The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-07
A STRONG APPEAL.
LEGION CIRCULAR NO. 3LOR-
CAME! ORGANIZE!

three thlngS-mOney, organization and
votes. Without compact, systematic Or
ganization we cannot get the money or
votes. The national and nearly all other
committees, the people and the reform
press have endorsed the legion. It is to-
day the strongest political organization
on the continent, in any party, and since
the Kansas City convention has doubled
in membership. Even the enemy concede
the Legion to be the best plan of political
work ever thought of, and they use every
way in their power to prevent it's increase.
You can organize the Legion easier than
any other order in any state in the Union.
It is the simplest and cheapest Of any
order in the world, and even provides
that those who are too poor need not
pay dues or charter fees. 1t has been the
safety and sheet-anchor of the Peoples
party. And when an attempt was made
to disband and destroy it, it was the
Legion members and reform press that
composed largely the solid phalanx, that
stirred up the people to stand by the
Omaha platform. The people have always
preferred it. and have sent to this Office
for thousands of constitutions, and would
have long ago organized themselves if
they had not been told to wait by some
dear brother who was trying to reSurrect
the dead. If the committee and the So
called leaders had helped from the start,
we would have had 10000 Legions in solid
lines today.
Another obstacle and one that should
cease is that many of the leaders in other
orders say stay out until we try to re-
vive our own, and it is their influence
that has brought us to the threshold of
1896 without the perfect organization de-
manded. Without it we cannot raise
money or secure the votes needed. George
w. Howard says in his book heralding
the Industrial Union that after so many
years of effort only about 100000 have
been enlisted in the labor orders, and
that these cost Sc, S75, 900 annually" They
do not stand by each other in strikes, boy
colts or vote together, and are today the
backbone of both the old parties, and do
not give us one-tenth of their. votes. If
the wage-workers would vote with us we
could win 1t is their own fault that they
are enslaved and oppressed. They have
stood idly by and voted the old-party
tickets, while horde of scum have been
shipped here to take their places, and
scarcely made protest.. and simply re-
peat what the members of these orders
say when l declare that they are no pos
Gible use to our party, and draw an
amount of money from the people that
makes it impossible to get any for polit-
ical work.
10 Il fov fhn
bankrupt committees and the men who
have carried the burden of the party, and
have earned the right to speak plainly
on this question. and after laboring three
years without salary, giving my time and
that of my family, and paying over $500
to start the Legion, have right to pro-
test when 1 see men who claim they have
been in our party years, trying to retard
or destroy what we have labored so hard
to build up. We can never win this fight
if we do not drop all plans that take our
time and money and combine all our eff
forts in one compact body organized to
win by the ballot or defend ourselves if
the wicked enemy seek to destroy us with
bullets. We should not patronize or pay
one dollar to any one seeking to destroy
this nation and enslave its people. Every
one comedies that the Legion is just the
plan needed, and it is the duty of every
human being in our party to at once
unite to plant it in every voting precinct
in the nation.
A Legion on every beat will save Ala
bama, is the watchword in that state, and
should be the rallying cry all over the
Union. 1t will insure an honest count and
win the votes demanded.
Thousands are alive to every emergen-
nv h,1t tho npOplo have maid ca much RI
other orders that they have no money for
politics. Many of our members are even
too poor to pay the 10 cents entrance fee
and 10 cents annual dues of the Legion,
and half the charters come to me without
money to pay postage, and though the
Legion is growing faster than any order
the psople ever had, it will not pay clerk
hire or salary, and we work for nothing
and board ourselves, and write day and
night and work like galley slaves. We
need now money for Kentucky and Mis-
sissippi, and our people in Iowa have
nobly maintained the integrity of the
party, and should be helped, and yet I
cannot raise two hundred dollars to pay
a printing bill that was promised at Kan
-sas City, that should be paid if l would
go on with this work. A few patriotic
souls have sent some money, but there
are thousands in our party who could pay
the whole bill and not feel it, and one
million who could pay $1.00 for the Legion
and Peoples party certificate of member
ship. One million men who swear by the
Omaha platform, and would die on it's de-
tense, and cannot raise $1.00 to save the
nation and bring happiness to unborn
millions. Our fight is the last hope of lib
erty on earth, and if we would win we
must organize and raise money. You
starve your committees and your workers
and annually donate to old-party papers
and other expenses enough to do the
grand work before us. Our postage is
now nearly $40 per day, and I have
often 200 letters and charters without
stamps to send them. The certificate
plan is our only hope of raising money for
1896. Let every member of the party
take one. Try self-denial. Do without
something until you save a dollar. Get
five to take one each and get one free.
The premiums sent with the early orders
are worth the money. If the committees
would canvass for this certificate on COM
mission we could raise money for every
state. We need $4,000 in 1896 for each
state we have any hope of, and we will
not have dollar if you don't work this
plan. Milton Parks, the brave and noble
editor of the Southern Mercury, will take
honest care of the money. Do you want
to win? You must raise it if you do. You
don't even furnish stamps and bread and
butter to your workers you appoint to
bear the burdens, and you should not de-
mand such sacrifices.