The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-28
4 CAIN RE WE u.
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under which they were
compelled to labor few years ago were
such that the feeling which took hold .
upon the farmer was nothing short OF
dlsmav. And farmers we're excusable
for feeling 50.
It was, as we said in closing our ar
ticle last week, at such crisis as this
that the Alliance was presented to the
farmers.
As to what was in the minds of those
who first projected the Alliance we
will not now consider, but may speak
OF 1t hereafter. 1t was cOmmendable
in the farmers Of the land to come
together and have an interchange OF
v1ews and Of ideas concerning plans by |
which they might attain unto the
highest excellence in their noble and |
God-appointed and Heaven-favored IN
dustrv SO thought many Of the best
and purest farmers of the land. Ana
with this idea they espoused the cause
of the Farmers Alliance and joined the
order in the hope OF rendering their
81, oh he
instrumental in revoiutionizing the
system of agriculture and possibly cor
recting some Irregularities and abuses,
the remedy for which lay within the
purview of their calling.
In this way the farmers succeeded III
managing for time the bagging trust
by refusing to use jute bagging for the
high prices at which they we're com
PEELED to buy it. It's well remembered
by almost every one how for awhile
cotton was baled III old guano Seeks,
pea bags, old carpets and the like. Ano
the enterprise of the farmers against
the iron grip of the trust went so far Iii
encouragement for independence that
here in North Carolina there were fac
tories established for the manufacture
of cotton bagging and pine straw bag
ging with which to cover the bales Of
cotton.
And the editor Of The DEMOCRAT
recalls now the fnnlinos nf ~ i
which we watched these first steps Of
those men, in whose calling our boy
hood, youth and the first years of our
young manhood was spent, towards
that manly independence to which the
proper scope of their calling entities
them. This, indeed. was a proper use
OF power which we were delighted to
see The farmers had a right to saw
that before they would pay the high
prices for such bagging as came under
the power OF trust, they would cover
their cotton with a covering which
they could make from the products OF
their own lands, and thus assert their
independence and at the same time
increase the consumption of their own
products.
Some one may say that the effort
proved to be futile because it was found
that nothing could take the place 0!
jute bagglng in covering baled cotton
Grant it, iflt be true, and yet the exper-
iment was sensible one and the effort
praiseworthy.
Thus far the Farmers Alliance wa:
we'll. 1t was an educator to the people.
But people, like individuals, NAV turn
information to bad account And 50
l certain eagle-eyed sharpcrs and shvsters
, casting ahead tor the possibilities of
power which could come to an organ
lzatlOn which was beginning to get
hold upon the interests and affections
OF the solid yeomanry of the land, (for
many a good and pure-minded son OF
toll did love the Alliance), saw the
opportunity for their own aggrandize-
ment and laid their plans whereby they
might enmesh the unsuspecting sons OF
toll in a net from whose tangling cords
+ they would extricate themselves only
after bitter and biting experience
The plans OF these shrewd place-hun.
tiers, these selfish office-seekers, worked
admirably we'll They seized the op-
portunity at the food-tide OF excite
ment and discomfort amongst most Of
the farmers of the land.
The great part of the body polite
which is largely composed of farmers
was prepared to be impressed. The hr-
l man system, we know, is sometimes
more susceptible to dangerous climatic
Or sanitary influences than at others
| and when the system is subjected to
miasma it depends much upon it's con-
ditiOn as to whether or NOT Tho ,