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About The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1891)
VlftXl fCT Tl TAMMtMtT ALLUUCS. The Song of the Cob. YUTOB AlXMKCmTt po tra cf txr Jr't exptriww. Wlta 1 Irca to lit I torn. s ors eerer sec te that time fillivt Uvlr.f prw one liav at-lew as S u per tub!5 farmers are cbliftoeer4f,l'' ftl;n4 tbl yi nil cob btvc twtn scarce. Tb women oT Ntbratka 4mind J bit tb coal mine be 'worked la the mlerett of it people. Very KpKtfttllr Built Bi-mos, July Jl,19t. Btoddard, Nek. With flnren mlftbapea aod reuf k, A if a demon itrcve, Iwbu itwrt to unwomanly tma PtuSSnj cob into Move. Poke! pokel poke! Betwixt shriek ana k fob In a okrout TOtce do rbtff cou.d cboke Sfce tanf the (one of the cob . Stuff! ttuff! stuff! To make tbe morning t ceffee boi. Poke! poke! poke! When ike tek ! In the pot, Ko time for a healthful breath, Ko time to turn around; Itll I vntufvr If this IS life Or (Itftth, Or only lieep profound. Poke! poke! poke! Till tbe brain berins to swim. Poke! poke! poke! TIU tbe eyes re scorched sad dim. Bread aid cookies and plea. Pies and oookles and bread, Tin into tbe oven 1 stare and atk If I am among the dttd. Am I deed and gone to hell Where an everlasting Ore Meat be ktpt klive wltb cobs Just to glut tbe devil's ire? U the chaff, and dirt, and k'at, Retribution for seme crime That o'erwaelaud mjginwarjr soul On (he mazy shores of timer Why do I talk of a soul. That phantom of my youth, That vanished for want cf a leiiure hour To feed It on love and truthf O, love, dear love and truth, Are ye but things that seem. I n the tsrrors of a dream J Toke! poke! 'poke! Frcm weary chime to chime, With an unremitting snd steady stroke As cr!s oat IS five for crime. Wash, and iron, and bake, Tiil tbe back is bent and brain benumbed, . And the heart is like to break. Pokel poke! poke! In tbe summer glare and heat. Poke t poke! poke! Wken t he wind blows snow and sleek Pok! poke! poke! When comes the breath of spring To twit me of that glorious time When 1 wu a gladsome thing. O, for one leisure hour ' And a walk beneath tbe trees, Where I might breathe tbe violets breath, And hear the birds and beett For only one short hour To feel a I nied to feel Before 1 knew tbe cobs that are used In getting a single meat With fingers misshapen and rough, . At if a deamun strove, A woman stood in unwomanly dress C Stuffing cobs into a stove, j Poke! pokel poke! Betwixt a shriek and a sob, Is a dolorous voice no chaff oould cboke; In tbe hurry, worry, and heat and smoke, Ehe sang the song of the cob. 'The ABC of Money." The following article was rejected by both the A? and World- fferald Those papers do riot want able article from laboring men on economic questions. ' wTOK Alliance. Omaha, Neb., June 25, 1891. Editor OmaiU Bee: I see you have reproduced six columns of Andrew Carnegie's papor on "The A B C of Money," and you teem pleased to call it "remarkable." The ability displayed in the article is ef a high order, but it is considered remarkably unsound by thousands of voters in the western and middle states, regaidless of party, and I trust you will allow your readers to hear a few words on the other side of this most important question from a re publican who sees the money question through different glasses. Mr. Carnegie's millions of money in the employment of labor in this conn try was acceptable, and to the extent of increasing the home market for our pro duce we fully appreciate the gentleman. But when he proposes to educate the toiling millions of this country to be lieve that "money is the basis of all val ties," and "that gold should be that ba sis or standard of value, " he has com menced thirty years too late, as the powerful gold speculators tried the same thing many years ago when the four hundred and fifty million dollars of greenback treasury notes were issued without a dollar of gold as a basis, which, together with three billion dol lars worth of bonds, also without a gold or metal basis of any kind, saved the nation In time oi its greatest peril. The hard money men then denounced that money as worthless rags, but those same rags made thousands of them im mensely rich, because it had a much better basis than gold-Mhe untold agri cultural, mineral, commercial and man ufacturing wealth of the west, the most prolific nation on earth at its back as a basis. .. ".' Thousands of people of the United States got all they wanted of a "gold standard" of value when our only mon ey was robbed of two-thirds its value by the gold, gamblers and speculators of Wall Street, who ought to have been bang to the first lamp post, as traitors to their country, and their gold confis cated. We got aL we wanted of a "gold standard" of value when these three billion dollars of bonds were sold for thirty and forty cents on tbe dollar, bought with treasury notes depreciated by the same "standard of value," by the game gang of thieves. These same bonds, by law "payable in lawful mon y ol the umeta state," winch was then gold, silver and paper, was by the name "gold standard" gang, so amend' ed and changed as to be paid, both principal and interest, in gold. Brother Carnegie does not tell your readers that be was paid thirteen dol lars per month for his services while fighting the battles to save the life and unity of the greatest and best nation on earth, in money only worth thirty-live eesta on tbe dollar, all on account of iia -gold standard" of value, but