The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-10-18
of one," self-appointed, to look after

VI Ouc, 6ell-ttppOluUeu, 10 look dIU0r
the matter. Call your neighbors to-
gether and organize a subordinate
alliance at once. 1t does not make
any difference if you have half-a-
dozen in each township. The alliance
is simply a neighborhood society-a
mechanism for cooperation; and, in
cidentally a means of social pleasure
and advantage Don't wait for some
one else to lead off. Take hold your
SELF If every farmer in Minnesota
was member of the Alliance the leg
islative sessions would simply regis
ter the DEGREES of the farmers, and
millions of dollars would be added
annually to the wealth of the pro-
ducers of the state.
WHAT THE ALLIANCE HAS DONE.
But some may say-"The Alliance
has been in existence several years
what has it done?"
will answer in the language OF the
address of the Executive Committee
of the State Alliance, of date of De-
cember 5th, 1888, written by Mr.. T.
G. Hodgson-formerly State Lecturer
of the Alliance:
During the nearly five years &C
tive existence of the Farmers ALI
ance in this state, much has been
done to relieve the people from the
unjust burdens which have been put
upon them by unrighteous combina-
tions of capital.
The Minneapolis Millers' Associa-
ton, which then held despotic sway
over the wheat markets, has become
a thing of the past; railroad rates
have been greatly reduced; discrim-
nations prohibited; Board Of Com
missioners appointed and laws en-
acted for the protection of the peo-
pie from extortion and injustice in
the transportion OF grain, as well as
by unjust weights and grades.
An Interstate commerce law has
been enacted by Congress which aims
to so regulate commerce between the
states that the people shall not be-
come the helpless victims of vast cor
porations. Many OF the principles
enacted into law have been or are be-
ing subjected to the test of the courts,
and while the demands of the people
have not always been sustained by
them, we think, on the whole, much
has been gained, both before the Leg
islature and in the courts. In all
this the Farmers Alliance has played
a very important part. 1t is indeed
very doubtful if anything could have
been done in these directions had
there been no organization OF the
farmers to urge it and to urge it per-
sistently.
But the work is still in progress; it
is but partly finished There still re-
mains the need of persistent and or
gained effort. The grip OF corpor-
ate power is by no means relaxed.
Fertile in resources, fruitful in
schemes and determined in action, it
has armed itself with all it's power,
not only to resist any further de-
mands Of the people, but to nullify
the work that has already been done
Indeed, it is not improbable that
the work urged forward by the AL
lance, by which it is sought to har-
ness these great corporations under
law, and make them the subjects OF
the state and not it's masters, has
had the effect of Fastening the con-
solicitations and combinations which
for years have been growing with
frightful rapidity. Even now, we
hear OF giant combination in pro-
cess OF organization, which will re-
duce hitherto great railroad mag
mates and officers to mere clerks,
while the tariffs on more than half
the railroad mileage in the United
States are to be controlled by an ex-
ecutive committee which in all prob
ability are dominated by a single
man. This rapid concentration of
wealth and power can suggest moth
ing but the deepest forebodings to
people, who, in the nature of things,
must be dependent upon it's will
WATERED STOCK.
This question of "watered stock"
is the greatest now before the Ameri-
can people.
What is watered stock?
When railroad is built it is bond
ed for all that it cost, and generally
for much more; and the money that
builds the roads, for which these bonds
are given, comes from persons outside
of the state generally from foreign
ers. But there is an other species of in
debtedness called stock-it brings
interest like the bonds; it is second
mortgage; but unlike the bonds, it
represents no money expended in the
construction of the road.
1t is -wind-stealage-pro-
fits-what you will-anything but
actual capital expended. 1t is "the
sharpers' share -
Let me illustrates:
A. B. is merchant, we will say.
His business has outgrown his store.