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“It is not often the first charge
that carries the attacking force over
the breastworks.. None of the great
inventions ,that have made a new
world out- of the old world of our
fathers are following the first mod
els. ‘Try again,’ says the inventor,
whose first attempt is a failure. ‘Try
again,’ says the soldier whose first
assault was beaten back. ‘Try again,’
says human ambition on every field
where courage and fortitude unite to
snatch victory from defeat. So, the
farmers must try again. It is never
too late to mend. There’s life in
the old land yet! We won’t make
the mistake which wrecked the Farm
ers’ Alliance.
Danger of Indorsing Candidates.
“Tomorrow there will be a cry
that Watson is trying to lead the
Farmers’ Union into politics.
“Pay no attention to the clamor!
The mistake which the Farmers’ Al
liance made was that it indorsed
candidates for office. Leaders of
the alliance tried to deliver its vote
first to one candidate and then to
another. This split the order into
factions.
“Then, again, nearly all the ofH
cers of the alliance wanted office.
You remember how it was here in
Georgia, in one campaign every bless
ed state officer of the alliance, ex
ecpting the lecturer, Rev. Thomas
Beck, was running for office. From
Livingston down to the county presi
dent and vice-president, they every
one made a break for the public
crib.
“This very thing had as much to
do with killing the Alliance as any
other.
“The Farmers’ Union is avoiding
this fatal mistake. Their officers are
not allowed to run for office while
holding their positions in the order.
“Another thing helped to kill the
Alliance. A few of the leaders or
ganized a secret order within the Al
liance, for the purpose of controlling
it. This wheel within the wheel was
called ‘Gideon’s Band.’ Livingston
was one of the main leaders of this
secret ring.
“Such doings as this would kill
any order, and they killed the alli
ance.
“The mistake of the past teach us
wisdom. our failures we
press on to success.
“With all my heart I warn you to
keep out of politics. But here is
what I mean: Don’t run your own
officers as candidates for political of
fice; don’t indorse the candidacy of
men running for office; let each mem
ber of your order go to the polls and
vote as he chooses; don’t tie his
hands with instructions given in a se
cret meeting.
“But do not deceive yourselves in
to believing that laws are going to
be made as you want them without
some effort on your part. Th(i*gov
ernment made laws to suit the manu
facturer and banker, because the
manufacturer and banker put the
necessary pressure w’here it would do
the most good. Banking associations
and manufacturing associations do
not openly put out candidates for
congress; yet congress gives these
bankers and manufacturers just
what they want.
Study Public Questions.
“You cannot always be satisfied
with co-operative buying and selling.
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
These are good things, but after a
while you will want to modify a pro
tective system which robs you of
forty bales of cotton out of every
hundred. You will want to modify
the banking system which puts you
at a hopeless disadvantage. You will
want to exert more control over
transportation companies and over
public utilities ~ of all kinds. Yon
will want special privileges rooted
out, and the laws made according to
the Jeffersonian gospel of ‘equal
rights to all.’
“You must study questions of na
tional policy and legislation. You
must pass resolutions embodying your
views. You must show by your res
olutions how you intend to vote. The
politicians will do the rest.
“See how you managed that ques
tion of immigration. You did not in
dorse any candidate: you had no elec
tion. You simply passed some resolu
tions. That was enough. The immigra
tion business died quickly, without so
much as a death rattle in its threat.
“Why can’t you do the same with
other public questions? You can do
it. You can take up every demand
of the Ocala platform and have it
made into law by presenting a bold
front in its favor. Once impress
the politicians that you are deter
mined to have these things, and that
your voting strength is sufficient to
mean defeat to one who defies you
and the reforms which you approve
will become laws.
“Statesmen create currents, but
politicians float with the current.
“Statesmen often tell you things
you don’t want to hear, but the poli
tician seeks always to tell you what
you wish to hear. The statesman
may defy your pleasure, telling you
that you are wrong, but the politi
cian will seek to please you by doing
what you command, although he may
know that you are wrong. The staes
man thinks only of your good, and
may often go against your present
wishes for your future welfare, but
the politician thinks only for his own
good and to get what he wants from
you, will go your way, even though
he feels it to be to your hurt. There
fore, you have nothing to fear from
them. You show them which side
the butter is on and they will know
how to select the bread.
Plea to Adopt Ocala Platform.
“Why shouldn’t the Farmers’ Un
ion declare itself in favor of the
Ocala platform of the Farmers’ Al
liance ?
“Sooner or later the union must
set forth a national creed, and a na
tional policy. In no other way can
it be kept together; kept growing
and be made a controlling factor in
national affairs.
“This is self-evident. Then what
better creed does the union want
than that upon which the Alliance
united the farmers of the West and
South; the laborers of the fields and
the shop, the toilers of country and
town?
“Examine the Ocala platform,
plank by plank.
“Does any member of the Farm
ers’ Union object to direct election
of senators by the people? Certainly*
not.
“Who opposes the income tax? No
body but the millionaires, who now
escape national taxation.