thon Msda of battle scarred veterans can, who will talk or write such nonsense. Most intelligent citizens of all par ties in the United States now consider money simply a medium of exchange, represe atative of value, not value itself; and that the general government alone should "coin all the money and fix tbe value thereof;" not that some gold or silver owners or broker should fix its value; also that the money should be gold, silver and piper of the same val ue, to suit the different commercial or trade interest, and all nietalic currency should coctiin sufficient alloy to pre vent it being recast for manufacturing purposes, jewelry or any other purpose than money. Most people kave lost all faith in a specie basis policy, ana Geneve mej micht as well use the basis as the issue, and that the eovernment shculd create enough money to do tbe entire business ol the country vitnout oeing compel eu to borrow of foreien capitalists. We micrht as well pay the interest to our own government, on the same security, as to pay it to me oanaera in r-uruyc. It is an undisputed fact that a lanre part say at least two-thirds of all the money in use in this country by railroads and other corporate interests, as well as many large farm mortgage loans are held in England, France or Germany. It is now time the United States substituted money for her bonds, and coined sufficient money to pay off all these enormous loans, and lei the people who use this money pay inter terest for it to the government, instead of compelling the people and the gov ernment to longer pay interest to Eu rope and be owned ana controlled oy her to that extent. . If this government was not a republic where every citizen is a sovereign vo ter and a part ot the general govern ment, or was such as some of our sister South American republics, whose gov ernment changes at nearly every change of the moon, we could see some good sense in naving our money ui such material that it could be sold for its commercial value in any country to which we might flee for refuge, but such npt being the case silver and pa per is and should be the money of the minions as an exenange meuium. Mr. Carnegie very truly says: "The money question is the most pressing of all questions now before the American people, ana me more u is uisciuucu From a single standard gold basis stand point the more popular will be the now almost universal demand for free and unlimited coinage ot silver, and suf ficient treasury notes of small denomi nation to take tbe place of all bonds and substitute all foreign loans, so that our entire people may be truly free in every sense o(th Her id, and indepndent, liaancially, of all nations of the earth. Our powerto redeem Is unlimited, but unless our government uses ber con stitutional rights to "coin money and fix tbe value thereof suuicient to re- relieve the constantly increasing de mand for money for the last twenty years, the greater part of all our most vaiuauie property ana securities win soon be owned by foreign capitalists, which would be greatly deplored by every true American citizen, regard less of oartv. business or proiession. Speaking of silver coinage ana silver certificates Brother Carnegie says: How long tbe government can con tinue issuing four and one-half millions more ol these notes or coins every month and keep them equal to gold too body can tell." From present indica tions it does not require a prophet to pre dict that it will be as long as sixty mil lions of people ol the united Mates cultivate the soil, operate mines, fac tories, railroads ana employ labor or purchase the products of labor, and un til our generous government coins sn ficient to do the entire business of the country and enable :he people to pay all the debts they owe to foreign capi talists, because our prolific conntry produces more of what the world wants, must have and purchases with their gold and silver than any other nation on earth, which makes our government the vest able to redeem, ana lurnibues the most valuable basis for money an exchange medium of any government or people under the sun. He also says: "But then, remember, any government will soon exhaust its credit if it continues to issue as money anything but what has intrinsic value as metal all the world over." If this is true how does he account for the fact that United States bonds, with compar atively no intrinsic value, with no metal basis, worth a premium of twenty four and twenty-six cents on the dollar, and why is national bank money.also of no value beyond the "fiat" of tie gov ernment, based upon a "fiat" bona of the same government, with no specie reserve for either, worth as much as any gold dollar of any nation on earth? And why is u mat me green oacis treasury note, with no value beyond the stamp upon it, is worth as much as gold in any country, and the credit of this nation is belter than any civilized nation on earth The same answer, and only an swer to this problem is a solution to the great question of the value of any mon ey other than gold, which is and always . M US U 'PL 1 ! nas oeen scarcp aim mu. auo pmiu reason why any promise to pay of the United States or anything she may create as money is good, is because every dollar of resources of this entire nation, oi mexnausuoie agricultural, mineral and manufacturing wenlth, and all the labor and products of labor is the basis of all promises of the government, and everv true and loval American is eadv and willing to take