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About The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1891)
Qfyi Joraew' Alliance. rubhk4 irwy Saturday by ' Tbx Aliiancb PuBLisiiDfa Co. Cur. lit tal M SULinooln, Neb. 3. tnMti J. M. Tbokmow. , ....Editor ....BocineM lfanaer To the beauty of the HDlee Christ vii born across the sea, TTlth a glory in bis boaont That transfigures jou and me. Am ha strove to make men holy Let us strive to make them free, Since God is marching on." Julia Ward Eov. "Laurel crowns clears to deserts. And power to him who power exerts. A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs." . .. ; ?. -' -' - Xmerton. Tie who cannot reason Is a fool. He who will not reason is coward, Ha who dare not reason is slave." TO CORRESPONDENTS. AddreM alt tuilnM communicntlom to Alliance Publishing Co. AddrrM matter fur publication to Editor ru-mera Alliance. Articles written on both alrfpa of the papr cannot oe uwa. very lor i-oramuuicaiioji, u a ruie cannot ne uaea. INDIVIDUAUSM CONE WILD. The plutocracy of to-day Li the logical result of the individual freedom which we have always considered the pride of our system. The theory of our govern ment has been and is that the individual should possess the very greatest degree of liberty consistent, not with the great' est good of the greatest number, but with the very least legal restraint com patible with law and order. Individual enterprise was allowed unlimited scope. From this beginning the present de velopment has been reached. Indi vidual enterprise grew until its realistic achievements excelled the most extrava gant dreams of song or story. When the possibilities of its conceptions passed the bounds of individual achievement accretions of other individuals took place. In the start these were merely private companies. But the field of en terprise was as unlimited as man's am bition was unbounded. Mountains were to be tunneled, oceans spanned and cabled, the stars were to bo counted in their courses, the planets mapped and surveyed in orderly array the finest forces of nature, the very elixir of the universe, was to be the servant of man kind, and subdued to the coarsest uses. New forces were to be evolved by whose agencies all past achievements were to be dwarfed. These necessities tran scended, not the power of individual conceptions, but the power of individual effort, and an artificial individual was created to meet the emergency, and was named the corporation . This individual the creation of the law, soon began to bend to Its uses the forms and powers f the law. While in its nature and develpoment it is only the original and cherished principle of individual liberty, it has absorbed the liberties of the com munity and usurped the power of the agency that created it. By its gigantic combinations, its control of the money of the nation, by its gradual building up of a system of indebtedness of colossal magnitude, making every agency of ex change tributary to it, it has. turned toward its coffers every golden stream diverted into its treasuries the revenues of the nation. By it the toiling millions have been made the mere took of a few plutocrats. There is little doubt now! that the people are actually in its power. A combination involving inte rests of the value of a thousand millions has recently been made. It -has just corrupted a court and bought a senate in this state. Through its fine organi zation of the transportation aud tele graphic interests, through its banking associations, its boards of trade, its press associations, its boards of international exchange, it wields a power unknown in any former phase of society, and it may well be doubted whether any law ivhich it might consider adverse to its Interests could be passed through con gress, no matter how strongly public sentiment might demand it. If it could not, what resource is left to the people? Only one. It is a gloomy outlook. Well does the writer of this article remember the time before the war when men thought they could penetrate the future of the slavery problem. The prediction then was common we have heard it made many and many a time that that pro blem would never find its solution with out a bloody civil war. These prophets of evil were scoffed at as abolition cranks and lunatics. How the horrible reality dwarfed their auguries a genera tiou of gray -haired men who passed through the fire and blood of it too well know. Human nature is the same to-day that it was then. The bllud selfishness that led the slaveholder to demand a larger dominion for the safety of his peculiar institution, leads the plutocratic million- are to demand larger expansion for his already over-grown privileges. The greed that a thousand slaves would not satisfy two hundred millions in bonds . will not appease. Individualism in corporatea has gone wild. When its votaries can say, with the old adventu ; rers, "No pent up Utica contracts our powers, for the whole boundless conti nent is ours," they will reach for other worlds