The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-08-05
THE BUREAU OF ISLANDER AT
WORK, BUT SO FAR 1T IS
= A FLAT FAILURE.


Nh. EDIToR:-Some weeks ago it
came to my knowledge that certain
politicians at Washington City and
elsewhere were becoming very restless
aoout the effect of the Farmers Ali.
ance upon the political world; that
not only were the Democratic poll
ticians" of the South annoyed but
that in the Alliance States of the
North and West the Republican
" BOSSES" were afflicted in the same
way.
When our worthy President, Col.
L. L. Polk, began his tour of the
Northwestern States, preaching the
same doctrine that he had preached
so elcquently all over the South, this
restlessness among the politicians
reached "fever-hea5." The "bosses1n
realized that something must be done.
They saw that unless Col. Folks in.
fuence could be destroyed that they
would not be able to control the
masses again and that they could not,
in the coming campaign, dodge the
fnanci 81 issues by the oft-repeated tale
Of the war that was ended Is years
ago. The great question with them
was how it could be done. They
dared not attack his character nor his
record in his native State where he is
known so well, so they decided to be,
gin operations in a distant State
where he was a comparative stranger,
hoping by lies, SANDER and ridicule to
SO poison the minds Of the people that
they would Lose confidence in their
leader and return to the flesh pots OF
their masters. | learned of the plans
of these tricksters before they were
completed aud notified the President
of the Kansas State Alliance of the
r~ascality that was on foot. It may
be a matter of some surprise to a
Washington City politician to know
that his infamous plans for besmirch-
ing the private char Acter of a Chris
tian gentleman for the purpose Of de-
ceiving his brethren in Kansas was
discovered by the despised Is Aayseed.
and those Kansas brethren
warned before his dirty plans were
completed. The people are waking
up and the mysterious ways of poIiti-
cal wire-workers are being watched as
never before,
A few days ago received informa-
ton that the lies concocted in Wash
had at last reached Kansas.
They appeared in a column and a half
article in the Topeka Capitol, a par
tisan newspaper published in Topeka,
Kansas. The article is signed by one
Samuel J. Crawford, an ex Governor
of Kansas, now holding a fat office in
W ashington as Claim Agent. l am
not now able to say whether Craw-
ford manufactured the monstrous
falsehoods which appear in the article
or whether they were furnished ready
made by certain agents in this State.
He charges Col. Polk with cowardice
in war, dishonesty in business and of
having defaulted and left his bonds
men to make up the deficit when he
held the Office Of Commissioner of
Agriculture. He charges further that
Col. Polk was a bitter secessionist,
that he is trying to split up the Re.
publican party; that he is a profes-
sional politician and is trying to rob
the people.
Col. Polk needs no defence to
North Carolinians. Any of the sur
vivors of the 431 regiment can tes-
tify as to his bravery in the Confed-
crate service. His honesty vas never
questioned by any man who knew
him, and as for his being a defaulter
in Office, all citizens of this State
know the charge to be a willful and
malicious falsehood and that the Com
missioner of Agriculture IS not even a
bonded office. 1t is a matter of history
that Col. Polk was a Union man and
opposed to the war, but when his
State went out of the Union he volun-
teered and fought as bravely as any
man in the Confederate army. He is
a politician in the truest sense of the
word but never was an Office. seeker.
Politicians in the North charge him
with trying to split the Republican
party. Politicians in the South charge
him with trying to split the Demo
cratic party.
On the 10Th ult. after Col. Polk