The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-06-15
FARMERS UNION HIGH TIDE
Gutter lndicts Himself as Less Than
Man and Works Injustice to
Himself and Children.


Himself and Children.
To the Officers and Members OF the
Farmers Union:
Peter, who denied Christ thrice, was
one of the greatest CUTTERS" In all
history. But he repented. And his
sublime atonement is one of the finest
chapters in the story of Christianity
standing forever as a sublime lesson
to the great tribe Of CUTTERS
There are plenty in the Farmers
Union who belong in that tribe.
| want to say few words OF brotherly
admonition to them. For with the
organization stronger than at any
time since its founding, it grieves me
to see few short-sighted farmers cut
themselves off from its advantages.
It may be that you quit because the
| order didn't revolutionize the eartn
month after you Joined. You forget
that tremendous results are accom-
plished slowly, that it took ages for
the little coral polyps to build up the
state of Florida, and big islands by
piling their bodies one on top OF the
| other.
It may be that you quit because,
when you entered the organization,
| you were full Of steam and ginger and
spent it all in the first few local meet
| ings without setting the brethren on
| fire. Steam and ginger are good
| things = indispensable things - but
| they ought to be nursed carefully and
| distributed gradually as you go along.
If you gush out all your enthusiasm
| in one grand spasm you won't have
any left to meet the big tasks and Or
deals that are inseparable from an
organization of this national scope
and unprecedented nature.
It may be that you quit because you
had little streak Of crookedness in
you, and saw you could go back on
the organization, or on some one OF
it's enterprises, and get a trifing mess
of pottage for your treachery. Bene-
dict Arnold figured it out the same
way. He got his pottage, all right.
But he died the most execrated man
in America, the man most held in con-
tempt in England, which had bought
him, and there were no loving, re-
spectful hands to smooth his pillow
as he passed away in that lonely Lon
! don attic.
/ It may be that you quit because you
found some deviltry in the organi-
cation, many specks Of rottenness,
1 graft here and there, incompetence,
selfshness on the part Of leaders,
tendency to play the organization for
their political advantage. All these
things have happened in the Farmers
| Union. Nobody with any sentls or
candor denies that. They have also
happened in all the churches, in all
the secret orders, in all business, IN
every feature OF private life. You
4 don't lay down and die when you find
/ any one Of these weaknesses in one
or more Of these places. But just be-
cause 1t crops up in farmers organ
ization-which is made up Of fauible
human beings-you want to kicks,right
out I tell you right Doy that joining
the Farmers Union doesn't make
man automatically an angel. We have
just as many devils as any body OF
similar size. You needn't be sur
prised when you find them in your
immediate vicinity. If you desert be
cause you do find them, instead OF
jumping into the ranks and helping
either to cure them or eject them, you
ought to be ashamed to look your wife
in the face.
/ look at the hundreds of thou.
sands of faithful members who. have
plodded along with the long, hard, pa
tient pull-enduring fighting and see
ing just the evils you see-and then
regard you with g feeling blended OF
contempt and pity and longing to
reason you out Of your folly. 1t isn't
the Farmers Union you damage when
you quit it in fit of sulks. It's your
self, your wife and your children. Fol
every one of you who lays down his
musket and turns tail, or becomes 9
knocker there are dozen who enlist
who boost and who develop the sense
to see that because the organization
isn't perfect there is no excuse fol
their leaving it.
The deserter is everywhere held II
loathing He Is about the loves
. creature under Gods sun. The cow
ard who finches in the face of danger
! or inconvenience is no better. You al
know how the world feels toward ths
? few men who showed the white feath
, er when the big Titanic went down
Well, the fellow who deserts the Graf
: Of the Farmers Union for some fan
!, cied or real grievance-and there are
plenty Of the latter-doesnt deserve
: any higher place in human estimation
than the buzzards who proved crave1
on the Titanic.
t Come back, you cutters. Study tn,
: story of Peter, of Benedict Arnold, o
: all the great cutters. In Peters cas-