THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE. 79 



and solid class, on which the prosperity of all others depends, and to which 

 all must look to judge of the future of the land. 



"Causes that tend to depress and enslave this important element of our 

 country, which may be well designated as the foundation of the superstruct- 

 ure, must surely endanger the very structure itself, and tend towards ultimate 

 dissolution and loss of all control. Strange as the assertion may sound, it is 

 nevertheless true, that we have two classes of anarchists in this country : one 

 the avowed anarchists, who oppose all law and order, and the other a blindly 

 selfish class, who would loudly disclaim anarchy, but advocate conditions that 

 so surely sap the vitals of productive labor, that the result is ten times more 

 productive of results ripe for anarchy than all the agitation of the avowed 

 anarchists. If our order means anything, it means justice, right, law, and 

 order, and therefore must be the very antipode of all forms of anarchy, both 

 avowed and disguised. So just a cause may well command great devotion 

 and energy ; but when, in addition to the justice of the principles involved in 

 the movement, its magnitude and importance and the necessity for action are 

 considered, the command will be recognized and accepted as imperative by 

 all those who have allied themselves to the order. As to the magnitude and 

 importance of the business, you, as the representatives of the membership at 

 large, are to be congratulated upon the wonderful growth the order has made 

 in so short a time. As will be shown by the report of your secretary, there 

 are now about ten thousand Sub-Alliances ; these are associated into about 

 eight hundred County Alliances, and represent an individual membership of 

 about four hundred thousand. Twelve States are working under charters 

 from this body, and three or four more are about ready to be chartered. 

 While this is a good showing for the time and means employed, it is but a 

 start compared with what may be done in the same field, and may well and 

 forcibly impress you with the importance of providing a more efficient system 

 of securing laborers and means with which to prosecute the work. As to the 

 necessity for action, all will perhaps admit that it exists, and that it calls for 

 immediate activity. All other occupations are organized and are constantly 

 striving to draw the lines of their organization closer, and the progress of 

 material development has brought about such peculiar conditions in this day 

 and time that to avoid organization is to refuse the benefits of enlightened 

 co-operation, and suffer from the evil effects of trusts and combines, that seem 

 to have no limit to their greed, and heed no resistance except organization. 

 That this is understood and recognized by the masses is evinced by the avid- 

 ity with which they embrace an opportunity to unite with the organization, 

 and this should be carefully noted as an indication of the responsibility rest- 

 ing on this body to provide such laws and rules within the order as will insure 

 to its members the benefits of enlightened co-operation in fact ; and such laws 

 as will assist them in acting as a unit to resist the encroachments of opposing 

 organized power. 



" Questions of great delicacy and importance will be presented to this body 

 for solution, and, unfortunately, the limited time that the majority will prob- 

 ably agree to stay may render a proper consideration and discussion of all 



