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FARMERS’ ALLIANCE NOTES.
NEWS OF THE ORDER AND
ITS MEMBERS,
WHAT 18 BEING DONE IN THE VARIOUS
SECTIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
THIS GREAT ORGANIZATION.—LEGISLA¬
TION, NOTES, ETC.
Georgia has 2,160 and Kentucky 1,525
8ub-AlA*»nces.
* * erected
An Alliance warehouse is to be
at Chester, S. C.
Jk ★
Tennessee has ninety-two county or¬
ganizations and 2,588 sub-Alliances.
*
sk 5je the
The Farmers’ Alliance will save
Western people .—Trinidad Advertiser.
*r- £ kick
Merchants in Central Kansas
against the co-operative stores of the
Farmers’ Alliance.
* * and 90C
Yir ginia has sixty-four county
subordinate Alliance’—sixty charters be¬
ing granted last month.
■f-
3k manufacturing 3k estab¬
Three hundred
lishments started in ten cotton States
within two months, employing $6,000,000
capital.
and 3je jfc
Five hundred lifty-five delegates
attended the last meeting of the Minne¬
sota State Alliance, held recently at St.
The Toiler , of Nashville, Tenn., says
there was over two hundred Alliances
chartered in the past sixty days, and
forty Wheels in the same length of time.
*
The Newberne (N. C.) Daily Journal
says: “When in the course of human
events an Alliance rises to protest against
any political action, it w ill be justly con¬
sidered a summons to halt and deliberate
upon the situation.”
* *
The ^ Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial
Union Milling Company, of Washington
county, Arkansas, has tiled articles of
incorporation capital witli the Secretary of State.
The stock is $5,500, and the prin¬
cipal office will be at Farmington.
* sk
5k
The cornerstone of the Alliance Co-op
erative Manufacturing Company’s build¬
ing day. at Iron Gate, Va.,was laid hist Thurs¬ of
Colonel G. T. Barbee, President
the State Alliance, and others, conducted
the ceremonies.— ltaleigh, N. C. t Pro¬
gressive Farmer.
-Jf
Mr. J. T. McKibbeu, State business
agent of the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit As¬
sociation, in Illinois, announces that he
has made arrangements whereby the farm¬
ers will get their twine at a saving of
from $500 to $1,000 on every car load less
than trust prices.
i * *
Every farmer, whethei he belongs to
the Alliance Union or not, shoukl Stand
by the demands of the Alliance. Surely
the National Alliance is abetter judge of
the needs of the farmers and laborers than
the convention of any party. Faunkner
County (Ark.) Wheel.
* *
The Agricultural Wheel and the Farm¬
ers’ Alliance, of Texas, consolidated at a
meeting held in Fort Worth a few day*
ago. The consolidation will be known
as the Texas Farmers’ State Alliance.
Among those who attended the meeting
was L. L. Polk, President of the Na¬
tional Alliance.
* *
The Alliance of Georgia principle is and entirely in
accord with every every
policy adopted by the national convention
at St. Louis. It is a perfect unit in its
demands for complete control of railways
by efficient commission, and for the sub-
treasury plan which promises so much to
the producers of the country .—Arkansas
Dispatch.
*
* *
Quite recently a State Alliance was or¬
ganized in Indiana, and now the word
comes that in August next the state of
Pennsylvania will be organized. The
agricultural and laboring classes are suf¬
fering as they arc here, and in Lancaster
county, the banner farming ebunty of the
United States, the market” depression theory is don’t very
great. The “home
appear to work well there .—Southern Alli¬
ance Farmer, Atlanta, Ga.
3k *
Some days ago the it was telegrap had bed over
the country that papers been filed
and that suit would be brought against
the officers of the Texas State Alliance
for the recovery of $1,200,000, which was
alleged to have been misappropriated in
some way. The fact that since that news
came, the Alliance and Wheel in that State
have held a meeting and consolidated, the
two organizations ought to show that the
members of the Wheel in the State, who
were in a position to know the facts as to
the status of the Alliance, had no fears af
a bur suit or ajirthincr
Through the instrumentality iA the Al¬
liance the farmers are educating them¬
selves on the many economic questions ol
the hour as they never did before.
