The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-21
A CALM RETIEW ".

racy to what, for brief period at least,
must prove the contracted rule of hun
gry office-seekers, whose chief aim and
purpose for the past decade or more
has been to recapture the ship OF State
and trim its sails once more to suit the
| winds of their own convenience and
emoluments, regardless of results to the
great body polite OF the common
wealth.
THE DEMOCRAT proposes to review
the field in a series OF articles and try
present bearings, and point out some
dangers ahead.
| 1t IS fresh In the minds OF all how a
few year. ago the farmers of North
Carolina, with those of other States,
began to hear something about the
Alliance Little by little the organi-
zation grew until great many of the
best and worst farmers of the land
became members of 1t. At first very
few of those who united with the order
even dreamed that they were entering
into political alliance against the best
interests of the country. They joined
the Alliance with the purest and best
of motives, namely, desire to improve
their own condition and to secure that
independence, financial and otherwise
which they thought they we're entitled
to.
1t 80 happened about this time that
the financial condition of the country
began to assume signs of almost alarm
ing unrest and men who were closely
connected with, and vitality interested
III, the financial condition of the coun-
try, in some instances, gave unwise
expressions of their apprehension OF
what seemed threatening stringency
and inevitable depression of business
and low money value on farm products
and the like.
Also by another combination of cir
cumstances, the agricultural part of the
country, notably the South, found
itself in very bad plight to meet
such an emergency as threatened the
country. The Southern farmer had
raised cotton almost exclusively for
twenty years following 1867, had sold
it at good prices ranging from 80 cents
per pound in 1868 to 10 cents IN 1888.
These high prices tor cotton enabled
him to pay good prices for labor, pur-
chase the supplies for his farm and have
some money left which he thought he
could count as clear gain.
This very surplus caused the farmers
to feel able to enjoy luxuries and extra
expenditures which under different
circumstances they would not have
thought of. After while cotton began
to decline a little every year The
cause of the decline we do not here dis
cuss. The decline continued, however,
but no one dreamed in 1875. when
cotton brought from Is to Is cents,
that it would sell in 1895 for 4 cents.
1t was so easy to purchase guano and
pay for it with part of the cotton
crop, pay labor and run big thing
that it was hard to keep from drifting
with that tide. Gradually, however, az
the price of cotton declined the farmers
found themselves falling little behind.
But with cotton selling for Is cents
that did not give them much alarm
And even when it came to II and 10
cents, while farmers began to say that
times were getting tight, they were still
not greatly disturbed, although they
we're falling yearly little farther
behind, little deeper in debt.
Under the flood-tide of good prices
many farmers contracted debts outside
of the supplying of their farms, which
they thought at the time they could
easily pay, but which soon became a
burden to them. This began to cause
some unrest but even then "a pound
of cotton for pound of meat" seemed
fair trade. Finally, certain laws Of
econon, les, which always work out their
logical results, demonstrated to the
Southern farmer that his condition was
not SO good as he thought it was f; and
when he took a seco,1d view of the
matter he found his condition bad
one
Perhaps not knowing what was Eest
to be done he made q still holder and
more dangerous venture, planted more
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