The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-10-27

course brings the press into bad repute,
the confidence of the people IN 1t are
destroyed, and the foul ebullt1Ons or
wrath and personality Indulged IN
against either man or party, dlsgusts
every fair-minded, thinking man or
woman. Not having the courage OF
/ their convictions or the MANHOOD 10
| fight the Alliance as an organization,
! they shield themselves behind Polk,
! Livingston and Macuno and others
! prominent in the cause, and with as
SHINE presumption and gravity, as
! sumo to be judge and jury OF Their ac-
! tiOnS. AlllanCemen, understand the
situation Insults and false statements
| Made against your officers are directly
| personal to each individual brother
| and sister You have elected those
officers and the fight is not 50 much
against these leaders as it is against
you. 1t is only one of the ways they
| hope to disrupt the a lance and create
dissatisfaction. If Polk and the others
were not faithful to the trust repOsed
IN them by the Alliance, would we
hear much in opposition to them? |
| think not, They tell us poor working
men to have nothing 10 do with the
! Alliance, but when a bill is brought
| before the legislature to make ten
! hours a legal days work on all public
and municipal works, and also bill
! to prevent convict labor from coming
| into competition with free labor and
! other bills to relieve the wOrl1ingman,
| did those bowling derVishes utter a
| sound, or was a scratch of the pen
! made to relp the labOring class? And
now they are 50 SOlICItOuS and so sym
! pathetic. Can the mechanic and others
afford to deny their support to the ALI
ance? The average increase of wealth
! for the last ten years Is said to be 45
! per cent, but the average increase of
those engaged in agriculture is only 8
| per cent. That being the case and
farming being an unremunerative busi-
ness, has 1t not a tendency to cause
those engaged in that business to aban-
don it and enter some pursuit more
profitable? They are doing it at the
present hour. The young men won't
stay on the farm. They crowd ntO Uhe
mines factories and workshops; they
enter the trades, also the professions,
causing tiercer competition, wages are
lowered and all the combinations and
trades unions in existence cannot keep
up wages to a living price under these
| existing circumstances. If the cOudi-
tiOns on the farm were more favorable
and profitable, this would not be the
case.
In this land of ours, with resources
unlimited and where all the products
of the temperate zone can be raised
abuudantly. with cities which SurpasS
ancient Rome and Greece in splendOr.
magnlticenCe and prOdlgallty; a Tepub-
uc winch guarantees to every citizen
equal rights, which furnishes the world
Z
supplies England, France and Belgium
With cotton exports, cereals, cattle and
meats sufficient to support millions of
human beings, and still in the face of
this apparent prosperity tt e farmers
increase in wealth is only 9 per cent
whilst that of other classes Is IS per
cent. during the last decade We have
q plutOcracy established which drains
the life blood of the nation, SubVert
our democratic Institutions, in fact
control the government, buys legiala-
lures, elects Senators and Congressman
at will We have the poor growing
poorer, millions of tramps and unem-
plOy ed, scattered all over the country /;
farm mortgages and bankruptcies in
CreasIng, the great middle class dWind-
ling away, and with Il vengeance we
are travelling the sane road and fol
lowing the same course which annihil-
lated the ancient civilization of Egypt
Rome and Greece, and if there is not a
change made we Will have only two
ella sses-the extremely rich and the ex
tremely poor. What VIII become Of
our bOasted liberty? Herein lies our
danger. Where extremes meet and Il
government Of universal suffrageS and
theoretical equality may, under condi-
tIOnS which lmpel the change. become
Il deSpOtISm, for there dpSpUtISm ad
| VauceS IN the name and with the might
of the people. The single source of
power once secured everything Is Sc
cured; and when the disparity of con
dIIIon increases, so does universal Suf-
! frage make 1t easy to seize the source
/ Of power; and thus the extreme poor,
tortured by want and embruted by
poverty, are really to sell their votes
to the highest bidder or follow the lead
Of the most blatant demagogue Give
a community with republican inStItu
tIOns in which one cl iaS Is too rich to
| be ShOrn of it's luNurieS, another 50
poor that a few dollars On election day
VIII seem more than any abstract con
sideratiOn in which the few roll in
wealth; the many seethe with discOn
tent at a condition of things they know
not how to remedy. The power must
pass into the hands of jobbers who will
buy and sell it as the PrOetOrians sold
the Roman people into the hands of
demagOgueS.
We are drifting into similar state
OF things, and If farmers and working
classes do not unite, the collar will be
riVeted around our necks, like the
Saxon thall, and we will be slaves to a
money despOtism who will grind us to
the very dust. Every prejudice is ap
ptaled to to keep The working classes