1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
865 
FACTS  ABOUT  THE  FARMERS’  ALLIANCE 
CONVENTION. 
I  wish  to  correct  a  statement  made  editorially  in 
The  R.  N.-Y.  of  December  3,  that  the  National 
Farmers’  Alliance  Convention,  held  at  Memphis,  Tenn., 
was  “unprecedentedly  turbulent  and  acrimonious.” 
“The  sentiments  of  the  Northern  and  Western  mem¬ 
bers  were  well  voiced  by  ex-Congressman  Otis,  of  Kan¬ 
sas,  in  denouncing  the  conduct  of  the  supporters  of  the 
Southern  candidate  for  President.  4  If  McCune  is 
elected  president,’  he  exclaimed,  4  we  of  the  West  will 
withdraw  from  the  National  order.’”  I  know  The  R.  N.- 
Y.  would  not  do  any  farmers’  organization  an  injustice, 
and  that  the  information  on  which  these  remarks  were 
based  was  derived  from  Associated  Press  reports. 
I  was  a  delegate  in  that  Council  and  was  in  the  hall 
every  moment  when  it  was  in  session,  and  saw  no  un¬ 
usual  excitement  or  commotion  such  as  to  cause  such 
a  report  to  be  spread  throughout  the  country.  In  fact, 
I  assure  you  that  this  “  unprecedented  turbulence  ” 
only  existed  in  the  minds  of  two  or  three  men  who 
wished  that  such  a  condition  of  affairs  should  exist. 
Ex-Congressman  Otis,  of  Kansas,  never  made  the  state¬ 
ment  credited  to  him.  threatening  to  withdraw.  He 
did  say  that  he  thought  we  could  elect  a  president, 
from  our  many  prominent  workers,  who  would  need 
no  vindication  and  on  whom  no  slander  or  suspicion 
had  ever  rested.  The  great  majority  of  workers 
seemed  to  agree  with  this  sentiment.  There  was  no 
contest  between  North  and  South,  as  will  be  proved 
by  the  distribution  of  officers  :  H.  L.  Loucks,  South 
Dakota,  President;  Marion  Butler,  North  Carolina, 
Vice  President ;  L.  K.  Taylor,  Tennessee,  Secretary 
and  Treasurer  ;  Ben  Terrell,  Texas,  Lecturer;  L.  Leon¬ 
ard,  of  Missouri,  and  Mann  Page,  of  Virginia,  on  the 
Executive  Board  from  the  South,  and  T.  E.  Dean,  of 
New  York,  and  H.  C.  Deeming,  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
same  board  from  the  North  ;  R.  A.  Southworth,  of 
Colorado,  on  the  Judiciary  Committee. 
The  only  question  that  excited  any  especial  warmth  of 
feeling  during  the  proceedings  was  what  would  be  done 
with  J.  F.  Tillman,  one  of  the  old  Executive  Board, 
for  making  his  lecture  bureau  a  partisan  machine, 
and  this  was  a  question  that  the  Southern  brothers 
were  most  interested  in  and  they  claimed  the  right  to 
deal  with  him,  which  they  did,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Good  of  the  Order,  of 
which  A.  M.  Mims,  of  Tennessee,  was  Chairman,  as 
follows : 
Resolved:  That  Brother  Tillman,  as  a  citizen  or  as  a  member  of  the 
Alliance,  had  a  perfect  right  at  his  own  expense  to  distribute  whatever 
partisan  literature  he  chose  to  do,  but  as  an  officer  and  chief  of  the 
Lecture  Bureau  he  had  gone  beyond  the  trust  of  his  office,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  his  action  was  a  plain  contradiction  of  the  claims  of  our 
order  as  being  strictly  non-partisan. 
I  have  been  a  delegate  in  nine  National  Conventions 
or  Conferences  and  eight  State  Conventions,  as  well  as 
delegate  to  two  National  Councils  of  the  National 
Farmers’  Alliance  and  Industrial  Union,  and  three 
State  Councils  in  New  York,  and  I  have  never  been  a 
member  of  a  body  of  men  more  earnest,  conscientious, 
courteous  and  determined  than  the  National  Council 
that  met  at  Memphis,  on  November  15.  I  have  never 
been  a  member  of  a  conventional  body  where  the  busi¬ 
ness  progressed  in  a  more  dignified  and  business-like 
manner.  The  only  exception  to  this  statement  was 
during  the  naming  of  candidates  for  president,  when 
McCune  withdrew  and  two  or  three  hours  were  wasted 
’n  statements  and  counter-statements,  in  violation  of 
regular  order  of  business. 
