The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-07-18

swer. On whom does this tax
bear heaviest On the laborer
and farming class. How do we
know this =? Because they are
working harder and producing
more each year, yet getting
poorer and deeper in debt every
day. You need not take my
word for this, you know it your
self, and il you want facts and
figures turn to the census re-
port and read facts that will
stagger your intelligence. That
report shows that the richest
and most productive farming
lands of this country is mort
gagged to more than three-fourths
of it's value. Take the State of
Illinois, its farming land is
worth $1,217, ,O09, 900, and mo-
nopolies and railroad corpora
tions hold mortgages on 1t to
the amount Of $1,OOO,oOe,O 900;
the agricultural property of
Ohio is worth $1,617, 900, and it
is mortgaged for 81, ,227 ,OOO, 900;
in Iowa the land is worth $685.
100000, it is mortgsged for $567,-
100000; and so on we might go
through the whole list. These
Northern States are, however,
mortgaged deeper than we are,
but our condition is growing
worse every day and we wilt
soon be in as bad a condition as
they. Now when a mans land
gets mOrtgaged under such con-
ditions it is almost certain that
he will never be able to redeem
it. That such has been the case
the same census report shows.
Go and read for yourselves.
What does it say? It says that
two-fifths of the men who OWL
ed three acres Of land in 1870
did not own a foot in 1880, that
one-fifth o. the men who
owned ten acres in 1870 did not
own a foot of land IN 1880, that
One-seventh of the men who
owned twenty acres in 1870 did
not own a foot in 1880, and so
.on, and all this took place in
the short space of ten years. We
shndder to think Of what the
next census will show, and if
this thing continues the time is
not far off when all the land of
this county, as we'll as the mon
ey, will be in the hands of the
few, then will come anarchy
and strife as sure as God
has implanted a sense of justice
and right in the human breast.
A little over a hundred years
ago we took up our guns in
righteous wrath and patriotic
indignatian and drove the last
Brit Red-coat from American
soil, because they wished us to
pay an unjust tax Of a few cents
on tea and stamped paper. To-
day we are paying an unjust tax,
a thousand times larger, to these
Internal trusts and combines,
than the British Government
ever would have asked for.
Why have we 50 changed ? Why
do we suffer this monstrous in
jus tice? It is because we have
been educated wrong, because
we don't know that we are pay
ing this tax. we don't know why
we are getting poorer, we don't
know what is the matter. When
a man is sick he must know
what is the matter before he
can doctor himself. Our cor
rupted legislators and bought
up newspapers GALL paid for by
the money Of these trnsts) have
taught us to believe that every
thing was going on right, that
it was our patriotic duty to
work harder and get poorer each
year in order to protect home
industries--' protect home in
dustries," indeed! What a Sc
ductive phrase, what lying soph-
istry! A phrase which means
nothing less than a few men
getting rich at our expense
, Now the great idea of the
Alliance is to dispel this delu-
sion. to uneducate the masses
and educate them Alright, to Gre
ate a healthy, honest, intelli-
gent public sentiment, out oil
which will grow a society thai
will do justice alike to rich and
poor. When this is done money
: corruption and lying sophistry
= cannot carry national elections
, and rule this country to ruin
: All the Alliance has to dc
+ with politics is to educate it.
3 members in the science of polit
, ical economy so that they Cal
D.. WELD the ballot intelligently
l but it is not and never can be
e come a partizan political organ
} ization.
: There are dozens IF othe
0 points very effec lively discussed
D by the speaker, all of which w
+ would like to notice, but tim
3 and space forbid.
q In the afternoon Col Trac,
! met the Alliance in secret ses
;, sion, exemplified the secret worl
q of the order and gave some sag
:. and timely advice to the breth