The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-03-16
F.. A. and 1. U. Dept.
M. S. SEYMOUR
Feb. 16. 1898.


Owing to the sewers criticism which
the daily press has made upon us and
rejecting upon the officers of the State
Alliance in connection with the recent
circular letter sent out from this Office,
notifying the farmers of the state of
their names being Presented as repre-
sentative citizens of their districts" and
asking them if 'they~would serve on
state boards and institutions and to
designate the particulas positions which
they were qualified to fill, etc. That by
forwarding their applications and 81
fee their application would be filed and
presented to the governor for his con-
sideration in making appointments on
said boards and institutions"
In Justice to the officers of the AL
lance, l desire to say that they are not
responsible for the makeup of that cir
cular letter and they did not know Of
it's contents until it appeared in the
state in the regular way, and if there is
any error, blame or censure, the whole
responsibility should be left at our door.
l do this act of justice without being
asked for our executive board whose
names appeared on the circular letter
head. 1t may be that some feel res
tive under the harsh and unjust critic
isms which all have shared by certain
dailies that have sought to make great
capital out of it. and have denounced
us as being at the head of a deliberate
confidence game" upon the farmers Of
Minnesota.
We are frank to admit that if this
matter rested here without any explana-
tempt to fleece our members, and while
l have stated in public print in these
columns several times that a complete
and public statement would be made,
covering the whole transaction at the
proper time, I feel that justice to my
self demands that partial statement
of the matter is proper now, although
it is premature and may be altered later
in some minor respects.
At the meeting of our executive board
held at the conclusion of the cOnven-
ton in January, the following resolu-
ton was adopted:
Owing to the Inconvenience and ex-
pense of getting the executive board
together and on account of the lack Of
funds in the treasury, the state secre
tary is hereby authorized and empow
cred to devise ways and means to put
into practical operation the suggestions
and instructions of the Alliance conven-
ton"
Under this resolution l issued the cir
cular above Indicated; whether l did
right or wrong the public must Judge.
1 alone am responsible and deserve
praise or blame
My reason for making this charge
was for two purposes, one to offer it as
a bar against all whose names were pre-
scented accepting and becoming appli-
cants and thus defeat the spirit and in
tentiOn Of the resolution, and in the
second place to secure the personal in
interest of the applicant in organizing
or recognizing his local Alliance il
same was not in f1ourishing condition.
AS in all cases, applicants were inform
ed that their names would be presented
only when they became members of an
Alliance in good standing on our books.
And they were further informed that
their 81 would be used in sending litera-
ture to their neighbors, they to send
in the list and P. O. address of their
local farmers, which would assist them
in organizing their local Alliance How
we'll 1 figured this out will be seen by
the following statement: Whole num-
Der letters sent out, 5000; whole num-
Der of applicants secured to date, 90;
number who sent in their 81 fee. ga;
number who did not send in a fee, 20;