Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-05-01
FARMERS ALLIANCE.
COOPERATIVE EFFORT.
What it VIII Accomplish for the Benefit
of the Farmer.

The following essay was read by Hon.
Milton Trusler. master of the State
Grange, at the Roundup Qnd. Farmers
Institute:
What is cooperation? Webster defines
the word tomean art of Incorporating, con-
current effort, or labor. 1t is joint oper-
alton. We learn from history that in
all ages, material progress has been
made in the interest of mankind, by
and through concurrent effort With=
out cooperation, no great work can be
accomplished. Upon this principle the
Union of the States was formed, and by
cooperative effort it has grown and
prospered until it has become the grand
est Nation the world has ever known.
The principles of cooperation were
! deeply-rooted in the minds of our Pill
| grim Fathers, hence, we have to-
day the highest type of civil
cation known to man. The Amer
lean citizen can boast of a
country that stands at the head of the
column of the nations of the earth-not
only in civilization, but knowledge,
virtue, wealth and power. No man has
patent on cooperation; neither is it a
new invention. 1t is old as creation it.
SELF God. in the beginning, so managed
His handiwork that all nature must CO.
| operate to bring about it's wonderful and
mysterious blessings If the sun, the
rain and heavens dews did not CO.
| operate the earth would be a barren
desert, and both man and beast would
RI OF Vlt,NA H., lon "a
earth yields its abundance to the Guilt
vator, thereby enabling him to clothe
and feed the world. Cooperation and
education go hand in hand, battling
/ against superstition and ignorance, thus
| pene trating the clouds of mental dark
ness, letting in the rays of intelli-
| gence to bless and lift up humanity.
Were it not for cooperative effort
the cause of education would Ian
guish; Christianity would be paralyzed;
the constitutional rights of the people
would be unprovided for, and all efforts
to develop higher manhood, grander
and nobler womanhood among ourselves
would prove failure. Successful re-
suits are secured only by concert of ac-
ton. The rapid development and Won
derful growth of our country, its vast
resources, its diversified interests, with
a population of go, 900, 600 of people, is
the result of cooperation. Men en-
gagged in business have caught the idea,
and hence applied the principles of CO.
operation in all lines of trade and COM
merce. So that individual success in
great undertakings is abortive. The in
telligent farmer must look with inter-
est, if not alarm, at the rapid progress
made by others in wealth, influence
and power, by concert of action, while
he has remained isolated and alone, each
fighting the great battles of life for him
self. There is a power in united effort,
and since other classes are thoroughly
organized to take care of their particu-
lar interests by cooperating together, is
it not unWiSe in the great producing
class to suppose that they can keep
pace with the times single-hande and
alone? 1t seems to me to be the height
of folly for the American farmer to ig-
more the principles of unity of action;
no matter how numerous they are, and
expect prosperity from individual effort
alone. Without cooperation among the
farmers, the race in life is unequal-it
is unavail:ng. Without it we may, as
class, toll on but measurely without
hope. Prosperity no longer cheers the
weary tiller of the soil as in days gone
by. Not that his land fails to respond
in yielding its wealth to the intelligent
cultivator, but from some other cause.
Is it not because we do not keep pace
with the age in which we live? Condi-
tions have changed within the last
two decades. We must fall into line
and adopt the plans and methods
of other classes that are success
full. Education. cooperation, concert of
action, is what the farmer needs. With
this he would be the equal, if not the
peer, of any other class. With this the
farm would draw rather than drive
from, as is the tendency at the present
time. One of the great problems for the
American farmer to solve is: ''Shall we
remain free men and free women, or
will we suffer ourselves to become alb
ject slaves?" This is matter that we
have entire control of. We can remain
isolated and alone in the future, as we
have to great extent in the past, fit
subjects to be preyed upon by organized
forces, or we can organize, cooperate
and take care of ourselves by demand
ing that which is right and proper, and
be satisfied with nothing less. But so
long as the farmer throws himself back
on his independence, in an iso-
lated condition, his cause is in
peril in this day of combines and
trusts, which are sapping the very
foundation of our legitimate calling.
But I have an abiding faith that in
Gods own good time a conviction will |
be brought to the heart of every Amer |
lean citizen, that concert of action, Co
operative effort, is their only salvation |
from financial wreck and ruin. The |
light already begins to shine through |
those dark and lowering clouds, that |
have so long been hanging over our ag-
ricultural horizon. Cooperative effort /
on the part of the farmers has been |
with success in securing the |
Inter-Sta tie Commerce bill, the OleO-
bill, the appropriation for
agricultural experimental stations, the
of Agriculture, the Cab
met officer, the reduction of POSTAGE
from sixteen to eight cents on bulbs,
plants and seeds, and many others that
might be mentioned.
The history of all countries in all
ages, teaches US that society is frag
and for self-protection the
people have been necessarily compelled
to act in concert Unity of action can
not be brought about without some kind
of discipline, and discipline can not be
without systematic organize