The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-12-30
The FARMERS ALLIANCE,
A History of the Movement in North
CarOlina-''FusiOn'' Has
Crippled 1t.
Good Wishes for Our January 5th Meeting
Populists Of the Whole Country Must
Rally and Move Together.

Rally and Move Together.
Editor Representative:
have received two copies Of THE
REPRESENTATIVE and am more than
pleased with it. 1t has the right ring
and the educational articles on the
subject of reform are incontroverti-
Die. 1t ought to be taken and read by
eyory farmer and laborer In the whole
country. am rejoiced to see call
for new rally of the Alliance In your
state, and hope that it may be the
means OF stirring up the Presidents of
other State Alliances, that they NAV
do likewise.
The order in North Carolina once
numbered 10000, and while in the
west, 1T was composed of new men
whose politics were of the Republican
stripe, in the South they were Demo
Gratis, at least 80 per cent Of them; but
today we could hardly muster 5000 in
North Carolina in good standing. 1t
succeeded in putting quite'a mum ber of
politicians in Congress, elected gov
ernor. made railway commissioner.
one United States Senator, one secrc-
tary or state. and brought quite
n~hAcNA VI OOSCuIC IcllOWS TO UlC
front. who have since become partisan
dead beats. and have turned the order
out to die, after riding the poor thing
to death.
In the campafn of 1892 there were
near 40, OOO Of then who thought Grow
er Cleveland too much hog to swal-
low at once, ,and chose to vote for that
noble patriot and Cristian statesman.
j: B: Weaver. Then trouble began;
the e-eating Democratic members
deserted the Alliance standard and
worshipped at the feet of the man
who is hated by more of his country
men today than any other man who
ever lived or died in the United
States When so many of these Dem
ocrats left the order, those who re-
NAMED in it took the other extreme
and turned it into political party.
The spirit which prompted the organi-
cation of '.Gideon's Band" largely
dominated the remaining me m bership
: sEnd~ crUugnr Jf1e grand and noble or
der into disrepute. Our great trouble
now is that certain class Of pie- hunt
ers, who should never have been al
lowed to enter it, are on top and in
control of what little of the member
ship Is left; and while this is the case
there are over 30 900 good men who
OuSHC w OC III IU OUU Will QOU CnCcr
the order to be dominated by this
class of men,
We have established a shoe factory
and tannery at Hiilsboro, N. c., with
a capacity of 500 pairs Of shoes per day;
tannery with latest patent tanning
process, capable Of tanning several
thousand hides week; a large brick
building, with numerous other houses,
machinery, and land enough to consti-
tute quite farm. 1t is the largest
shoe plant in the South, except Rich
mOnd, and the facilities present the
best opening and opportunity for a
grand cooperative enterprise of any
thing Of the kind in the whole South.
But everything is now locked up for
want OF money to run the plant. If
the president would do like the presi-
dent in your state; that is. call meet
ing, get the members together, they
could devise some plan by which the
work would move on. Strange to say.
however, that while he has been i'm
portuned to call such meeting he re-
fuses to do SO. The large buildings
furnish ample accommodations for
the delegates and visitors, and also
hall for meeting. all belonging to the
State Alliance. 1t is to be hoped that
as the president has at last succeeded
In securing an office, by fusing with the
Republicans, and defeating the Popu-
list candidate for governor and elect
Ing Republican to that high office, he
will either call the State Alliance to-
gether or resign and get out of the
way so that some one in actual SYM
pathy with the success of the order
and It's enterprise, may be allowed to
carry on the work. AS he has now OBJ
tanned an office, and we think his con-
duct proves that office was the only ob-
ject he had in view when he entered
the order, he ought to be satisfied, for
unless he gets out of the way and al
lows the Alliance to breathe little,
Its death In this state, with all the
grand opportunities above stated, is
but a question of time. May God
grant that your meeting January 5th
may prove a grand success, and be the
means OF tnfusing new life in the or
der in all the other states. and if we
ever get on foot again let us watch
that pie-hunter; he will sell honor,
confidence and veracity for office.
The trouble with the "Caucasion"
grew out OF the fact that Aver, the
managing editor, sold out to the Re-
publicans after securing the nominal
tion for state auditor on the PoIulist
state ticket, getting on the state COM
mlbOcc. anu SOLle1OW ROG TO DC SCCrc-
tary of the committee, sent his secret
circulars over the state advising Popu.
lists to vote for straight out gold bug
Republicans. and against the Populist
nominees. We got hold of those cir
culars, and for such fanny we turned
his paper down, and tried to turn him
down: but the Republicans to whom
he sold out saved him by electing him
state auditor. We are Watching now
to see how many Republicans will
come to the rescue Of 4 Populist Re-
publican paper. u.
We see from The REPRESENTA-
TIVE that you have some Of the same
skalawag clement in the great state
of Minnesota, while We did hope that
North Carolina was the only state
that could show such traitors to coun-
try, party, principle or friends. l will
try to secure some subscribers for THE
REPRESENTATIVE as soon as / can get
out in the nciRhberhood.
Our sound money advocates here are
now reaptng harvest Of good times.