Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16

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VIII L. Sargent, Stonewall county. STATE
at large-C Easterling OF F'reestont
county, A. F. Landers. Hopkins county.
4 motion 10 hold IN evening" session i
$50, and after that an executive session o.
such Us have been passed upon by the com
mittee on credentials. was carried.
After the committee on resolutions had
been appointed and had retired 10 dra fl
| resolutions. y. 5. Hal. president of the
| Missouri Farmers Alliance, was intro
duced to the convention. Mr.. Halls APP
pearance was the signal for shouts and
cheers that only gave way TO the eagerness
OF the convention TO hear what one OF
the foremost men of the national
Alliance movement might have to say tc
| the delectatiOn of the convention. Mr.
! Hall said: Ill is not my intention to MAKE
any lengthy remarks this afternoon, nor ms
| purpose 10 detain YOU il the permanent or
ganization of this body. ] shall only con-
sumo the fevest of nIinltes possible in
| paying my respects to this honorable body
and making such remarks as
| deem fit on this occasion \
| peculiar ambition fired me TO enlist under
the ensign of the Farmers Alliance-an
| ambition the height of which was to see the
! farmer raised TO the position which he
| should occupy. This ambition came 10 me
| at peculiarly sad time in my life. My
| father was born, raised and lived upon a
farm during his whole life, and likewise
| have / been reared | knew nothing but
| farming.
My honored parent was a man who be-
| leyed and knew that the farmers of the
country were outrageouSly oppressed by
class legislation and :. corrupt system of
favOritiSm, and furthermore it provoked
and grieved him 70 see that they We're
| willing oppreSsors. as it seemed, of them
selves. and on every vital question wera
divided against themselves. On his death
bed he summoned me TO him and
with his last breath breathed a request
tha' ] should join the Farmers Alliance
movement and do what | could in an
honorable and unostentatious way to in
duce the farmers of the country to band
themselves together for mutual protection
and benefit. ! promised. and how well |
have kept this sacred and willing Obliga-
ton, YOU know. My connection with
the Alliance IS blessed with
fathers dying breath, and my
commission against the cohorts OF bribery,
the crime of class legislation, and of fealty
to the cause OF the farmer is Us sacred and
unalterable as the oath OF Hannibal against
the city at the mouth of the Tiber For
awhile after my connection with the order
all passed smoothly enough, the platform of
equal rights TO all and special priv
leges TO noro seemed TO be the
dominating idea with which our
organization was untried. The first cloud
that passed over our hitherto unclouded
horizon made its appearance in The St.
LOWS convention, and, | am grieved 70
say. or grated with and was fostered by
Texan. 1t was an instrument, couched in
equivocal and uncertain terms,
which asked the farmers to pledge them
selves to the same class legisla-
ton 10 oppose which the farmers
Alliance was conceived Hele this inSid-
iOus political movement Of a third party
first showed its head. seeking TO pervert
the pure principles upon which we rest, and
subver' the order to their own a@grandize-
ment. The clouds have been gathering
thicker and heavier as Lime moves on. The
Alliance first lived, moved and had its
being upon your own broad plains,
and am pleased to state
hat the first ray of light, the first hope of
redemption, emanated from Texas. l was
accordingly more than slsd that from the
same state which gave the Alliance birth
the first organized movement that looked
10 reInsdying the evils that had crept into
the body should come, an effort TO return
to the pure and indebted, the righteous and
unbesmirches principles upon which we pin
our tnith. Let us show the world one thing,
and that is that eur advocacy OF the prin-
ciple laid down in our constitution OF equal
rights to all and special privileges TO none,
does not arise from our inability TO be of
the robbers. In conclusion, let me add:
In reading a life of George Washington
late.y came across a statement
which he made to the effect
thai Adam Smith struck the
Ike, mote to a protean prosperity when he
said: In every well regulated government
labor is the source of all good government
The laboring classes of this country labor
two and one-third hours a day more than !
any other class of men, yet we see 10 per /
cent Of their lands mortgagcd and the
rest in Jeopardy. Does this show !
that our government is run on this infalli- !
bic principle laid down by this eminent |
political economist Assuredly not Some |
thing is distraught; something is wrong. |
This two and one-third hours viii tell the |
tale. long to arrive at period Whe the |
principles of the great economist will be I
vindicated, and the farmer receives rights !
commensurate with this two and one-third |
hours he works when others are idle =
After Mr.. Hall had concluded, W S. Nc
Alester OF the Mississippi Alliance was
introduced. He said: Il have no (
speech to make this afternoon, |
but will only offer few
rambling thoughts. Tomorrow l hope to
present some crystalized thoughts which 1
rust will be of good 10 the organi-
Zation. Our order is in a critical cOndi-
.Ion and needs remedy, and we
n convention assembled are see king to de-
wise this remedy, and when found il must
De administered in no broken dose if we
1ish TO lave again in the waters which flow
rom the pure fOunt in which our order
was conceived. When ! received the !
invitation 10 attend this convention and
determined that would lend my voice and
10 what l might to bring the Farm
RS Alliance, the greatest fac
or for good in our country, back
o its pristine principles and rescue it from
ne hands of those who seek to obscure the
original purposes and blacken its fair name.
seek and hive in view the restoration of
he Farmers Alliance, as body
Q its original purity and chastity;
o place 1t again on that pedestal which
las truth for its foundation, anG upon
which pedestal monument mo~e
. proclaim TO the world that the farmers of
his country turned their backs on and
tampcd out every attempt to corrupt the
principles OF their order, without so
much as looking askance at the glittering
anne which hypocrisy and deception held
nut to them. The Farmer Alliance to-
ay Is largely controlled by men who
re prompted by motives of sclishneSS
nd chicanery Our mission. brethren, is to
escue the Alliance from the domination
these mercenary impostors, to avert the
eep damnation that must GER
AMY come upon an order
hat permits such licentious perversions of
acred principles as we have witnessed for
Months past In our ST. Louis convention,
has been said. We announced to
waiting and expectant country !
ur sacred principle Of equal rights to all,
pecla! privileges to none. Right on top of
lese declarations we find a certain clique
with I