The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-17
COL. POLK IN WADEsBoRO.

Col. L. L. Polk, President of the Ma
tional Farmers Alliance and Industrial
Union, spoke in Wadesboro, his native
town, Feb. 24th. We take. from the
Messenger of that place the following
synopsis of his address:
Istand up here before my people and
tell you the truth. You have been
humbugged long enough; you have
been tafied long enough. Ihavetrav-
ersed this country from one end to the
other. I have looked upon it's great
cities, it's magnificent rivers, it's busy
hives of industry, but when l stand in
the presence of the honest yeomanry,
the great middle classesof our country,
who are the palladium Of our liberties,
who pay 80 cents of every dollar of
taxes collected, who clothe the world;
the men without whom our ships would
rot at their docks; the men without
whom Jay Gould, with all his boasted
millions, would starve, I forget all this
and remember that the glory of this
country rests, at least. in the hands of
this people. The questions which con-
front our country at this time require
the sternest craftsmanship, the purest
patriotism, to solve. These conditions
which exist to-day show that things
are out of balance. When, in the
memory of the Oldest inhabitant of this
country, were manufacturing enter
prises in a more fourishing condition +?
Never. When was the growth and
prosperity of railroads greater than
now Never. At what time in
history was the growth of cities and
towns greater ? Never. When, in all
your long life, did agriculture languish
so? Never.
In 1850 the farmers of this country
owned 70 per cent. of the wealth of the
country, and paid IS per cent. of all
the taxes; in 1880 they owned only one
third of the wealth of the country, but
still paid so per cent. of the taxes. In
1880 the total wealth of the country
was forty-three billion dollars, and of
this sum taxes were paid on only
twenty-six billion dollars, and of this
amount fourteen billion belonged to the
farmers of the country. I was ap-
preached on the streets of Raleigh last
week by three members of the Legisla-
ture who asked me what they must do
about voting an appropriation to the
Agricultural and Mechanical College.
They said that the tax would have to
be increased if so many appropriations
we're made, and they did not know
what to do about it. I told them to go
back and introduce a bill in the Legis-
lature that will unearth the hidden
property in North Carolina and make
it bear it's just share of, the burdens of
the government, and then the needed
appropriations cannot only be made,
but taxes reduced at the same time.
Put a seal into the hands of tax asses
sors, and let these men who own the
mortgages and notes bring them to
him, and let him stamp upon their face
the word assessed" and unless they
are so stamped make them uncollect-
able by law. 1 am sick and tired of
seeing the farmers carrying the burden
of this country. Would to God that
we had a Congress and a Legislature
that would do them justice.
What we need is more money to
transact our business. Political doctors
will tell you that money will buy more
nov than ever before, and ask what
are you farmers growing about any
how Others say your laziness, ex-
travagance and improvidence has
brought you to your present condition,
but l say no class of men work so hard.
or live so hard as the farmer. Mr..
Dodge. the statistieian at Washington,
says agricultural depression is caused
by a lack of Investigation. MI. Nor
rill, the father of the Senate, says the
trouble is over-production, but I say
there is no over-production as long as
there is a single cry for bread. It is
not over-production that is causing the
trouble, but under-consumption.
One man tells us that the farmers are
to blame, another that Gods to blame,
but the real trouble is that we are
groaning under the most unjust fnan-
cial system the world has aver g
Negro supremacy, bloody shirt, the