Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1890-12-12
THE STATE FARMERS ALLIANCE.
/ Complete Repoyt Of the Mitchell Alliance
y COZ ton xych Good worh Dis
!. b ! po.sdet
strong Res&2Iuhons Passed and A Platform
s0fLsgisiatiye Demands Unanimous
~ ADOPTED.
STATE ALLIANCE CONVENTION.

STATE ALLIANCE CONVENTION.
MITCHELL, Dec, Special Correspond-
ence:; No report of the last state meet
ing Of the Alliance, which assembled !, in
this city on the 26 inst. has as yet ap-
peared in your paper and presume that
an account Of it would be of interesting
] toyour readers.
The convention assembled with the
usually l}Ige representation from all
parts r the state. Among the most
sproMl members Of the order in the
state Ife president Loucks, Frank
! Leavltt,s the irrepressable anti-monopoly
war horse from your county, II. w. Smith,
"a. u. Van Osdel, E. A. Dye, s. w. Coz
and, 2. D. Scott, J. r. Lowe and Chair
man Goodfellow, Of the Independent
State Central Committee. Among the
most interesting features of the conven-
tion was the address of President Loucks
and the address of National Lecturer Ash
y ~ Of Iowa. Mr.. .Louck's address was full
OF that candor and selfsacritlcing DISPOSE
ton which characterizes the man, and as
usual is running over with wisdom and
good advice. Mr.. Ashly's lecture was
aggressive and sweeping in it's denouncia-
tion Of what he was pleased to call ''an
implied political test of membership.
He spoke about an hour and half but
so far as your correspondent can ascer-
tain, went away with less friends and
sympathizers than greeted hin on his
s1WY. His manifest determination to
ssqdles1 lthss independent political move
1nent his state upon the back of the
AfiaYce did not meet with many symba-
thizers and fewer friends.
During the session, discussions upon the
leading topices of the hour were literally
interspersed with the business Of the
assembly and the discussions at this con-
vention of farmers and laborers was more
elaborate and more able than the discus
sinpsJ at any other convention ever held in
the State The general impression pre-
vailed among the delegates that some-
thing must be done very soon, that the
people who toll from morn till night. and
who produce the bread for the nation,
and are yet unable to provide themselves
with decent living, can extricate them
selves from the terrible straights in which
the present system Of government has
placed them. All the discussions wich
took place in the convention were replete
with clear consciousness of the fact that
something is wrong and that unless some
action is taken to bring on a revolution OF
exSti@g state Of affairs, the country is
goi <Ah ruin. There was no distinction
.io9DJ Pical affiliations, or religious
belieN9 all agreed in the same
opinion and had it not been for the ex-
travagant departure from the customary
modes Of Alliance procedure OF Lecturer
Ashby, and the occasional appearance Of
a defeated candidate for Office, no one
would have thought from anything that
occurred in the convention that such
things as political parties ever existed.
The convention readopted the resolutions
adopted by the former conventions and
expresses itself on the subject of irriga-
tion in the following language:
That we are satisfied that an extensive
system of irrigation by artesian wells is
essential to the profitable develoment of
agriculture in the state, and we are an
xious that all practicable legislation shall
be enacted to secure the, same at as early
a date as possible, and we are grieved to
think that the dominant political party
of this state should refuse to provide such
amendments to the constitution as would
allow the state to contribute to such a
sytsem, and submit the same to vote of
hte people at the late election for ratifi
cation and thereby make it impossible for
the state to aid in the accomplishment of
,4iu~h irrigation for over two years to
1de.g And we further deplore that our
present representation in congress used
such untiring energy in seeking and pro-
curing appropriations for tunneeded and
extravagant public buildings and un-
earned services and not one dollar for the
construction OF single we'll or Tor ad-
vancement of the industrial enterprise of
the state.
A committee on legislative demands
was appointed with F. A. Leavitt Of
Lincoln county as chairman, who reported
the following demands:
That the Farmers Alliance, of South
Dakota, demands that the. legislature
submit to the electors of South Dakota at
the next general election an amendment
to the constitution forbidding the sale of
any of the school and public lands, and
providing for the proper leasing of the
same
2. That we are in favor of a uniform