St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-10-23
THE FARMERS LEAGUE.
The National Lecturer Speaks to a Small
Audience Here.

Audience Here.
The attendance at the public meet
ing held in the Y M c A. hall in this
village last Saturday in the interest
of the Farmers league, was discour-
agingly small. The speaker, Mr..
Walter B. Pierce of Broome county,
New York, lecturer of the National
league, stated to a representative OF
the Caledonian that this was the
first meeting he had ever held at
which he did not succeed in starting
a league. A. K. SOmers, president of
the Barnet Farmers league presided
and M D. Gibson, secretary of the
Barnet league, acted as secretary of
the meeting. The league at Barnet,
numbering 20 members is the only
one now organized in this county.
Mr.. Pierce made an interesting
address explaining in a direct, for
cible and at times impassioned man
ner the aims of the organization he
represented He said that the far
mer was struggling under the burden
of an unnecessarily heavy taxation
This taxation is unequally levied,
the ratio being about nine on real
estate to one on personal property.
The farmer also suffers from the
unrestrained putting forth of coun-
terfeits on his products, like vinegar,
maple sugar, lard and butter. We
take no ground, he said, for free
trade or protection, but if there is to
be protection we say that 1T must be
for all If the shoe manufacturer is
protected on his shoes we farmers
must have protection on our hides.
The ills that | have mentioned, the
speaker continued, are political ills
and must have their cure i'll political
action. Hence the Farmers league
is political organiza ton. We pro-
pose that we farmers come together,
republicans and democrats, to pro-
tect ourselves as farmers. We can
agree as to what ought to be done
Then the democrats see that their
party nominates a man who is
pledged to these measures in the
farmers interests, and the republi
cans do the same. Then each man
votes with his own party and the
farmers are all right whichever ticket
wins. We have nothing against
either party.
The speaker explained the plan of
his organiza ton, which is to form
leagues i'll every town; when five
towns in a county are organized to
organize county league, and as
soon as there are sufficient counties
to organize the state. New York
already has a strong state organiza
ton. Ten members are necessary to
secure charter for local league.
Some remarks were made by gen
tle1nen present and inquiries elected
from Mr.. Pierce the explarat ton
that the league is in harmony with
the grange and the alliance. He did
not think either the league or the
alliance would have existed if the
educative influence of the grange
had not paved the way. The grange
was non-political and it was secret.
There were political ills to be reached
and political secret societies are con-
trary to the spirit of our institu-
tions, hence the need of an open soci-
ETY. devoted to political work.
Mr.. Pierce was prepared with
blanks to take preliminary steps for
the organization of leagues i'll Gale
donia county towns, but the few
who were present did not seem to
warm up to the spirit of the occa-
sion and nothing was done at the
time