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fOL. IS-NO. 38.
■B WALKS AND TALKS. ‘
By Martin V. Calvin.
no. 3. a
In number one of this sei-ies, refer
ence was made to the fact that, as a class,
farmers and fanners’ families do not
read as much as their best interests de-
There are, of course, exceptions
to the rule, atnf it is also admitted
that generally there is more reading
now than twenty years ago. There -yet
remains a wondrously large field for im
provement.
Newspapers are increasing in number;
the better weeklies are as good as some
of the magazines, and th- best maga
zines are within the reach even of the
moderately well-to-do farmer. He can
have his choice at $3 a year. When the
twelve numbers have been read by the
several members of the family he can
have the set put into two substantial vol
umes at very small cost.
Let’s consider this a moment, though
it is not exactly what I intended to talk
about when I took up my pen:
, Up one side and down another Har
-1 pbn’s is possibly the best magazine in the
f\ country; then you have choice between
• it and the Century, Lippincott’s, Scrib
ner’s, the Atlantic monthly, the Cosmo
politan, etc. Take either of these for the
grown up folks and big gins and boys,
and the Youth's Companion for the chil
dren between ten and eight., an, and you
have,at an expenditure from $4.75 to $5.75
a year, a mass of choicest reading matter
for wife, children and self.
Your Alliance organ and a good weekly
Sfcpaper, secular and religious, you must
' in a( l^’ tion p amUn of the
v Yes, W> fact is not lost to sight that
enconomy is to be practiced during the
year 1890 more rigidly than it has been
observed during the year so rapidly
hastening to a close. It is also remem
bered that true economy is the vigorous
use of money. The best is always the
Money expended for the pur-
Bnses outlined in the foregoing para-
Mais will prove to be money ex-
I’d most economically. Let me say
Bor the children of the household
Bis no paper I have ever seen equal
H Bie Youth’s Companion, a hand-
Boston (Mass.) weekly at $1.75 per
annum. The w< iter took it through sev
eral years for his children. He never
failed to find on the editorial page an ar
ticle from which he gathered instruction.
The Companion is uniformly as bright
as a new pin and as clean and instruc
tive as bright.
One finds in the magazines of this day
carefully collected information .on lead
ing topics, with a fair sprinkling of the
■a, best m fiction. Beading of the character
- 1 furnished by a number one magazine
leads into new fields-and pastures green,
i It stimulates inquiry, creates and inten
| sifies a thirst for knowledge. This is
\ particularly true as to the little people,
j Give them a fair start on the line herein
I indicated, and you forever protect them
| against light literature of the baser sort.
I A centre table in your humble home,
I my toiling friend, bearing up under the
weight of accumulated and accumulating
magazines and newspapers, will ulti-
I mately demand book shelves -or a book
i \ case. What if itjdoes? Books are cheap
Ly and you can arrange the shelves, or at
slufiil cost command a neat book case.
Yes,sir! yes,sir! you’ll have time to read,
and your family will have time to read,
and you will not be the poorer for the
investment. Besides, your own and your
family’s horizon will be brightened a
hundred fold each month of the twelve.
Try it. A great many people attempt to
read without knowing how to read. You
cannot be a clam and yetread profitably.
Never, never.
Don’t be a clam!
I put that sentence in a line by itself.
Well, put it that way; it is not only “fat”
to the compositor, but it will arrest your
attention. Don’t be a clam, except as
to your neighbor’s small faults and the
little but numerous imperfections of our
human nature.
Talk about what you read, especially
the thought-awakening things. Give out
the facts you glean and the truths you
drink in; they will become more thor
oughly your own.
When Lord Macaulay,the great English
scholar and historian, was a boy he was
a diligent reader. He had a habit of
reading an hour or two each day and then
going down to the neighboring smithy
and telling the brawny-armed black
smith all about his hours with his books.
He clung to the habit till it became a
practice.
When it was announced in later years
that Lord Macaulay contemplated a com
plete history of England, Lord High
Chancellor Campbell, writing to his
brother and referring to • the fact above
recited, declared that, while he cheer
fully conceded to Macaulay all the ability
and scholarship claimed for him by his
warmest admirers, he had undertaken
tbe impossible.
Later, he wrote that in passing a book
stall he was attracted by a handsome
volume. On taking it up, he discovered
it was the first volume of Macaulay’s
England!
