The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-11-11
FROM ILLINOIS.
The Commissioner of the OF. M. 3. a"
Favors a Union of the Farm
x ers' Organizations.
+ OMER, ILL Oct. 80, 1890.

through the columns OF HE PRoGREs.
sIvE FARMER in f~urtherance of the
movement towards a union of all
farmers as l am willing to assist in
every way to increase the growth Of
traternal feeling between all agricul-
tural orders, to prosper the cause so
we'll beloved, to add strength to in
huence and power to u movement
among the masses which has become
the hope of deliverance" to which
the toilers of earth hopefully turn
their eyes.
When last week at Springfield you
appeared before the State Assembly
of the F. M. B. A. of Illinois, and
with words of hearty greeting to US,
you looked into the faces of the rep.
resentatives of the farmers there as
sembled and saw the glow of earnest
ness and enthusiasm as with cheer
after cheer they testified their ap.
proval of your mission. You had
evidence of the universal sentiment
that u cause being just, our wrongs
the. same, one purpose, n hope, one
country, there should be but n
grand and glorious triumphal order.
Righteous in purpose, irresistible in
progress toward social, economic and
political reforms in our nation. This
desire is expressing itself everywhere
and the voices of the millions must be
heard and obeyed without hesitation
in the further advances of organized
industry. The greatest possible evil
that can come to our cause is the con
tinuance of our division and separa.
ton into different orders. The su-
preme moment of this generation is
near at hand, the crisis of the ages is
fast approaching. No power on earth
can prolong the present conditions in
society. Greater social changes are
taking place in the short space of
months or years than formerly &C.
Cured in an age. New forces are
doing their mighty work; new circum-
stances are in existence. The minds
of all people are filed with forbodings
of the momentous things about to
come to pass The crisis in the eternal
struggle between the toilers and the
idlers, the final contest between those
who produce the wealth of the nation
and those who would wrongfully take
1t is close at hand. Are we ready ?
Do We realize that there rests upon
this generate of farmers in the
evening of the nineteenth century a
greater responsibility than perhaps
was v before placed upon a people?
1t may be the coming year and GER
talnly the next few years will forever
decide he fate Of agriculture and wish
it the future of our nation. 1t will
become the 10 v.s, cslling, the
most debas-d of earth, summed by all
who cal and eadured only by those
who must, on her occupation will be
by the farmers themselves lifted to
t1aC II ri station. the Ecole8t f0r the
sons aui daughters OF man, dlvinely
I1ned Ia ages past. The farmers
- "a day Will become the unworthy
prog nitors Of the hirejiugs of earth;
the heweTs Of wood, the drawers of
water, Tie burden bearers for those
of more favored caliings; or, they
may have the honor Of being the gIori
Gus ancestry of the nobility of earth
and the countless farmers of future
generations enjoying the rich blessings
of prosperity secured to them by the
farmers Of to day will hallow their
with blessings for their wise
patriotism.
With such great responsibilities
and in the dawning of these magnif
cent possibilities, let every heart be
with a zeal that knows no
East, no West, no North, no South,
nor rich nor poor, high or low, but
brothers all with warm clasp of hands,
q heart to heart we bide the shadows
the mists have cleared away"
sentiments are surely animating
the brea ITS of farmers Of all orders,
manlfestlng at every opportunity, al
dresses Of visiting brethren to applaud
in audiences, greetings by wire from
assembly to convention. Fraternity
by delegates by mail, expressions of
Of purpose and unity Of heart
through the mighty influences of the
press, Let these opportunities of in
5erchanges of fratecnal regard be in
creased till the movement of all toward
9Ach other becolDes irresistible, sweeps
everything before it, and the the mil !
lions of organized farmers becomes
blended into one mighty host that will
raise its calling and the nation with it
20 a higher life and more perfect civil
.zation. If we all may know each
other better we will soon see the con
summation we so much desire-"Na-
'ional Organic Unity"