St. Landry democrat., 1891-10-10
To What End Will 1t ALI Come ?

Our brethren Of the Farmers Alliance
must in charity excuse lis, if We mani
fest some fear aud anxiety touching the
ultimate result OF their devotion to UNI
ty in the practical purposes of their or.
ganiZaiion. We say i'll the pr0cttcd
purposes, because to uur understanding
there is "A wide and material distinction
in what they declare to h2 Their pur-
poses, and what appears to be gong On
among them.
Their organization is national, and OF
course State ard parish organizations
ate suhoidinated to the national and
central authority. From all we have
been able to discover, the devotion or
it's mem bers to the Alliance llSes supe-
ri0r to their love of party. lhe unity
of the whites IN the Southern States has
been the strength of the DemocrafIc
party. Divide it on any question which
Is considered paramount to Democracy,
and to the teDetS OF that party, ana the
solid South will become a thing OF tue
past, as will also the nationality OF the
! party. In this connection consider the
! Ocaia Platform see the call Tor the
"third party cunyention.' Does 1T re-
0uire any explanation to show tflat the
| demand for Il third patty means reDud'-
alton and tie casting away OF tie Dem
ocratic party? Does any senslpie man
ruonj,e telling that il the Democratlc
nuitv viii suffer itself to be divided, the
result must, at least on all national ls-
sues, be the triumph of the Republican
| nartyq Examine the 9th article OF the
| ocaia platform and reflect upon the un-
avoidable effects which must result
from its adoption by the people. AL.
ready are we drifting into centIalized
government as rapidly as political ln-
renuity can drive or lead US. Again,
look at the 4th article in that platform
to which the tl,ild party movers pledge
their support, and you Will hnd IL emit
ting a taint of bad faith. 1T reads as toi.
lows: ave demand Tie passage or
laws against the alien ownership OF
land, and that Congress take prompt
action to devise some plan to o5ta'n dH
lands now owned 10y aliens and foreign
svndicatps: and that all lands now held
bv r0iIr0uds be reclaimed by the gov
eminent, and held for actual settlers"
How can this be done unless the gov
eminent contracts for the lands! 1t
cannot he done by legislative annnl-
ment of the patents. 1T it retakes them
by purchase, it must lose largely, Sut-
ficieut lard has been given to railroads |
TO make eleven such States as indiana.
Make the calculation. That state com
prises 35,910 square miles I,. OF 1eff,tnory' .ny'
or 22,9S2, 400 acres. Multiply these
figures hy II, aud we find that the rail
roads own 38G.01O square miles of terri
tory Or 400, ayreS Of aIh Isnd: cf How How
can Congress rec lain this "oriu OF iann
without paying the railroads for them?
And if they are to be rcpurchased, is it
rational to suppose the railroads will not
speculate7 Think OF the dcbt the third
party would entail upon the people by
such procedure rs this. We have no
means of knowing what quantity. of
lands belongs to aliens and foreign
syndcates, aud therefore will not en-
gage in Guessing, but it certainly is
very large, possibly half as much as is
owned 10y railroads.
To pay for the reclamation of these
ands the people must be taxed IN some
lr0u. What has the third party to sug-
,est on this point? We have not the
space to treat of this matter at any
greater length now, but will at con:enl-
snce revert to it. Will our farmers
fall into the trapv