or sigh because the infinite con not be grasped. - THE FARMERS' There is a sleeping lion in the path of these men. With all this congealing of individualism into privelege the maw-ea are rot ceasing to be democratic. They imply do not realize that their liberties are slloDinsr out of their grasp, nor do they dream of the day when such thing is possible. Will the plutocratic clasps, blind to everything except the present accumulation of wealth, using the most sacred institutions as mere agencies for; their ends, allow them selves to drift into bund battle array acraiust the democratic masses? A remedy must be found. There is no time' to lose. The motion of tne mass is Catherine momentum. Crises come in which history concentrates aons into flahes. May not this remedy lie in the continued refinement and de velopment of the individualism which, in its present stage, constitutes the evil? The corporation has absorbed the com munHy. The community must now ab sorb the corporation nmt merge itself into it. Society must enlarge Itself to the breadth of humanity. A tttnge mut bo reached in which each will be for all and all for each. The welfare of ! he in dividual must be the object and end of all effort, and the very highest degree of combination and concentration must be brought to bear to accotuplih that end. Isu't the highest aim of life to turnout a finished humau being? Does not that aim embrace the full tcope of all the religion of the ages Confucian, Buddhist, Christian? We care not by what name this may be known, but let us reach for it. THAT PENITENTIARY REPORT. The World-Herald calls for the report of the investigating contmitteee on the penitentiary contract. . We hope the call will bring it forth. But we fear the investigation is not yet begun. The chairman of the penitentiary committee may need investigating. A special in vestigating committee should be ap pointed at once. We fully agree with the W. H. that the "monstrous iniquity and inconceivable steal of tho prion contract should be stopped at once." But there is money for chairmen of committees if tbey know how not to do it. "WHEN TIME COMES ROUND WITH HIS REVENGES." Mr. Boyd is strutting his brief hour upon the stage. He is using good ob tained under false pretences. If it was a horse or a bill of dry goods obtained the same way he would go to the pen. He will make much confusion by install ing a lot of appointees whose names will be Dennis. Mr. Boyd is not a citi zen of the United States. Every one knows that now. This fact will soon be judicially established. It will vitiate the election. Gov. Thayer will resume the gubernatorial chaii . He is a re publican from way back. It is not to be presumed that he will be particularly tender of the gang that took his party nto the democratic camp to scat Boyd. They will take back seats. And the democrats who went into that combine where, 0 where are they? They will sneak into oblivion with a whine and their tails drooping. The men who went into that combine shut the door behind them and lost the key. As for the Independents, that is the truo ones of them, they have nothing to regret. Beaten by money and corrupt trading, they have sacrificed no prin ciple and lost no honor. Their self respect h left to them, which neither of the other parties can say. Staunch republican as he is, Gov. Thayer cannot but feel divorced from the gang that betrayed the party he loves, aud he cannot fail to be drawn towards the party with the real aims of which he sympathises, When Boyd takes his Samoset chair home, and Gov. Thayer resumes the honorable place he has filled so creditably, he will be an Independent himself, and will use his prerogatives and patronage as inde pendently as he pleases. This is all i a the near future. Time is quickly coming round with his re venges. THE NEW NATION. Again we welcome Edward Bellamy's paper, The Xew Xation. No. 4 is before us.. It is sound to the core, ably edited, and typographically neat a9 a pin. Mr. Bellamy is publishing "lalks on Nationalism," beine short essays in conversational form. We make an ex tract. Smith, who has joined a Nation al Club, replies to his pastor who is an inquirer about it: Smith The Christian church is bound to be in it just so far as it is Christain, and I do not mean to say that the bulk of its members are not sincere according to their light. This world-wide move ment for social reconstruction on higher plane, of which nationalism is a phase, is an infinitely greater thing than the anti-slavery movement; and while the slowness of the church to take the right side on that - issue was a blow to its prestige in America from which it has not yet recovered, its fail ure to take the right side of this far vaster movement would not leave any church worth mentioning. Mind yon. I don't say that it would leave no Chris tianity. The spirit of Christianity is imperishable and if the church failed would find other embodiments. But I do not believe the church will fail. There are a thousand cheering signs that