874 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC. 12 
FARMERS IN CONVENTION. 
On November 17 the Supreme Council of 
the Farmers’ Alliance, numbering 120 dele¬ 
gates, convened at Indianapolis, Ind. The 
meeting excited considerably less general 
interest than any previous convention held 
since the organization became prominently 
known throughout the country; still its 
proceedings were watched with no small 
concern by the farmers of the country and 
the two great political parties, and, no 
doubt, still more anxiously by the advo¬ 
cates of the Third party which promised 
so much and did so little at the recent elec¬ 
tions. The accounts of the transactions 
varied greatly in the different newspapers 
from day to day, partly because the reports 
in each were tinged with the political ani¬ 
mus of its managers, and partly because 
all the important meetings were held in 
strict secrecy, and all had to make the 
most of the driblets of news doled out 
officially, or that leaked out through talka¬ 
tive, bibulous or bribable members. That 
there were a number of these was proved 
by the amount of inside information ob¬ 
tained and the bitter complaints of treach¬ 
ery made by the officers in the executive 
sessions. 
The Big Five—Polk, Macuue, Living¬ 
ston, Tillman and Terrell—were the con¬ 
trolling spirits in the assembly, and no 
measure to which they were jointly opposed 
succeeded. The principal address at the 
convention, which best embodied the senti¬ 
ments of the meeting, was made by J. F. 
Tillman, Secretary of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee. He emphatically denied that they 
were assembled as politicians or to promote 
the fortunes of any political aspirant or in 
the interest of any third party, for by their 
organic teachings each member has the right 
to vote for whichever political party he may 
think will best advance good government. 
He bitterly assailed the expenditures of the 
“ Blllion-dollar Congress,” which spent 
more money than was expended during the 
first 72 years of the history of the govern¬ 
ment. The sum amounted to over $8 for 
every man, woman and child in the coun¬ 
try, and he asked how long the people 
would endure such exactions if collected 
directly instead of indirectly through the 
tariff. He was enthusiastically supported 
In the sentiment that the tariff must be re¬ 
duced to a reasonable basis of taxation, 
and that reckless expenditures by Congress 
must be stopped. To the three great pub¬ 
lic evils of the day, Trust, Tariff and Trans¬ 
portation, he wouldoppose Crush, Change 
and Control—crush the first, change the 
second, and control the third, and the words 
are likely to become the war-cry of the or¬ 
ganization. 
Pres. Polk dwelt forcibly on the griev¬ 
ances of the farmers. From 1850 to 1860 farm 
values increased 101 per cent; from 1870 to 
1880 the increase was only nine percent. 
At the same time the aggregate wealth of 
the country increased from 1870 to 1880 over 
45 per cant. The 10 staple crops of the 
country brought in the year 1884 less than 
two per cent more than the crops In 1866. 
The crops of'1867, though less than half as 
large as those of 1887, brought the farmer 
$79,711 000 more. During the last decade 
agricultural lands have decreased in value 
from 20 to 40 per cant. Two-thirds of the 
country’s wealth is not assessed for taxa¬ 
tion, yet the farmer possessing only 22 per 
cent of it pays 80 per cent of the taxes. 
With all the nodern facilities of trans¬ 
portation and improved machinery the 
farmer finds himself compelled to sell his 
produce at prices barely covering the cost. 
Again, the farm mortgages in the agricul¬ 
tural States are frightfully large. In Iowa 
the mortgage indebtedness is $104 per capita, 
In Kansas, $165, in Illinois, $100, and every¬ 
where the farmer is overburdened with 
debt. 
The demands of the Alliance on Congress 
are, briefly: government control of rail¬ 
roads ; the retention of the public domain 
for farmers; prohibition of gambling in 
futures; the free coinage of silver; also 
that no class legislation be enacted; that 
the United States Senators be elected by 
the popular vote; also that a graduated 
tax on incomes be levied ; but the greatest 
demand of all is that the national-banking 
system be abolished and the people’s money 
be issued directly by the goirernmsnt to the 
people. This would have to be done mainly 
through the Sub-Treasury scheme. 
