarter, while B has only $5 worth
of stock and buys $100 worth of goods.
A would receive interest on $50 and the
profit on $10, while B would receive in
terest on $5 and the profit on $100. It
will be seen that A and B are on an
exact equality as to their interest, and
that their profit depends on their own
trade. It will also be seen that this
principle tends to induce trade, and not
induce any effort to monopolize the
shares, as there is no inducement to in
vest money for the interest, as it can only
draw the agreed upon per cent. It will
also be seen that this is pre-eminently
the plan to put the poor man on an
equality with the rich one. They are in
fact on an absolute equality.
LITTLE CAPITAL NEEDED.
It needs but very little capital to start
a co-operative store. This fact arises
from the ease of the purchasing system
of the present day. All kinds of goods
ire sold by commercial travelers right
n the stores of merchants, by sample.
Goods Can be bought in this way nearly
every day, so only a small stock is
needed to start with. Thirty and sixty
days' time is considered the same as
cash, though even these bills may be
discounted for actual cash at a small
rofit.
Trade is capital. Suppose twenty-five
members of an Alliance wish to start a
co-operativee store. They need a
store-room, fixtures, and money enough
to pay freight and running expenses for
two mouths. If each of these twent
five members will trade at the store, and
pay or tne gooas when they buy them,
good business management makes the
success of the store certain. With fifty
members we would ask no other capital
than their assured trade.
TIIEKE MUST BE NO TRUST.
This is an essential to success. The
business must be ready pay, either cash or
its equivalent. This makes it necessary
for the store to deal in truck, which is a
great disadvantage, but unavoidable in
the country. With Alliance agencies in
Omaha, Lincoln and Denver this disad
vantage will be partly neutralized.
TIIEKE MUST BE XO CUT IN PRICES .
It would be extremely bad policy to
start a store iu a country town, and un
dertake to undersell or injure the other
merchants. This would tend to excite
enmity and demoralize trade, and there
would be no compensating advantage.
The better the prices at which goods
were sold the more profit for the share
holders. If members of the Alliance
wanted the. benefits let them become
share-holders, one share entitling them
to all benefits. If non-members of the
Alliance want the benefits let them join.
In a store of this kind there would be
some trade from outsiders. The profit
on this trade goes to the stockholders;
so there would be no gain by destroy
ing this profit by selling goods at cost.
Neither would there be any gain in
selling goods to members at less cost
than to others, as the total profits are
divided among the members, and each
gets all the profit on his own trade. If
there was no cut in prices the other
merchants would be apt to say, "Well,
there must be room here for another
store,, or these men would not start
one; and. if there is room some one else
will start one if they don't, so I guess it
FAKIMERS' ALLIANCE: LINCOLN, NEB.,
is all right." But if prices were cut
enmity would be engendered, profits
wiped out and nothing gained.
OTHER ENTERPRISES WILL FOLLOW.
If a store is started m a small way,
with a stock of staple dry goods, gro
ceries, boots and shoes, hats and caps
and clothing proportioned to its mem
bership, and is made successful, other
branches of trade will soon be added.
For coal only a shed and scales would
be necessary. The implement agency
would soon be attached. Then would
come the lumber department and the
grain-shipping department, until the
establishment embraced every branch
of. the farmer's trade, and in every
branch the members would have the profit
on their own trade, and thus come as near
eating their cake and keeping it as pos
sible. This hasty sketch is already too long,
though much remains to be said. We
will recur to the subject or explain any
part of it when requested.
JohnR. Morrissy and the World-Herald's
Fusion Proposition.
John R. Morrissey is a virtious ward
politician of Omaha. We are aware
that this definition involves a paradox.
