St. Paul daily globe., 1890-12-03
NATIONAL ALLIANCE.
Two Enthusiastic Meetings
Held at the City of Oeala.
Fla.
President Polk Delivers a
Cheering Address Full Of
Confidence.
-
Congress and the People Must
Certainly Get To-
gether.
The Organization Political.
but Not Partisan or Sec
tional.

lie meeting of the National Farmers
Alliance was held in the opera house,
an audience of about 1000 being pres
ent. President Rogers, of the Florida
Alliance, presided. Gov. Fleming well
coined the delegates, and was followed
by Hon. John L. Dunn. state senator,
and prominent aspirant for the state
SenatOrShip TO succeed Senator Call.
President FOuik, of the South Dakota
alliance, also made a short address, in
which he predicted victory for the AL
lance at the ballot box in 1892. a senti-
ment which the delegates cheered to the
echo. All the speakers of the afternoon
dwelt forcibly upon the breaking down
of sectional lines, and predicted the
general prevalence within a short time
of the ideas embodied in the Alliance
platform iOpted at st. Louis. PreSi-
dent Polk was introduced by Mr.. Rog-
erS, and delivered his annual address.
After a few cQngratulatory sentences,
he said:
''Profoundly impressed with the mag
nitude of this great revolution for re-
form, involving issues momeHtouS and
stupend0uS in their character, as affect
ing the present and future welfare of
the people, the public mind is naturally
directed to this meeting with anxious
interest, If not SOlIcItude, and you can
not be unmindtui of the Importance and
responsibility that attach to your action
as representatives. coming from states
and localities remote from each other
and differing widely from each other
III their material and physiological
characteristics and marked by those So
cial and political differences which
must necessarily arise under our form
of government. 1t is your gracious
privilege, as it shall be your crowning
honor, to prove to the world by YOUR
harmonious action and thoroughly fra
ternal cooperation that your supreme
purpose is to meet the demands of pa
triotic duty in Il spirit of equity and
justice"
The address congratulated the AlIi-
ance on its achievements since last
meeting. and then reviewed the causes
Of agricultural depression. The presi-
dent declared that this depression is an
anomaly to the student of industrial
progress. "RetrogreSSion in American
agriculture, he said. "means national
decay, and powerful and promising as
is this young giant republic, yet its
power and glory touch not the degrada-
tiOn OF the American farmer" The
harm incident to Capitalization of the
money power and upbuiiding of
monop0ies was then pointed, and both
political parties were condemned for
forcing and encouraging this condition.
With reference to extending the
order, the president urged that
additional organizers be sent at
once into Oregon, Washington.
Ohio, New York, New Jersey,
Arizona. and other states. Among his
recommendations was one that an Or
ganiZati0m be formed to be known as the
national legislature, composed of the
national president and the presidents Of
all state alliances, their duty being to
look closely after legislative reform de-
manded by the Alliance, both in state
legislatures and in congress. He recon-
mended changes in the constitution and
recited demands TO be made in way of
financial, land. election and tax reforms.
He deprecated sectionalism, and closed
with an eloquent appeal for national
harmony. - would respectfully sug-
gest Il legislative council, to be
composed Of our national president, who
shall be eX-Ot1icio chairman, and the
presidents of all the state alliances rep
resented III the supreme council. and
that this body shall hold its annual
meeting within sixty days after the ad-
Journment of the supreme council
at such time and place as may be indi-
Gated by the national president; that it
be empowered and authorized to ap-
point such legislative committees as, in
Its Judgment, may be wise, and that il
be required TO transmit to each of the
states in printed form. through the ma
tiOnal secretary, for distribution to the
reform press, lecturers and membership
In the orders all such measures or bills. to-
gether with arguments in their favor, IS
they should decide should be enacted
into laws"
President Polk said that an organiza-
tiUn of this kind would WELD moral
power that would enforce the respect of
any legislative body to which it might
appeal. Touching upon the political
action of the Alliance. President Polk
said:
while our organization is political,
1t cannot Ge partisan or sectional in its
action. In support of this declaration
we proudly point to our whole past
record and 10 the recent popular elec-
ton. And particularly to the noble
and patriotic bearing of the brother
hood i'll Kansas and South Carolina"
ln reviewing the record OF the Alli-
lance during the past year, and espe-
clally with reference to the Legislation
demanded by it, the speaker declared
that congress had persistently ignored
all Alliance propositions, and even sup
pressed discussion of them. notably in
the case of the measure known as the
SubtreaSury bill.
congress" he said, ''must come
nearer to the people or the people will
get nearer TO congress-"
The remainder of the address was de-
voted to discussion of financial re-
form and the policy of the Alliance in
uprooting sectionaliSm. AS outlining
the future financial policy of the AIli-
ance, President Polk said that it will
demand the restoration of Silver to all
the rights and qualities of legal tender
which gold possesses; the issue of gov
ernment currency direct to the people:
equalization of taxes: prohibition of
alien ownership of land; ownership and
control OF transportation lines by the
government; limit Of public revenues
10 the economic administration of the
government: graduated taxation of in
comes, and the election of United States
senators by direct vote of the people.
Atthe conclusion of President Polk's
address the Alliance resolved itself into
sort of ''love feast" during which C.
A. Power, an old Union soldier from
Indiana, moved that all ex-soldiers i'm
the hall who indorsed the sentiments
expressed in the speech of President
Foulks, of South Dakota, with reference
TO the burial of sectionallSm, rise up to
be counted. The motion prevailed,
and between forty and fifty
stood up amid the widest en-
thnsiasm. Under the inspiration of
this good feeling, an ex-Union soldier
from Wisconsin stood up in his seat and
called upon all Union soldiers present
to give three cheers for the old Confed-
crates i'll the Alliance. They were
given with will. Then it was the
Confederates' turn, and they cheered
the old soldiers of the Union with
volume and heartiness that raised no
doubt as TO the genuIncaess of their
feeling. The cheers ended with wild.
oid-fashioned
"RebcI YeII.''
and as its echoes died awav ono opad