Through its eftorts congress has made
more efforts in behalf of the wealth pro¬
ducers than ever before within twenty-
five years. In the past great monopolies
alone made demands, hut at last through
education and agitation by the agencies
of the Alliance and similar organizations,
the industrial classes have become arous¬
ed to their real interest. The introduc¬
tion of the anti-trust bill, and lard bill,
the several bills authorizing the govern¬
ment to loan money to the farmers at a
very low rate of interest and some other*,
were made for doubtless legislation prompted by farmers. by demands It is
needless to say this is creating a sensation
among professional politkians.— Stephen*-
viile (Teu.) Headlight.
$
sk jc
A SEW BILL—SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SUB¬
TREASURY MEASURE.
A Washington dispatch says: It seems aban¬
that the sub-treasury bill is to be
doned by the men who have been push¬
ing it before congress. Representative
McClanny, of North Carolina, the man
who has been the most enthusiastic mem¬
ber in favor of the passage of the bill,
and indeed the only member of congress
who has yet spoken out in favor of it, on
Tuesday abandoned the fight by intro¬
ducing a bill which he proposes to sub¬
stitute for the sub-treasury measure. The
bill was drawn up by Col. Polk, the pres¬
ident of the Alliance, assisted by Mr. Mc¬
Clanny. Thus it will have the support
of the Alliance officers in preference to
the other measure. The bill is entitled,
“An act to authorize the issuing of legal
tenders for school and other purposes,
based on lauds of the United States.” It
provides that the treasury shall issue legal
tenders to the amount of $30 per capita
to be based on the next census, or about
$1,800,000,000 of greenbacks, which is
to be distributed among the states in pro¬
portion to population. The government is
to issue to the states, and the states are to
loan the money on real estate at one per
cent interest. It provides that no and person in
shall borrow more than $2,500, no
case shall a loan exceed seventy-five per
cent on the assessed value of lands for
the five years preceding the reapportioned. loan. At each
census, the amount is to be
It also provides that preference shall be
given in all cases to those whose lands
are mortgaged, interest to be paid on the
first day of each January, and if not paid,
the government must sell the lands. All
interest received shall be applied to the
school fund of the various states, each
state receiving the amount of interest
paid on the loans in its borders.
This bill, Major McClanny says, will be
supported in preference to the sub¬
treasury bill, and he further added that
many of the southern congressmen owed
him a debt of gratitude for getting them
out of the scrape of answering the sub-
treasury question. He says anybody can
vote for liis bill, and he thinks it will
puss. The bill, however, seems to have
been hastily drawn up. In speaking of it
a member of the judiciary committee,
who is recognized said as the ablest lawyer in
the house, that the ma¬
jority of states would have to
change their constitutions to comply
with the requirements of the bill; that
under the constitutions of the majority of
states, no one is authorized to receive the
money after the government has issued
it. The bill is, however, received with
delight by many of the timid congress¬
men who have been astraddle the fence
for many months—those who could no5
•peak out in favor of the sub¬
treasury hill, but who feared to come out
against it. They believe this is a death
blow to the sub-treasury scheme, espe¬
cially as it is Colonel Polk's bill, and be¬
ing prepared by him, it must be the
choice of the Alliance. Many of them
will not fear to favor this. The course
of this new measure in congress will bo
watched with interest.
* *
*
COMMENTS ON THE NEW BILL.
Macune, chairman of the Farmers’Alli¬
ance legislative committee, upon beiug
asked about the status of the sub-treasury
bill and if the Alliance would adopt the
McClninmy bill as a substitute, wrote out
the following in reply: “The sub-treas¬
ury bill is really more popular every day.
