The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-15
LETTER FROM SECRETARY
TURNER.
The St. Louis Conference---Livingston
and Moses--The Difference Be
tween Being a Candidate
and Being Con-
presSmen.

Mr.. EDIToR:-The 22d of February
and the great industrial conference at
ST. Louis have come and gone, and it
now remains for time to tell us what
effect the acts of that conference will
have upon the politics and institutions
Of the Republic.
"HistOry repeats itself, " and patriots
in this struggle for liberty, as ourfathers
did in seventy-siX, will have their
counterpart, the Tories" Already,
before the echoes of the long pent up
enthusiasm which burst forth at ST
Louis have died away, we hear the ds
cordan5 notes pealing forth from men
whose ~utterances and actions in the
past have led us to believe that when
the appointed time did come that they
would be the first to step to the front
and would always be in the thickest OF
the fight until OUr principles triumphed
and liberty was once more enthrOned
in our beloved country, but their recent
utterances prove too we'll that we were
doomed to disappointment n shame.
1t is true, we feel somewhat dlsap-
pointed, but not at all discouraged, for
history tells us that the cause of right
and Justice has always had to meet
just such obstacles.
We have been impOrtuned for more
than a year to wait until b 22d OF
February, 1892, at which time we
would marshall the reform hosts of this
country under freedoms bannerfOr the
coming conflict which every sensible
man knew was inevitable. l do not
like to deal in personalities, and will
not do 81. in this letter any further than
the circumstances compel me, but a
blow has been dealt the cause | love,
and l can no longer forbear. Brothers
Livingston and Moses on their return
to Georgia from ST. Louis, have made
such wild misstatements of facts as re-
ported in the public prints that l feel
it my duty to tell the brethren of GeOr-
| gia some facts that l believe they should
know. l "a a delegate at the st.
Louis Conference and was q member
| of the committee on platform, there
fore am in position to know what tran
| spired there. | have been in Wash
ington City all the time since the pres
ent Congress convened. l have been
in this reform movement since the
first Alliance vas organized / Georgia,
five years ago. When President Liv-
ingston was assailed | did what [ could
to hold up his hands. Last August,
when such a strong sentiment devel-
Oped at the meeting of the State ALI
ance for independent political action,
he begged us to wait until the 22d of
February, and gave US to understand
that whatever action was taken at St.
Louis he would be with us. The action
has been taken. The Conference has
brought forth to the world a platform
for which any patriot can fight, and if
need be, die. On the final adoption of
that platform he voted for every word
of it, and so did Mr., Moses. Why did
they vote for it2 They did it because
Fho have done otherwise would have
been to stultify themselves and repudi-
ate every honest sentiment that they
have uttered since they have been
members Of the Farmers Alliance.
Their first ~utterances, on their ar
rival in Georgia, is a thrust at that
very platform for which they had so
lately voted. 1t was an effort to create
q prejudice in the minds of the breth-
rem of the South against the platform,
but in their eagerness to justify them
selves and make their partisanism shine
out more brightly, they failed to con-
fine themselves to facts. They have
publicly declared that the PLATFORM
adopted at st. Louis proposes to give
the old soldiers back pay, etc, to pay
which the Southern people would be
taxed, etc. The dreadfurthing referred
to is as follows: RESOLVED, that the
government issue legal tender notes
and pay the Union soldier the differ
ence bet ween the price of the depreci-
ated money in which he was paid in
gold"
L, as a member of the committee on
platform, most emphatically say that
it is no part of the platform, but was
z:-o-1- rocO11Ei0o nnCCo6 nffoT tho
| platform had all been fixed and agreed
| upon. Read it carefully and you will
! see that the resolution itself has been
misrepresented. It does not propose
any taxation whatever, but proposes to
issue greenbacks and by this means put
| them into circulation without taxing
| ANYBODY one cent. It Is a simple
| piece of Justice for which every re-
| former has c~ontended since the a
Democratic leaders did not object to
making the bOndhOlder's bond as good
as gold, and why should they object to
making the poor soldiers pay which he
received in deprecated currency as
| good as gold, and at the same time
put more money in circulation which
will help every man in this govern
ment who makes his bread by the sweat
of his facet
Every AlIianceman in Georgia re-
members that during the year 1890,
the State Alliance of Georgia paid the
expenses of Bro. Livingston and others
to go to Kansas on behalf of the State
Alliance of Georgia as messengers of
peace and good will. Should they
have expressed such sentiments at that
time as they do now, they would have
been repudiated by every good Ali
anceman in Georgia. Why such seti-
ments MOVE
We are constrained to believe that il
is the same old tactics which the politi-
cal demagogue has used ever since the
war to fan the fire of sectional hate,
thereby keeping the sections divideded