The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-28
PRESIDENT TINDAL'S ADDRESS.

PRESIDENT TINDAL'S ADDRESS.
A Brief Report Of Col. ]. E. Tindal's Ad-
dress to the County Alliance, Aug. 8,
1889.
The long desired opportunity OF
the farmers is at hand. After the war
the whole labor system of the South
was disorganized, and had to be set
tied by our people under most trying
political conditions And when we
reached a point where men could cal
culate with some certainty the guam
tity and quality of farm help they
might depend upon, the farmers found
themselves in wretched financial
condition with all the business meth
DDS of the country against them. They
find themselves also a prey Of unscru-
pulous corporations or combination
of mer. They find great prosperity
attending the other great business In
terests of the country, while agricul-
ture is greatly depressed and aiscour-
aged. The income of other indus
tries in 1860 was about $8,500,OOO,
which in 1887 had reached the enor-
nous sum of nearly s56, 100000; while
the agricultural income of 1887 was
no greater than it was in 1860, though
nearly twice the number of people
were engaged in that pursuit.
The great business interests are
commerce, manufactures, banks, rail-
roads, and agriculture. All these ex-
cept agriculture have been and are
thoroughly organized under most
direction, keenly alive to
their opportunities and interests, and
on the alert to protect and to promote
them.
FARMERS HAVE NOT BEEN ORGANIZED.
The farmers on the other hand
without organization, without the
power Of protecting or promoting
their interests, ignorant OF their
rights, and scattered and helpless,
have become the prey of every un-
scrupulous and designing man or set
Of men, who could take advantage of
them as easily as the hawk swoops
down upon his helpless and unsus-
pecting prey.
ORGANIZATION THE REMEDY.
The remedy for them is in thor
ough organization of those engaged
in their business. Senator George
very aptly said that the farmers could
no more, without organization, hold
heir own in competition with all the
other organized interests OF the land
han raw militia can stand against a
we'll drilled and disciplined amy. 1t
is their only possible hope, their only
way to protect themselves, by educa-
ion and united action in this free
against that propensity OF
man to take all advantage of the
weakness or ignorance Of his fellow.
Just the kind of organization you
need and have been looking for, is the
Farmers Alliance. Its existence and
rapid development ought of itself to
prove the necessity oft, to those slow
and too conservative farmers who
nave not yet joined it.
Suppose one ofyou should, in 1860,
nave just returned like Rip Van Win
lie from long isolation, to your
country: and have seen men arming,
drilling, and forming companies ev-
anywhere you went, yo1@&opld nave
said, ''There must be a threatene&
war on hand. These quiet folks would
not be stirring about after this fashion
:or nothing" You would have right
y concluded that there was a neces-
sity for such conduct. Now see from
he Atlantic TO the western border of
Texas, the farmers,-thos quiet, con-
people, the slowest of all
men to organize,-moving earnestly
n every locality, raising their banner
1pon which is inscribed truth and
unity, and allying themselves with
each other with a zeal unparalleled!
AWAKE, YE FARMERS
It ought to awaken, if not alarm ev-'
cry bonest farmer, to see this strange
md wonderful movement of men Of
The same interests and necessities with
himself. What does it all mean? To
defeat the bagging trust! That is not
all. There are other forces at work
against your interests besides tie bag
sing trust. Many Of these will van
ish upon the defeat of the bagging
trust. Hence victory here means
victory against a long line. The world
don't believe the farmers capable of
united action. But when cotton bag
ging is sold by all your merchants, as
It will be in time, the world will learn
better, and respect you more than it
has done since the war. Good men of
every calling will rejoice when all bus
mess has been brought to a normal
basis of truth and justice, when
wrongs in business will be regarded
IS immoral and unlawful; when the
honest merchant, manufacturer, and
farmer shall know each other, and
feel that square dealing is backed up
by public sentiment and by the laws
Of the land.
MI. Tindal then explained the prin-
,iples of the order, the significance
Of the various obligations, and how
they all pointed to one grand aim,
viz: equal rights for all men, and a
better state mentally, morally, social