it at one hun dred cents on the dollar for his produce, labor or anything the world wishes for its redemption, and should resent as an insult and a high crime against this na tion any attempt to depreciate the value of any 6f our currency. Another strong argument in iavor oi a largely increased volume of money by the government, is the immense Increase of our population from immigration, say nothing oi our natural increase, over seventeen thousand people arriving in one week at the port oi rew lorit alone, say nothing of the arrivals at hundreds of other ports of this and ad- Joining countries, whose final destina tion is the V nueu Mates, i nis immense multitude must be employed, fed and educated, and with the present depres sion in business and want of money among the masses, with which to em ploy labor, it does not require a philos pher to foretell the result if the general government does not in the near future create more money and deviso some legitimate and honorable means of plac ing it in the hands of the people without being compelled to pay 10 per cent per annum and as high as 2 and 5 per cent per month, as thousands of our most worthy, industrious and frugal citizens are now doing, as a direct .result of Carnegie's standard theory. Trusting that Mr. Carnegie, with all his "remarkable" ability, may not be able to make many converts to his "single standard" "gold basis" fallacy, we remain, as ever, - Thine for finance reform, . (iIOKQE W. BeEWSTEK. . A Go4 Chance. That surpassingly smart Washing ton man who swore that be was worth between "five and six thousand dol lar," stands a good chance to live in the penitentiary between five and six thousand vcara for b .s little joke. and still feel like killing a man THE FARMERS ALLIANCE, SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW UTICAL PARTY. PO- Gov. Sylvester Pennoyer, of Oregon, in tbe North American Review for August. Is there a necessity for a new political party in OHr government at this timet The answer is plain, and it will spring simultaneously from the lips of every honest man. There ii a necessity for a uew party if there Tie flagrant govern mental abuses which are unnoticed and popular demands for justice which are unheeded by the existing political or ganizations. Are there such? Let the records answer. CHANGE IS THE FISCAL 61 STEM DE MAKUF.D. It is upon the trend of its financial policy mainly that the new party re spinds to the recessity of tbe times and complies with the demands of the peo ple, and it is therefore of the most ur gent importance that such a policy should be entirely unassailable both as to its justice and its practical operation. The demand for an entire change in the fiscal system of the government is wide spread. It has been occasioned by tbe flagrant injustice of the present system, and by the Impoverishment of tbe many for the enrichment of the few which is the legitimate result of its operations. in the nrst place, therefore, the cur rency which is proposed to be issued should be based upon a perfectly secure ana imperishable foundation, ana should be a lega'-tender for all debts, public and private. Such a basis can onlv be furnished by the real property of the country. To accept personal security. or any other security than the improved real property of the countrv, would Ue to hazard the loan; which tbe govern ment, in the interest of tbe whole peo ple, poor as well as rich, cannot iustlv do. There can be no better or safer se curity for a government loan than the real property of the nation. If the loan is placed upon such property atone half or one third of its real value, it is as se cure as the government itself, and the currency based upon such a loan is as good as a government bond or gold and silver. AN OREGON EXPERIMENT. Tho main argument against snch a policy is based upon its supposed im practicability. This has been answered by stu bborn facts. The state of Oregon has now more than $3,000,000 of school money loaned out upon the improved farm property of the state. The amount of the loan is fixed at one third of the fairly appraised value of the farm. The entire management of tbe loan is con tided to tbe state school land board, consisting of the governor, secretary of state, anil state treasurer, and is with out any cost to the state other than that involved in the salaries paid to the mem bers of the loard for their entire official duties, amounting in all to3,800per annum. Tbe applicant pays for the ex amination of the title to his laud and its appraisement by the attorney of the board for the county in which the land is situated. The machinery is perfect and comparatively inexpensive, and the security the best in the world. The loans for the whole state are made by the state board at the capital, and the distribution of funds throuirfcout thd state is fairly made. This system has been a blessing to Oregon farmers, and it may be a blessing to the farmers of the whole country by demonstrating the entire feasibility of loaning government money upon the improved real property of the country. GOVERNMENT LOANS. The next question of importance evolved by the proposed financial system is: How shall the money be procured by the government for making such a loan? If required, it could and would oe procurea as it was in order to carry on the late war, but the amount to be provided would to a great extent de pend upon the exact conditions of the nscai policy to be established. ii me loans