Ninety  per  cent  of  the  delegates  to  this  Council  will 
agree  with  me  that  no  other  Council  has  ever  been 
held  where  such  harmony  and  good  feeling  prevailed 
at  the  close  as  marked  the  close  of  the  Memphis 
Council  of  the  Farmers’  Alliance  and  Industrial  Union. 
For  further  proof  of  this  fact  I  refer  to  the  excel¬ 
lent  address  of  Gen.  A.  M.  West  (who  was  McCune’s 
leader)  at  the  close  of  the  Council,  which  will  be  found 
complete  in  the  official  report  of  the  Council  proceed¬ 
ings,  which  I  will  send  The  R.  N.-Y.  as  soon  as  printed. 
Honeoye  Falls,  N.  Y.  i.  e.  dean. 
HE  LIKES  “BREVITIES.” 
I  wonder  how  large  a  percentage  of  the  readers  of 
The  Rukal  New-Yorkeb  make  it  a  point  to  read  the 
half  column  devoted  to  “Brevities”  each  week.  To  me 
there  is  not  a  more  interesting  department  in  the  whole 
paper,  and  in  my  humble  opinion  there  is  not  a  better 
sustained  one.  The  “  poetry  ”  displayed  there  is  not 
always  remarkable  for  its  imagery,  but  it  generally 
has  a  visible  point,  and  the  short  poem  at  the  head  of 
the  column  really  shows  a  flight  of  genius  very  fre¬ 
quently.  The  great  wonder  to  me  is  that  any  one  man 
or  the  force  of  any  one  paper  can  keep  the  thing  up 
week  after  week,  without  flagging  or  losing  point.  I 
am  not  trying  to  be  complimentary  to  the  editors  of 
The  Rural  New-Yorker,  nor  saying  all  this  just  to 
say  something,  but  I  really  think  that  the  man  who 
misses  this  department,  loses  the  pie  of  each  week’s 
feast  of  good  things. 
Take  the  current  (December  10)  issue  as  an  example. 
To  begin  with,  there  are  some  verses  on  feeding  sheep 
that  are  in  perfect  accord  with  my  experience,  and 
one  time  I  took  a  whole  column  to  tell  as  much  as  is 
told  in  the  first  12  lines,  and  these  are  a  prelude  to 
words  about  training  children  that  are  a  whole  sermon 
in  a  few  words,  and  I  would  to  God  that  the  conclusion 
could  be  so  thoroughly  impressed  on  the  minds  of 
every  father  and  mother  that  they  would  remember 
them  every  day  in  their  lives 
The  beauty  of  “  Brevities  ”  consists  in  the  train  of 
thought  they  lead  to.  I  raise  Leghorn  chickens,  and 
the  item  which  says :  “  A  cross  between  a  Leghorn 
comb  and  a  snow  bank  will  always  breed  an  egg  fam¬ 
ine,”  appeals  to  me,  and  I  congratulate  myself  that  my 
Leghorns  are  free  from  danger  of  any  such  an  out- 
cross,  and  if  they  were  not  safe,  no  matter  how  the 
winds  may  blow,  I  fancy  that  item  would  come  up  be¬ 
fore  me  every  time  I  saw  my  flock.  The  same  column 
tells  us  that  #2,000,000  are  lost  each  year  in  Nebraska 
from  the  coddling  moth,  and  I  resolve  that  I  shall  not 
pay  my  share  of  any  such  tax  in  Ohio  next  year.  A 
little  further  down  an  item  reminds  me  of  something 
I  saw  in  a  paper  years  ago,  to  the  effect  that  a  weed 
would  not  grow  in  the  shade  of  a  tobacco  plant.  As 
there  was  no  diagram  in  connection  with  this  it  took 
me  some  time  to  convince  myself  of  the  truth  of  the 
assertion.  Then  it  occurred  to  me  that  no  tobacco 
plant  would  ever  get  large  enough  to  shade  a  weed  if 
both  were  given  an  equal  chance.  This  is  one  of  the 
things  I  have  never  forgotten,  and  I  apply  the  obvious 
remedy  to  all  the  plants  I  grow,  among  which  tobacco 
has  no  place.  Then  when  I  am  reminded  that  we 
farmers  furnish  four-fifths  of  the  exports  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  I  am  “  jollied  up”  to  the  extent  that  I  conclude 
there  is  some  hope  for  us  yet,  even  if  Brother  Dibble 
does  get  a  little  mixed  in  his  assertions  sometimes. 