But Mr. M. has demonstrated his virtue
by his repudiation of the fusion idea of
the World-Herald. His reasons for this
are several. 1st. He is "one of those
democrats who do not believe that a
principle can be compromised at any
time without loss of conscience and dis
honor." This clause develbpes several
new and startling ideas. One is that
there is any principle at all involved in
modern democracy; 2d. That there are
any democrats who care an iota about
principle; 3rd. The amazing ease with
which men like Morrissey, who possess
neither, can prate about conscience and
honor. But JJfor all this we coincide
withJMr. M. entirely in his repudiation
of the fusion idea but probably not for
the same reasons. Mr. Morrissey is
one of the numerous democrats who
think if the Alliance would run a state
ticket the democrats would get there;
and consequently who think, regardless
of its innate dishonesty, thatJMr. Hitch
cock's unauthorized and cheeky offer of
a deal was a regular fool caper. That's
the reason he repudiates it not at all
because of its political immorality.
ins precious political pimp goes -on
to denounce the Alliance, at the same
time claiming that the democratic par
tly is the apotheosis of all its principles,
except those in relation to money. On
money he is Wall street subliemated
But when he alludes to the farmers
as a purchasable commodity when he
proceeds to put an estimate upon the
moral worth of three-fourths of the in
habitants of this state of the men and
women whose industry forms the basis
of all our prosperity he comes out
strong, and shows by his estimate of
his fellow men of just what base materi
al he is composed. He says:
"The cheapest man in the legislature is s
granger. He has the most modest estimate
of his woi th, and a $ 100 bill is as big as a sod
house. Say the railroads succeeded in elect
ing' twenty-five members of the house. They
will only have to buy. twenty-five grangers,
ana as grangers go tne deal is not so expen
sive as a single train wreck might be."
We commend the above to the 25,000
democratic members of the Alliance in
Nebraska. How do you like your pic
ture, gentlemen, drawn by a typical
democrat? Comment on the character
of the man who can write the above is
needless. And we want to add, right
here, that the estimate of the grangers
by the organs and hacks of the other
party, is just about the same, only it is
rare to find a man who is such a dod
gasted fool as to express it so bluntly.
A low down ward politician an idol
of the rum-holes and a worker of the
slums, whose election to the late legis
ture was contested on the ground of
fraud this is the aromatic apology for
manhood who presumes to denounce
the honest farmers of Nebraska as "the
cheapest men in the legislature," There
has never been so cheap or contempt
ible a pup in the Nebraska legislature
as when John Morrissey disgraced it
That free foreign wool has actually had the
effect to advance the price of domestic wol
is snown Dy statistics. Under thetariilof 185
nearly all the flue wools of South America and
the Cape of Good Hope and many of those
grown in Australia, ana all Canadian wools
were admitted free of duty. This condition
lasted till 1802, when very moderate duties (15
per cent aa valorem) were imposed on wool,
The period of highest duties on wool did not
begin till 1807. The prices of domestic wool
aunng tne live j-ears ot practically free wool
beginning with 1857, and the five years under
tne present tariff, ending with 1888, were as
follows:
Free Wool. Tariff of 1883.
187 53cent8 1884 37 cents
18 4; cents 1885 34 cents
185!) 59 cents 1880 34 cents
1800 54 cents 1887 34 cents
1801 44 cents 1S88 92 cents
bo it appears as a matter of fact that free
foreign wool may be accompanied bv hia-h
prices of domestic wool, while heavily taxed
foreign wool may be accompanied bv low
prices for the domestic article: Chicago Her-
aiu.
All of which goes to prove that the
decline of prices is caused by something
quite independent of the tariff. The de
cline in wools, shown above, has been
accompanied by a decline in all other
commodities and property, whether af
fected "by the tariff or not. There is
only one cause that has been genera
that could have had this effect. That
is the decrease of money proportionec1
to population and production.
u. o. ideological urvey: We are
indebted to Hon. G. F. Laws for a copy
of the Sixth Annual Report of the U. S
Geological Survey, by J. W. Powell
Director. This is a very comprehensive
report, and of much value to the student
of the geological conditions of this coun
trr. The receipt of this report would
have been sooner acknowledged only it
was sent to Filley instead of Lincoln
and so did not reach us until this week
Just About the Size of It.
(Norfolk Journal Rep.)
The World-Herald more than intimates
that the capacious arms of the demo
cratic party are wide open to receive
the Farmers' Alliance to its loving em
brace. Yes. And its squeeze would be
so ardent that after it the Alliance
would have about as much juice as
last year's corn husk.
.
The Political Situation, and Some Politi
cal Prophecies.
The' political situation in Nebraska is
interesting and peculiar. The republi
can party is acknowledged by all men
o be in the grip of the railroad ring.
This fact is emphasized by a coterie of
gentlemen who claim to be above all
things model republicans, and one of
whom is a leading republican official of
the state, and all of w hom are named
as candidates for some electiye office.