It is being discussed and approved of the by
the great conservative element
country; not farmers alone, but lawyers,
doctors, merchants, and even bankers are
often in favor of it. It is the only meas¬
ure that has ever been offered that en¬
courages the growth of the county, town
and rural city, and will stimulate home
enterprise and induce manufacturing in
the country. Hence the real support of
the measure is increasing every day, and
it makes no difference what the present
congress may do with the bill before it,
the principle seeking recognition ultimate in the
sub-treasury bill is based on
truth, meets the trouble approbation understand of nearly all it,
who take the to
and must in time prevail. Mr. McClam-
ray’s bill is, in no sense of the word, an
Alliance measure, and is not, nor will it
ever be. a substitute for the sub-treasury
bill. He had no right or authority to say
that it was endorsed by every Alliance ii:
the land. It fills an entirely different
field, and if it should become a law,there
would still be just as great a necessity for
the sub-treasury bill as now. It seeks
simply to increase the volume of money
by lending money on laud. Thh Alliance
has not discussed or acted upon that
question.”
WHAT COLONEL POLK SAYS.
Col. L. L. Polk, president of the Farm
ers’ Alliance, says that he is not the
author of the McCiammy bill, introduced
Wednesday, which provides for the Gov¬
ernment to lend money on lands at one
per cent. It was, he says, drawn up by
his private secretary, and he knew noth¬
ing about it. He further said:
“We shall not abandon the sub-treas¬
ury until it has been squarely defeated,
or until some better measure has been
proposed. We considered land measures
before the sub treasury bill was prepared,
and decided that such measures would
not give to the currency sufficient flexi¬
bility. However, examination I have not made a care-
ful enough of the McClam-
my bill to give an opinion. If, however,
after examination we find this bill bettei
than the sub-treasury, I should be per¬
fectly willin': to abandon the latter ”
The population of Iceland diminished
2.400 between 1885 and ‘1888, being at
the close of the latter year 60,224. The
decline is due to emigration to America.
The native fishermen complain that their
business is being ruined by English fish¬
ing steamers.
FAMOUS LONDON BRIDGE.
THE INTERESTING- HISTORY OF
THIS ANCIENT CAUSEWAY.
The Whirlpool of Humanity am! Trat-
fic Which Ebbs and Flows Over
Its Ponderous Arches Every Hay.
To my thinking, London Bridge, from
3 o’clock to 10 in the morning and from
4 to 6 in the afternoon, is the most mar¬
velous sight in this metropolis of won-
ders, writes a correspondent of the Boston
Herald. I know not when the spectacle
is the more astonishing-in the morning,
when the tide of life Hood* cityward, or
in the evening, when it ebbs to the south,
But I think the picturesque effect is
heightened in the winter dusks when the
dark masses press swiftly into the gloom
of Southwark; and the black river
•plashes between the granite arches, and
bears strange, bulky, uudistingui.hable
forms on its desperate current; when the
red golden "low slowly fades in the west,
and the domes and spires dissolve in the
advancing night shades, and the lamps
begin to flash along the shores and from
the masts of vessels in the “Pool,” each
lantern signaling, until the whole vista
sparkles with red and green and yellow
gleams in
Of the eighteen Thames bridires
London, this is the first in importance,
and the first from the river’s mouth,
The Thames runs on fiftv or sixty miles
Wore it reaches the sea, and all this
vourse from the bridge to the Nore is
cNvered with vessels. London itself ex-
tends on both sides of the river, several
miles “below bridge,” hence the enor-
rnous amount of traffic that passes over
Hiese granite arches. Old London
Bridge, which a favorite nursery rhyme
represented as forever “falling down,”
was proverbially held together until the
end of the first quarter of this century,
when the present structure w as built
about 400 feet to the west. The old
rhyme did not greatly exaggerate the
condition of the ancient bridge, which
had been tumbling to pieces for a hun-
dred years. Old London Bridge was a
perilous structure above and below.
contracted the river bed so that the cur-
rent was exceedingly fierce, and “shoot-
ing the arches” was almost equivalent
to suicide. It had been burned and
bombarded, and otherwise so badly
treated in the long course of successive
centuries, that repairs w r ere constant
and usually ineffective. Early in the
eighteen hundreds the street on the
bridge was “dark, narrow and danger-
ous; the houses overhung the road in
such a terrific manner as almost to shut
out the daylight, and arches of timber
crossed the street to keep the shaky old
tenements from falling on each other.”