its leaders will not be found sleeping at this new coming of the Son of Man. ALLIANCE. LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, FEB. 28, 1891. THE CONFERENCE AT CHICAGO. The conference of farm organizations held at Chii-agoon the 19th lust , had no political s:gnificance whatever. The impression that it was called to organ ize a national political party is entirely wrong It was called to organize a na tional educational work for the farmers' organizations, somewhat on the same plan aa the Chautauqua literary circle. August Post, of Moulton, Iowa, Sncre tary of, tne National Farmers' Alliance, was chosen chairman, and Herbert Myrick, of Springfield, Mass., was chosen secretary. Representatives were present from the National Farmers' Al liance, F. M. B. Association, P. of H., P. of Industry, the American Association of Agricultural Colleges and Exp. Sta tions, Farmers' League, and the Natl Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union. A plan was formulated for the organi sation of a National Society to be called the Farmers' Edueational Association. It adopted the following constitution which explains the nature of the so ciety: constitution of the fabmebs' edu ' cation al assoc. ation. ARTICLE 1. Sec. 1 This Association shall be known as the Farmers' Educational Association. Abticle 2. Sec. 1 Its object is to provide an at tractive aud efficient system of self-edu cation for the faroi and family through a formulated course of Mndy adapted to theJireside, reading circle and farm or ganization. Article 3. Sec. I It shall consist of a national boaidbf directors from each state in which any national farm order has a titate organization. Sec. 2 Its national board shall con sist of one member from each national tanners' order, elected for one year at the annual meeting thereof, one mera- ler from the Americau Association of Agricultural Colleges and experiment stations, the United States Secretary of Agriculture and the Uultcd States Com missioner of Education. Sec. 8 The state board shall consist of one member frmi each state farmers' order represented ou the national board having a state organization, and such representatives of other agricultural or educational institutions as may be de sired by said members of farmers' orders. Abticle 4. The National Board shall carry out the above provisions, and for that pur pose shall have power to elect officers and make all needed rules and regula tions not to conflict with this consti tution. The following is the National Board appointed by the conference to hold office until their respective associations shall appoint their successors: 1. National Farmers' Alliance, J. Bur rows, of Lincoln, Neb. 2. Patrons of Husbandry, Col. J. H. Brigbam, of Delta, O. 3. National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, Col. L. L. Polk, of Raleigh, N. C. 4. American Association of Agri cultural Colleges and Experiment Sta tions, to be filled by Experiment Com mission. 5. F.M. B.' A., W. I. Stillwell, of Fort Brand, Ind. 6. Farmers' League, Herbert Myrick, Springfield, Mass. ; 7. Patrons of Industry, F. W. Verti- can, Port Huron, Mich. 8. Secretary of Agriculture. 9. National Commissioner of Agri culture. The city of Chicago was fixed upon for the first meeting of the National Board, the date of same left to be de termined after consultation. This organization was proposed by Mr. Burrows two years ago, when he was president of the National Alliance. Tho seed sown by him at that time took root, and has resulted in this society. It is a move in the right direction, and if the National Board provided for does the work assigned to it thoroughly and well, great results may follow. The field this society will occupy is not only unlimited in its extent, but is entirely unoccupied. Tho National Board will met at Chi cago at such date as may be fixed by the president and secretary of the confer ence. CLEVELAND A CANDIDATE. A good many people have heard of a man named Cleveland, tie iormeny hung some men in Buffalo, N. Y. He is eminently qualified for that duty. Tom Hendricks said he had a head like a bull and a neck as large as his thigh He wears a twenty-five inch collar and a six inch hat. He had an acquaint ance with a Buffalo shop-girl named Maria Halpin which was disastrous to the girl. He is also said to have ac e'epted the honor of being scape-goat for of Rome his married friends' sins. Be ing in that line a trifle more or less did not matter. By the way, he served one term as president, now we think of it, and the best thing that could be said of him was that he wns not known to steal anything. Well, he is again candidate for president, and as a necessary pre liminary has written a letter ferninst free coinage of silver. He knows who makes presidents. He don't trouble himself to write any letters for the peo pie, but he looks out to be on the sunny side of Wall street. Wall street is peo pled by a class of men who are republi cans in a republican district and demo crats in a democratic