These gentlemen are so imbued with
the desire to secure the part' from
railroad control that they have called a
special convention for May 20 to take
measures to that end. This call is met
by the people with marked indifference.
t is looked upon as an office-seeker's
ruse. It will result in no popular up
rising. . The people seem to be imbued
with a thorough distrust of anything
which has any connection with politics.
The other wing of the republican party
the railroad wing sits serene and
confident. With the machine of the
party in its hands with the state com
mittee made up mainly of its friends
with the county committees headed by
its henchmen with cappers in every
precinct committee who have long been
accustomed to receive their orders
rom the county machine the railroad
power is confident of its ability to carry
the state convention as usual
Meantime there is a strange ferment
among the people that great mass who
tiave long been content to receive their
politics from their political bosses, and
eave their consciences at home when
they went to vote. A well-founded dis
j j i i
trust oi tneir Dosses nas sprung up in
their hearts. Their discussions in their
Alliances has opened their eyes, and
contemporaneously with this their
consciences are being awakened. They
are organizing. And as they organize
they are realizing that the party ties to
which they have so long willingly sur
rendered themselves have been fetters
that have held them while the party
bosses were going through their pock
ets. As they organize the cry is "no
more party politics in mine!" Sixty
thousand of them .are banded together
now, and still they come still they
come. They are secret, thev are ouiet
they don't talk. Their capacity for
absorbing advice is unparalleled; and
oceans of it is poured in upon them
ill from disinterested patriots who are
ready to immolate all their wive's rela
tions for the welfare of the poorfarmer.
The democratic party is a quiet, but
not by any means disinterested specta
tor of the show. Its would-be leaders
have made some noise. Its real leaders
have not peeped. These men hope
their rank and file will be as servile as
ever. They expect to elect the next
president, and they intend that the
party shall remain compactly and sol
idly democratic, whatever may betide.
At the same time this rank and file is
going into the Alliance at the same rate
as are the republican farmers, and is
quite as hopeless as they of any relief
through these old party machines.
This is the present condition in this
state; the politicians scheming, the par
ties waiting and hoping, the people or
ganizing: It is a hopeful situation. If
it can be held in statu quo for three
months longer nearly all the farmers in
the state will be members of the Alli
ance.
But what does the future hold? First,
defeat in the g. o. p. for the patriotic
wing that has gone in to reform it. To
these men will be conceded all the wind
they desire. Anti-monopoly resolu
tions mountain-high will be piled up be
fore them. But when they come to
count noses for results at the close of
the nominations they will find a beggarly
account of empty boxes. But the bolt
ers will not bolt. They have promised
not to beforehand, and that was when
they dug their own graves. When they
made that promise they convinced the
people that they cared more for party
and self than they did for reform. But
defeated, as they will - be, they will
sulk, and the schism in the party will
be deep and wide.
Now the peoples' opportunity will
have come, and the people will be found
ready to improve it. With an organ
ized machinery' that can reach every
precinct in the state in three days, the
signal fires will flash responsive from
peak to peak, and there will be a rally
ing of the clans such as was never
known before. The cry will be "Equal
rights for all, special privileges for none !"
There will be a shower of ballots that
will appal the politicians, and whiten
the state from the Missouri river to the
Laramie plains, and from Kansas to the
Dakota line; and Nebraska will come
out of it redeemed from a vile power
that would plunder a widow, rob an
orphan or ruin a world with equal in
difference providing gold flowed to its
coffers.
Only one thing can prevent this de
voutly to be wished for consummation,
and that is t the too previous action of
the . There are some men wrho
see
only one side of the shield men
who go off half cocked men who want
to lead a new movement men who can't
wait: These men will do are doing
infinite harm by trying to start a great
movement before the time is ripe. They
organize failures and cloud the future.
To these Ave say again and again, wait.
Let the grass grow. The signal will
strike when the hour is ready, and not
one or two alone, but all will hear it
when it strikes.
The State Board of Transportation.