Pennant tells us that “nothing hut use
could preserve the repose of the in¬
mates, who soon grew deaf to the noise
of the falling waters, the clamor of
boatmen, and the frequent shrieks of
drowning wretches.” In 1766 some local
statistician computed that “fifty water¬
men, bargemen or seamen, valued at
$100,000, were drowned annually in at¬
tempting to pass under the bridge.”
During 1757-60 the last of the houses
were removed from old London Bridge.
The most remarkable building that had
ever been erected there belonged to the
Elizabethan era, and was called “Non¬
such House.” It had been made in Hol¬
land and sent over in parts. It extended
across the bridge and had an archway in
the centre. It was four stories high,
with cupolas and turrets at each corner,
and was put together with wooden pegs
instead of nails. The American manu¬
facturers who turn out entire buildings
by the gross, and ship them in parts,may
well repeat the old saying: “There’s
nothing new under the sun.”
Before the ghastly practice was trans¬
ferred to Temple Bar London Bridge bad
the dubious honor of displaying the heads
of persons executed on the scaffold. The
heads of Sir Wm. Wallace, Bolingbroke,
Jack Cade, the Bishop of Rochester and
Sir Thomas More were among the dread¬
ful collection. The present London
Bridge is the fifth of the name. The first
was built of wood in the year 994, in the
reign of Ethelred II. It was destroyed
in a stOTm which, in 1090, “blew down
600 houses and lifted the roof off Bow
Church.” It successor, also a wooden
affair,was destroyed by fire in the second
year of Stephen, 1136. A bridge of elm
timber succeeded this, and in 1176 the
first stone bridge was built. Timbs says
that the bridge shops “were furnished
with all manner of trades.”
The present bridge was completed in
1831, after seven and one-half years
(less seventeen days) of labor. That stu-
pendous structure, the Forth Bridge,
which was opened recently, was but seven
years in building, and cost only half
much again as London Bridge, and even
its cost in human lives—one hundred as
against forty—was not excessive, when
we consider the extraordinary nature of
the task.
The roadway of London Bridge ac-
commodates four lines of vehicles—two
going in each direction, the heaviest and
slowest traffic on the outside lines. Be-
tween each of the five arches there is a
bay, or resting place, where you may
pause for a view of the river and of the
tide of traffic that pours across the bridge
itself. But the best appreciation of the
volume and force of this traffic comes
throwing one’s self into the current.
Take an outside seat on an omnibus at
the Bank of England when the evening
tide of traffic ebbs southward.
course lies through King William street,
#hich empties its current into a wide
space just above the bridge. Into this
three more great tides—Gracechurcb thoroughfare*
pour their living and Eastcheap; and
street, Cannon street
a little lower down two lesser tributaries
add to the moving mass. From every
direction streams of human beings and of
vehicles come and go. There is a whirl-
pool of traffic. It rage* there around
King William’s statue, and as far as you
can see along the tributaries each stream
is blocked. To be drawn heedlessly
into the vortex would mean chaos, dis¬
aster, even death.
In the dusk the moving ungovernable. masses appeal
strange, all powerful, \ —
Yet they are governed ou here the see
the guiding power, but it is in
^ape of stalwart policemen stationed m
twos and threes and fours, at every point
^om which the streams flow into die re-
ceptacle, which, in turn empties down
the hill a swift fierce flood, rumbling,
roaring, pell-med upon tae bridge In
regulating street traffic .he word ot the
London constable is law ; a motion of his
band is instantly obeyed. Without this
governing power the passage to the
bridge would be as destVictive to life and
property as battle or flood. As it is the
crush appears to you chaotic. It whirls
and dashes in that open space and the
blocked streams, foot and whec an
hoof, back and swell upon the pavement,
seeking outlet. lhe minutes pass in
clamor and seeming confusion. You think
it hopeless for your coachman to attempt
w ay. But, at last, from some point.
unseen by you in the darkness, the word
is given, the flood divides, as the waters
divided of old, and in a tnce youi
vehicle plunges in the downward current,
spins down the slope, and lattice on the
bridge. and quick
Strong nerves and arms
eyes every driver must have to guide his
freight, living or inanimate, along these
dangerous rapids. Three or four streams
°f vehicles plunge. side by side, their
hubs almost touching. At the widest
space there are half a dozen lines, solid,
swiftly moving in the same direction. At
the bridge the pace slackens, and, by
some miracle, order reigns. Oyer the
bridge the tide pours. The weight of
it is euormors, the strength incalculable.