district, but al ways look out for the interest of Wall street. man. man. man. street Mr. Harrison is ft Wall street Mr. Manning was a Wall street Mr. FairchiM was ft Wall street Mr. Foster of Ohio, is ft Wall man. It is simply amazing how indiscriminately executive honors may rain alike on the just and the un just and never miss a Wall street man. Well Grover Cleveland will' not be the next president. His wife might if she could be divorced from the lump of obesity she accepted before as an in cumbrance with the white house. But she can't be, more's the pity. "For bet ter or for worse"-how often it turns out a horrible sentence! Women some times carry a corpse through life, with out love and men too. God pity them The people intend to take a hand with Wall street in the next presidential racket, and the people will never again elect the man with the big neck and little head. A LYING ATTACK BY O. P. MASON Mr. O. P. Mason, the paid attorney of the B. & M. railroad, could not at tend and speak at a social banquet without, first, advocating the interests of his client; and. second, without making a lying attack on an individual who was not present. We are informed that he said that be heard a man asked what he would be willing to pay for freight per ton per mile in this state, and that man replied three cents, and' added that the man was J. Burrows. He also ' said that freight was being carried for 5.6 mills per ton per mile. Now, both of the above statements by Mr. Mason are false. Mr. Burrows never made such a statement, and freight is not now being and never has been carried for 5.6 mills per ton per mile in this state. The lowest rate ever reached on an eastern road was on the Philadelphia & Erie, a short road with an enormous traffic, and the rate was 5 4 mills. The lowest average rate ever reported by a Missouri river road was by the C, R. I. & P., and the rate was over 10 mills per ton per mile. The lowest average rate ever reported by the C, B. & Q. road was in 1879, and the rate was over 10 mills per ton per mile. That robber road has not re ported since. No road this side of the Missouri river has ever reached any thing like so low a rate. Not only did this low-down old blath erskite, Mason, make an attack upon Mr. Burrows who was absent, but we are informed that he improved the oc casion to abuse the Independents on general principles, using a choice se lection of the billingsgate he is such an adept in. No man but a blackguard would take a social occasion like this to air his political opinion, vent his spleen or defend his clients. But this man Mason is a blackguard. "HOLD THE PARTY RUDDER TRUE." The above is the caption of an edito rial in the Bee of the20'h. Church Howe left the sinking ship. He is now back on deck on the quarter deck flourish ing a gold headed cane and Rosewater is steering. But the aroma of rose- water does not overpower the stench of bilgewater. The new steersman ran the rotten craft into Jim Boyd's creek and manned her with a democratic ciew, and while Church Howe climbs over the gunwale the enormous pile of national bank and whiskey boodle piled beside the wheel hide the line of breakers to leeward from the wheel man. The rudder is unshipped, Roscy, don't you know it? VILLIANY EMPHASIZED. A man named Church from Nemeha county, with ' Hon." prefixed to his name, came up here and took possession of a gold headed cane which was ready, and gave it back to the man who bought it, the other Church. The first Church probably had his transportation fur nished by the second Church, also his other expenses. ' Hon." Church said "600 majority meant an election in Nem eha," wherein ho entirely misconceived the nature of the case. No one has de nied that Church Howe was elected. It is claimed that be bribed voters and therein violated the constitution and committed perjury when he took the official oath, thereby forfeiting his right to the office. Correct definitions save misunderstandings. Church Howe did not show his usual shrewdness in buying this gold headed cane for him self. It simply forms a sharp exclama tion point in the ghastly business. No one expected to unseat Mr. Hewe, though many had a right to hope to. More than a hundred men in Nemeha county can swear to his infamy. His presence in the house sporting that gold headed cane with his well known modest and virtuious mien, is a sad satire on the political morals of Ne braska. CHURCH HOWE NOT A RAILROAD MAN. Oh no, of course not! . But isn't it strange how be can command the passes. lie sent passes down to JNeniaha on which his friends rode up here to pre sent him that cane. They didn'f even know what tbey were wanted for until they reached the city. Perhaps they brought arms with them, expecting a fight. They had pocket pistols, without doubt. The fact as to the passes we state for a fact we are ready to prove THE HIGHER THE RATE OF INTE REST THE MORE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN MONEY. The following article was written by a leading business man