Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-03-29
WHAT ABOUT THE ALllANcEq
L. 1t Dead, or is 1t Only Sleeping Eternal
Vigilance is the Price OF Liberty.

Is 1t Dead, or Is 1t Only Sleeping Eternal
Vigilance is the Price of Liberty.
This is a question that is frequently
asked a great many farmers who
never would join the alliance or any
other farm organization, but chose
rather to align themselves with their
own enemies, gloat over the apparent
lethargy of the alliance They assume
that the organization is dead. and say:
Il told you it would die; that is why /
would not join it. 1 knew they wouldn't
stick together"
But such reasoning is not sound.
The assumption is false. The alliance
is not dead True enough there is not
that zeal and demonstration that char
acteriZed its early career; many of the
weak-backed and short-sighted ones
who mistook the objects and scope of
the organization, have dropped out
They expected immediate results, and
those results were looked for on lines
along which the more thoughtful never
expected them to come
As rule, the more intelligent class
OF farmers believe in organization, not
merely to look after the best interests
of their class in their line of legislation,
but mainly as means of self-improve-
ment in the way of reading, studying,
investigation, cooperation and discus
sion; to become more sociable. more
fraternal, and by contact and friendly
interchange of thoughts, methods and
experiences, to become better farmers
and better citizens These are some of
the purposes of organization.
Just grant for argument sake that
the Farmers Alliance, as an organiza-
tion, is dead, the charters burned and
that not another meeting in that name
is ever held, will any body claim that
the influence exerted by the organized
farmers dies with the means that eff
fected it? If the Farmers Alliance
were to dissolve tomorrow the good it
has accomplished will outweigh thou
sand times the trouble and expense it
has cost The farmers organizations
have set the nation to thinking. They
have made their influence felt in the
legislatures and congress, and even
some of the great daily papers of the
country are echoing the sentiments of
the farmers and championing the meas
ures they have demanded.
The fact is that the lethargy of the
farmers organization is due as much
as anything else to the fact that the
press of the country and politicians
have acknowledged the justice of the
farmers demands, and many of the
statesmen are uttering the calamity
howl for the farmers. The danger is
that the farmers will be lulled to sleep
by the ''wordy interest" the politicians
are taking, only to have the chains riv-
eted little tighter when found in a
disorganized condition. Don't be de-
ceived by the willy politician or the
treacherouS plutocratic press ''By
their actions and not words only, shall
they be known" Look at the actions
of the present congress and the differ
ent state legislatures: if they are earn
ing their salt, we fail to see how.
What is the benefit of soft words and
good promises if no good actions are
ever performed?
1t is plain that the farm organiza-
tions are necessity. Education is the
foundation of the great walls of defense
that are to protect and preserve the
liberties of the nation. The alliance is
school which, if well attended, will
make the farmers free men. 1t will
educate them in the line of practical
farm work, in the principles of political
science, and will make them conscious
of the fact that they are as intelligent
and as important factor in this repub-
lie as any other class. The alliance
may be, and evidently is. to some ex-
tent awaiting results of the great
awakening; to see the course of politi-
cal events, and whether the known w IL
of the people will be regarded, but the
alliance is not dead; the best men are
still in the organization. The weak
kneed have fallen out As the brick
mansion rises on the ruins af the frame
building or the log hut, SO will more
permanent and more effective organiza-
ton arise ON the ruins of the alliance if
1T should go down.-St Louis Journal
of Agriculture