The roadway is packed. There is
scarcely inch between horse ? s nose
an a
and the tailboard of the wagon in front
of him or between the wheels that rumble
s id e by side. The sidewalks, too, are
crammed with a desperate rush of men
and boys. Women you see here and
there, or they arc suggested by bonnets
or bits of color in the compact black
mass> If every man s life depended on
the issue the rush could not be swifter,
^ e t 110 individual can mend his pace or
slacken it. The current carries every
atom with it. Suburban London is re¬
ceiving its mighty accession of life.
Across the bridge trains are waiting
and starting, tram cars arc pulled away
with their weary loads, and ’busses are
picking up the throngs. But it would
seem that all the omnibuses in London
were rolling upon the bridge from the
city. Is it possible that elsewhere in
London any trollies and drays and vans
are left? Are there not tens of hundreds
running in this tide? There is the
wonder of it—the wonder of this eyer-
wonderful London. This mighty flood
of life and life’s impedimenta is but one
of a thousand floods pouring outward
from the metropolis to-night—every
night. rushing beneath the
There is a river,
granite blocks which support the living
flood. Lights gleam upon it here and
there, revealing it cold and black and
relentless, as other lights, fitfully stray¬
ing, show this upper river of life to be.
Down there, indistinctly,in the darkness,
crowds of shapeless craft are borne along
—here a light, there a splash, then a
crash, and always the hoarse cries of the
waterman, piloting their cumbrous ves¬
sels through the floating maze. What
London Bridge is to the land traffic the
“Pool” is to the water traffic. A wil¬
derness of vessels floats there upon the
dingy tide—vessels from every clime and
every port, steamers and sailing craft,
clippers and clumsy luggers, wherries
and fishing boats, and the typical
Thames barges. There they lie, rubbing
sides, packed in the stream as the men
and the wagons are packed upon the
bridge. How they go up and down and
resolve their various and respective
courses, picking their way in the forest
of hulls and masts, big and little, pass-
ettl tlie comprehension of a landsman,
But how do the landsmen extricate them-
selves from the turbulent current that
plunges over London Bridge? Somehow
flood is distributed at the bridge’s
end. Another whirl is there, and there
are countless cross currents and outlets,
Somehow the atoms in the stream sep-
arate and find their ways—home! And
the morning the tide rushes back
again, repeopling the deserted city. And
the morning flood is as fierce and
violent as the evening ebb. The stream
rushes and roars back again over the
granite viaduct. It is a race for life—.
for the work that gives men their right
to live.
Habits of Frogs.
The owner of a frog farm near Menas-
ha, Wis., gives some interesting facts
relative to the frog's habits. In ninety-
one days the eggs hatch. The thirty -
ninth day the little animals begin to have
motion. In a few days they assume the
tadpole form. When ninety-two days
old, two small feet are seen beginning to
sprout near the tail, and the head ap¬
pears to be separate from the body. In
five days after this they refuse all vegeta¬
ble food. Soon thereafter the animal as-
surues a perfect form.
NEWS AND NOTES FOR W0)l
Toques are so small they fit the -J
almost like a jockey cap.
The newest gold embroideries are
posed to come from Cairo.
Victor Hugo’s only daughter is an
woman in a lunatic asylum.
Suede gloves in old rose shades
worn upon dressy occasions.
Some of Philadelphia’s faskmable
are expert with boxing gloves.
Over 40,000 girls attended the t(
ing classes in England last year.