We publish this w eek an open letter
from a York county Alliance to the
state board of transportation. This
letter is not an English classic, nor yet
a literary gem; but we venture to be
lieve that it will strike a responsive
chord in the heart of every Nebraska
man who reads it. It tells the gentle
men of the board the plain truth in
plain words, and demands that they
should perform their sworn duty to the
SATURDAY, MAY 10,
people of this state, without any more
monkeying. But the monkeying will
go on ail tne same, ine members oi
the board are drawing their salaries
with distressing regularity. They are
having an expensive report printed,
which has been prepared by their sec
retaries. It will contain what little in
formation has been vouchsafed to them
by the railroads, and possibly some more
or less valuable statistics. But the gist
of it could be told in four words on the
fly leaf, viz: "We have done nothing."
The people will pay the bill at the rate
of $1.90 per page.
The fun of it all is, that these men
-1 t c a' 1
are- candidates ior renominanon, ami
will probably get there. They sit in
their easy chairs at the state house,
when they don't happen to be gunning
or fishing, read the papers, and coolly
estimate the relative strength of the
railroads and the people, and deliber
ately cast their lot with the roads. In
doing this they are able to justify the
old maxim, "honor among thieves."
The railroads put them where they are,
and they stay with the men who ele
yated them. Mr. Benton, with the rail
road machine and the office-holder's
machine, aided by a millionaire banker
brother-in-law, expects to capture a re
nomination, and then parade it as an
endorsement of the board by the peo
ple. Mr. Steen and Mr. Cowdrey
are in the same boat except the broth
er-in-law.
We give it as our deliberate opinion
that these men, or some equally sub
servient to corporate interests, will be
nominated by the republican conven
tion. And it will be well. The crash
had better come this fall. The people
will never be readier for it.
The Alliance and the Politicians. ,
It will take but a few months of time for
the farmers throughout the country to under
stand that politicians have secured absolute
control of their organization known as the
Farmers' Alliance, and the political work of
the organization will begin to decrease. From
letters received by men In congress, written
by democratic and republican politicians,
who have nothing but spoils injview.ttis readi
ly seen here that the active work being done
in the Fanners' Alliance is led by many broken-down
politicians from the various par
ties. If the Farmers' Alliance would only
confine itself to its personal interests aside
from politics it could unduobtedly influence
legislation as well as commercial interests of
the country, but when it goes into office seek
ing and permits itself to be led by profession
al politicians, it at once puts Itself to great
disadvantage.
The above is clipped from the Wash
ington correspondence of the Omaha
Bee. We regret that there is much that
must come under the eye of this Wash
ington gentlemen to justify this state
ment. Washington is the headquar
ters of a junta of managers who have
demonstrated conclusively7, that their
aim is to use the Alliance for "the ad
vancement of their personal ends, and
ior the building up oi a dictatorial po
litical power. This junta is straining
every nerve to extend its influence
throughout the country. As soon as any
popular movement becomes strong
enough to promise success the politi
cians gather to it and strive to convert it
to their use. The uproar that is going
on among the party organs and the par
ty hacks in this state the propositions
for fusion on the one hand, and against
political action on the.other the gratui
tous advice trom hundreds of solons
and would-be office holders who have
never done anything for the farmers
except advise them illustrate the fact
exactly. That it will be difficult for
hundreds of members of the lliance to
steer clear of their influences there is no
doubt. But if one or two simple rules
and principles are adopted the task will
be easier. 1st. Pay no heed to men and
papers who are out side of our order.
Their advice is prompted by selfish per
sonal motives, or is for the supposed in
terest of their party. We do not care
for either. 2d. Listen to and be guided
by the men you have chosen as your
leaders men who are your brothers in
the Alliance, and who by years of un
rewarded work in your cause have de
monstrated that they are worthy pf
your confidence. 3rd. Listen to the
politicians hear their plans, and un
derstand their schemes but let them do
the talking. Expose nothing, promise noth
ing. Hold yourselves aloof from all
party complications. Neither make
pledges to individuals. No man can
divine the events of the next
months. Be ready for whatever
two
may
come.
While there are politicians in Ncbras
ka who are trying to use the Alliance, it
is false here, whatever may be true in
Washington, that "the active work be
ing done in the Alliance is being led by
broken-down politicians from both par
ties." Let usbe sure that this shall not
be true at any time. It is our duty to
use politicians and parties, not to be
used by them. And the best use poli
ticians can be put to is to set them to
manufacturing turnip bitters, each in
his own locality.
