The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1893-02-08

cations learn that there can never
be any permanent good accomplished
by strikes, the better. History proves
that labor generally gets the worst
Of q strike. Ordering All advance
when a commander knows that his
army will be defeated and cut to
pieces, shows bad generalship; but
ordering a strike that everybody
knowSxill fail is the same principle.
The ballot IS the laborer's only wea-
pom to fight with. 1t is the magic
wand with which we can defend our
liberties. Judiciously and intelll-
gently used, it is the psnacea for the
ills, the oppression Of the sons OF
toll. It is potent, it is ample |. e. II
we do not sleep too long on cur
rights and by our lethargy lose our
liberty and hope as the five foolish
virgins did. If we fail at the ballot
box, then. all our efforts, and. all Ia
Dor organizations are vain and our
ease is hopeless.
Has the work of the Alliance been
a failure in the past? Most EN-
peatically no. The Alliance has &C
complish more during its short life
than any similar organization in his
tory. What has it done? 1t has
successfully bridged the bloody
chasm between the cotton planter Of
the South and the grain farmer OF
the West. 1t brought a gigantic
lutte trust to terms and is keeping it
there. It retired John j. Ingalls, Of
Kansas, to the shades Of private life
as we'll as several others who voted
in Congress against free bagging for
the cotton farmers of the South. 1t
elected Col. W. A. Harris, an ex-
Confederate solder, Congressman at
large from Kansas, once a rabid Re
publican State, yer Ex-Governor
George T. Anthony, said to be one OF
the brainiest Republicans in that
State. It has redeemed Kansas and
four other Northwestern States from
Republican ~oligarchy. 1t has d.
vested Benjamin Harrison of the
Presidential crown, which is the be-
ginning of the end of the Repnbli-
car party. It laid a solid foundation
for a great political party that was
born on the 4th day of July, 1892,
at the sametime fourteen hundred
determined delegates, fresh from
the people, embodied every aaaRf
- y~]smer5cs;ne nol
form, virtually establishinga second
declaration of independence. It now
holds the balance of power in the
United States Senate, With only
nine faithful Congressman, it made
itself felt during the first session OF
the SD, or billion and a quarter dol
lar Congress. With double the num-
Der of Representatives and five Sen
ators it will be able to make itself
felt more forcibly in the Fifty-third
Congress. 1t made itself felt
in the last general election and
was the sole cause Of a general land
slide from one corrupt political party
to one slightly less corrupt. 1t
would require a volume to record
what the Farmers Alliance and its
allies have accomplished inside the
last four years. But what we have
already said is sufficient for our pres
ent purpose. Can you wonder that
both plutocrat and politician alike
were alarmed last fall and broad
casted millions of dollars in many
of the States to purchase votes to
defeat our principles and retain their
hold upon the government. Had the
lines been fairly drawn, the last cam
paign in South Carolina, as in Ala
bama, today there would be two hun
dred thousand dollars more money
(boodle) among our people. In face
of the fact that millions of dollars
were used to corrupt our people and
hire them to vote against their best
interests, the. most fierce and bitter
opposition yer waged against any
organization, six States by their elec-
toral votes have ratified its righteous
demands. In MAN, more the same
, principles have made themselves Sc
riously felt and have taken root in
the hearts of the people.
Take, for instance Indiana. MI.
Cleveland's clackers claim a glorious
victory in that State. But what are
the facts? The Alliance sentiment
took twenty-five thousand votes from
Harrison, and that was the cause
that gave Grover the electoral vote
in that State. In many other States
the cause for the landslide can be
traced to the power and influence OF
the Alliance. It is said that "retri-
button though sometimes slow is al
ways sure" Can any n doubt but
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