The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-23
The Farmers, Alliance.

The Farmers Alliance in this state is
very strong org IMITATION, and its stren0'
is ste Oily increesi ". Lv:H On, its
president, in bis annual address before the
ALI .nc- convention at Mac "a - d a a
year ago the number of is mem 1ar1 was
10000 and that now it was 10000 In
OF or states the alliance has very larg
membership, and its popularity is increas
ing. The wleel is another farmers rgani-
zation VIII Sc object i the same as that of
the alliance. o wednesday he Southern
Inter,tate Farmers Assodat D d. which has
been hodi its annual session at Mon
gomery, Ala, adjourned after an i.teres,-
ing meeting of several days.
In nearly all thu sta es. particularly the
southern a western states, the farmers
are showing disposition to protect them
selves against the monopoli s and trust
which continue TO be formed, and which are
putting up the prices Of about everything
which the farmers are compelled to buy.
II nearly all the states the number of farm
mortgages is increasing AM the farmer
have begun to unde STAN that thew will
not besleft in possession of any If The fruits
Of Weir labor if Jhcv d not
stand shoulder to shoulder and act together
for their common good. Being widely
separated as they are, particularly IN
sparsely settled communities, it is not con
venient for them TO enter into ambina-
tons, and they do so only because they feel
that they must in order to save the nselves
from coming the victims of the COM
binations which are preying upon them.
The tN inc trust forced the farmers of the
west TO combine, and the iute trust has done
more to strengthen the alliance and the
wheel in the southern states than any other
thing. The southern farmers have de-
ermined that they will not be robbed by
the jute trust, and they are willing to make
sacrifices t, get out of its clutches. Cottol
bagging will cost them more in the long
run this season than jute bagging. but they
know that if they were to abandon their
fig against the jute trust the price of jute
Banging would be advanced again to
price that would be- little, if any, less THAI
extortion.
All the trusts bear more or less heavily
upon the farmers. The sugar trust takes
money out of their pocket, and so does the
cotton seed oil trust. TIE far Ter increases
the cost of living and the latter lessons the
price Of one of their products. Indeed, 1t
would be an cas- matter to show that The
farmers are affected iajuriously by every
one of the combinations which have been
formed to advance prices.
The farmers do not seem yet to have got
hold of ba f,,tI,
tariff fosters all the trusts. If the
tariff on jute bagging, for instance,
were removed there would be no necessity
for hu ting for substitute for that
article. The price Of it would be
so reasonable that it would affori
no cause for complaint A jute bag
cling trust would not then be heard of.
At the next session of congress the
southern farmers should make a CO nbined
effort to have the duty on jute bagging
either removed or greatly reduced. They
should also demand general reduction of
the tariff on all articles which ara needed
for the farm. Agricultural machinery and
nipple ents of nearly all kinds are more
costly than they would be if the tariff were
reduced to the extent it should be.
There is one thing that the alliance should
be careful Of, and that is undertaking too
much. The danger the organization has to
fear is conflicting terests. AS loag as The
purposes of all the members are the same
trouble need not be apprehended, but when
the interests of part of tle organization
lead one way and the interests of another
part another way, disintegration and ruin
are not far off. OIe purpose of
the alliance is to bring the producer and
the consumer closer together The profits
OF the middleman, it believes, can be saved
to the pr Queer. The alliance will help
tae farmers to get their supplies from first
han DIS as nearly as possible, aud also to put
their products into the hands of the con-
sumels, 1t will also help the farmers to
hol their crops until cd prices can be
obtained for them. As long as the alliance
confines stself to these I'd kindred things
it will rest on a sure foundation and will
prosper, but if it takes hold of questio in
which it has only an indirect interest, or if
it NEEDLES in politics, it is pretty certain to
encounter difficulties that may wreck it.