The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-06
BINDER TWINE.

dnCe Say: WndG Is GQo use OF keeping
up the farmers alliance organize
ton? We hage the peoples party;
that gives US a mode Of expressing
our political convictions. What moro
do we want?
A little thing occurred the other
day that helps to answer this Ques-
ton.
A few years ago the price of twIne
in this state was eighteen cents per
pound. It was grcvious burden on
the farmers. In casting around for
a remedy some of us perceived that it
was impossible to prevent combina-
ton and pooling among manufacture
ers of twine. They had the farmers
by the throat, and it was the most
natural thing in the world that they
should press their advantage to the
utmost. Hence gigantic trust was
formed, covering the whole United
States. The farmers alliance came
to the rescue. They said: The best
use that can be made Of the convict
labor at Saltwater is to employ 1t in
the manufacture of Irvine and thus
relieve the great producing class, on
whose labor the whole state rests,
and whose taxes SO largely contribute
to the support of the prison and all
our other institutions.
After desperate battle we sue
ceeded in esta blishing Irvine facto-
ry in the penitentiary;-but for tho
farmers alliance it never could have
been accomplished. The Irvine thus
furnished by the prisoners, broke
down the price of all the other twine
in the market, and saved the farm
ers of Minnesota hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars. But we are now
confronted with great danger.
We met recently Mr.. Henry Wolfer,
the efficient warden of the peniten-
tiary, and he told US that, during the
past season, they had manufactured
a million and half pounds of Irvine,
but that only about one-hdlf of 1t had been
Sold; and that the remainder is piled
up in the penitentiary, while the ma
chimes are pouring out additional sup
plies every day.
How did this happen?
There are two causes.
In the first place the outside manu-
facturers of Irvine united to break
down the states prison Irvine; aware
that if they could crush that enter
prise they could put up their price hereat-
ter to any ertent. Hence they sold
Irvine at very low figures; they flood
ed the market with bogus manufac-
lures; moreover. the farmers were
so poor that they could not pay cash
for the penitentiary product, while
time was freely given ON the outside
Irvine. Where the state authorities
did give time the collections, in con-
sequence of the bad times, have been
fearfully slow.
The result is, as we have said, one
half of last years output remains
unsold. And if no change is made in
this matter next year, the opening of
the legislature in January, 1895, will
find two million pounds of twine
piled up in the prison at Saltwater
with no buyers. Then the Irvine or
rOrdage trust of the United States
will hire the daily newspapers to set
up an Internal clamor and the week
lies will take up the howl, that twine-
making by the state is a failure,-a
piece of communism, anarchism.
and all other kinds Of ISM; and that
it must be abolished at once or the
state will be bankrupted. And they
will abolish it; and the farmers will
slip back into still greater helpless
ness, for the experiment having once
been tried and proved a failure, no
subsequent legislature will ever dare
to repeat it and the price of Irvine
will 60 back, probably, to eighteen
cents a pound!
Now it is evident that the peoples
party can do nothing to helm this
state of things. This is not a nuliti-
cal question! Only the farmers can
do anything: and they must do it by
organized effort; and the alliance is
the only Orga nizatiOn that even at
temptS to help the agriculturists.
Therefore to let the alliance perish
is to give up the farmers standing
army IF self-defensc.
Mr.. WOlfer will appear before tho
state farmers alliance at its meeting
next January and lay the whole mat
ter before them and take counsel
with them. We think he is honestly
attempting to protect and continue
state manufacture of Irvine. Let the
state alliance at that time consider
the whole subject fully. Leta sta nd
ing Irvine committee be appointed.
with some such man as Thomas J.
Meighen at its head. We men
tlon Mr.. Meighen's name because ho
took hold and sold four carloads Of
Irvine in Fillmore county, in the last
harvest. He is practical. earnest
man. Let the local alliance in every
county take charge of the matter al
agents for the state, with some rea-
Sonable cOmpensa ton for those who
DO the work; and let us see to it that
when January. 1895, arrives, the sue
cess OF the state manufacture Of
Irvine Is established beyond contro-