BROTHERS OF FREEDOM. 217 



building up of this grand agricultural reform movement. One 

 of the old members, in writing upon this point, feelingly said : 

 " But they who laid the foundation for these vast agricultural 

 organizations knew at the time that they were unfit to adorn 

 the upper stratum. They knew full well that other and abler 

 men would be found to take up the grand work when they were 

 unable to carry it farther, and guide it to ultimate success ; but 

 they also believed that the sturdy workmen who break the soil 

 and lay the foundation stones are just as necessary as those 

 who beautify and adorn the completed structure." It is out of 

 just such pioneer organizations as this that the great Farmers' 

 Alliance of the present has been evolved. 



The following is the declaration of principles and constitution 

 of the order, which will be read with interest by all, as being 

 among the first of its kind. 



This constitution was framed by a few men before there was 

 any organization of Brothers of Freedom ; it was read to each 

 applicant for membership, and he ratified the same upon becom- 

 ing a member. 



DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES. 



We believe there is a God, the great Creator of all things, and that 

 he created all men free and equal, and endowed them with certain 

 inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and 

 that these rights are a common inheritance and should be respected by 

 all mankind. 



We further believe that any power .or influence that tends to restrict 

 or circumscribe any class of our citizens in the free exercise of these 

 God-given rights and privileges, is detrimental to the best interests of 

 a free people. 



While it is an established fact that the laboring classes of mankind 

 are the real producers of wealth, we find that they are gradually becom- 

 ing oppressed by combinations of capital, and the fruits of their toil 

 absorbed by a class who propose not only to live on the labors of others, 

 but to speedily amass fortunes at their expense. Therefore, in order to 

 protect ourselves from the oppression of said combinations of capital, 

 and to secure the co-operation of the laboring classes in obtaining a 

 just reward for the fruits of honest labor, we ordain the following consti- 

 tution, by-laws, and rules of order : 



