THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE 119 



to work were set forth in a platform adopted at the 

 second annual meeting in Chicago, October 5, 1881, 

 which demanded: equal taxation of all property, 

 including deduction of the amount of mortgages 

 from assessments of mortgaged property; "a just 

 income tax"; reduction of salaries of officials and 

 their election instead of appointment, so far as 

 practicable; regulation of interstate commerce; re- 

 form of the patent laws; and prevention of the 

 adulteration of food. "The combination and con- 

 solidation of railroad capital ... in the main- 

 tenance of an oppressive and tyrannical transpor- 

 tation system" was particularly denounced, and 

 the farmers of the country were called upon to or- 

 ganize "for systematic and persistent action" for 

 "the emancipation of the people from this terrible 

 oppression." 



The Northwestern Alliance did not attempt co- 

 operation in business so extensively as did its 

 Southern contemporaries, but a number of Alliance 

 grain elevators were established in Minnesota and 

 Dakota, cooperative creameries flourished in Illi- 

 nois, and many of the alliances appointed agents to 

 handle produce and purchase supplies for the mem- 

 bers. It was in the field of politics, however, that 

 the activity of the order was most notable. The 



