Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-09-20
The Alliance store 1T Belgrade, &c.

some for general reading on the 9th inst,
started for Belgrade. After an evening and
night very pleasantly spent with Mr.. A. J..
Griffith, Belgrade was reached about r. N.
on the 9th with few noteworthy incidents.
The crops on Big River are not equal to
| those on Black. Especially would issue q
pogram defiance to all Big River to show
such . crop Of weeds AZ Mr.. Edward Latham
has on the south end Of his farm. + saw the
first field of buckwheat I ever saw In Mis-
souri,. It Is light in the straw but well seed.
ed. There Is less water In Big River at Bel
grade than there Is in Outre Fork at the
mouth of Panther. The Black River water
is twice as cold as the other. waded both
and know. It appears that Big River drains
a large region deficient in strong and lasting
springs.
At Belgrade quite . number of friends
Laura Mystt, Messrs. F. f. Gallaher, Henry
Edison, DR.. Eaton, D. S. Love and Hon. G.
C. Loomis. The two gentlemen last named
were intensely busy putting up and selling
goods in the Alliance store of Love s. Alcorn.
The cut in prices is astounding. But it Is
not intended to make this article an adyer-
tisement for the house. 1t will not need any
puff. It is intended to make critique on
the commercial phase Of the organization.
To do this we must go to the button of the
state Of affairs out of which it grew, and then
inquire into the feasibility of its remedy for
evils.
Long ago some one said s'the sin that doth
most easily beset the American youth is
desire to become celebrated ut too early
period, In life." The great maxim of this
age is that money answereth all things. The
early acquisition OF money becomes the
surest way to celebrity. This raises q haste
to be rich and with the scheming and the
lazy the great labor problem is how to get
money without work.
One class of attempts to solve this problem
has made the country literous with trifing
stores, In which the merchant buys and sells
at his own rates and the patron is skinned
both ways until the nuisance Is intolerable.
The first result of this was shoal Of DEM
agogue reformers, noisy as the frogs of
Egypt and almost as useful.
Their remedy is gas, fog and moonshine.
But it did this good. 1t gave suggestion
to practical business men. They saw a
remedy for the evil and backed their judg-
ment with cash and redress began.
But the Farmers, Alliance is an exotic. It
comes to US from Texas and unless modified
to suit different cases it can only apply as q
system to cases or conditions exactly similar
to those under which it arose. In those states
debt carries with it all the force of a mort
gage. Under the old system the factor or
commission merchant furnished the planter
all his supplies the cost being a de fdct0
mortgage on the growing crops. At the
close of the season the factor took all the
crop and charged the planter five per cent.
for cleaning him ont and the planter was
lucky IL he did not have to sell negro or
two to square up.
But negroes ceased to be merchandise and
the planter who adhered to his old financial
system soon found himselfin difficulty. AT.
ter foundering about for some time the AL
lance was devised as remedy. In how far
it will apply IN a state that protects the debt
or by homestead and exemption laws, and
when q mortgage to be valid must be form.
ally executed, Is an open question.
But the real cause of the trouble Is In
thriftless living and the disposition to run
In debt. These traits are inherent In many
people. Now in how far remedy can pro-
tect man against himself IL a still more
open question. But that this class expects
to find In the Alliance remedy for their
follies appears from the way In whichthey
crowd into It.
We. now come to the practical question.
Will their hopes be realized? ThAre are
many things in connection with the Alliance
which do not understand. But ~ do not
belong to the order It Il probably not need.
fui that I should know. Among many 9th.
ers can not see what power the order has
to make lazy man industrious, . spend
thrift economical or rogue an honest man.
In short, l fail to see the money producing
power of the order. You must have money
before you can save 1t.
But we will assume that the order Is not
designed to create money, but only to secure
q more equitable distribution OF what there
is already. Hitherto the prevalent. theory
of money distribution has been to double
the abundance of the rich by halving the
miserable pittance Of the poor. For this
wrong the Alliance proposes remedy.
You ask, is it right! Certainly, and 1t will
do good. 1t will clean out weak stores and
compel these thatcan bear the pressure to
come to its terms. By thinning out stores 1t
will diminish the habit of running to them
for everything. 1t would be sound econ
omic measure II stores we're not allowed
nearer than within twenty-five miles OF each
other. This would give room for q good
store, and people would 60 less frequently.
Will an Alliance store succeed? That will
depend on the man that manages it. he
must be first-class business man. He must
understand clearly the wants and resources
of his patrons, He must not buy on orders
or any goods which he has not seen, thereby
avoiding stailings." He must be able to say
no and stand to 1t, doing strictly cash busi-
ness on the rule of quick sales and small
profits. Conducted on these principles q
store will succeed by being public benefit
instead Of a nuisance whether in the Alliance
or out Of 1t. The Alliance has not invented
any new sound business principles.
At Belgrade Mr.: Charles LOOMS. ST., Is In
very infirm health. He is scarcely able to go
about.
1t is certain that Miss Blanche Woods win,
in the near future, follow her sister Lulu
and dear Annie through
1.-THE terrible beautiful gate
Gate ct the end of the way"
Edge Hill, Mo. THOMAS CALLAHAN.
Missouri Institution for the Education
Of the Deaf and Dumb.
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