Lord Macaulay often said that when he
sat down to his great work, the habit
alluded to stood him in excellent baud;
for the worthies and the unworthies ran
ged themselves in order along the walls
of his study and each rendered his report
and bowed himself out with the stateli
ness or the shufiienes s of his particular
period.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, of Thomson, Ga.
On the 4th instant, at Stellaville, Ga.,
Mr. Watson addressed a large crowd upon
the burning issues of the day. He ex
plained to the down-trodden farmers and
laborers in a most lucid, forcible and
pointed manner how they have been im
posed upon, and the causes of theirpov
erty and degradation, and the means to
be used to elevate them to their former
state of thrift and prosperity. Such in
formation is sadly needed all over this
brosftl land, from, jjpa to sea, in order to
TtfßKse t-? K»»xigl»®6tSW;ticn 'the bone
and sinew of the land, that they may save
their homes and children from the mer
ciless grasp of the money kings and finan
cial combinations that bring
ing them into a worse state of bondage
than was ever experienced by the Israel
ites under their task masters in Egypt.
He exposed the banking system in all
its enormity, and the unjust and unwise
legislation in reference to it; and how
our government wrings exorbitant taxes
from the poor and needy, while the mon
eyed monopolies under the form of law
escape taxation to a great extent; and
while a protective tariff shuts off foreign
competition and gives birth to numerous
trust combinations to further oppress the
people, congress has done nothing practi
cally to protect the people from these hy
dra-headed monsters that feed and fatten
upon the life-blood of the poor farmers.
A protective tariff alone increases greatly
the prices of the necessaries of life, but
when reinforced by these abominable
trusts they make the farmers and labor
ers pay starving prices for the supplies
they are compelled to buy.
Our congressional law-makers are con
nected either directly or indirectly with
organized capital; and a great majority
of our leading-secular papers being own
ed, or directed, or influenced by financial
combiifes have ominously withheld from
•the people the practical workings of the
government, until the great majority of
the latter are in a sad plight and rapidly
drifting to complete and hopeless ruin!
But Watson lifted the lid from the po
litical pandora box, kicked the bottom
out andscattered its enormities beforethe
people and enabled them to see fully why
it is that the hardest worked class in
the world is drifting rapidly to poverty,
while a few kid-gloved gentry are pick
ing the fruits of their labor and piling up
millions that they hsive no use for.
What the farmers need is light, light.
If we had enough Watsons to scour the
whole country from the mountains to
the sea-board, there would soon “be a
great shaking among the dry bones.” He
is eminently gifted for the purpose. He
is a farmer and understands well how
they are imposed upon; and he is also a
shrewd lawyer and understands the ma
chinery of the government and What is
needed on that line. He has been iden
tified with the farmers’ great movement
from the beginning, and one of its able st
defenders. No dozen men in all the re
gion round about him, have done more
to arouse the farmers and laborers in op
positicn to moneyed oligarchies. He is
the staunch and uncompromising advo
cate and friend of the poor and op
pressed.
The Augear 'stable (government) needs
a thorough cleansing. We must send
THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE GEORGIA STATE ALLIANCE,
ATLANTA, FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 20, 1889.
men to congress that we have good
reason to believe will fightrto the bittei
end all trusts, combinations, and do all
they can to secure justice to the farmers.
I do not believe in any low down politi
cal scrambling after office; but we must
fill our legislatures and congress with
men that will not enact laws that favor
the rich and powerful while they op
press the poor and weak. Equal justice
to all and special privileges to none
should be our motto.
Our government has freed the negroes,
and then turned right round and made
slaves of both the whites and the dar
kies. It doesn t call us slaves. Oh, no!
It calls us free in large capitals; but what
is there in a mere name? The farmers
are in a worse condition, in many re
spects, than their negroes were in slavery.
It was to our interest to clothe and feed
the descendants of Ham; but these
greedy, avaricious, moneyed monopolists
do not seem to care a cent whether we
live or die, but are only anxious to rake
into their bloated coffers our last nickel.
The farmers of England have slept over
their rights until the banks now own '
them and their land, and they have de
scended io the plane of bankruptcy and
tenantry. We are fast descending to
the same level. Much of our land
is now under mortgage. Our govern
ment, under the influence of bad laws,
is dividing the country into two classes,
the extremely rich and the extremely
poof. Let us wake up, buckle on our
whole armor, and make a united and de
termined effort to secure justice. We
ask nothing more and will accept noth
ing less.
