Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-08-03

"a Ks" in News and Courier, July "a. ]
Theg ghost walked Ia Columbia tonight.
At wasI NOT pay day, as they say in news.
paper offices when the ghost walks. q
The ghost, however, exRscss pay day to
come soon, and that, perhaps, largely
aoeounts for the walking Of the ghost
not the ghost in q newspaper ofice, but
the ghost OF the lately deceased Farmers'
l-Al1ance, The walking of the ghost viii
| be yeiitable run WHOM the sill 600 now
held by the trustees of the Alliance Ex-
change 10 distributed to the various trus.
4 tees, and they i'm turn distribute to the
sub Alliances and tho sub-Alliances re-
turn the money TO the original CUB
scribers. The undistributed SIT 600 is
holding things together yet for awhile.
/ After the ghost walks at the distribution
of the Alliance fund he will probably
take an eternal rest. Strange, indeed, Is
! the fete cs the Alliance. Ton years ago
It numbered its members by the tens OF
1 thousands in South Carolina alone. It
! was tremendous power. IL was said to
eschew politics, but ell sought the seal of
its approval, and its disapproval was re-
garded as blighting and killing to politi-
cal ambition. To atteud its conventions
1 was the pinnacle of glory and the bud
ding of political prospects. Newspaper
mon followed the conventions from pillar
to post and did not hesitate to climb trees
or glue their ears to sounding walls. so
/ eager were they to catch whisper from
the councils of the Alliance. Its man.
dates were politically supreme, and to
stick was fatal-poDtically To-day the
| Alliance is ghost, and no one has rea-
son to be afraid of the ghost politically.
/ Wat made its grip powerless is not now
| discussed. Many say it has done its
I work; Others that 1t was politics. To
I night tho annual meeting OF the Alliance
| was held in room at the City Hotel.
tanburg and Walhalla and elsewhere.
There were six duly accredited delegates
from that number of counties. Ten years
ago every county was represented, even
if by Belgian block farmers. President
d: f. Efird is keeping the organization
alive as much as be can. He Ia live
and energetic officer and is doing his
best. In about six counties there are
from one to six sub-Alliances that are
fairly active; but in the other counties
they are dormant to the point of an
eternal sleep. At to-night's convention
there were about fifteen present. About
half q dozen represented their counties
and the others attended in their indi-
vidual capacity upon the pay yment of the
| -
those attending were trustees of the AL
lance Exchange fund and wished to be
understood and to hear what are the
views of the remnant as to the fund Of
SIT 900. At present the trustees of the
fund have given bond for the distribu-
tion of $4,000 and the court has author
lied the trustees to 60 ahead, and Master
| Werner has been instructed to report to
the court what debts, If any, are to be
charged to the fund. Several claims
have been made for large sums. These
claims have been distributed and the
trustees plan is to distribute the fund
first to the county trustees and so on
down the line until the money gets to
the original contributors. There are
some who still urge that the fund ought
to be kept intact, and that the time may
come when this money, if kept together,
may be used to advantage in some inter-
est and some contest, and that to dis
tribute it would mean 80 little to the
original contributors as to amount to al
most cthing, especially if there are to
be many costs and much more litigation.