Senator Beck.
In the death of Senator James B.
Beck, says the Chicago Herald, the
United States senate has lost a member
who was both an honor and an orna
ment to it, and the democratic party
an exponent and an advocate whose
place it will be hard to fill. In the ex
tent of his political learning and ex
perience, in the depth and sincerity of
his democratic convictions, in his rare
ability to state and defend democratic
doctrine, and in his moral courage on
all occasions he was a model statesman
and an admirable man. His death,
coming as it does so soon after that of
Randall, suggests a contrast. The men
were strikingly alike in their integrity,
their ability and their persistence, but
their relations and value to the demo
cratic party were almost diametrically
opposite. Randall was a thorn in the
the side of his friends, while Beck was
a tower of refuge and defense. In his
relation to his party Senator Beck was
more like the late S. S. Cox, and both
of them will be lamented as long as in
telligent and incorruptible statesman
ship shall be admired in the democratic
party.
1890.
v Mr. Dorsey's Alliance.
It is a very nice thing for a million
aire to be a member of congress, live in
line style m Washington, which is an
imperial city where all the elegancies
of high life can be enjoyed, have a pri
vate secretary to take all the cares of
business, and some henchmen enjoying
sinecures in the pay of Uncle Sam to
look after matters at home, and keep
the wheels of the machine well oiled.
Mr. Dorsey is serving his second term,
and evidently likes it, and so lie organ
ized a little bankers' alliance to look
after everything and fix matters up so
he can get a third term. His second
term wa3 secured by attending to the
machine. The people had little or
nothing to do with it. Perhaps the
machine will slip a cog or two this fall.
Perhaps the farmers of the third con
gressional district will prefer to be rep
resented by a man of their own choos
ing, instead of a millionaire banker,
who is willing to give them more money
provided-it can be done through the
banks and without disturbing the single
gold standard, and who believes in tax
ing Nebraska farmers to protect east
ern manufacturers.
How would the farmers of the third
district like to have a little junta of
Dorsey's appointees in Washington set
up the pins to secure nis return ior a
third term? That is just what is being
done, as the following confidential cir
cular explains:
WASHINGTON LEAGUE OF NEBRASKA
REPUBLICANS.
ADDRESS ALIi COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SEC
HETARV, BOX 464, HOVSK OF HEl'UESENTA
TIVES.
Washington, D. C, April 20. Dear Sir:
The friends of Mr. Dorsey have advised us of
a combination against him, and ouv organ I za
tion will at once make an earnest effort to de
feat the scheme referred to. We explain to
you the situation and desire that you advise
us at once If you are with us in this fight.
Certain men who are anxious to come to
congress have commenced work to secure the
nomination. They fear to ruu oi. their mcr
its, but have begun to trade, offering a Judge.
ship to this one, a land office to another, and
postoffices ad libitum. Everything is to be
parcelled out ana divided. borne or our
friends who are in have been promised re
tention and others asked to be neutral.
You may ask how a republican can be re
moved under the present administration
This can bo done simply for cause or ineffi
ciency, and of this the member of congress is
judge. We want no change now, do you? If
you are with us commence work at once
Talk for our friend, Interest the editor of
your paper if you can, and reply to any attack
made. Ascertain the feelings of prominent
republicans in your locality and give us the
names of our friends. Win over all you can
Ascertain the reason ot the opposion ol any
promiuent republican and advice us. Write
freely and keep us posted. E. I. Jensen,
(Confidential.) Secretary
The second paragraph of the above is
aboul the cheekiest thing that ever was
uttered. There isn't a member from
this state who did not secure his place
by exactly the methods described. They
are the essence of the machine, and
machine politics has dominated this
state for years. They are exactly the
means by Avhich Mr. Dorsey hopes to
retain his nice place in Washington so
ciety, and yet he denounces the men
who have the same right to aspire that
he has for using machine methods.
This is the very apotheosis of a machine
politician's impudence. "We want no
change now, do you?" Isn't that re
freshing? Who ever knew a depart
ment clerk who wanted a change, un
less from a low position to a higher one?
We commend this circular and Dor
sey's scheme to the Alliance men of the
third district. Mr. Dorsey will find
they will be "with him in this fight,"
and probably a neck or so ahead.
Toiling Women.