I know that the great reformatio;
being, inaugurated wPi never profit
personally,.fcp behind,
I would like to see the day when the
of prosperity will rise once more upo'/-*'
the agricultural interests of this broad
land, and illuminate all of its plains, val- 1
leys and mountains, bringing joy and
contentment into every hovel and ma''-
sion, and filling the laborer’s mouth with
the happy songs of peace and comfort as ;
he goes forth to wield the hoe or throw
the maul.
It is the Lord’s will that this world
should support its teeming millions.
Neither men nor devils can defeat that ;
will. Providence is now working through ;
human instrumentality to bring about
the greatest temporal reformation that
ever blessed the world. <
James H. Oliphant. ,
Matthews, Ga.
Canoochee Sub-Alliance.
This American republic is fast drifting
into centralization, and unless the alarm
is more vividly and energetically dis- '
seminated among the laboring classes,
the predictions or prophecies of our :
noble statesman in the past will be ver- ‘
ified.
Our own Alex Stephens, just before
his death, sounded the keynote when he 1
told the people that this glorious repub- :
lie of ours was fast drifting to centraliza- -
tion. Our forefathers fought, bled and
died to establish for them and their chil- i
dren and their generations to follow a
democratic form of government.
Our great Washington, Jefferson, Clay
and Webster gave their talents and lives
to maintain our institutions. Abraham
Lincoln gave his life and energies in sup
port of a republican form of government,
and there is no doubt in my mind but
that Lincoln’s death was the consumma
tion of a bloody conspiracy.
The confederacy was not responsible
fer Lincoln’s death. Look in the Psalms
of David, LV; I’2, 13,14th verses. Those '
of his own company, corrupt politicians,
demagogues and self-aggrandizers.
They knew Lincoln’s great lovable and -i
liberal spirit. ' Lincoln wanted to re-es
tablish and perpetuate democratic gov
ernment for the people and by the whole
people. These conspirators wanted to 1
centralize this government. To do this :
they plucked up its groat tap root in the '
person of Abraham Lincoln.
Many more noble fathers of our demo
cratio institutions gave up their all in
defense of democracy.
The common, conservative people of
our country are slow to receive knowl
edge. fiut, glory be to God, light and
knowledge is being disseminated among
the great liberty-loving people of this
once glorious republic. WhaVare the
agencies? Viz. The National Laborers’
Union, the .Agricultural Wheel and
the Farmers’ Alliance.
I " tjk '
■ Twa of these grand institutions have
consolidated and there is every indication
laboring organisations of
Am£rsa will consolidate in December
at St? Louis, and then rally under one
flag and show an unbroken front to re
instate and maintain a government for
the people and by the people.
Our government is no longer adminis
terted by the sons of liberty. Just let
your minds run back twenty-five years,
immediately after Lincoln’s death; a
bold set of corrupt demagogues took con
trol of this government and have run it
entirely in the interest of speculators and
gamblers; greedy monopolists, corrupt
politicians and giant corporations have
about gulped down the entire wealth of
our country.
The poor laboring people have been so
hard run in order to keep buckle and
tonjpe together, or to make a support for
themselves and families, that they have
neglected the important duty of study
ing political economy.
The interest of labor has not been duly
represented in our nation, or state legis
latures since the great civil war. In con
sequence of this neglect the greater class
of our people are about reduced to abject
slavery. Let’s see if we can’t prove the
above statements.
Mr. Thos. G. Shearman, of New York,
is undoubtedly good authority. Mr.
Shaarman’s estimate is that 25,000 per-
J.-ns actually own half of the wealth of the
U. S., and that the whole wealth of the
country is practically owned by 250,000
persons from the recent lapid concentra
tion of wealth.
Jn twenty-five or thirty years 50,000
intsons will own the wealth of this coun
than one in 500 of the adult
'rjpinlatiftn. This being jan undis-
what are we going to do 1 about
I say consolidate all the agricultural
and laboring classes into one grand co
operative organization, and then by and
through a conservative press educate
them.
All of our order should be encouraged
and pressed upon to read one line of
thought. We must get our people to
read such literature as will inspire them
to consolidation and union of action.
We should read such papers as are rep
resenting our interest, viz., the National
Economist and our own state organ.
I find that the minds of the brethren
are badly divided, and it is nearly all in
consequence of reading on a different line
of thought; in fact, the great majority of
our order are studying and reading pa
pers, the reading of which is detrimental
to our principles as Alliaucemen. Then
I say the greatest obstacle in the way of
out success is the want of knowledge.