were made to the people upon improved real property at a rate not exceeding four per cent, and the currency for such loans, as well as -gold and silver, was changeable at will into government treasury notes or bonds, bearing interest no5 exceeding three percent, the result would undoubtedly be that the issuance of lot nearly so muoti currency would be required as wouiu oe ii no such provision tor fund ing ii was made, inasmush as investors in government securities would largel furnish the required amount. If a do icy be adopted of changing the currency into bonds, and the bonds into currencv. at the will of the holder of either, under me necessary restrictions, the whole financial business of the country could be adjusted to the nrouosed' svstpm without any greater enlargement of the voiume oi me currency of the country than its actual business requirements demand. Such a policy would place the currency of the nation upon the safest foundation possible, and would entirely preclude those extremes of con traction and expansion so hurtful to business interests; for, if there should be in circulation more money than could be advantageously used it would seek investment in government securities. while, if there siould be an urgent need for more, the bonds would be changed iuio currency. lhe plain alternative nresenrnri to tLat class, and to the whole people of mis country, so far as our financial svs tem is concerned, is reform or revolu tion. And whatsoever party shall bring suout me neeaea reiormation in the fiscal policy of the government will se cure the favor of a just God and the support of a grateful people. When the cities, as a rule, own and manage their water-works, lighting plants, street railways, ferries and tele phones, as they might very speedily do if organized labor threw its voting power into the scale and co-operated heartily with the nationalists, a vast army of working men and women would be placed outside of crushing and dej grauing competitive conditions, and te in a considerably better position as re gards general conditions of service than employes of private corporations or in dividuals. This object lesson would have its effect in strengthening the de mand for better conditions andlevelling up wages, atid giving a greater impulse to the movement for public control. The result would be that many busi nesses now considered entirely beyond the scope of public management would be undertaken by municipal bodies, and the status of the employes materially improved. Journal of Knights of Labor. Poor Fellow. He "Life with me has been a fail ure." She "You must bave had und wasted some opportunity." "No; I have spent half my life raising whisk ers to conceal my youth, and the other half dyeing them to conceal my age." Munsey'a Weekly. LINCOLN. NEK. THURSDAY, AUGUST Talk on Nationalise. By Edward Bt-uaosy in Tbe New Nation. Mr. 8ai!tb who eat jo'ned tbe Nationality, meeti a ravorab'y DKpoeec Perwn, who. bowever, wou .d like to bave lets said about making everybody economically equal. Smith Why don't you join ust You seem to be favorably disposed toward Nationalism. F. D. P. Yes, I don't mind saying that I am. In fact, between you and me I'm getting to be a pretty good na tionalist. Tbe truth is, according to the way things are going now, I don't see anything, unless it be nationalism, that is going to save the cjun'.ry from ever lasting smash within ten years. There is one thing I'm not quite ready for though, and I think you would be wise if you did not make it quite so promi nent in your propaganda. S. What is that? F. D. P. Your doctrine of economical equality, that is to say, that the provi sion made for all is to be the same. A good many, like myself, are quite ready to go in for the other features of nation alism, but are not prepared for this S. Of course not. Nobody is. I am sure you never beard a nationalist ad vocate the application of that principle under the present industrial conditions. It necessarily presupposes the complete nationalization of industry, and can on ly be fully introduced when that has been accomplished. F. D. P. But why should it be intro duced at all? Why should it be regarded as a necessary feature of nationalism? 8. It ought not to be very difficult to make you see that. What is it we na tionalists propose? We ask a republi can nation to substitute for the present individualistic industrial system, a na tional partnership for the organization of industry an-i the distribution of its products. Now these people are already political copartners, and as political co partners they are asked to ordain, es tablish and continuously to maintain the proposed industrial partnership, which must rest upon thepolitical organization. As political copartners they are equals Is anybody so exceedingly simple as to suppose that these equal political part ners will consent to become parties to an unequal industrial partnership. Look at it another way. 