A shirt makers' strike! These work
ing women, driven by hard poverty, be
came desperate, and actually refused to
work sixteen hours a day, making
shirts at thirty-live or fifty cents a dozen.
Unreasonable mortalsl It is impossible
to live on these earnings; they are mere
ly sufficient to starve on. The wolf is
always at the door, whining for en
trance, and the enfeebled toilers have
scarcely strength enough to keep him
back. This is a picture well worth our
pondering. Philanthropjr may be puz
zled to find a solution for the problem,
and religion may feebly sigh that such
a state of affairs can exist in a great
christian city like New York; but facts
are facts, and sooner or later they must
be faced. Immeasurable wealth"on the
one side, poverty as dark and hopeless
as the pit on the other; the impossibilty
of earning an honest livelihood and the
temptation to lead a life of sin and
plenty overlax each other. Then when
the girl half starved and poorly clad,
shivering Avith the cold and utterly
friendless, surrenders to fate, we cry
'Shame!" deplore the infidelity of the
times, and marvel that so many of our
blooming youth betake themselves to
evil ways. If tears can flow at human
suffering, they will not withstand the
sorrows of a shirt maker's life, but fall
like heavy rain. Between the upper
and nether mill-stone of fierce and
ruthless competition these half-paid
women are being ground thousands of
them to powder. Their homes are
but caricatures of what the word im
plies dingy, dark, sunless, barely fur
nished rooms, whose stove cries out for
fuel and is fed so sparingly that heat
is almost a stranger to it. They stitch,
stitch wearily from day break until
"flaky darkness" drives away the light,
and tnen renew the monotonous labors
in their unquiet slumbers. Can such
things be and remain unnoticed? Well,
such things are, and within pistol-shot
of your own house. And not only this
throng of shirt makers, but other
throngs of both men and women are en-
gaged in the hard battle of life, bearing
urdens so great that a christian civili
zation should come to their relief with
reforms and new laws and more broth
erhood and less indifference to our
struggling fellow-creatures. .Yew York
Herald.
Thomas G. Shearman is writing a series of
articles upon economic questions for the
press. In one of them he compresses the
whole tariff question, so far as it applies to
New England manufacturers, into these preg
nant sentences : "You have the capital, you
have the labor, you have the skill, you have
the experience to enable you to compete suc
cessfully with manufacturers in any part of
the world. But you have not the materials,
and if you will not open your ports to free
materials you must expect to decline."
And he might of added, "you have
not the sand, but prefer to whine as in
fant industries, and suck government
pap, rather than to pull off your coats
and go into a manly fight for the indus
trial supremacy which by every natural
condition belongs to you."
The Australian Ballot Law.
We have ordered printed, in a con
venient form for general distribution,
the Australian ballot law, as passed by
Massachusetts in 1881). I hose pam
phlets Avill be sent post paid at the ex
tremely Ioav price of $1 .00 per 1 00. To
send them at this price wo were com
pelled to order a large edition, and we
hope our friends will take enough to
give us our money back. don t
want to make a cent on the work. But
every farmer in the state should have
this law.
Attacking Leese.
Charleston, Neb., April 2(5, 1800.
Pimif Amjante: Tim York
publican stated some three weeks ago
that Attorney General Leese made it
convenient to be absent from the meet
ing of the inter state commerce com
mittee at Lincoln, intimating that he
pretends to be the farmcrs.and laboring
classes friend, but at heart is a railroad
tool. Will you please give us the tacts
in the case and oblige many readers.
1 ours iraternaiy,
A. P.. Sec. 478.
The facts are that (Jen. Leese wau
attendance constantly, and did ood
service, until about the close of tin Ses
sion. At this time his daughter was
run over and nearly killed by a street
car; but even after that he was in at
tendance most of the time.
Mendacious Lying.
The Omaha Republican, in its issue of
May 3d, in an editorial headed "Farm
el's of Nebraska," says:
"The mortgage phantasm has bcu
effectually dissipated by the Republican
and its contemporaries. The fallacy of
the reports made by Burrows and hi
disciples has been demonstrated again
and again."
