The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-11-12

Republicen ticket. Let every Alliance
man disabuse his mind of this idea or
sover his connection with the order.
No party in existence will do the
f~orrners n iota of good unless the
farmers have a strong organizationwith
wbich TO back UP their demands and
force che party to enact them into law.
The Alliance demands are unpopular
With the great mass Of nonproducers,
and especially is this true of the money
sharks, and the Populist party will for
sake these demands and become cor
rupt if you do not as an organized
body watch its every move. JUDGING
the future by the past we know the
above to be true. All political parties
were pure il their incipiency, but
greed laid its corrupting hand upon
their leaders and ere long they forgot
their first principles and gave them
selves body and soul into the W of
monopolists and money changers.
We must keep the Alliance intact.
To let it die wo''' be to lose the ad-
vantage gained during the last eight
n ten years.
To build it up we must keep par
tisan political discussions out of AL
lance meetings.
Suppose you are a Methodist and
send your boy to a n~on-sectarian high
school, and the instructors make him
devote one half of his time listening to
lectures on Roman Catholic doctrine,
or visa versa. You would take your
boy home.
Suppose you are a Democrat and at
tend a non partisan convention
where the welfare of the State is to
be discussed in a non-partisan spirit,
and all the speakers devote their time
to abusing the Democrats and advo-
eating high tariff, very naturally you
would get out just as soon as possible.
So it is with the Alliance.
If a Democrat or Republican or Pop
ulist or Prohibitionist joins the Al
lance, he should do it with the dis
tinct understanding that all partisan
political discussion is to be kept out of
the order. If you want to discuss the
advantages of any political party do it
in a party club, but do not drag the
Altar e into it.
The largest and strongest organiza-
ton in North Carolina to day is the
Farmers Alliance, therefore the crafty
politician is doing his utmost to con
troll it, or ruin it. He does not try to
rule the Grocers Union, the Typo
graphical Union, the physicians and
dentists organizations, because they
haven't the membership to make them
so powerful as is the Farmers'Alliance.
In the North thu Labor Union is wrest-
ling with the same trouble the Alliance
is here, because it has a powerful
membership and is a ruling faction in
the management of governmental
affairs. If the politician can get
the members Of every cross roads Sub
Alliance to Wrangling among them
selves over partisan politics he has &C.
complished his work, for it will only
be a matter of a very short time when
the Alliance as q strong factor in af-
fairs will be a thing of the past.
The surprise is that our people can
not recognize this fact and steer clear
of these contemplate traitors and
breeders of contention. I fear one
reason the Alliance has fallen into the
politicians snare is the overzealousness
of some of our trusted Alliance leaders
in political matters.
This brings me to the question of what
it takes to make a good Allianceman.
Many prominent Alliancemen think
they must be prominent and leading
Populists or their Alliance principles
will be questioned. Now are not these
men responsible to a great extent for
the condition of the Alliance to days
A man who holds any political Office
of prominence should not hold a re
sponsible Office in the Alliance. And
again, so soon as the Offices of any or
ganization are filled with men of the
same political faith, then the whole
order is branded as belonging to that
faith. Hasn't that been the history of
the Alliance in North Carolina9 It is
a false inference, but the generality of
the people will regard it that way,
nevertheless.
The less a leading Allianceman or an
Alliance officer haste do with partisan
political work the better will he serve
the Alliance, and the more influence
will he exert towards increasing it's
membership.