Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-05-11

under the pressure OF the circumstan-
ces, failed to do 80; but owing to spec
ulators in farm products, and monopo-
lies, OF one kind and another, winked
at, If not fostered, by the old party lead
ers, many a good Kansas farmer has
gone down which has caused merchants
to fail, and 80 the credit of the state
has suffered.
know that many farmers, and some
In this county, have stood the pressure
of hard times and have come through so
far all right, but it has been in spite of
the system under which we live. rather
than because of 1t. 1t has been those
who have had more property, or but
rev debts, or those who were extra good
managers. am also willing to admit
that some farmers are more or less
sbiftless, careless, wastefuI and poor
managers, and don't do as well as they
might. but this does not change the
facts OF the above argument one iota.
The fact still remains that many an in
dustrious, frugal, careful farmer in
Kansas, between the years 1888 and 1891,
went down and was pOwerless to pre-
| vent it.
Kansas soil is so fertile that, could
the farmer have it seasonable and raise
a good crop every year, he would, by
untlring industry and good manage
ment, be able to live, even with all his
abuses; but with both short crops and
the oppression to which he is constant
ly subjected, many one must 90 under.
The real estate market is much live
ller here and prices some better now
than they were two years ago when the
alliance was organized in Barber coun-
ty, but will any old party politician give
the alliance the credit of causing this
rise? 1t would, however, be more rea-
sonable to credit 1t with rise which
has occurred since it came into exist
ence, than it is to charge the alliance
with decline which occurred here be-
fore 1T had an existence In this county.
But have not the calamity howlers"
hurt the credit of Kansas? Of course
they have, but let us understand, while
we are on this point, who these howl
ers" are. Not alliance men as class,
for no representative alliance man ever
refused to pay his honest debts SO far
as we have heard. The "alliance
house" of the last legislature, although
1t passed several bills looking to the re-
lief of the people, advocated no princi-
pie nor law which would impair the OBJ
legation of contracts, or release any one
from paying an honest debt. But the
howl" which has frightened eastern
investors most, has come from the op-
ponents Of the peoples party. It was a
republican in eastern Kansas who, &C
cording to reports, said, when replying
to dun for an interest payment, i've
joined the alliance and have quit pay
ing my debts" He thought it good
joke On the alliance: and thi 8 illus
trates the way in which this howl has
been made. They raised the hue and
cry that alliance men, as class, were
trying to avoid the payment of their
mortgage Indebtedness, when there was,
In fact, no foundation for such report.
But the investor partially believed it,
coming, as it did, from his fellow-par
tisans, and then the mortgage men.
aided by some of the old party editors.
seeing what blow the people were
about to strike in their own defense.
and how it would operate against the
plutocrats and usurers, hit upon the
happy thought Ito them) of charging
and extending this howl to the detri-
ment of the peoples party, and many
of the rank and file of the old parties
who read this stuff from their newspa-
pers, have taken up this howl and told
1T over so many times, that some of
them linen who mean to be honest, too. J
have actually come to believe that it
is true.
Thus we see, Mr.. Editor, that the |
great calamity howl'' which ''Sn saws
has been such an injury to the credit of
the state, comes not from the alliance
man, who asks only for equal rights, |
but from the other fellow, who wishes
TO lnJure the peoples party, and who is |
(unwittingly and ignorantly perhaps. |
but none the less surely aiding the mo-
nopolist and the plutocrat to Cypress
every farmer in the land. Let every
honest farmer who is opposing the peo-
PIES party think of this and see if it is
not so.
But my letter has grown long and l
must defer my answer to Item 60 I'M
til another time, when, with your per-
will answer 1t. III.