of Lincoln, a man who is worth t I50.000-a succesful man who has not only been a loaner of money, but has been in many other kinds of business. He understands the interest problem, and his words should have great weight. Ed. Alliance. Editob Alliance: All business should be transacted in the discreet manner that meets the approval of all fair minded men. It is a known fact that the laborers or mechanics who demand too much fer their services are apt to be id e. The same rule applies to lawyers, merchants and physicians. Extravagant charges for services or use of property throws these out of use only as necessity compels their use. This rule also applies to capital. The capi talists of the east are shy of any state that permits high rates of interest. This state made slow progress in obtaining eastern loans as long as she permitted the collection of 12 per cent. On the repeal of that law money came pouring into our state at a wonderful rate. So large was the volume of currency that in each village and hamlet agents who handled these funds amassed fortunes. In our centres the names of those agents are legion. Many of them have become royal bloods, earthly angels who fly in and out of national bank buildings presidents, cashiers and stock-holders. It is capable of demonstration that the higher the rate of interest the scarcer is money and the harder to obtain. Capitalists are clear headed and far seeing men, and do not desire to loan to men who pay high rates. This business is left to scalpers. Tho only way that eastern capital can be brought to the west is by making the interest low 6 or 7 per cent a rate the eastern capi talist knows the borrower can pay and meet the principal when it is due with out foreclosure and execution. Be it said of many of the eastern capitalists, they possess a sense of justice that makes foreclosures an nnpleasant task. It is not the eastern captialist that is oppressing the people of Nebraska it is the capitalists and bankers of our own state. At the present time good men are refused accommodation at ten per cent, and the scalper, the usury man is loaning large amounts of money belong ing to the same banks at from three to ten per cent a month, and dividing the blood money or as Judge Cobb used to put it, "the swag," with the banks. Our chattel mortgage law is such that it winks at - usurious loans. Notwith standing our law permits ten per cent, our eastern capitalists loan at six or seven, treating us more just than our ow bankers and our own law. Nearly every bank has its scalpers, which is a sad comment on Nebraska capitalists. There is no reason why legal in terest in Nebraska should exceed six or seven per cent. Any amount over that should be illegal, and taint the contract or paper. Change our rates to six or seven per cent, with proper penalties attached, and capitalists and bankers will cease robbing the people, and the volume of money will increase. With the present high rates much of our land is idle. Farmers cannot afford to borrow to open it up. The same with the business men. They cannot enlarge their business and pay -such high interest. The outlook of the Ne braska farmer is discouraging. High interest on one side, high freights and taxes on the other. Between the three he toils day and night to extricate him self, but the harder he works the deeper he sinks. Nearly all we raise goes east, nearly all we buy comes from the east. We pay high freights each way. Reduce the interest and manufacturers will come, we will sell them part of what we produce and buy the goods they make, and save freight both ways. With money at low rates we can manu facture here as well as they can in the east. Eastern manufacturers get money kit five per cent, I dare say we could manufacture with money at six per cent. The farmers and business men must be made to understand that ten per cent on thirty, sixty or ninety days' paper is exorbitant and oppressive, and as long as it continues national banks will in crease, and the number of our homeless multiply. There is but one way out, and that is for the present legislature to reduce all interest by contract or other wise to six or seven per eent. Why should not this legislature stand up boldly for the people, and release us from this yoke. The cry that a law lowering interest would drive away capital is a fraud and false on the face of it. At six and soven per cent millions of money has come to Nebraska, and continues to come. It is only the local bankers and capitalists and their scalpers who are raising this cry and mad dog scare when there is no occasion for it. Mr. Legislator, stand up. Have some back bone. Give these shylocks and scalpers the cold shoulder. Stand by the people. Do as Abe. Lin coln told Dick Oglesby to do. "Dick, keep close to the people." Members of the Nebraska legislature, "keep close to the people." Pass a si per cent interest law. Remember the people not only have to pay the ten per cent on the money they borrow, but the traders in every line add the ten per