Would to God that we could adopt some
plan by which all of our order could be
induced to read our national and state
organs.
We find men all over our country, who
are farmers and good citizens, who will
not join our order. They are reading
adverse literature, and every influence
possible is brought to bear upon them to
prejudiee their minds against our order.
And there are so few Alliancemen who
are qualified to represent intelligently
the principles we hold.
The whole robbing, blood-sucking class
is exerting every effort to keep the farm
ers and laborers ignorant of their true
interests, and divided among the old po
ll ticai parties, who for many years have
legislated solely in the interest of non
pt oducing classes. We are in a position
that demands of every American the
most intense study of the principles of
civil government in order that we may
be able to sustain a government in hair
mony with God’s eternal law of justice
-and equality.
God’s moral government is so arranged
that nations that do not secure to all
their citizens their inalienable right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness tend rapidly to decay and destruc
tion- j 'mG Sr ■
These important lessons can only be
learned in organizations among the la
boring classes. The great need of the
country is a higher moral standard
among the people and a better knowl
edge cf a just principle of a wise govern
ment. To raise the moral standard and
to educate the farmers and laborers in
the principles of a people’s government
is a leading purpose of the Farmers and
Laborers’ Union of America.
Now,l would beg our brethren not to be
captivated or led by shrewd politicians.
They nearly all come from town. Shun
them, neither be led by them. They are
worse than an anaconda. A few more
years of such legislation as they give you
will reduce you to a worse condition
than African slavery.
The main hope of the country is now
in the tillers of the soil, who, if united
in solid phalanx, can place in the halls
of legislation men from their own ranks,
who know the needs of the labor classes,
and who will place upon the statute
books of the nation a code of laws that
will restore peace and prosperity to this
now unhappy country. In all previous
crises of the country the farmers have
come to the rescue, and have guidt d the
nation into safe harbors. Then again I
say, unite your forces, beat back the tide
of corruption and profligacy which is
fast undermining every vestige of lib
erty.
Without organization and co-operation
therq can be no unity of action. Let’s
not disappoint mankind by pur neglect
of duty. Let’s not allow the grandest
republic the world ever knew go to
destruction. Then let organization and
union be the rallying cry of the farmers
and laborers of the nation.
I have long looked and expected the
church to come to our rescue, and, glory
be to our God, she (the church), in some
places at least, is coming out in denun
ciatory terms against monopoly, greed
and avarice. The mighty heart of the na
tion through the Church of Christ (let us
hope) will yet throw to the breeze her
white flag of truth and create such an
influence as will sweep out speculators
and gamblers.
Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to say a few
words concerning the proclamation of
.the National President of Farmers and
"i. ibjrers’ (Inion of America. t'l'Mis rar
ing is in direct harmony with the princi
ples of our order, but it will certainly,
if put in force, exclude a good many
members of the Alliance; however, this
ruling was fully sustained by our state
judiciary committee of the Farmers’ Al
liance of Georgia. Where there is a di
versity of interest, or pursuits, there can
not be any co-operation.
Certainly those brethren who are mer
chants, clerks, or any one interested in
merchandise, cannot be mistaken in Bro.
Jones’ ruling, and they will now con
form to the law of the National Laborers’
Union. We do not wish to lose one sin
gle or farmer from our ranks,
but they can easily make themselves
eligible by leaving off diversity of pur
suits and throw their whole interest in
one co-operative interest with their other
brethren and thereby help themselves
and all their brethren. We want this
law of the National Union strictly en
forced. Fraternally,
Vera Pro Grattis.
Kennesaw Alliance.
Mr. President—l feel it my duty as a
member of Kennesaw Alliance, No. 1641,
to say a few words to the brethren in be
half of our noble order. It does me good
to say something in behalf of the Alli
ance, for I highly esteem its cause and
like to meet with the members. My earn
est desire is for us all to stick to our ob
ligation. I would like to have every farm
mer join us, for I believe if we go bravely
on, we shall yet accomplish all our de
sires. I also believe that if we unitedly
go forward and conduct ourselves right,
we shall gain the much desired victory.
Wo are like a person starting out' on a
journey: if we go on a short distance and
thin turn back, we will never get to the
end of our journey. But let us never
turn back from our course, for I feel that
we are somewhat benefited every day.
