The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-22
biz FARMERS ALLIANCE FROM
A PERSONAL POINT
OF VIEW.
D Essay Read Before the Morrisville
Alliance, Wake County, by
Fred Merritt.

AAV0 SAAA
Molten has it been sneeringly asked,
do farmers want to organize,
HWay9" Simple and self evident as
Is question is, it now best suits my
purpose to answer it by asking a few
other questions of the same nature.
Why do physicians assemble n con
ventiOn, and. as it Is customary tor
them to do, read papers and discuss
questions pertaining both to the pro.
qSsicn they follow and the good OF
their organizations Why do railroad
\ meet and discuss active railroad
business and make. as is right, a united
effort to protect the rights which be-
long to them? Do not editors attend
editorial conventions in which they
are associated for mutual bene1tf
Have not shOemakers organized them
selves into the order of St. Crispens
and consider themselves able to paddle
their own canOe3
That organization and association
are beneficial to any profession IS one
of the cOmmonest of CCmmOnpIaces.
LAWYERS. merchants, sailors, actors,
teachers-al classes, nave seen these
benefits and have acted accordingly.
Why should not the tillers of the soil
meet together in an agricultural so.
ciety for mutual aid and prOtection3
Why should the very classes who are
themselves already organized object?
Simply for the reason that they under
stand as tire farmer Is beginning to
understand that in union Is strength.
1t is more easy to rob and Cypress him
single-handed and alone than when
aided and allotted by his fello " toilers.
They are very we'll satisfied so long
as you do not organize. Then they
can paint for you IN beautiful COIOrs
the n~obleness and independence Of the
farmers life. They tell us that we are
the most intelligent, moral, healthy
and industrious class in all the land and
that all our present is calm and our
future happy. Merchants tell us that
no business is 50 sure and free from
care as farming, and that In no other
calling do so few men end III bank
ruptcy. Yet they keep on merchand!s
ing become bankrupt and retire from
business with enough money to live IN
luxury and cas- the rest of their lives
ace keep on farming and grow poorer
every day, aud the only reason we do
not become bankrupt Is, that we were
bankrupts, and honest ones, when we
started and we will never be anything
else unless we Cemand our rights Talk
about a farmer at the present time go
ing into bankruptcy! As we'll talk of
robbing a man who has nothing, or
killing a person already dead. POliti-
clans laud in s~tentOrian tones the
honest yeomanry," the sinews Of
the land" 1.-The buIwaTks of our ma
TONS liberties > 1.-THE coarse house Of
hOmespun which covers the true and
honest heart and say a great deal
~~v~-14- ~1,,-o-AS-n~ r%,,F 90 1D,~
as the farmer will consent to be led to
the polls like a lamb to the slaughter
and open not his mouth; but once he
asserts his right to vote as he sees fit
and for his own interests, these same
politicians cry, "hands off, the farm
ri ought not to go into politics, they
are too ignOrant!"
Soft handed editors, in their infinite
wisdom, give long dissertations on the
necessity Of saving all the spare mo
ments and converting them into some
useful purpose. They tell us how rainy
days and long winter evenings may be
1aboriOu sly used in mending old broken
tools and making basket splits, while
our wives and daughters a nObly as
sist in ~averting bankruptcy by weav-
ing the baskets or patching old shoes
has never occurred to these wise
instructors that farmers and farmers
families are human beings with human
feelings, human hopes and ambitions
and human desires. It will doubtless
be a matter Of surprise for them to
learn that farmers may possibly enter
tain some wish to enjoy life, and have
some other object in existence besides
everlasting hard work and the accu-
mutation of a few paltry dollars by
coming them from their own life-blOod
and stamping them with the signs of
weary children and worn wives.
WHAT we want in agriculture is a
new Declaration of Independence. We
must do something to dispel old preiu-
dlces and break down the abOminable
notion that the farmer is a mere animal
TO labor from morn till eve and into the
night. We have heard enough. ten
times enough, about the hardened
hand Of honest toll" the supreme
glory Of the sweating brow" and
now magnificent the suit Of coarse
homespun which covers a form bent
with OverwOrk, and which has incor
porated in its every thread moments
I painful labor which the overworked
wife had stolen from her needed rest.
1 tell you, my brothers, there is
something In this world worth living
for besides hard work. To toll is not
in itself necessarily glorious, To toll
like a slave, raise fat steers, cultivate
broad acres, pile up treasures of bonds
and lands and herds (were such a thing
possible for farmers nowadays and at
the same time bow and starve the
~Godlike form, harden the hands,
dwarf the immortal mind, and ALLEVIATE
the children from the homestead, is a
disgrace to any man and should stamp
Nbim as wOrse than a brute. AS basis
happiness money is the most disap,
Ointing thing in the world. There IS
p mor soul dwarfing, suicidal occu,
alton on earth than the selfish piling
. Of surplus wealth as the object Of