cent on the cost ef their goods through every ex change, and the people pay that also The merchant adds the freight to his prices, and the grain buyer deducts the freight from his, and the farmer stands the burden. The rural papers are filled with notices of sheriff and chattel mortgage sales. You can put a stop to the bleeding of farmers and business men by the bankers and scalpers by lowering the present oppressive rate of interest NEBRASKA POLITICS. Stuff the census, buy naturalization papers, subsidize the Omaha saloons, import repeaters and refuse to plea oa the questions of citizenship, and your name will be Bcyd, and you can be governor of Nebraska. Buy votes, set up the whiskey and cigars, bluff and buy the notaries who should take testimony in a contest, and then commit purjury in swearing you didn't do it, and your name will be Church Howe, and you can have a gold headed cane. Stand up for morals in politics, an honest vote and a fair count, no bri bery; no perjury, no sale of offices, no rotten contracts, no steal, and no vil liany, and your name will be Dennis and the papers will comb your noddle with a three-legged stool, and paint your face and treat you like a fool. LEGISLA 1 IVE. There was considerable work done in the house the past week in advanc ing bills, but little finished work was done. Tho two cent fare bill was passed, ana now goes to the senate. The South Omaha stock yards bill passed to third reading. This is an im portant measure and should become a law without delay. The bill to authorize counties to issue bonds to obtain money for relief of drouth sufferers passed to third read ing. " A substitute for PurnelVs irrigation bill was placed on general file. This bill covers a large financial nigger in the wood-pile, and should be killed. The house bill favoring a constitu tional convention is on the house genr ral file. The house has on thj? general file sixty-nine bills ready to be considered in committee of the whole. In the .senate the Australian ballot law was passed. It goes. back to the house for the correction of a verbal er ror, when it goes to the governor. The bill repealing the sugar bounty passed both houses. According to Mr. Dorsey this action is ruinous to the state. But as the only other party holding the same view is the sugar trust, wo think Nebraska will survive. The concurrent resolution favoring- the foreclosure of the Union Pacific mortgage has passed both houses. The bill authorizing the issue of $100,- 000 of state bonds upon which the state is to borrow that amount of the perma nent school fund for the purchase of seed grain for settlers, has passed both houses. . The Stevens rate bill has been re- ported for passage in the senate. The Truth From Mr. Gale's County. Ainsworth Neb., Feb. 13, 1891. Dear. Sir: I noticed an article In the World-Herald of Feb. 11th, in which Mr. A. H. Gale, representative from this 51st Dist. is made to say: My pockets, and desk are full of letters from my constitu ents endorsing my course. Now sir I believe when Mr. Gale ut tered the above words a blacker lie nev er fell from the lips of man, and we enter a solemn protest against the ac- LllU JX Jill. VXttIC III tiding tU CAUUSO 1119 position by screening his democrat and boodled carcas behind his constitutents and if Mr. Gale has got any such let ters in his pocket and desk thev are from democrat and republican bankers and loan agents who are today (in this dist.,) embraced in one another's arms, and shedding tears of joy at the discom fiture and disgrace that this traitorious scamp has brought upon the heads of his deceived and outraged constitutents. I have attended the meetings of most all the sub-Alliances in the county, late ly, and I have failed to find a single member who approves of Mr. Gale's action The Independents in this di.sy trfwanted to see the contest come up inlts proper way arfd tried upon its mer its, and if the result showed that Mr.. Boyd was himself elected I do not think there is a single member in either house but what would really recognized Mr. Boyd as governor with the best of grace, would have not only recognized him but congratulated him upon his .elec tion. But the course that has been persued by the democrats, republicans and state supreme court is conclusive evidence that there is something rotten in Denmark. That their excuse for their action that they did not want to seethe constitution outraged, is too thin I hope there is enough Independent members in each house (who have not gone back on their pledges) to give us some good laws, laws that will be a credit to the state and a monument to the originators. An Independent. COSTS OF THE CONTEST. A bill has been presented appropria ting $29,500 as costs of the contest. That is to say, certain parties applied to a court asking that a certain cause in which they were claimants be tried. The court kicked them out and refused to try their cause, and then they asked the court to assess and pay the costs The first thing to do is to try the case.