THE FARMERS' UNION. 221 



organization, every president of a subordinate union was an authorized 

 organizing officer. To faster extend the organization, the office of cor- 

 responding secretary was created, with authority to distribute the consti- 

 tutions as widely as possible, and to correspond with such agricultural 

 papers as would insert his communications. J. A. Tetts was elected to 

 fill this office. No officer was allowed any salary, and only actual ex- 

 penses incurred were paid. Even the organizing of sub-unions was done 

 free of charge and as a labor of love. This first band of union men 

 worked for their love of humanity and the cause they were in, without 

 pay and cheerfully. 



The State Union adjourned to meet again in October, 1885. At this 

 meeting there were four parishes represented. I had made good use of 

 my pen ; had written communications to Home and Farm, and hun- 

 dreds of private letters to parties inquiring about the order. At the 

 October meeting I presented letters from many who had taken an inter- 

 est in our order, and among others one from Brother Isaac McCracken, 

 President of the Agricultural Wheel. At the close of my report, I was, 

 by resolution, authorized to correspond with other agricultural societies, 

 and try to bring about a consolidation. I had copies of the Alliance 

 constitution of Texas, and on these were printed the names of the offi- 

 cers. I enclosed to Brother Andrew Dunlap a copy of our constitution, 

 and stated the nature of my authority. Some time afterward I received 

 a letter from Brother C. W. Macune, stating that Brother Dunlap and 

 the vice-president of the Alliance of Texas had resigned, and that the 

 correspondence for the president's office had fallen into his hands ; that 

 he saw no reason why the two bodies should not unite and form a 

 national, as I had proposed to Brother Dunlap ; that he had issued a 

 call for the State Alliance to meet at Waco, on the i;th of January, 

 1886. I wrote him, asking him to send a delegate to meet with us on 

 (I think) the 6th day of the same month, for the purpose of explaining 

 the nature of the Alliance, and assisting us in arriving at a basis of union. 

 Brother Macune requested Brother Evan Jones to meet us. He did so, 

 and to him I proposed a plan I had previously submitted to our State 

 Union. (Brother Jones did not reach Ruston on the first day of our 

 meeting.) Brother Jones gave us an idea of the condition of affairs in 

 Texas, and informed us that, as his State Alliance had not met, he was 

 unable to act upon the part of the Texas State Alliance. Brother Jones' 

 visit gave the union great encouragement, and it immediately elected 

 me to go to the Waco meeting, on the i yth of January, and act for our 

 State organization in the formation of a national organization. 



At the Waco meeting the State Alliance elected one member from 



