336 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



Assembly. He became a member of the Agricultural 

 Wheel in 1886, and from that date has been an active 

 defender of the Wheel Demands and the principles of 

 organized labor. He was the editor of the National 

 Wheel Enterprise from May i to December i, 1888. Was 

 President of the Famous Life Association, of Little Rock, 

 Arkansas, from October 20, 1887, to January i, 1889. 

 The association, under his management, was a grand suc- 

 cess. He has filled many of the leading pulpits of his 

 church in the State. He assisted in the organization of 

 the National Wheel at Litchfield, Arkansas, and was a 

 delegate to the National Wheel at Meridian, Mississippi, 

 when the question of consolidation with the Farmers' 

 Alliance came before that body. Mr. Langley is a man 

 of fine personal appearance. -Possessed of an energy and 

 firmness that fits him for work among the great army of 

 reformers, he has lifted himself up from the humble plow- 

 boy to take his place among men of rank. As a speaker 

 and writer he has but few equals. His style of delivery is 

 pleasing, and commands the entire attention of his audi- 

 ence. His telling argument convinces the most obdurate. 

 His written articles are full of pith, and abound with good 

 sense. As a satirist and critic, he wields a two-edged 

 sword. He is a self-made man. Warm-hearted, and 

 with broad and liberal views, he ranks among the fore- 

 most men engaged in labor reform. 



J. W. RODGERS. 



U J. W. Rodgers, Secretary of the State Wheel of 

 Missouri, is a native of Tennessee, and was born in Hay- 

 wood county, in that State, on the 25th day of November, 

 1845. I 11 the year 1854 his father moved to Dyer county, 

 in the same State, where he remained and worked on his 

 father's farm until the great civil war broke out. In 



