BUSINESS EFFORTS. 367 



Could not be made to comprehend the fact that their stores, cotton 

 yards, and Exchange were practically option houses, and that the less 

 business they did, the less expense they would have and the better the 

 result would be, provided general prices were kept down. 



The Exchange did about $1,000,000 worth of business in 1888, and 

 reduced general prices throughout the entire State of Texas, saving the 

 farmers of the State, at the very lowest estimate, several millions of dol- 

 lars. No one man had over $5 invested in the capital stock, and the 

 final loss of the entire capital stock, amounting in the aggregate to less 

 than $100,000, was a mere drop in the bucket to the gains that accrued 

 to the membership from the reduction of general prices. 



The business effort of the Alliance Exchange of Texas taught that 

 profit was wrong ; that a man was entitled to pay for his work, and to 

 interest on his investment, but to no profits ; and advised farmers in the 

 different sections not to invest their money in stores, but to select an 

 agent and provide a place for storage ; have such goods as they were 

 sure to need shipped to these " supply stations," as they were called, 

 and have the agent there one or two days in each week, to divide out the 

 goods to those who participated in making the note and ordering the 

 goods. Whether the plan contained merit or not, its benefits, when 

 compared with its expense, including the loss of the original capital, 

 demonstrate it to have been the greatest financial success ever started in 

 this country, and the only reason this fact is not recognized is because 

 the benefits have been distributed in small amounts to the pockets of 

 millions of farmers, instead of being placed to the credit of the bank 

 account of one single capitalist. 



In May, 1888, the business agents of the different States met as a 

 committee of the National Alliance, for the purpose of organizing a State 

 business agents' association. The matter was thoroughly discussed and 

 a plan formulated. This plan formed the basis upon which many State 

 Exchanges were started. The following plan, on which the State Alliance 

 of Georgia has organized its Farmers' Alliance Exchange, will give a 

 correct idea of the objects and methods by which the Exchange system 

 is operated, and is a very good example of the laws governing the 

 Exchanges in the other States : 



" i. The name of this corporation shall be 'The Farmers' Alliance Exchange of 

 Georgia.' 



" 2. The purposes for which this corporation is organized are : m To conduct a gen- 

 eral mercantile business; to act as agent for the purchase and sale of all kinds of 

 farm and orchard products, and general forwarding agent for all kinds of commodi- 

 ties; to erect, manage, and operate warehouses, stock-yards, grain elevators, packing 



