The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-09-22
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TEACH
ERS' ASSEMBLY HALL
MATTER.
RALEIGH, N, c., Sept. IS, 1891.

the State meeting of the Alliance at
Asheville, and do not know who made
the promise of the Teachers Assembly
Hall to the meeting of the State ALI
ance for this year. Whether the Sec
rotary who preceded me ever notified
Mr.. HarrelI or not, [ do not know.
Mr.. Harrell was in my office the last of
May or first of June, and asked me the
date of the State meeting of the ALI
ance, which was given him. Mr.. Har-
rell says:
THE only knowledge l had of the
date of their meeting at MOrehead City
was upon my visit to the secretary
with Messrs. Foster Brothers nearly O.
month after another organization had
made the customary application Off
cially for the building, and secured it
for a date which happened to be the
same upOn which the Alliance was to
meet.
1T was not the duty of the Secre-
tary of the Teachers Assembly to
notify the Alliance that the building
was already secured by another organ
izatiOn on the date which the Alliance
wanted, as all those matters were be
tween the Farmers Alliance and the
Atlantic Hotel"
Remember, the date was given him
about two and a half months, by his
own acknowledgment, before the State
meeting, and a month after another
| organization had made application
officially for the building. Yet he did
not mention the facttOme; and further
more, he says, at was not the duty of
the Secretary of the Teachers Assem-
bly, to notify the Alliance that the
building was already secured" &c.
[ admit it was not a lawful duty, but
any one will admit it was q moral
duty, if he was a friend to the Alliance,
which he claims to be. At the meet
ing in my office he stated in substance
on learning that the Assembly Hall
would be ready for us, that he was
glad we were going to meet there; that
in the hall there were nice committee
rooms and the building would seat all
we would have down there, comfort,
ably. Mr.. Harrell says further:
The Secretary of the Assembly did
rent the Bell Hall for the Alliance, and
contracted for the improvements and
personally superintendent the moving
of the Assembly benches to the hall.
He requested Mr.. Bell to send the
bill of rent, etc, only to him for pay
ment and expected that this would be
done, as it was a contract. If Mr..
Barnes insisted on paying the rent, etc,
after the secretary had left MOrehead
City, it was without tie knowledge or
approval Of the secretary and contrary
to his instructions and expectations. "
Below are sworn certificates of two
gentlemen of undOubted ~VeraCity, who
went with me to look at Bells Hall
and advised me to rent it. ! never
paid the bill, but it was paid by j. d.
Allen, Treasurer, and | never saw the
bill until after the session ended. and
it was then handed to me by Sergeant
at Arms JAS. B. Holt. Read the Ger
tificate Of Dr.. !. E. Person. of Wayne
county, and Mr.. Wiley Barnes. of
Wilson county, both living near Ere
mont:
ION Monday morning. the 10th day
of August, the undersigned went with
w. S. Barnes. Secretary n. c. f. S. A.,
to look at Bells Hall, MOrehead City.
Mr.. Daniel Bell showed us the hall,
| and said he would have it cleaned up,
seats put in, lights put in, build a
stage, &c. He was asked by Secretary
Barnes what price he asked for the
hall. Mr.. Bell asked how long he
would want it. The Secretary stated
all the week. Mr.. Bell said he would
take 80, furnish lights and seats, but
that the expense of moving the benches
to and from the hall he would have to
charge for, whatever it cost. The
Secretary turned to us and said, what
do you think about it; hadn't l better
close the trader and we answered him
yes that we thought it the best that
could be done. The Secretary then
turned to Nh. Bell AMI said he would
accept it, and then gave him ~instruc-
tiOns about building stage, &c"
(Signed) j. E. PERSON,
Delegate from Wayne Co.
WILEY BARNES.
Sworn to before me September s, 81.
JAS. II. BARNES, j. P. SEAL.
In conclusion Mr.. Editor, [ would
l Ike to know by what authority Mr..
Harrell rented Bells Hall for the ALI
ance, as he claims he did. He does
not belong to the Alliance, neither was
he authorized by the State Alliance to
act in the matter at all; besides this.
the State Alliance is in the habit of
having work done and paid for bv
officers of the Alliance.
Mr.. Harrell complains that | did not
give him the promised interview with
the Executive Committee. The mat
ter Of the Teachers Hall and Mr.. Har-
rell's conversation with Mr.. Mewborne
and myself were laid before the Execu-
tive Committee, and that was as far as
[ could go. Yours ~fraternally,
w. S. BARNES,
Sec'y-Treas. n. G.. F. S. A.
LETTER FROM THE EAST.