THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE. 179 



years, and Brother Cole of Michigan being selected as a mem- 

 ber of the Judiciary Committee. The salaries were changed in 

 some particulars, and the membership confined strictly to the 

 country. A Legislative Council was instituted, consisting of 

 the national president and the president of each State Alliance. 

 An understanding was arrived at concerning the duties of 

 Alliance papers in the discussion of Alliance principles, which 

 will no doubt be of great benefit to the order. A platform or 

 declaration of principles was adopted that will stand as the 

 crowning glory of the meeting. It will warm the hearts of all 

 true Alliance members, inspire them with confidence, and nerve 

 them to renewed action. The schemes of the slanderer failed, 

 the plans of the traitors were destroyed, and the plots of the 

 politicians disclosed, and the Alliance came out of the ordeal 

 purified, stronger than ever, more united than ever, and more 

 determined than ever to push on the work so grandly and ear- 

 nestly begun. 



Such, in brief, was the important work of the meeting. To 

 restrict its membership in future to the country was wise, and 

 served to eliminate many annoying conditions, and at the same 

 time made room for other fraternal orders to work without 

 unpleasant complications. 



The declaration of demands adopted at the meeting will 

 challenge the admiration of every candid, thinking man through- 

 out the entire nation. Its demands are simple, plain, practical, 

 and entirely within the provisions of the constitution. There 

 is nothing revolutionary in their character, and they could be 

 easily and cheaply administered. These demands are limited 

 almost entirely to the three great questions, land, transporta- 

 tion, and currency. Upon these it speaks with no uncertain 

 sound. No backward step has been taken, but a long stride in 

 advance has been made. The sub-treasury plan has been reaf- 

 firmed, with the addition of loans upon real estate. This makes 

 the financial proposition complete, and will tend to greatly 

 strengthen the whole. With loans direct to the people, upon 

 land as the basis for a permanent addition to the circulation, 

 and loans upon products to furnish that flexibility which all just 

 systems of finance should possess, the Alliance can meet any 

 and all objections with the most convincing arguments. The 



