The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-08-13
THE CRUCIAL MOMENT.
The Next Weeks Meeting of the Alliance
VIII Decide Its Fate.

The convention of alliancemen to be held
at Dublin next Wednesday will decide the
f. tie of the Farmers Alliance in GelrSla'
The result will be either the disband'hg
of the order. or of its enthusiastic orSall-
cation upon a sound ana lasting basis whlch
will insure its lasting success. Ihe sltua-
ton is accepted by the farmers everywhere
as a critical one, and they fully realize thdt
the critical moment in the history OF the
alliance is at hand.
Everything tends TO make the meeting at
Dublin or Wednesday the decisive hour.
The interest and membership in the all-
ance has been falling away at an alarIa-
ing rate during the past eighteen months
and at present nearly all of the enterprises
of the Georgia State Alliance are in Il bad
way.
Perhaps the most striking example Of this
can be found in the State Alliance eN-
change Aniancemen now agree that TINS
has been failure, and there Will be a
strong effort made to discontinue IL IL the
ALLIANCE pulls through. According to the
alliance officials the exchange has never
paid and is doing so less than ever now.
1t is doing practically no business now,
but is the source of very great expense.
The alliance exchange is now under the
management of Mr.. L. 5. Ledbetter. Of Ce-
dartown. lie is an experienced business
man and has conducted the exchange on
gone down the decline.
1T is doing no business to speak or, said
an alliance official yesterday, land at the
meeting nexI week l shall certainly be in
favor Of the movement that will be brought
up TO discontinue 1t.
'You will remember that when the aill-
ance started out it waged war upon a
class of merchants. and boycotts were fire.
queut Not few merchants in the smaller
towns We're driven out Of the business ON
account of these boycotts. The farmers
believed that the most eifectual way to con-
troll prices was through the exchange, and
alliance lodges all over the state contribul-
eft money to it.
For a time it did rushing business. 1t
was run on a scale almost as great as that
of wholesale establishment, and Tor a
time goods were sold to farmers from all
sections Of the state. The door delivery
was heavy and the shipments were extern
siye. But for some reason the patronage of
the farmers dropped off and now they are
buying their supplies els where
The mistake has been made that the alli-
ance and the third party We're one. There
are many good democrats in the alli-
ance, but it is true that the populsts did Il
great deal to weaken the alliance, as its
leaders took up the new idea ana lost in
terest in the old. The third party failed TO
absorb the alliance, but it gave it u power
full blow.
The Living Issues, the organ Of the state
alliance, has this to say:
Next week the state alliance meets in
Dublin.
1T will be the turning point in the order
to either an upward tendency or a final
dissolution.
IF the organization of the farmers goes
to pieces all hope for relief from the present
condition Of affairs viii go with it.
ut is only through organized effort that
the producer can ever hope to better his
condition.
I'VE want to appeal to the delegates to
do their duty. Don't let any personal feel
ings stand in the way. Don't let any man
stand in the way Of the progress and success
of the alliance organization. Men are but
chaff--principles everything.
1T will devolve upon the alliance to say
whether the order shall live and prosper or
whether it shall anguish and die.
"If the men who gather at that conven-
ton will look the question square in the
face and decide it like men. as we believe
they will do, all will be well. The alliance
will take on new life and will again become
n pONpr I'm fine land