'Nationalism proposes that the national organization, hitherto merely political, be extended over the industrial field. Tbe principle of the national political organization is one of absolute equality; is it likely that in extending the national organization its fundamental principle will be aban doned? Why, my dear fellow, there are many ideas on the oisible develop ments of nationalism, on which there is room for difference of opinion, but as to Its being characterized by an equal law of service and an equality of distribu tion, there is not the slightest. That equality will be the law of the new na tion is predeterm'ned by the fact that it will be the woi k and will of a people who are already political equals. F. V. P. That is a ,oint I had not thought of. You claim, then, that quite apart from any questions whether or not, philosophically speaking, economical equality ought to be the law of nation alism, ft must be so, owing to the pre existing and predetermining political conditions in this country. a. mat is precisely it. lhe trouble with the people who object to economi cal equality as a feature of nationalism is that they approach the subject from the point of view of the socialists, which is European and suggested bv European conditions, instead of from the point of iow ui luo uiiijuunusis, wiiiuu is Amer ican and suggested by American condi tions. According to the socialists, the coming order win be chiefly a result of social and industrial evolution as dis tinguished from political and national evolution. Granting the accuracy of this view, the coming social order might cuut.-ei aui v ue variously organizea as to tne principle oi equality. .National ists, however, declare that theevolution of the new order, while affected and promoted by social and industrial evo lution, is primarily a political and na tional evolution, the first step of which is logically 109 establishment of a polit ical republic, with the subsequent ex tension to the industrial organization of society of the principle ot equality al- reauy esiaonsneu m tne political organ ization. A new industrial system emerging directly from an aristocrati eal or monarchial society might recog nize and perpetuate inequalities; butes tablished by a republican nation, it must be fojnd' d upon the principle of equal ity. Thtrefore, whnher ornotecoaom ical equality should characterize social istic regimes which might be established in Europe, it mus: inevitably be the foundation of any new industrial system established in America. In one sense, there would be no objection to dropping the talk about economical equality as the goal of nationalism; it woull not make a particle of difference about the result. But in another and men im portant respeot, it would be suicidal, for it would kill the soul of nationalism, which is the principle of human brother hood, the enthusiasm of humanity. F. D. P. That's very pretty; but is it fair? After ail, should a man not have what he produces, even though it means that some have more than others? Jus tice before generosity, S. By aU means, justice. 'There never yet was any generosity, for no man ever gave or could give all he owed. We owe all we are. Has not a mother a right in ice strength of her son, and if a mother, then has not the great mother-humanity-an infinitely greater right? Jt makes me laugh to hear a man who is himself a product, claiming that he has a right to all he produces, and to notning more. If that be so, he has no right to himself. Uis phrase shuts his own mouth. The only wav a man may excuse himself for enjoying this esrta ana nis own-ine is oy the per petual tribute of a social duty measured only hy his guts. F. D. P. I will not say you are not right. I know in my heart that you are; in fact, your whole talk is a gross pla giarism from the New Testament. Eut 1 am pretty conservative; in fact, it is my conservatism which, in face of the pres ent ruinous tendency of business, has made me a nationalist, and I confess that the idea of a universal economic equality is rather startling. S. You must remember that it is no more f.nd probably less startling to you, than the idea of the right of all men to an equal share in political administra tion was to your great grandfather. The world's precedents, save here and there a brief and ill-starred experiment, had been of kingly right and aristocratic leadership. Now, suddenly it was pro posed that men should share power f qually, the sage with the ploughman, the wealthiest with the poorest, the warrior with the cripple, the lord of a thousand acres with the humblest ten ant. Your present scare ought to en able you to sympathize with your an cestors, for really that experiment was far bolder than this. And yet. who wonld wish it retracted? Even as you laugh at the terrors of your ancestors, in presence of tbe spectre of political equality, will our children laugh at the alarm of their parents at the advent of equality in the social sphere. THE YEAR OF JUBILEE. tt la Co mint at It Caate Befor la the Tear 10. Indeed, the year of jubilee is at band. The Ilebrewa held their year of jubilee every fifty years, but in thia case it seems to be fifty-two years from 1840 to 1892. In 1840, the farmers and other producers held a session of jubilee, aa a protest against the wire pulling and extravagance of the Van Buren administration, and the result was. Van was laid on the shelf, while farmer Harrison, from Tippecanoe, was triumphantly elected. And now, again, in 1892. the signs are rotten ripe for a repetition of those stirring times, when log cabins Rrose like mushrooms in the nipht, and hard cider flowed like water. la 1840, the great issue waa between the common people and the extravagance, wire-pullinjr, bossism and general corruption of those in power. In 1892, there is, addea to all these, the most gignntic system of paternalized corporate ' oppression up on the common people, any nation ever witnessed. Indeed, all signs point to more than a repetition of the