My  way  of  reading  The  Rural  New-Yorker  is  to 
turn  to  “Brevities”  first,  and  then  hunt  up  the  matters 
referred  to  in  the  body  of  the  paper.  This  is  something 
like  eating  my  pie  first,  but  men  are  only  children  of 
larger  growth,  and  in  the  absence  of  specific  custom 
revert  to  childish  practices.  harry  carew. 
BUSINESS  BITS. 
Indorses  Chapman’s  Plan. — Buckwheat  hulls,  a  waste  product 
at  country  mills,  scattered  four  to  six  Inches  deep  on  the  floor  of  a  hen 
house,  will  keep  down  bad  odors  and  give  hens  needed  exercise  In 
scratching  for  their  grain.  w.  j.  s. 
Albion,  N.  Y. 
Here  Is  something  from  the  Maine  Farmer  for  you  to  figure  on: 
44  When  a  man  can  take  6V6  bushels  of  potatoes  to  market  and  exchange 
them  for  as  good  a  barrel  of  flour  as  can  bo  made,  It  Is  a  question 
whether  the  balance  of  trade  Is  not  In  his  favor.”  What  do  you  think 
about  that  ? 
One  op  Many.— I  am  not  a  “  calamity  howler,”  and  do  not  believe 
the  country  Is  going  to  the  dogs,  at  least  not  yet;  but  I  believe  In  the 
free  coinage  of  sliver.  In  reference  to  the  article  of  Henry  Stewart,  In 
the  Issue  of  December  a,  there  Is  not  a  mine  In  the  State  of  Colorado 
that  can  produce  sliver  for  12  cents  a  pound.  There  Is  but  one  that 
can  produce  It  for  50  cents  an  ounce,  (some  difference!)  and  the 
majority  cannot  pay  dividends  at  the  present  prices. 
Colorado.  bdwin  rewai.t. 
A  Tool,  Tai.k, — In  THE  It.  N.-Y.  for  November  19,  I  And  some  re¬ 
marks  by  A.  D.  Warner,  which  call  for  some  comments.  What  Is  said 
about  the  Hoover  potato  digger  I  can  confirm  by  my  own  experience, 
as  I  have  used  one  with  great  satisfaction  the  past  season.  It  Is 
heavy  so  as  to  need  four  horses  to  draw  It,  but  It  does  the  work.  No 
lighter  machine  will  do  It  satisfactorily.  But  when  friend  Warner 
talks  about  reapers  and  binders,  I  must  differ  with  him.  He  certainly 
Is  not  posted.  For  two  years  I  have  had  a  binder  that  a  gritty  pair  of 
1,000-pound  horses  will  draw  as  easily  as  a  mower.  I  happen  to  have  a 
fairly  solid  team  weighing  2,000  pounds,  and  they  work  It  day  after 
day  without  any  worry.  I  cut  with  It  over  100  acres  the  past  season.  I 
have  no  Interest  In  the  machine  or  In  any  other,  except  to  get  the  most 
efficient  and  cheapest.  The  binder  Is  the  Adrlance,  made  by  Adrlance, 
Platt  A  Co.,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.  In  cutting  the  100  acres  there  was 
not  a  single  difficulty.  There  are  so  many  advantages  about  the 
machine  that  It  Is  hard  to  tell  them  all.  Not  the  least  Is  that  It  can  be 
driven  along  any  country  road  and  through  any  ordinary  bar  or  gate¬ 
way  without  any  disconnections.  t.  j.  s. 
Shaker  Station,  Conn. 
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