It benefits me to belong to any or
ganization that is as sound as the Alli
ance. We all can have a reward if we
will seek to obtain it, and we can obtain
it as Alliancemen and women by keep"
ing our obligations. Let us therefore
never look to the dead past, but ever
j.ress onward into the future, where there
is something for us all to do. Hwe can
do nothing else, we can love and respect
each other. God bless the Farmers’
Alliance the world over.
Let us not forget to wage an unceasing
warfare upon the bagging trust until we
have swept it as if by a mighty avalanche
to destruction. Let us stand by the Alli
ance as God requires us to stand by his
eternal truth. Let us cherish it as tbe
priest of old cherished the ark of the cov
enant. Let us cling to it as the mariner
clings to the floating wreck when the
SINGLE COPY 5C
storm fiend howls in the blast and the
shades of despair settle upon the face of
the waters. Let us live conscious of the
fact that the Alliance, agriculturally
speaking, has come like an angel of mer
cy to save us. It will bind up our
wounds, strip off our rags and clothe us
with the garments of independence and
prosperity. It will make ns men again;
it brings us into a band of brothers who
will throw their arms around us to shield
and protect us; who will take us to them
selves, encourage and assist us in health,
nurse us in sickness, and pay the last
honor and tribute to our memory after
death.
Whenever the Alliance roll is called
and volunteers are needed, I rise to say,
“ Here am I.” Brethren, when we say a
thing ought to be done, let us not hesi
tate to do our part. That will greatl
lighten the burdens of others and encour
age the weaker ones. Let us stand by
our obligations by all means and under
all circumstances. Let us show to the
world that we are made of good mate
rial and that we have energy, pluck and
manhood enough in us to carry our reso
lutions to a uni c , or better. Brethren,
unless we do this—put in practice Alli
ance principles—we had better quit
preaching Allianceism, for if we fail to
carry our point, we will be greatly injured
in the attempt. We will receive jeers
and scoffs from all pettifogging scape
goats, and it will discourage our weak
ones. D. S. Coe.
From Gilmer County.
You will please publish the following
if thought worth notice:
We will first notice the indebtedness
of the state of Georgia, which, accord
ing to the best information we can get, is
yej>ay
interest; tlie holdcivof vile Eofitis tidds not
pay tax on them, as the law exempts
state bonds from taxation, and our legis
lators ever since the war claim that it is
the best for the state to be in debt, it
makes them economize. If there is any
economy in the legislature staying in ses
sion nearly half the year we have failed
to see it. Last year they were in session
156 days; with 300 members at $4.00 per
day, with cost of officers, it will amount
to something near $187,200. If we had
had the right kind of a body—no time
killers, no money-grabbers, no loafers—
and all had the welfare of the tax-payers
at heart, they would have done the busi
ness of that body in forty days, which
would have cost the tax-payers $31,800;
In the ten years the tax-payers have lost
about $1,554,000.
We are satisfied that there is enough
good, honest men to fill all the offices who
will aid the laboring class. We cannot
expect men to legislate for us when their
interests are not identical with ours. We
have tried it long enough to know that
they will legislate for their own interests.
The national government makes us
pay more taxes for manufacturing spirits
to pay high-salaried officers than we get
for our labor. ,The President of the
United States gets $50,000, congress mem
bers get $7,500 annually, etc. If we buy
a $lO suit of clothes, we pay the govern
ment $4.50. The government has taken
the people’s money and loaned it to the
banks at 1 per cent., and has given them
the right to loan it back to the people at
10 per cent.
Be it resolved, That we condemn the
present legislature in its long session, for
voting against the Olive bill, and for
voting against the resolution for mem
bers to not draw pay when absent. We
would ask all Alliancemen not to send
men to make laws who vote against such
resolutions, as we unanimously pledge
ourselves to not vote for them.
M. J. West, Committee.
From Talbot County.
We have information that some man
ufacturers are refusing to sell their fertil
izers through the Exchange, on the plea
that they must protect their trade and
Whereas, It is equally important that
we should protect ourselves, therefore be
it,
Resolved, That we request our state
agent to furnish us with a list of the
names of those who refuse to sell us
through the Exchange.
Resolved, That we hereby pledge our
selves to buy no fertilizers unless we get
them through the Exchange.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolu
tions be forwarded to The Southern
Alliance Farmer for publication.
P. F. Mahone, Sec. S. Maxwell, Pres»