Probably the most serious misfortune 
that has occurred to the Alliance since Its 
organization was due to a difference of 
opinion on this matter. An Anti-Sub- 
Treasury Committee of the Alliance under 
instructions from the Farmers’ and Labor¬ 
ers’ Union Convention held in St. Louis 
last September, and under the load of 
Messrs, McAllister, Hall and Pope Yea- 
mans, was present to offer a protest against 
the project which firmly holds the foremost 
place in the Alliance’s programme. After 
two hours’ animated debate, the Antis were 
informed that they could not be heard 
unless they furnished the Council in ad¬ 
vance with a copy of the protest. This they 
refused to do unless they could present 
their protest in person, a privilege which 
was incontinently denied, and that ended all 
negotiations between the two wings of the 
Alliance. The lengthy memorial vigorous¬ 
ly protests against any provision by Con¬ 
gress for government loans of money to 
individual citizens upon farm mortgages 
as security, or to the demand for govern¬ 
ment ownership or control of railroad prop¬ 
erty and transportation. These schemes 
are, it declares, unconstitutional, imprac¬ 
ticable, conflicting with the spirit of the 
Alliance movement and tending to govern¬ 
ment paternalism and State socialism. The 
land loan scheme, beyond promising a low 
rate of interest, presents no favorable feat¬ 
ures, the expense of maintenance bei ng 
enormous. Government ownership of rail¬ 
roads implies one of two other schemes. 
Either the government must take railroads 
from owners by force, or buy them for more 
than they are worth. It would foster polit¬ 
ical corruption and would be an arbitrary 
interference with private rights in many 
senses. The schemes flavor strongly of class 
legislation. 
The executive committee of the Antis at 
once proceeded to Texas, where 127 Sub' 
Alliances had already declared against the 
Sub-Treasury scheme. At the meeting of 
the State Alliance at Corsicana, on Novem 
ber 26, an important step was taken towards 
the formal separation of the Farmers’ Alli¬ 
ance into two large bodies. A call had 
already been issued for a convention of 
all opposed to the Sub-Treasury scheme 
and the government control of railroads, 
to be held at Memphis on December 16, 
for the purpose of forming a new Alli¬ 
ance with a new set of officers, and the Cor¬ 
sicana convention elected 25 delegates 
to attend it. It is stated that the scheme 
is bitterly opposed by a large proportion 
of the Alliance men In Texas, Mississippi 
and Missouri, and by probably a large ma¬ 
jority of the organization in the Northwest 
and North, and large accessions are ex¬ 
pected from the old body to the new. 
The People’s party made strenuous efforts 
to obtain the support of the Alliance as an 
organization; but failed. They expressed 
themselves as highly gratified, however, by 
the reelection of President Polk, the elec¬ 
tion of L. J. Loucks, of South Dakota, as 
Vice-President, and the reBlection of J. H. 
Turner, as Secretary-Treasurer, and of J. 
F. Willetts, as National Lecturer. All of 
these are supposed to favor independent 
political action, especially Secretary Polk. 
A still greater success achieved by the 
People's party leaders was the adoption of 
a resolution by the six industrial organiza¬ 
tions in session at Indianapolis to call a 
grand convention, on February 22, of the 
Confederated Industrial Unions. It will be 
composed of 25 delegates-at-large from each 
confederated organization of labor in the 
country, and one delegate for each 10 000 
or fraction thereof of members. It promises 
to be the most important assemblage held 
in the country for years. It will aim to 
consolidate all the agricultural and labor 
organizations in the entire country in a 
gigantic confederation. Wnen the assembly 
convenes it will proceed to draw up a plat¬ 
form of declarations and demands, and the 
two great political parties will be requested 
to give them consideration and indorse 
menc. It is not expected by any one that 
the two great parties will take any notice 
of these demands, and the way will remain 
clear for the People’s party to call a con¬ 
vention after the other political conven¬ 
tions have been held, and adopt the form¬ 
ulated demands of tne confederated labor 
assembly as its platform. 
At this convention tne Farmers’ Mutual 
Benefit Association with a membership of 
290,000, will almost certainly be fiually con¬ 
solidated with the Alliance which still 
claims a membership of 3,000,000. There has 
certainly been a great falling off in some of 
the States; but this has probably, to a 
great extent, been offset by an increase in 
others. Changes in the constitution of the 
Alliance henceforth admit women, and ex¬ 
clude office holders during their terms of 
employment. Business agents of the or¬ 
ganization are to be disqualified for mem¬ 
bership of the Supreme Council which may 
have to sit in judgment on them. Hitherto 
there has been a national committee of leg¬ 
islation composed of the Presidents of the 
various State Alliances. This was abol¬ 
ished and provision was made for the selec¬ 
tion of a committee of five to act as an ad¬ 
visory Board to the President, because the 
Presidents of State Alliances are not law¬ 
yers, and are not selected with reference to 
iheir legal acquirement or Knowledge of 
legislative demands, and hence are usually 
incompetent to meet the requirements of 
t^e position. 
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