campaign of Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Then a real farmer lead the hosts of freemen to victory, 6o now a real fanner with hayseed in his hair must be called from the plow, like Washington and Putman in tbe Amer ican revolution, and Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer, to hold aloft the ban ner of "equal rights to all and special privileges to none." The women, in their constant at tendance upon the meetings of the Alliance throughout the length and the breadth of the land, are becoming well informed and well drilled to take thoir places in the ranks of this great nrmy of veteran toilers who. like the Athenian ho6ts under Miltiades on the plains of Marathon, will drive the corporate combines of Persian pluto cracy from the shores of Columbia's soiL Among the records of history are found great Beiges and contests, like the seige at the gates of Thermopylae, the battles of Hastings and Waterloo fought either in defense of country or in the interest of conquest yet, when considered in the light of the enorm ity of the conditions to be removed, end in the far reaching benefits that will accrue to the living and to pos terity to come, this great contest of ballots in 1892, if successful, will eclipse the grandest victories found within the cycles of antiquity. And. now, what can be said to arouse the enslaved of America from their despondent indifference to the impend ing woes that await them? We shrink with horror from the cruel edict of .1 Pharoah to kill all male infants lest the Israelites should overrun his king dom? Was that more cruel than that the infants of to-day should be doomed, in their youth, to a life of servitude, in which their tender bodies are to be worn out to enrich the office of manu facturing barons? As Moses raised up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, that all who were bitten by poisonous reptiles might look to it and bo saved, so men brave and true, raise up the demands of the oppressed everywhere, that all may look to them as a sure avenue of escape irom plutocracy s evils. Maria Theresa Empress of Bohemia and Hungary, after being banished from the capital of Vienna, fled to her Hungarian subjects, and holding up ber infant son before them, said: 'Abandoned by my friends, persecuted by my enemies, attacked by my near est relations, and having no other re source than in your fidelity, in your courage and my own constancy, I com mit to your care tBe son of your king who has no other safety than your pro tection." V ith one voice they ex claimed: "We will die for our Queen." American freemen, tbe infants of our land, born and unborn, who must in herit the evils you complain of unless they are removed, are committed to your care. Will you act in this crisis? Will you put on the armor now? May God help. E. IL Belden in National Economist Be AIHancemen or Quit. There are a few men in cur state, perhaps one or two in each county, and sometimes more, who have never been in sympathy with the Alliance and have never considered it other than a kind of agricultural society, who although some of them are taking advantage of the organization to light into petty offices; they are always whining that we should not get into politics. These men have never been in harmony with the reform move ment which we had, but are in the way of everything like progress in the order, and whenever on effort is made to take a positive stand upon the Alli ance platform, they will immediately cry out that we will interfere with the Democratic party. To this we say either be an Allianceman or get out of the way. You are not only a reproach to the organization, but you are in the way of this movement, which is des tined to reform this country, from the power of money to oppress. The Alli ance must be a unit, and the man who will not go with tho majority of his Alliance brethren, and having opposed a movement in the sub-Alliance, and will not abide by its decision, is un worthy of the name of Allianceman, and should be put out of the ranks. There are sub-Alliances in Georgia, who are not afraid to turn such ren egades out of their ranks, and in many cases these men have a number of friends who will not follow them in anything, but who like th' too well to turn them out of the ordor. When ever this is the case, and it becomes known to . the country Alliance, the lodge should be suspended by the county Alliance until it purifies its ranks. We can better afford to fight a thousand on the outside of the order, than one on the inside; and yet these emmissaries are the people s enemies, and are in our ranks, the brethren are afraid to turn them out because they hate to offend a few good people. We believe that the Alliance is the only hope tor this country, and thia hope should not be crushed in any such way. Purify your ranks; have either Alli- ancemen or none, Southern Alliance Farmer. The Thedford, Neb.. Tribune: The people are no longer interested in par ty for party success or party suprema cy, but they are more directly inter ested in that party, without regard to its name, that is advocating measures that are favorable to their own material interests. 13. 