The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-11-05
DUTIES OF THE FARMER
INCLUDE MORE THAN THE CUL-
TIVATION OF LAND.
Full Text of the Address of President j.
NJ. Joseph Before the Annual Meeting
of the iowa +. \. & 1. L. at Des Moines.
October 1S, 1891.

| October 1:s, 1891.
Brethren of the Farmers Alliance
and Industrial Union: | congratulate
you as representatives of the farming
interests of Iowa, for the bountiful
season now drawing to a close. The
splendid feast now spread throughout
! this state-the result of the labors of
/ an Industrious peo.le, u fruitful soil
and a benetirent providence should
awaken in every breast a lively appre-
citation of the many blessings with
which we are surrounded and admon
! ish us Of the many duties that deyolve
upon lis as good citizens.
! The duties of the farmer include
very much more than the cultivation
of the land and the production of'crops.
/ Upon him more than anyone else de-
pends the character of public institu
tions and the welfare of all classes of
people. With him mainly rests the
responsibility of good or bad govern
ment.
That there has been great awaken
ing among farmers during the past few
years in matters pertaining to their
rights and duties everybody knows
iiI hI -tiliiitt - vie itShlt VI
the dissatisfaction produced by an uu
just system of distributing the benefits
and burdens of public institutions
There is a Widespread belief among
farmers that in our haste as 4 nation to
bs rich and great, in our rapid march
from very simple to very complex
! civilization, We have lost sight OF that
splendid stone our fathers carved with
infinite labor. and placed in the foun-
dation of our plan of government,
equal rights to all. special privileges
to none. This is the block of political
granite upon which not only the Farm
ers Alliance, but republican govern
ment itself. must stand
Let us not forget thai we are the
children Of a race who believed III the
divine right of kings. That We have
inherited many of the preludices and
superstltions of an ancestry who never
rose to the comprehension of the SPLEEN
did fact of the fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man, and that we
as a people have never yet awakened
to full appreciation of the duties and
responsibilities OF republican govern
ment. The mighty influx OF foreign
I ptoitt iit lltth W our SilDLtS dH tt II
house OF refuge, bringing with them
the customs and traditions of caste, Of
classes, of privilege, has exertel pow
erful influences in moulding our indus
trial institutions.
Statesmen of all parties, while sub
scribing to the fundamental doctrines
of our government, are found adyocat
ing measures and policies suhversiye
of them. For a score of wears they have
been planting seeds throughout our
industrial and commercial system
utterly at variance with the doctrine
of equal rights. To-day we are cursed
with privileged classes existing by viz
tue Of legal enactment to as great Il
degree as in many of the nations of
Europe. We have hroadened the
foundation of the splendid temple our
fathers began, but We have not raised
its walls except with a single stone,
in 100 years. The emancipation Of the
black man is the only achievement in
the interest Of humanity worth record
ing in this century.
Monopoly is the arch enemy Of in
dnstry, the political monster of modern
times. IT has come to be constant,
everpresent menace to free govern
ment. 1t rears its head in every field
it clutches at the throat Of every hon
est toitcr. 1t besets the public high
ways. 1t infests every market. 1t is
intrenched in court and congress alike
The horse learh's daughter Of holy
writ was not more rapacious. As a
political force it dominates both the
great parties. Its tendencies are to-
ward arbitrary, despotic government
The nome of this monster Is IN the
modern contrivances we call CORPORA
tions.
The forces of nature, the natural
products of the earth, the equal gifts
of God to all the children Of men are
walled mp by the omnipresent corpora
ton. The goods, the rights, the bcne-
fits made matters Of corporate owner
/. ship and distributed to the few while
the many are shut out from fair par
ticipation.
Public instrumentalitles, the rail
road, the telegraph. the financial sys-
TENS, drift enormous revenues into pri-
vate Golfers, while they exist under a
nominal condition of public control.
The condition is an economic alb
surdity.
No solution of the great problem of
equitable distribution can be found
outside .he pubic ownership of public
Instruments, public ownership of nat
ural forces and materials.
partisans have raised Il ghost and
named it paternal government, forget
ting that the people are in theory and
ought to be in fact the government,
forgetting that except for the pater-
nal care of government there would
not be corporation on the face Of the
earth. Yet partisans build no ade-
quate defense against the combination
that clutches labor by the throat, that
glowers upon industry with the eye of
Polyphemus, sucking up her substance
to the wall of bare subsistence.
The $60, ,o00, 900, 600 of wealth in our
country is the result of the genius and
industry of all the ages gone. 1t is a
: splendid legacy TO leave to posteritv
: That small minority who have con
tributed nothing toward its accrtmula-
ton should inherit the whole of it, to
the exclusion of the great majority, is
: not only n fragrant injustice upon the
face of the matter but it marks the fact
, t1at IN human aIIalfS Iuefe are Yet
whole realms in the matter of eguit-
able distribution unexplored; matters
of vast concern to those who come
after us.
The Farmers Alliance, as an organ
ization, is the natural result of the
neglect of political parties to consider
economic questions from the stand
point of merit rather than of party ad-
vantage. The farmers have become
weary with the long drawn quarrels
over minor matters and the barren
, contests of mere place hunters
The animosities of contest fought
to finish many years ago ought to
have been buried long ago, and would
have been except for the partisan who
found political capital in keeping alive
the aumities and iealousies Of the sec: