The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-05-07

<NS hhC representative OF
militantAmerican famers, whose or
ganized army rests one flank upon
the Atlantic and the other upon the
Pacific Ocean. give to you cordial
greeting. which shall know no boun-
daries of State or section, no narrow
ness or political partisanship or big
otry. but tolerance as broad as JUS
tice and as wide as that sincerity that
underlies our common heritage of
American citizenship.
For first we are Americans. After
that We are farmers! And 1t Is as
Americans that we greet you In good
faith. bidding you rejoice with us In
the dawning OF that day when the
most distinguished men of our ma
ton pay homage to the might and
the problems Of the long-neglected
farmers.
''Withuot let or hindrance. sup
preston or censorship. we shall dis
cuss the problems that affect the
feeders and clothers Of the people
save only that In our deliberations We
shall avoid those topics that refer TO
the hysteria or the passion of partl-
tisan politics. As the ultimate anal
ysis let US not forget that the parti-
san or personal element in politics or
statesmanship Is transient and pass
ing. That which abides alwa Is
principle. And II is lasting princi-
pies that we shall debate. free of the
embarrassment of that acrimony in
variably attending the complication
OF short lived political platforms or
their authors"
Mr.. Barrett said: The American
farmer OF tradition has been the far
mer Of the more or less humorous car
toon or caricature, variously repre-
sented as fair prey to the green goods
man or the gold brick artist.
And" he continued. "the farmer
has been slow in awakening. His en-
vironment. in the first place, was
against his awakening. The tardiness
OF facilities for communication, the
infrequency with which newspapers
penetrated to the far rural districts.
and the natural suspicion which is a
part OF his temperament all initiated
own power and his duty OF self-gov-
ernment In the premises.
''The era Of sleep is at an end! The
era OF wakefclness to self-duty, TO
the obligation Of self-help, to the
obligation Of duty to country is al
ready dawning! / do not say that the
farmer as a class is reused to his
national Importance and TO his nat
ional obligations. But do assert
with all the emphasis at my ccm-
mand and supported by all the eyper-
fence OF life time that the leaven or
readjustment OF revolutionary change
Is stirring throughout the mass of tho
American farmer"
After stating that vandalism and
graft are being eliminated from our
political life. the speaker said: 1--WE
are standing more resolutely each
day for a literal Interpretation OF the
doctrine OF the square DEAL We are
determined that the people and not
the politicians shall rule"
He said: "The Farmers Union is
responsible both for the awakened
farmer and the awakened nation, as
regards the farmer.
"Our principles and our way of
applying them, must he sound, for
we have increased from less than 5O,-
900 membership six years ago. to a
membership today rising 100000
Throughout the Southern States we
are we'll organized. In the Middle
West we are formally organized and
our numbers are rapidly growing.
This year we have perfected organi-
nations in several Of the Western and
Pacific slope States. and we shall
soon invade New England.
"In the South we have succeeded
In obtaining for the farmer a rea-
sonable price for his backbone staple.
cotton. That means we have min
istered 20 every phase Of Southern
commerce. that we have laid every
Southerner under obligations to us.
for cotton Is the financial barometer
OF the Southern States. In the Mid
die West we are recording headway
I'm handling In a scientific and eqult-
able manner. wheat and corn. In
the far West. we are accomplishing
results In the systematizing OF the
fruit industry and Of general agricul-
tural products.
u hc financial yrcrcss OF ,ur pro-
io