The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-01-07
FROM NATIONAL OFFICIALS.

Alliance Issue a Sound Address
Brethren Admonished to Be Up and
Doing,
We are pleased to give u readers
an official communication from the
President and Secretary of the Nation
al Alliance. Our people are glad to
hear from the brethren, and it is to be
hoped that others who occupy, or have
occupied, high places in the Order will
use their pens, and at an early day.
OFFICE OF SECRETARY TREASURER,
Farmers Alliance and Industrial
Union of America.
COLUMBIA, s. O., Dec. 16, 1895.
To the State Officers and Members Of
the Farmers Alliance and Industrial
Union Of America:
1t would seem superfluOus at this late
date to enter into an argument as to
the necessity for an organization of the
farmers of the country. Nevertheless,
we are forced from past experiences to
| acknowledge that it is only with Lime
upon line and precept upon precept"
that the farmers a be induced to take
organized action for their mutual pro
tecticn and benefit.
What has the past thirty years shown
ua9
The North, East and West, coming
out of the war with their people out of
debt and that section of the country
prosperous in all the departments of
trade, commerce and agriculture; the
South with shattered fortunes, occupy
ing the position of a conquered people,
vet with a determination TO rebuild her
waste places that the world has never
seen surpassed. She added her efforts
to those of the more fortunate sections
of the land in developing the general
prosperity that obtained over the coun-
try at large from 1866 to 1873 We
may be justified in saying that things
were on a general boom, although all
the while a certain element was slowly
yet surely contracting and reducing
the circulating medium of the country.
This changed condition came on so
quietly that none seemed hardly aware
of it, or how it was produced, until the
panic of 1873 shook the country from
centre to circumference. The farmer
was the first to feel this changed con
dition of affairs. He did not know
''who or what had hit him" He did
not know that his ''daddie's silver dol
lar" had been stricken down and was
really no longer n of th9 monies OF
his country. Farmer like. when told
he was TO blame for his changed con
dition, he kissed the baud and voted
for the man who had betrayed him
went to work to practice closer lessons
of economy and to produce more of the
agricultural products Of his soil,
The manufacturer was next forced
to lessen the production of his mill or
to lessen its value. No matter which
horn of the dilema he adopted, he re
duced the wages of his employee, and
forced him to buy cheaper or purchase
less in quantity.
This again fell heaviest on the farmer,
who was constantly being met with a
declining market-5he reduction in the
prices of his products keeping step with
the general stringency Of the times.
The farmer, supplemented and aver
hopeful, having a child like faith in
the promise of better times in the
future, and he coupled with this delu-
sive fathom of hope the trite old adage,
The darkest hour is just before day"
He borrowed money on note and mort
gage to tide I'VE to the good time com
ing, while the storm of debt and disap-
pointment hung lower and lower each
succeeding year until the panic of 1898
swept over the land, leaving in its
track more financial disaster than has
ever befalIen this country during any
period of thirty years.
During the time that these causes
which we're depressing agriculture
were increasing day by day, the farmer
was quietly looking for some remedy
for the evils. He began in a crude way
to learn something of the secrets of
what organization might and could &C
complish. The Grange, or Patrons of
Husbandry, the Agricultural Wheel,
the Brothers of Freedom, the Farmers
Mutual Benefit Association, the Farm
ers' Political League, the Northwestern
Alliance, and last, and most important,
the Farmers Alliance and Industrial
Union, were organized. They were
the moss important organizations