The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-01-07
TIE FARMERS ALLIANCE.
The Rev DIR. Dixon Says it Is the Great
event of this Generation.

iGtN. LON DliOI IL LLo SCl uio4t al
NewYrrk last Sunday eulogizea the
All!anc: movement rs follows:
The real sensation Of the year 1890
is the advent of the National Farm
ers' Alliance and Industrial Union. 1t
is the resistless movement OF millions
under the expressions of centuries. It's
motive power is social, economic. re-
ligious and political. The advent of
these embattled hosts is the most preg-
nant event OF this generation. 1t is
the beginning of a revolution that will
shake this continent and move the
world.
The first time they gathered round
the ballot box was the 4th day OF last
November. They polled between two
and three million votes, elected the
Governor of three states. sent forty
men to Congress and scared the life OUT
of hundreds they did not send.
What is the moral meaning Of this
great movement?
|. It's the protest Of the patient bur
den bearers of the world, who have
toiled through weary years struggling
beneath the wrongs OF economic and
political superstitionS. In America
the farmers have literally become the
beasts Of burden Of the nation. Their
business has been to feed over 6o,O0O,.
600 people, together with the hosts of
the old would, with the products of the
wears work, and through the winter
exc out a miserable existence wrest-
ling with their mortgages, cyclones and
floods. While they are doing this, We
laugh and grow fat, dance and make
merry in the city, and bet how much
they will make next year. buy and sell
their crops fifty times before they are
planted and charge old "ilayseeds
! with ali our losses.
The question is whether these men,
the freest Of the free, the authors of
the cuuntry's liberty, shall assert their
rights and obtain justice, or degenerate
into the condition OF tenants and Serfs.
The condition OF labor in all other in
dnstries have undergone marvellous
development and changes in the past
hundred years. The farmer works un-
der the same stern conditions, perish
ing in the midst of boundleSS prosperl-
tv, for others. He has determined to
| effect Il change in these conditions, and
readjust himself Oh a living basis to
the new civilization.
2. This movement means the educa-
ton of the masses, rs maSSaS-ot the
farmer as farmer. 1t means the as
sertion OF the manhood Of the Nation.
This is real education. The accent OF
our education has hitherto been to get
on, Ito rise" We have been taught to
climb out of the humble sphere in
which we were born into some so called
higher sphere. The smith learns to
deSpise MS anvil, and the clodhopper
to look with contempt upon the piow.
They rise to higher" things. They be-
come LAWYERS, and doctors, and preach
ers. and bankers, railroad men and poll
ticians. We now have fully eight mil
lion men in this country educated to be
Presidents of the United States. We
only need about a dozen Presidents in
a hundred vears-an awful waste of
raw material.
The farmers are learning and teach
inc it to their children. in this oTganl-
zation, that the farm IS as sacred, as
noble, as honorable as that OF any
sphere in life Women too are admit
ted to the Order. Well they may.
There are more farmers wives IN the
insane aSylums of America than any
other class. They have actually recog-
nized the fact that women are human
beings.
A reporter once asked an old farmer
in the West what he thought about the
question, "Is marriage failure| He
replied, What, marriage3 "Well, let's
see. There's Lucindy gifts up in the
morniD,' kinGles the fire. milks SIX
COWS, starts four children off to school.
tends to three others, skins twenty
pans O. milk, feeds the hens, likewise
the hogs, looks after some motherlesS
sheep, gifts breakfast, washes up the
dishes, gets dinner, etcetera-why. man,
do you think l could hire anybody to
do all that for what she gifts? Not
much. It's a great success, SIR All.
these patient. sad faced, weary millions
OF women! The pathos of their lives.
They have entered this organization
with cheeks flushed with hope, many
of them for the first time IN life. May
God lead and bless them.
3. This movement means co-opera-
ton as against competition.
1t is in this principle OF Socialism
that the Order has its strongest foun-
dation. They are pledged to cooperate
with each other III the production OF
economic goods, and not only so, but
to cooperate in the distribution OF
these goods. The Alliance stores for
supplies are prominent feature of
their work. These stores contain the
germ idea of the great Industrial Co.
operative Societies of Worklngmen IN
Great Britain. They are asserting IN
life the principle, that it is better for
men to fight for each other than against
one another. They are learning the
secret of associated powers that IN
union there is strength. 1t is in the
light Of this fact that we solve the ap-
parent paradox, that while they cry
out against trusts and monopolies, in
the same breath demand that the Gov
ernment press its functions to the very
verge of State Socialism. These cries
are not Inconsistent. They are the
assertion Of fundamental principles.
They recognize the important 1acI IilaC
government is not something separate
from the people, but when normally
administered, is simply the people
governing themselves-that it IS not a
power to be forced, but a power to be
utilized for the happiness of all.
4 The Organization means Brother
hood. It is d fraternal and benevolent
Order with principles of love and fra
ternity, wide as the world, universal
as the rose.
The 5th and 9Th article in their ST.
Louis Declaration OF Purposes.
A second Declaration of iadepend-
ence read thus:
s. TO constantly strive to secure en-
tire harmony and good will to all man
kind, and brotherly love among our
selves.
=. 20 suppress personal, local, Sec |
! Il ,.,t; al ,ll IN