389.' SCIEXCE AND rEOGRESS. INTERESTING DISCOVERIES MEN OF SCIENCE. BY lhe Rapidity of Electricity Foreign Electrical Talent In America A Paper Hotel Irides cent Clasa Scien tific Notes. Foreign Electrical Talent In Amer? lea. The manner in which this country draws to itself tbe most progressive spirit in electrical work was strikingly shown a week or two ago at Columbia College in New York, when the brilliant young Montenegrin, Nikola Tesla, con ducted his extraordinary experiments with alternating currents of high fre quency, before an audience that com prised the very flower of the electrical engineering profession in this country. The occasion was one that will never bo forgotten by any of those who participated. Briefly summed up, it may be said that Mr. Tesla showed how incandescent lighting could be done with lamps connected by only one wire, and even without any con nection at all, so that if, for example a lamp were simply carried into a room or merely laid on a table it would nt oncelight up. Many of these cxp?riments were neccessarily conduct ed in darkness, and it was a fascinat n, uncanny spectacle as this tall, ispare mountaineer from the utmost confines of eastern Europe wield ed these lamps and long glass tubes that - - lit - up brilliantly in some positions with the Hashing splendor of big fireflies or summer lighting, and ns quickly fad ed out cn being held beyond the sphere of magic influence tho lecturer all the while seen only by their fitful glow just like a necromancing philoso pher of the middle ages standing over his boiling caldron. These experi ments by Tesla carry us many leag ues beyond the point reached amid ininien.se applauses by Prof. Hertz in Germany, and Dr. Lodge, in England, and yet are the unaided work of a young man who came to America only four or five years ago, content to earn a few dollars weekly by his skill as an electrician. What added, moreover, to the interest of this uni que occasion was tho fact that this eagle-eyed youth held his audience spell-bound for more thnn three hours and spoke throughout m English of the utmost clearness and purity, expressing the very latest and most subtle ideas in electrical science in words and phrases that cut out their meaning just as sharply as though they had been one of those keen-edged fighting knives for which there are more than one hundred de scriptive words in Mr. Tesla's native tongue. These experiments by Tesla are now creating the greatest excite ment in electrical circles m Europe, and prove that this country has de veloped another transplanted genius, who is destined to open up new neids of electrical industry and bids fair to stand with Morse and Edison and Bell. . The Rapidity of Electricity. Philadelphia scientists are making arrangements to determine how fast the electric current travels. An ex periment will be made from the Franklin Institute, over the Atlantic cable, to Liverpool and return. A re cent test would seem to show that electricity is slow compared with light, being able to get along at something like 400,000 miles a minute, while light has a 1,000,000 mile a minute gait. But scientists ara not satisfied that electricity is the slower of the two. The most recent experiment waa tried at McGill College, Montreal, says the Philadelphia Record. The current was transmitted in Montreal, was transferred to the cable at rsew foundland cable station by means of Thomson's mirror galvanometer, sent across to the station at Liverpool, and returned to Montreal by the same method. The distance traversed, partly by overhead wire and partly tiy cable, was 8,000 miles. From the time the current left the key in Mon treal until it returned to the receiver in the same office just 1 second and l-20th of a second had elapsed; but the conditions were not as good as they might have been. The rapid ity with which the current travels over short wires with no delay indi cated unlimited possibilities in the direction of practical tests. Prof. Marks, of the Edison Electric Light Company, is authority for the asser tion that if the globe was encircled with a continuous cable a current would travel the entire distance in a trifle over 3 seconds. At this rate a current would travel to the sun, cov ering the entire distance of 90,000,000 miles, in three and a half minutes. Ether. Mr. S. Tolver Preston, in assuming that the ether is the ultimate source of all physical motion, has attempted to calculate the quantity of energy contained in a cubic foot of space fill ed with ether, and arrives at the con clusion that it amounts to 10,700 foot tons, that is to say, the energy required to raise the weight of a ton to a height ot 10,700 feet, orconverse ly, that required to lift 10,700 tons to the height of one foot. Similarly the energy stored in 2H cubic feet of ether is equivalent to that of a rail way train weighing 300 tons, and run ning at a speed of 00 miles per hour. In arriving at this result lie only as sumes that the particlesof ethermove with the velocity of light, and that the density of the ether may be taken as one five-millionth of the density of the atmosphere. Given these conditions, which are consistent with what we al ready know of the ether, that medium must exert a pressure on matter im mersed in it of 500 tons per square inch. It is only by the perfect balance of this enormous pressure all around that matter is not immediately de stroyed. This fine adjustment of pressure conceals the etheric energy from the evidence of our senses; but when the balance of pressure is slight ly upset we are able to. observe the pert urbation, as in the lightning flash and thunderstroke, or in the ignition of an explosive. Iridescent Glass. Examples of ancient Cyprian glass ware are noted for their gorgeous iri