Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-09-20
FARMERS WILL MEET.
SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR Ma
TiONAL CONGRESS.
VIII Convene In Parkersburg, w. Va, In
October : Delegates from Twenty-one
Different stntcs-Has No Political Plat
form and Is Not a Party.


The Farmers National Congress will
meet In Parkersburg, w. Va, Oct. 8,
4,5, and 6 next. Special rat;s are
made by the railways and the hotels.
At the annual meetings wide variety
OF subjects is discussed by speakers
from all parts OF the country, and at
the coming meeting addresses will be
made by delegates from twenty-one
different Seates. More than thirty
five States have been represent
ed at each OF the last five meet
ings of the congress. The congress
met in 1859 at Montgomery, Ala,
in 1850 at Council Bluffs, Iowa; in 1891
at Sedalia, Mo-. in 1892 at Lincoln,
Neb.; and in 1893 at Savannah, Ga.
The congress Is composed Of one dele
gate from each Congle ;sionll district
and two at large from each State. APP
pointed for two years by the Gov ernors
of the several States, aud one dele
gate from each State Agricultural Col
lege, and one from each State Board of
Agriculture. Delega ates from one-half
the States are appointed each year
The congress meets in annual session
lasting iour days, and has an executive
committee, known as the National
Board of Agric allure. Th Board is
composed OF one member from each
State and Territory.
The Congress has no political plat
form and does not seek to form q po-
itical party. Its delegates come, not
as politicians, but as farmers. This is
one re q son why the Farmers Natl nal
Congress is not so we'll known as the
Alliance or Grange. The annual meet
ings are attended by hundreds of farm
ers not delegates. These meetings are
not unlike the meetings of national
farmers institute. The range OF sub
jects is wide and the speakers are from
every section of the country. Those
who are to deliver addresses at the
Parkersburg meeting are from the
following states give them in
the order in which they appear
on the official program: District
OF Columbia, Nebraska, New
York, Ma ssachuset.s, Mississippi, Kan
sas, Georgia, California, Ohio, Texas
Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Penn
sylvania, Illinois, Maine, West Vir-
ginia, Alabama, Indiana Missouri
Connecticut. The addresses are linn
tied strictly to twenty minutes each.
Several of the speakers are women.
Many of the delegates bring their
wives and daughters. The officers
elected at the ast meeting for the en-
suing two years are: Pre- ident, Hon.
b. f. Clayton, Indianola, Iowa; Vice
President, Maj. G.. M. Ryals, Savan-
nah, Ca; Secretary, Hon. John NJ.
Stahl, Quincy, H.: First Assistant
Col. w. G. WILDLY, Atlanta, Ca;
Second Assistant, Capt. I. j. Apple
yard, Sanford, Fla: Treasurer, Hon.
Henry Hayden, Indianola, Iowa.
The Farmers National Congress is
working for rural free mail delivery,
legislation against adulteration, meas
ures TO stamp out infectious live stock
diseases, the enlargement of the work
of the weather bureau, rural telephone
lines, good roads at bearable cost.
fuller agricultural statistics and relia-
BILE crop estimates, better supported
and managed experiment stations, the
rational systematic Improvement of
waterways, and legislation affecting
railways that, while preventing abuses,
i, recognii es that the interests OF farm
ei and of railways are closely related
and interderendent. AS each delegate
is man of prominence and influence,
known to the Congress man from his
district and the Senators from his
State, the national legislature usually
grants what the Congre re ,uests.
And the character of those prominent
in it is a guarantee that it will be kept
PUP to its present high position.