The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-11-27
THE FARMERS ALLIANCE.
a SKETCH OF TIE NEW FCWC&-
FUL FhCTOH IN Politics.

Northwestern Farmers Want "a E"Htin-
uation of Protection.
The Philadelphia Press, = strong Re
publican paper, says:
AS the Farmers Alliance has pro-
jCcted itself into the Kaleidoscope Of
American politics with enough intcn-
Sity to become Il factor in the NEXT Con-
grrSS and Il dictator in several States,
Il review of the growth of the Order
may be Of especial interest TO Press
readers.
The various organizations claSscd
under the heads Of Farmers Allan e
that have become so important feat
ure Of the body polite are about us fol-
lows:
l. The National Farmers Alliance
and Industrial Union was organized IL
year ago at st. Louis by Il coalition of
the National Farmers Alliance and
Cooperative Union Of America and
the National Agricultural Wheel. A
membership of 2,OO0,O0O is claimed for
this body.
.. The National Grange of the Pa
irons of IluSbandry, which claims near
lythrty thousand subordinate oranges
scattered all over the country.
8. The Northwestern Alliance, which
operates in the DakOtaS and Kansas
and other States.
4. The National Farmers LEAGUE,
which is OF recent origin and asserts
that 1t has membership, in the State
OF New y ork alone. of 10000.
>. The Patrons Of llushandry. They
claim to have 10000 members in Michi-
gan alone and another 10000 IN other
States.
q. The National Colorcd Farmers
Alliance and Cooperative Union with
ltS officers asserts, 100000 names on
rolled.
7. The Farmers Mutual Benefit AS
Soclation, pretending to Il membership
Of 100000.
These Orders arc particularly strong
in the South, Southwest and North.
west, but as vet have little following iI
pennsylvania or in New England OF
Middle States. n careful invcstira
tion made by the Press some time arC
in regard to the Alliance movement il
pennsylvania showed that it. was prar
tcaliy in its infancy in this State.
TIE ALLIANCES POWER.
but, as regards the other portions OF
the country, the figures are Startlinu
and indicate an extraordinary state OI
affairs.
The figures mean that between thrc,
and four millions of farmers and per
sons engaged in agricultural pursuits
or one kind or another are bandrl to-
gether to effect certain great social and
political reforms iii which they, as ;
class, are particularly interested. The,
nave, like other secret and Srmi-Srcrrt
associations, their own ritual and
work., their own signs. passwords
and grips by which one nrmhrr j.
known to another.
Their proceedings arc guarded with
as much secrecy as those of the AIasons
the knights of Labor or the TrJ~rY.
ton of Labor They have thcjr own
newspapers. some OF them with a cir.
culatlon as high as 100000 copies am.
nually. They have State and nationn]
treasures from which their expenses
are paid, insurance funds, co-opCrntiyr
stores and factories. where thpy mr.
chaSe their own supplies for the house
hold and the farm.
IN the beglnn.1g these associations
alSc!almcd partiSanship in politics
Ihelr influence was not to bc east in
faVorof any man or any party. Thnv
were DcneNolcnt, social and co-oprra.
e I'VE "Aillancr. "GrangrS" and
"Nhcels,' having nothing TO do viii
politics or politicians.
But IN the process Of their evolution
the original ideas upon which 1hrv
were founded seemed to have vanished
ana III Their stead are substituted the
most advanced and radical theories of
thc functions of Go' ernmcnL that,
p"chtu ny Il large ami respectable sup
port, have ever been presented to thr
consideration of the Amcrican pcoplr,
TIE UNIONS ORIGIN.
Ihc origin OF the National Farmers
Alliance dates back to 1879. In th,t
year some of the first settlers in TcynS
mad serious troubles about land Thr
wealthy cattlemcn, who are TODAY call
ru "cattle kings" were in the habit
IKE all ancient and nearly all modern
kings, OF taking what did not bclonn
10 then. The Texan potcntatcs looted
the cattlc of the farmers of Iampassas
and to defend themselves and their
property the farmers formed what thrv
called an Alliance. Within three wears
inc organization had spread over thn
ADJOINING counties and become SO now
1ui that designing men dragged it into
politics and thereby DESTROYED it.
Inc Order, however, spread all
through the South, and became q rrrnt
industrial and political factor in Il few
years.
1t is only three years since the Nh
tional Farmers Alliance held ITS first
National Convention. This was nt
Shrevcport, Ia, October -, 1857. The
states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas
mississippi. Missouri, Tennessee, Ala
bama, Florida, Kentucky and North
Carolina were represented. "rhiS
body" said the president Of the Ali
ance in his address, "is the first organi-
Zatlon OF the real cotton raiScrs ever
lnaugurated on plan calculated to as
alSt the poor man. This is Il gathering
OF representative men from States,
men who represent the greatest of ali
4rnuaSlrlcS' assembled here not merely
LOT Chc pleasures and cmOluments TO be
gained by their attendance, but, trust,
!mDnPd with proper conceptions of
Che great responsibility resting up-
on them, thoroughly alive to the con
olIi9nS OF the times and firmly rcsolv.
- G&~ 10 work ont the true and proper
resolution OF how to relieve thn de-
pressed condition Of agriculture in
our beautiful Southland, and. when
found, to stand shoulder to shoulder in
one solid phalanX till the effort is
crowned with victory"
GOING INTO pnJ I,rJ,,r