The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-09-29
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE

emanating from partisan sources
against the Alliance. 1t has thus far
been a safe and satisfactory rule to the
Alliance and it's friends. My trip
through Kansas and Iowa was exceed
ingIy gratifying. I shall never forget
the courtesy and lavish kindness with
which | was re 'eived everywhere.
The brotherhood is active, vigilant,
united and hopeful, and all look for
ward to the meeting of the Supreme
Council in November with the keenest
interest. [ delivered addresses with a
number of other speakers at Topeka,
Clay Center, Washington, HOlJOn,
Emporia and Wichita, in Kansas, and
at Des MOines, in Iowa. a Republican
paper in Kansas asked me to state why
| had left North Carolina and come
into Kansas. | answered: Because |
was invited to come by the good people
of Kansas. [ am here because l am in
my own household. [ am here in the
discharge of official duty, and while it
NAV appear rude and insOlent to that
editor, l have no apologies to offer for
being here" AS soon as | left the State
the partisan press of the country from
Boston to San Francisco, was annOunc-
ing to the people, under startling head
lines, that | had narrowly escaped a
mobbing at the hands of the old Union
| soldiers at Wichita; that in my speech
in that city | denied the charge of mis-
treatment of Union prisoners during
the war. WhereupOn an old soldier
showed to some of his comrades a
parole from the Confederate prison at
| Salisbury, signed by L. L. Polk, Briga-
| dier-General, Governor of the prison,
and but for the timely interference of
the police | would have been tarred
and feathered. This dispatch was pub
lished by a number Of Democratic pa
pers in the South. which knew it was
absolutely false. What are the facts!
l addressed a magnificent audience III
| the large Opera House in Wichita and
at the suggestion of some Old soldier
friends | referred to the infamous
falsehOOd anG said: Il desire TO say
in reply to the charge that l was cruel
to Union soldiers during the war that
in its conception and in it's utterance 1t
is a malicious, premeditated and base
lie and | dare the man who charged 1t
to stand up i'll this audience and repeat
it." This language was received with
loud applause, and was published as |
quote it, in one of the city papers. l
attended a meeting the next day in ttrr
city, estimated to number 5000, At
the conclusion Of the regular speeches
I was called out by the audience and
in a brief talk asked for a vote of the
whole audience, male and female, upon
the proposition that WE should, as a
people, let the dead past bury its
| Dead and so far as could be Judged
| every man and woman in that vast
| crowd voted for it. I mingled freely
among the people on the grounds, at
the hotels and on the streets and was
never treated with more c%Ordiality and
kindness in my life, At night l took
the train from the depot which was
crowded with old soldiers and men and
women, nearly every one of whom
came and shook hands with me with
warmest expressions of personal
friendship and regard. lam thus par
ticular in relating details, that my
friends may see the dark depths of i'll
fanny to which enemies will de-
scend in their desperation, and to say
that the courtesy and kindness ex-
tended to me and the fraternal spirit
manifested by the old soldiers, was the
real cause of this slanderous lie on my
self and the good people of that com
munity. There are men, North and
South, who fear this reconciliation and
fraternity between the sections. It
means to them the doom of dema-
gOgues who have prOspered and fat
tened on the prejudices and, animOsi-
ties between the sections. 1t was
manufactured in Kansas and published
in the South, only for the purpose of
perpetuating sectional strife. | was as
safe in Wichita as [ would have been
in Raleigh.
[ had not seen a Southern paper
during my entire trip, but I was not
surprised, on returning to my office, to
find a certain class of these papers in
dulging in their accustomed work of
SANDER and abuse. They had received
other kilograms from their cO-workers,
the Republicans of Kansas, and were
parading them in grand style. I sayI
was not surprised at this, for it is a
part of the programme. 1t will be re-