Plaid percales, sateens and c'ualli
appear among other tartan stuffs.
Plain and brocaded mohairs are efy
tively combined in some new gowns.
The high front trimming on capote
preferred, and it is the most become
Bonnets are almost covered ■v
wreaths and sprays of flowers this*
son.
Black satin bids fair to be the
rial generally preferred for summer p 6!
coats.
Handsome buckles and clasps are
order with the belts of every descriptj
now so much worn.
The light, soft wool goods worn prJ j
gentlemen in the summer make
skirts for little boys.
Ribbon velvets are, if possible, used
greater profusion than ever, Some
the newest show plaided effects.
A useful bodice to wear is of with black skirts] CiJ
black satin, silk or lace,
tilly lace and pink ribbon velvet. .
Mrs. George M. Pullman gives aw)
$2000 every year to various charitatj
institutions in and about Chicago.
New modes for fashionable hoa
toilets show brocade in Louis XVI. ds,
sign combined with silk or velvet.
Upon cloth toques the fur trimmial 1
may be either light or dark, contras*] but
usually selected with a view to
Pretty shoulder capes of white clod an]
are laid in side plaits on the back
shoulders with double-breasted revea
fronts.
The Medici collar and some of the disl
tinctive features of the styles of til
Louis XVI. and XV. periods are now in
vogue. 1
The Queen Regent cold of Spain bath is an winte early]
riser, and takes a water
and summer. She is very fond of games
of chance.
Rosa Bonheur, the best known living
female artist, claims that she has painted
her best pictures since she passed the age
of fifty years.
Miss Flora Woodward Tibbits. of Ann.
Arbor, is the first woman in Michigan to
apply for addmissiou to the bar of the
Supreme Court.
A pretty wrap consists of alternate! with
capes of gray and white cloth,
pointed edges braided with gold, and a I
deep white collar.
The efforts being made to establish a
hospital “manned” by women, and foil
the exclusive treatment of the sex, are
surprisingly successful.
Miss Henrietta Markstein is a young
lady in New York city who devotes her
talents and time to giving entertainment'
for the benefit of the w orking classes.
A broad, low forehead is an attribute
of beauty, according to the latest urbi.
tration, and front hair is cultivated to
grow down about the forehead and tem¬
ples.
There are over 900 widows on the
pension roll of the Exempt Firemen's As¬
sociation of New York city, each of
whom draws $60 a year.There is $250,000
in the fund.
Abby Burgess, now Mrs. Grant, has
had charge of the Matinious light north
of the Penobscot River for twenty-eight
years—at first as aisistant, but was given
full charge in 1866.
Miss E. P. Otis, the newest of New
York's women editors, is described as
being beautiful, five feet four inches tall,
with light hair and a pretty figure. She
is about twenty-four years old.
The Chinese Minister has consented to
allow his wife to mingle with Washing¬
ton society, but as she speaks no Eng¬
lish and society speaks no Chinese, the
benefit to either party will be small.
It has become the fashion in Chicago
for men to buy their wives’s bonnets.
The milliners like the change, and say
that as a general rule a man displays bet¬
ter taste than a woman in these matters.
“Carmen Svlva,” the Roumanian
Queen, is said to be an illustrious epi¬
cure. She has invented a number of
palatable culinary compositions and oc¬
casionally cooks a dish for the King with
her own hands.
The last new smelling bottle is a di¬
rect copy of one in use during the first
Empire, at which time it was called the
rosebud. It is made of gold, enameled
in colors, with a tiny central rose worked
out in small pearls.
A necklace composed of tigers' claws,
mounted in diamonds, is the favorite
ornament of Baroness Marie Ede von
Ameline, the famous tiger huntress. She
killed with her own hand the four beasts
from whose claws her unique piece of
jewelry is made, and preserves their skins
for rugs.
A stylish costume for the morning
promenade is one of the fine checked
tweeds with the checks slightly marked
on a lighter ground by stripes, the
drapery of the skirt falling in soft folds
A plain jacket, in make and texture,
a little violet bonnet admirably complete
the costume.