120 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



methods by which the farmers of the Northwest at- 

 tempted to use their organizations for political ends 

 are well illustrated by the resolutions adopted at 

 the annual meeting of the Minnesota State Alliance 

 in 1886 which declared that "the Alliance, while 

 not a partisan association, is political in the sense 

 that it seeks to correct the evils of misgovernment 

 through the ballot-box," and called upon all the 

 producers of the State "to unite with us at the 

 ballot-box next November to secure a legislature 

 that will work in the interests of the many against 

 the exactions of the few." The specific demands 

 included state regulation of railroads, free coinage 

 of silver, reduction of the tariff to a revenue basis, 

 revision of the patent laws, high taxation of oleo- 

 margarine, and reduction of the legal rate of inter- 

 est from 10 to 8 per cent. The secretary was di- 

 rected to forward copies of these resolutions to fed- 

 eral and state officers and to the delegation of the 

 State in Congress; and the members of local al- 

 liances were "urged to submit this platform of 

 principles to every candidate for the legislature in 

 their respective districts, and to vote as a unit 

 against every man who refuses to publicly sub- 

 scribe his name to the same and pledge himself, if 

 elected, to live up to it." 