Now we desire to say to the Omaha
Republican that both the above state
ments are square lies. No single mort
gage, nor any phantasm of mortgages,
has been dissipated by the Republican or
any other paper. As to the reports al
luded to, every official investigation
made since the Alliance memorial was
published has demonstrated that its
statements were moderate, and did not
equal the truth. Why don't the Repub
lican and its contemporaries publish the
official figures from Saline county? You
can obtain them by applying at this of
fice. Written for The Fahmkhs' Alli ance.
The Use of Tobacco.
While we as an association of popl.
arc bound together in common for the
furtherance of our material good, ht us
attack the moral enemies which exist iu
our midst, and strive to protect tin
younger members of our community
from the one evil of tobacco using, if it
be too late for the older members to
give up this next to the greatest evil of
this country, for which millions of dol
lars are yearly squandered.
Let us consider the great waste shown
in these figures taken from Prof. Rich
ard T. Ely's work on political economy.
"In 188G there were 74:1,4(10 acres of
land devoted to the production of this
weed, and the quantity of cigars, cigar-etts-and
cheroots consumed Irthe
American people .in 1880 reached ! tin
enormous number of 2,821,77G,28..TTep
rescnting an outlay on the part of the
consumers of at least $140,000,000.
In the year 1888 the number probably
increased to over three billions, or over
fifty for every human being iu the coun
try. The tobacco that was consumed
by chewing and in the form of snuff
was, in 1880, 130,275,835 pounds, at a
cost to the consumers of probably $70,
000,000. The indirect loss resulting
from the use of tobacco is not so great,
nor are its effects upon the consumers
so disastrous, as is the case in the con
sumption of liquors; but it is ut h'ast
doubtful whether the enormons outlay
shown by the above figures is compen
sated by any increased happiness of the
people.'"
Again let us look at the moral
as well as the financial aspects of the
subject. A learned physician, after a
long and' close observation of the cil
effects of tobacco says: "If the t-vil
ended with the individual who, by the
indulgence of a pernicious custom, im
pares his own health and impairs his
faculties of mind and body, ho might lie
left to his enjoyment, his foors parodist,
unmolested. This, however, is not th
case. In no instance is the sin of the
father more strikingly visited upon th
children than the sin of tobacco smok
ing. The hysteria, the insanity, the
dwarfish deformities, the consumption,
the suffering lives and early deaths of
the children of inveterate smokers bear
ample testimony to the feebleness and
unsoundness of the constitution trans
mitted by this pernicious habit.
Now for some of the practical appli
cation of some of the points that belong
to this subject which is a prevalent evil
in our midst. Of course it is not the
millions that the members. of this com
munity squander but the quarters ot their
hard earned dollars, and it is this that
takes a great many little conveniences
and comforts from the homes, and makes
it a very selfish habit. Especially when
an overworked woman stands up at
home and makes a few pounds of butter
for one of the "lords of creation" (r) to
negotiate at the nearest country town for
his beloved tobacco, as such a case has
recently come under my observation.
It is not a polite habit. We ladies are
members of this lodge merely as orna
ments, we infer, and if any one of us
can come here and walk over this floor
a few times without dooming our line
feathers to utter ruin (and it takes the
best of line feathers to make the majorit v
of us ornamental, we admit) there will"
have to be an amendment to our by laws
prohibiting the chewing of tobacco dur
ing these meetings.
We think with a famous minister of
our day that it is best to make the appli
cation of this sermon ourselves.for if we
tell our audience to go home and make
a practical application of these remarks
they would be sure to apply them to
their neighbors and not themselves.
Kate Causes.
Locating Warehouses.
The advocates of the perishable pro
perty security plan for loaning money
to farmers, go so far as to compute from
returns of the census of 1880, how many
warehouses each state would bo pntiti.i
to in order to carry out the provisions
oi m piuposeu law. witn present ue
uression of nrioes tin ostim n -,.1.1
hold good for the census of tho present
year as well. We find them figuring
that a few western states would lie enti
tled to the following niimlier- lllinnia
48; Ioyva, 41; Kansas, 42; Nebraska, 18;
Minnesota, 26.
Let any farmer imagine what relief,
and what fae.ilities for ilnnneit f
1 - - - . ' 4 V V I'lU
duce would be afforded when all tho
noicters or such produce were obliged to
concentrate it in 18 points for the wholo
state of Nebrasks. or .at. 41
whole state of Iowa. Chicago Express.
I