The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-08-18
THE STATE
ALLIANCE
Holds Its Twelfth Annual Session
at Headquarters Near
Hillsboro
PRES. GRAHAM'S ADDRESS.

PRES. GRAHAM'S ADDRESS.
Nearly all Former 0meiaI,-Dr. Alder
man Addre.>e. the Aiiiancemen on I'd
| ucation- Picnic at Occoneechee.
The twelfth annual session of the
Farmers State Alliance was held last
week at the Allisnce headuuarters near
HillsbOro. The attendance was large,
and the delegates enthusiastic and
hopeful for the future of the order.
Much profitable discussion WAS had
and every member present was bene-
flied by his attendance. President
John Graham delivered the following
very able address:
THE PREsIDENT's ADDRESS.
officers and Delegates Of tho North Car
Olina State Farmers AUiaHce.
BRETHREN With devout thankful
ness to God for reasonable hopes of
peace, we meet in this our twelfth an
nual session. The condition of our or
der, as shown by the records, is about
the same as it was last year. The re-
ports of your officers are full and ex-
plicit, and will in, due time, be referred
to you for your con sideratiOn and &C.
tiOD.
Our country is to be congratulated
upon the approaching termination of
our war with Spain. vitality interested
in the great financial questions agita-
ting our country and still unsettled,
the necessity Of united action IN end
ing successfully war against our enc
mics has, tor the time icing, prompted
our people to obliterate party lines, and
patriotism, equaling that of our Revo-
lutionary f0refathers and the heroes of
our civil war, has caused them to bury
temporarily their just grievances.
Would to God that the humanitarian
spirit of the great American nation,
that revolted at the enormity Of Span
ish misrule in Cuba, would arouse it
self for the betterment of its own la
boring classes, especially the unremu-
nerated tillers of the soil. 1t is true
that the millionaires of America have
been the architects of their own fer
tunes, and that the path to fortune is
open to all; but the great bulk of our
agricultural population will never fad
that path. Oppressed by an iniquitous
tariff system that rObs under the forms
Of law, fieeced by great railroad eorpo-
ratiOns in the transportation of their
crops, the price of their agricultural
staples fixed by trusts and syndicates,
regardless of the law of supply and de-
pies of the vitality of the American
farmer. Signs of decadence are, hew-
ever, painfully manifest, and the dispO-
| sition to abandon country life and con-
gregate in towns and cities bodies ill to
| republican institutions. Our order has
| brought the two great questions, trans
pOrtatiOn and finance, prOmi nently be-
fore the people. The mechanic, the
| merchant and the manufacturer are
equally interested with the farmer in
their correct solution. The National
debt, increased by the war with Spain
will bring the financial question prom.
| inently before the American people in
| the fall elections of 1900. A sincere be.
never in the necessity of silver as an
| adjunct of gold in the channels of COM
merce, and believing that cOmprOmis.
ing differences ia the surest means OF
success, it seems to me that the f.iends
of silver should be united if possible
| in the campaign of 1900. A safe CON-
promise would be the purchase of sill
yer by the government with silver dol.
lars. All the silver purchased to be
coined and carried to the United States
| Treasury, the government making
clear the difference between the mar
ket value and the coinage value. This
compromise would add thousands to the
silver forces, and we could gradually
approach our hearts desire the free
coinage of silver.
| 1t grieves me to state that your eff.
forts, aided by those of the Executive
head Of our beloved State, to annul the
ninety-nine year lease of the North
Carolina Railroad have proven abor.
tive. The manifest intention of the
Federal judiciary to decide all ques.
tions pertaining to the ninety-nine
year lease in favor of the Southern
Railway, prompted the Governor o.
your State to advise and request ths
directors of the North Carolina Rail
road, on the part of the State, to &C.
cept the proposition of the Southern
Railway to end the suit against then
and pay all court costs, thus saving
the State, in his opinion, a useless ex-
penditure of many thousand dollars
The suit was brought by the SOutherl
Railway. The views of the GOverno
were endorsed and the proposition o
the Southern Railway was accepted.
The unfortunate termination of thi
contest on the part of the people rem
ders it imperative that they SHOULD
arouse themselves, and regardless o
party Affiliations see to it that the mex
Legislature shall enact law to pre-
vent the consolidation, direct or indi
rect of parallel or competing railroa
lines.
The control of the SeabOard Al
Line, the most liberal of our grea
through lines, has, more than once
nearly passed inte the hands of tn
, Southern Railway. its great rival.
:, all probability rather by the interest
of officials in salaries and perquisite
than through desire for the publ
J good. Your efforts to secure lowe
passenger and freight rates should nc
3 be abated. The interests of the rail
. roads ought to be indissolubly Iinke
with those of the people.
The free pass system ought to /
broken up, but it should not apply
bona fide employees of railroads. You
railroad commission should be pr,
served and its powers enlarged, bl
e the commissioners should not be a
q lowed to lower rates on one of our thrt
: great systems and not upon the mai
4 lines at least of the other two. TIL
discrimination is repugnant to Mort
Carolina ideas of justice.
= The working our dirt roads is se'
d ond in importance only to the contr
It of our railways. Our cOnvicts shOul
z be made to work our roads as far /,
practicable. The necessity of the
safe confinement and maintenance
ievident. The penitentiary is not, az
q has not been self sustaining. Its maj
agemeEt, both under Superintendel
Leazar and Superintendent Mev
. boorBe, has been good. If the st
would purchase the Urauhart,
: Northampton Farm, and the Caleden
y Farm at the option price, nine dolla