descence, surpassing in brilliancy ol color anything ever produced by arti ficial means. Bo far as is at present known, this effect can be produced only by the corrosive action of the air and moisture of the soil in which these objects have been buried for centuries. A microscopical examina tion of this glas shows that the Eur face is covered with exceedingly thin transparent films formed by matter dissolved from the glass. The body oi the glass is pitted over its entire sur face with minute cavities, which are circular, elliptical, or oblong in out line, and either spherical, ellipsoidal,, or cylindrical in respect to their con cai'y, and the films conform to the p:'u Burface of the glass. These films, of which there are many super posed, are so thin as to float in air like down when detached. They de compose the light by interference due to rejections from the front and rear surfaces of the film, and give to-witr the gorgeous play of color. Iron. Clow Lamp Flla ments. The filament of the electric glow lamp deteriorates after a time, thus causing a diminution of the candle power and finally its displacement. To remedy this, two processes, both, hailing from Germany, have been in vented. The first consists in the use of chromium, which is deposited on. the carbon filament either by electro lysis or by a chemical method. The inventor claims that the melting point of the chromium is 60 high as to resist the temperature of the electrical cur rent and to greatly increase the life of the filament. The other inventor em ploys the nitrides of silicon or boron for the same purpose. The filament is heated to incandescence in an at mosphere of volatile silicon or boron compounds and volatile nitrogen compounds, when the heat reduces them and forms solid nitrides of sili con, which are found to be deposited with great uniformity over the surface of the filament. Iron. The Population of a Cheese. M. Adametz has lately made some researches upon the microscopic organisms that inhabit cheese. From an examination of Emmenthal, a soft variety of Gruyere cheese, he has obtained the following results: In each gramme of the cheese, when fresh from 90,000 to 140,000 microbes are found. This number increases with time. Thus, a 'cheese 71 days old contains 800.000bacteria per gramme. The population of a soft cheese 25 days' old and much denser than the preceding is 1,200,000 microbes per gramme. But the population of a cheese is not everywhere distributed the same in it. The centre is but moderately inhabited with respect to the exterior portion, The pop ulation of a soft cheese, rear the periphery, is irom a.ouu.uuuto o.ouu,. 000 microbes. According to the meant of these t wo figures there are as many living organisms in 360 grammes of such a cheese as there are people upon the earth. A Paper Hotel. There seems to b3 practically no limitation to tho uses which paper can be and is applied. To the long list of articles intended for personal use and in the smaller details of construction in rolling stock, such as wheels, axels, &c, there has been added a more ex tensive application, of paper to the needs of everyday life by the building of an hotel constructed of this mate rial. This novel residence, which has just been finished, and is situated in Hamburg, has been made entirely of paper boards which, it is said, are ot the hardness of wood, but possess an advantage over the latter material in that they are fireproof, this desirable end being effected by imiregnation with certain chemical solutions. Iron. Scientific Notes. M. Mascart, one of the eminent French electricians of the time, says that the use of tbe magnetic needle in tracing the underground geology, orr in other words, the past geography of a country, is one of those triumphs off science which are almost tantamount to divination. Plans proposed for irrigation both in Upper and Lower Egypt during the period of low Nile include, the build ing of a high barrage across the river at the first cataract. Great opposi tion has. been excited against this poposition, as it involves the sub mersion of the beautiful island of Philoe and its magnificent monuments for several months each year. There was recently exhibited in Dublin a new burner for light-house use, possessing twice the illuminating power of the largest burners now em ployed. It is calculated that this new burner, in connection with a specially devised system of lenses.will transmit a light equal to about eight million of candles, which far exceeds the most powerful light at present used. A curious phenomenon is reported from Jewett City, Conn. George Rood was recently struck by a thunderbolt ad bandly burned.and suffers intensely still. His whole body is so changed with electricity that when he puts his hands together they stick, and only by violent rubbing can they be sep arated. If his feet touch it is t he same. The severe burns are beginning to heal and his appetite is good, but he' can not stand up, It is evident that electric power is to be the motive power of the future incities. New York city is constantly warring upon elevated system, not alone because of the inadequacy, but because of its noise and dust, and disturbance ofresidents. Edison and othera argue for an arcade electric road under the principal streets, It will come to this within a few years. Despite its irregularities, the electric motor is the motor of the future. The history of steam as a power shows no such advantage as electsicity.