Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-09-18
MESSAGE TO THE union.
The Annual Address Of President c. 5.
Barrett.
'IN union There is PROTECTION" "

Helpless Against the Man Who
Would Prey Upon Your Efforts as
One Man Would Be Against an
Army.
Following is the adress Of Hon. c. S.
Barrett, president Of the National Far
mers' Union to the Fourth Annual con-
vention at Fort WORTH Texas, on Sep
tember l.
Gentlemen of the Fourth Annual Con-
vention:
Brethren: AS l greet you today L
am impressed with the thought that 1t
is especially appropriate that we have
selected the state Of Texas as the
meeting place for our convention of this
year. and the genial hospitality already
extended to us by the people of Fort
Worth vindicates the wisdom displayed
in the choice of this particular city.
Texas is the birth place Of the Far
mers' Union. 1t was in the far-pene-
etrating mind of a Texan, Newton
Gresham, of Point that the principles
upon which this order is builded first
took their definite form and character
With a vision that included the les
sons of the past, some Of them bitter
and that reached far into the needs of
the future, and 1 doubt if any of us
have as yet fully comprehended their
scope he dreamed the dream that has
today grown into proportions Of sub
stance, vast beyond even his imagina-
ton, and stretching their influence into
the four quarters of civilization.
So it seems singularly appropriate
that in the year wherein our develop
ment and our purpose have begun to
reveal their true greatness, speaking
in vigorous language of the foundations
already laid and prophesying in reso-
lutte terms Of the conquests yet to be
made, we should gather in the state Of
our birth to debate the problems Of the
present and devise the policies Of the
future.
Of this imperial state, larger than
kingdoms of Europe, the ruggedness
and independence of its people spoken
in way in which they became a part
Of America, and the unending variety
Of it's splendid resources are somewhat
symbolic of it's vastness Of our organ
ization, the rugged independence Of
our people and the many large aims
to the accomplishment Of which we are
committed.
If the past year has been productive
of great results in the work that we
have marked out to our hands, you
must not lose sight Of the fact that
these results have been only attained
through the fidelity and the never
resting zeal of the men you have
chosen to direct this organization.
desire, in this connection, to express
my gratitude, in the warmest terms, to
the national officials with whom it has
been my pleasure to cooperate in
guiding the larger affairs Of the Union.
Our secretary treasurer and your
board of directors are each and all men
Of zeal, energy and the instinct for self
sacrifice At every juncture I have
found them upholding my hands and
giving me their finest loyalty in meet
ing the demands of each new problem
as it pressed itself upon us for our So
luton. The work of organizing and re-
organizing during the year has also
secured us a splendid equipment of
state officers men Of quick intelli-
gence, thoroughly informed regarding
our purposes, characterized by integ-
rity and admirably fitted 70 labor in
harmony with the national officials.
l want to impress upon you, gentle
men, as never in the previous history
Of this Union the tremendous signifi-
canoe Of our organization and the rev.
olutionary Importance Of the ends we
are striving to promote.
l want you to feel, as vividly as
feel, that upon the full success Of our
mission depends the very welfare of
this country. and I can say, without
exaggeration, the permanence Of Amer
lean institutions.
l want you to realize that we are
fighting a battle that no political party,
however great, no crusade, however
vital and widespreading, has attempt
ed.
We are fighting the battle Of the
producers of the wealth Of this coun-
try, the most wonderful country in his
tory.
We are doing what no crusader or
reformer ever dared to undertake.
We are saying to the man whose toll
feeds and clothes nearly hundred
million people, not to mention the
teaming hordes of Europe and Asia:
without organization and co-opera-
ton. without education and persistent,
never firing effort, without sacrifice
and obedience to discipline you can
never attain the true reward for your
labor, you can never rise as a class
above the hardships and the oppres-
sion that have always been visited
upon the man WHO creates wealth. III
the sweat of his brow: you can never
win the income to which you are en-
titled that you may properly feed and
clothe and house and educate your wife
and your children.
without organization you will be as
helpless against the man who would
prey upon your efforts as one man
would be against an army"
It is true we are talking not alone
TO the cotton farmer of the south, but
to the wheat and corn growers Of the
west and the fruit producers of the
Pacific slope.
And they are giving heed to our
words. They are recognizing the COM
mon sense and the justice in our argu-
ments The man who creates the sub
stance that becomes the vast wealth in
the hands of the manufacturer, the
railroad, the bank and the trust, is
coming to see that it is through the
use of system and combination, the ap-
plication Of plain business methods that
these vast industries have succeeded in
concentrating vast fortunes.
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