Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-11-09
FARMERS UNION SHOWS POWER
PRESIDENT Barrett Says the Order
Has Como to Stay.


the difficulties Of perfecting organiza-
tons of farmers. Then he reveals
what 1t will mean to America when
every farmer belongs to an organiza-
ton.
He believes that the Farmers Un-
ION has come to stay, and that it will
steadily grow numbers as power and
knowledge come to both the leaders
and the arnk and file of the member
ship. He says:
To-day the Farmers Union is ma
tional in the largest sense. 1t has
State organizations on the Pacific
coast, State organizations on the Gulf
coast, tSate organizations on the At
lantic coast, and State organizations
on the Great Lakes. In seven years
1t has grown from a handful of ener-
getic and hopeful men, captained by
Newt Gresham, at Point, Texas, to
an American army varying from O.
100000 to 2,500,000 members, COW
ering every State in the Union, with
men engaged in every species Of ag-
riculture.
l think J can dctach myself sufn-
cietnly from my love for and inter-
est in this work to realize that this
and phenomenal achievement at that.
/ cheerfully venture tho assertion
that no agricultural organization in
the civilized world has ever recorded
so marvellous growth. The best
feature is its stability.
We have organized the American
farmer 'for keeps"
Yet, even in the face of this nota-
bic achievement and the shadow Of
greater things to come, we find here
and there within the order, and here
and there from carpng critics with
out the order, Questionings as to why
we have not made vaster strides.
The perfection Of national or in
ternational organization Is the most
arduous and gradual task in the
range OF humanity's endeavors.
might cite two overshadowing organ
iZations from the industrial world
as illustrations-The Standard Oil
Company and the United States Steel
Corporation. In their way and in
their peculiar spheres they are
models Of organization-at least, the
average citizen who feels the effect
Of their force will not deny the fact.
Now, the Farmers Union has no
desire or intention to rival these
matchless triumph of organization
can teach us something beneficial.
We can profit from the constructive
lesson they have to offer and reject
the practices that have placed some
Of their promoters upon an evil emf
nence in this country.
Now, then--it took decades and
decades to perfect these two great
organizations. They began first with
struggling and struggling groups. At
various stages in their history they
were dealt blows that would have
been deadly had not the men behind
been actuated by fixed purposes and
unwavering courage.
Another thing: These two con-
Germs have always, or nearly always
had at their disposal all the advant-
ages afforded by command OF unlim-
tied capital and the best order Of
trained brains in the country.
Yet they have grown piecemeal, so
to speak, by process Of evolution,
through infinite backsets and dis
couragements and panics until to-
day they stand as the supreme en-
bodimcnts OF organization.
The Farmers Union has made pro-
gress even more phenomenal than
'litSt t"o ana lnaJ
without the advantage conferred by
money, for the reason that our guild
ing principles have been righteous,
where theirs have been those rising
from greed.
But on the side Of patience and Of
~the value and efficacy Of organiza-
ton and of the spirit that is willing
to wait for csults, perfectly confident
Of ultimate success, they abound in
object lessons.
want every member of the Far
mers' Union, however obscure, to
remember we are building for to-
morrow as we'll as for today for
our childrcn'S children as we'll as for
ourselves; that we are laying a solid
foundation for the solving Of prob
lens that will test American mcttle
decades after we are dust
! look forward to the day when
every American farmer belongs to an
agricultural organization as one of
the brightest days in the history of
this country. 1t may not come in
my time, nor in the time OF my chill
dren, but ! know it is destined, and
that at the rate the Farmers Union
is growing we will not have to wait
an indefinite number of years for the
cOnSummation.
Let us, first, concede that the far
mcr is the most important element in
the national life. Let us next con-
cedc that he has been Systematically
neglected in the way Of legislation
and social viewpoint since the found
ing OF the republic. Let us next con-
ccdc that the day he is formed into
one compact, unanimous national or
ganization he will be able to secure
his rights, to redress his wrongs and
to inject sanity and equity into the
nations government in degree that
has never been approXimated in
American history.