The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-03-20
POWERS.
AppREsa 10 TAe RATIONAL
ALLIANCE BY ITS PRESIDENT.

He Urges Reforms in Money, Land,
Transportation n voting-He Would
Not nave the Allanbe MAde T. Political
Party, But Would Have an Independent
Brothers OF the National alliance:
The industries of a country may be con-
sidered in two departments. Those
that consist principally Of manual labor
or that Occupation which may BIZ sue:
ressfully followed With but little systctl:
attic thought, and those which depend
for success chiefly on systematic and
continued mental training. It is true
that the best and ndblest type Of man
hood and womanhood consists in q judi
cions combination of these qualities.
And the mental giant who towers above
his fellows by his strength of mind, his
clearness of logic or flights Of genius, If
he does not turn these qualifications to
some pfatticni use, is no more to be
commended than tho stupid-braincd,
hard-muscled athlete who, though an
adept in the sporting arts Of his class,
has little more sense thHh the btutes
whose strength and agility tic emulates.
TIE actual worth Of industry or labor
may bB mcasured by the hctiial pfdduc:
ton Of the necessaries or COM
forts of life which 1t brings forth,
or the benefits to mankind which arise
from it. A man may think as, asutcly
and act In as %siiillfui and shtewd d
manner to rob a safo or IL railway train,
or to gain the advantage of his fellows
men in trade OF bargain as the honest
farmer or mechanic in. their laudable
%avocations. But while IN the one case
the whole effort Ia to get possession Of
hat which rightfully belongs to another,
! by violence and fraud, the other tends
! altogether to increase the actual wealth
of the world. The one earns. while the
ether profits by his earnings.
The actual producer, l think, is the
true worker. And industrial organiza-
tions properly speaking, are those whose
members make it Il business, Ivy their
own labor uhd Thoughts, TT change tho
powers and substances Of nature into that
which may be of service and use to men.
Tho merchant on tho contrary; while
there Is labor connected with his call
ing, depends mostly for his profit and
success on what is called skill in trade,
which, while it sometimes refers to
using good Judgment In regard to the
time and price of his purchases and
sales, oftener refers to a faculty or skill
of buying at a lower and selling at a
higher price than justice woald permit
or honesty admit Of,
But the fact that many uf our people
are engaged in occupations that are in
themselves mixed with evil, does not
render those engaged in the1i netessar
lily worse than other men, nor remove
them from claims to our consideration,
But it does, and should render them incl
igihlc to membership in distinctively la
Dor organizations. The man who earn:
enough bread for himself and family b,
the sweat OF his brow, ind iii addition
earns the big profits Of the successful
merchant, the usurious interest for thu
prosperous banker, the cxorbitant rates
for the railroad company and the sur
plus of taxes to be squandcred by thu
corrupt oficeholder and politician, ha!
some interests that are not shared b.
any of these recipients of his earning!
and which can only be sustained by sucl
combination of strength as can only b.
obtained by systematic organizations o
those whose interests arc identical.
1t would naturally follow from thes
considerations that each separate brancl
VI lnuuSlS SllOull HuNc us SCpulutC VI
ganization. The blacksmith has bccu
liar interests in relation to raw material
tools, etc. which are different from the cal
penter, and both of these from the shoe
maker, and so with all the differen
trades and occupations. And all other
"Fn~,sooavsba fsEwerjut this vthMt YhjiI
are absolutely necessary every day, an
all the time, for the very existence {
every member of Il civilized commute,
But while trades unions and KnigllI
of Labor assemblies are necessary in Ii
cities, and the Farmers alliance an
other kindred organizations are nccc.
sary in the country, there are interest
which are common to all these, and fl
which some general organization is abse
lutelY necessary.
The question OF business %co-operatio
on a scale OF national magnitude is
very Important one, and to be made prt
ouctlVe OF lasting benefit. will reuuir
such careful consideration and sue
close and practical study as 1 have bee
unable to give to the subject. l woul
only suggest that until such an arrange
ment of the industries and business q
the country is made, that the produt
tons OF the labor of every %individua
VIII q something to general comfor
and prosperity, there will be room TO
Improvement in that direction.
But 1t is in the relation of these organ
lzatlons to government that the creates
necessity Tor cooperation exists. No ef
lectlVe arrangements of Il national char
acter for the conduct Of the business in
dustrles OF the country can be made, an,
prove q benefit. without being in etfec
laws OF the organizations which adop
them. And so TO prevent general an,
continual conflict with the laws of tn,
government, the government itself mus
be controlled by these societies.
How this can be accomplished, Think
IS the most important question whicl
should be considered at this session O
our alliance.
Two general plans at once presen
themselves to my mind for attaining thit
object. The first. that which has tn,
sanction of the political history of on,
country and the prejudice arising from
our own political education. A uey
political party. The other, Independent,
political action, which has been partially
but surprisingly, successful in q number
of the states during the past years.
10 the first::proposition l am decided,
opposed for the following reasons, viz
mrs.: Such a political party is not prac
tlcable for industrial organizations
Such societies aim at reforms. And al
though a party formed by them might
and would at the first, be formed OF
such principles as at the time were ad
vocated by all, no such platform coulc
oe adopted unle~ such vague presen
tation OF prir IS would be of little
pfacticai b.. N assurance o.
wholesome poll. action, that woulf
not in many parts soon become obsolete
and of no effect.
Witness, the two parties which have
divided the government during the las
thirty. years. Each of them was formed
on principles which were definite ant
practical at the time, but long ago the,
have been lost sight Of, and instead 81
the contention between them being or
principle it is Il strife as to which cal
the most successfully apply all the de
ception and corruption attending modern
politics to gain the spoils. of Office an6
the management of the public treasury