■4
“Does the farmer opose the re
moval of tariff taxes from the neces
saries of life? Os course not.
“Where is the intelligent member
of this great order who does not
know that our national banking sys
tem is the grossest class legislation
and ought to be abolished?
“How could any farmer oppose
the government control of the rail
roads? Or governmental loans to
farmers at 2 per cent interest?
“Why should the farmers rest
easy under a financial system which
puts them at a disadvantage in the
borrowing of money and makes them
pay higher rates than anybody else?
* “Men of the Farmers’ Union!
You must have a national purpose, a
national creed, if you would be felt
as a national power.
“Take the Ocala platform and
breach the walls of privilege with it.
Batter down our monstrous system
of class legislation and restore the
system of equal rights.
“In this way you safeguard the
future of the republic against the
plutocrat on the one hand, and the
socialist on the other.
“Do away with special privileges,
compel national legislation to foHow
the Jeffersonian rule of ‘Equal and
exact justice to all men.” When
our government is thus redidicated to
the principles of our fathers we shall
have* conditions which are as perfect
as are possible to imperfect human
beings.
Glorious Promise of Future.
“With the principles of the Ocala
platform enacted into law, I can see
as in a glorious vision a new world
coming into existence for the agri
cultural classes, and for the country
as a whole.
“Blessed with a fair share of the
wealth which he creates, the farmer
becomes prosperous and happy. Coun
try life takes on again its ancient
dignity, and beauty and comfort.
This fearful crowding of people into
the cities comes to an end. Labor
and wealth distribute themselves in
stead of congesting, and the cry of
the socialist on the street corner dies
away.
“The frightful commercial spirit
which exalts the dollar above the man
is rebuked and cowed. Public and
private morality steadily advance
their standards; and as general com
fort spreads among the people crime
almost disappears. Education knocks
at the humblest cottage door calling
to the school room the children of the
poor. The golden doors of oppor
tunity swing wide open, and a voice
from within constantly calls, ‘Who
soever will, let him come.’
“Five years ago who could have
' believed that a Republican president
would be leading the hosts of re
form? Five years ago who swuld have
believed that the big criminals would
be on the run, and the monster cor
porations quivering in every limh?
“Let the agricultural classes rouse
themselves and put forth their
strength. In five years more we shall
see still greater things, and one of
the greatest will be—the government
dealing justly with all classes, giv
ing justice to the manufacturers and
nothing more; justice to the banks,
and nothing more; justice to the rail
roads, and nothing more; justice to
the farmer—-and nothing Im”
FARMERS’ BANKS WILL SOLVE
CORN PROBLEM.
Grain Growers are Elated With Prop
osition of American Society cf
Equity—Farm Lands Come High-
Owners See More Safety for Their
Money in the Soil Than in De
posits.
Des Moines, lowa, August 10. —A
proposition emanating from President
J. A. Everitt, of Equity, to finance
with farmers’ money a comprehensive
scheme for controlling the crops of
the country is attracting considerable
attention throughout the corn belt
where wealth has accumulated in
agrarian circles during recent years
with gratifying rapidity.
As his money accumulates the corn
belt farmer is the more seriously con
cerned regarding its care. Most cf
them, respecting the French proverb,
believe that money being flat is made
to pile up, although a few adhere to
the round theory, which teaches them
that, being round, it is made to roil.
How properly to care for his in
creasing cash reserve and keep it in
tact for the inevitable period of finan
cial stress is the problem of the hour.
Consequently, the project outlined in
the Examiner in an interview with
President Everitt is attracting much
attention.
Bankers are agreed that if the
farmers could get together and
“stick”—that word affords the key
to the situation—they would be able
to control crop marketing and put
agriculture in a position of indepen
dence.
Favors Farmers’ Banks.
“As a banker I am in favor of
giving the farmer all possible finan
cial accommodation,” said a man who
controls a national bank in central
lowa. “Take farmers’ deposits out
of the banks of the corn belt and
a big hole would be made in their
liabilities, and, by the same token,
they would have very Irttle to operate
on.
“President Everitt, of the Ameri
can Society of Equity, takes a posi
tion that deserves commendation
from every banker in the country.
As I take it, the society he repre
sents does not assume antagonism
toward existing financial institutions,
but merely wants the same accommo
dation given the merchant and specu
lator that would seem to be reason
able.
“An elevator operator has no trou
ble in using the grain in his posses
sion as a means of raising money,
and why should the farmer be han
dicapped in that manner? A drove
of cattle or hogs or a crib full of
corn ought to be a better security
for the banker than a bundle of
stocks, the value of which is liable
to shrink anywhere from 10 to 50
per cent in response to a bear raid
in Wall Street.
“I do not know, but as a banker I
would be justified iij making ad
vances on growing crops, the re
sponsibility of the growers being, of
course, a factor. The question of
credit comes in here as everywhere
else, but the point I am trying to
make is that we ought to stretch a
point as long with the farmer as
the merchant in town or the specu
lator. We lend our surplus in the
(Continued on Page 14.)
PAGE SEVEN