i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
243 
Smutus. 
FRENCH AGRICULTURAL SYN¬ 
DICATES. 
I N Continental Europe the law places 
severe checks and restraints on the form¬ 
ation of industrial as well as other organ¬ 
izations. Even in Republican France so 
hostile was the law to such associations un¬ 
til about six years years ago, that only a 
very few of them existed and those few 
were of comparatively small assistance 
to the members. In March, 1884, however, 
a bill which for two or three years had been 
repeatedly under discussion before the 
French legislature, finally became a law 
and established practical liberty of associa¬ 
tion. What the supporters of the new law 
had chiefly in view was to facilitate the or¬ 
ganization of the workingmen of France 
upon the model of our trade unions, but 
the interests of agriculture were also in¬ 
cluded in its provisions, and in no other 
field do its practical workings give promise 
of more valuable results. The crisis in ag¬ 
ricultural industry, the devastation of the 
vine-growing sections by the phylloxera, 
flagrant frauds on the part of dealers 
in seeds and manufacturers of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers as well as dealers in 
oil-cake and other feeding stuffs, all con¬ 
spired to prepare the agriculturists of 
France to welcome the new law and take 
prompt advantage of its provisions. 
A recent report of the Department of Ag¬ 
riculture furnishes some interesting fig¬ 
ures relating to this matter. Ever since 
the enactment of the law. in 1884, the in¬ 
crease in the number of agricultural organ¬ 
izations has been continuous, and, accord¬ 
ing to a recent report of the Minister of 
Agriculture and Commerce, there are now, 
in the 87 Departments of France, no less 
than 557 such associations out of a total of 
2,322 organizations established under the 
law, representing various branches of in¬ 
dustry. The name assumed by these asso¬ 
ciations is Syndicats Agricoles— Agricul¬ 
tural Syndicates—but, instead of possess¬ 
ing anything of the nature of American 
syndicates, they closely resembie our 
granges. The increase in the number of 
syndicates has been accompanied by quite 
as marked a growth in the number of their 
members. One that had 730 members in 1884, 
had 3,600 in 1889; another that began in 
1887 with 300 members, had 6,000 last Au¬ 
gust ; while another that had 442 members 
six years ago, had 7,500 last year. There 
has also been a noted development in the 
formation of unions between different syn¬ 
dicates, and such combinations have paved 
the way for a national union of all the or¬ 
ganizations, with an office at Paris. Last 
June 310 syndicates had joined such a 
union and since then others have followed 
their example. A movement in the other 
direction has also attained large propor¬ 
tions—some of the departmental syndi¬ 
cates, as their membership became large, 
have been subdivided into communal 
syndicates, each with the officers necessary 
for holding meetings and transacting busi¬ 
ness. This is highly conducive to the inter¬ 
course of the members of the local branch¬ 
es, and to the extension of their knowledge 
through exchange of views in their com¬ 
munal or town meetings. 
One of the main objects of the syndicates 
is the suppression of certain middlemen 
who charge outrageous prices for what the 
members wish to buy or obstruct the sale 
of the products they bring to market. 
Most of the associations arrange to buy in 
large quantities what their members need, 
and to sell what their members have to dis¬ 
pose of, without the intervention of middle¬ 
men. This plan enables them to substi¬ 
tute wholesale for retail purchases, and by 
concentrating orders to make shipments 
by car-loads instead of smaller lots, there¬ 
by reducing transportation charges and 
also obtaining more favorable terms of 
payment. They keep thoroughly posted as 
to the circumstances and character of their 
members, and have, moreover, the power 
of holding them to the punctual fulfill¬ 
ment of their engagements by expelling 
them in case of failure, making their de¬ 
linquency known in all sister organizations 
and thus cutting them off from the very 
substantial benefits incident to member¬ 
ship in the syndicates. In addition to 
many other benefits, members who faith¬ 
fully meet their engagements save the ad¬ 
ditional charges which dealers put on to 
insure against bad debts and kindred 
losses. 
Merchants who have not honestly filled 
their engagements are prosecuted in the 
name of the purchaser, but at the expense 
of the organization. Many of the syndi¬ 
cates include in their objects educational 
measures relating to agriculture or to par¬ 
ticular branches of rural industry in which 
they are more especially interested. Many 
also include the encouragement of experi¬ 
ments with special crops, special modes of 
culture, fertilizers, machines, implements 
or other means of facilitating labor or re¬ 
ducing the cost of production. Assistance 
is also given to members in the selection 
of fertilizers suitable to the soil and to the 
crops to be cultivated and also in the se¬ 
lection of superior varieties of seeds, and in 
the improvement of breeds of farm ani¬ 
mals. Among the objects of many is the es¬ 
tablishment of bureaus of information, 
while others extend assistance to members 
whose agricultural interests have suffer¬ 
ed through serious accident, mortality 
among farm animals, and damage by frost 
or hail-storms, while others propose to do 
the work of members during sickness. In 
some market towns the syndicates have 
stalls for the sale of the produce of their 
members direct to consumers, to whom they 
guarantee the freshness and quality of the 
products. 
The advantages hitherto obtained by the 
members of the syndicates are by no means 
inconsiderable. Seeds and fertilizers bought 
by the members are tested at the expense 
of the associations, and if they fail to come 
up to representations, they are, by agree¬ 
ment, returned to the seller at his expense, 
or a deduction in prices is made in propor¬ 
tion to the depreciation in quality. Not 
only are goods of a better class secured on 
better terms of credit, but considerably 
lower prices have in all cases been obtained. 
In commercial fertilizers alone the reduc¬ 
tion in price ranges from 15 to 30 per cent, 
for a superior article. The purchases of the 
various syndicates have increased enor¬ 
mously, as a few instances will show. 
The syndicate of Ardennes purchased dur¬ 
ing its first half year (in 1884) 512,000 kilo¬ 
grams of raw materials used in agriculture, 
chiefly fertilizers. Last year its purchases 
amounted to 6,503,000 kilograms (about 
6,500 tons) and to a value of 439,000 francs 
(nearly $85,000), besides which it purchased 
29 agricultural machines, costing 6,400 
francs. During the six years of its exis¬ 
tence it has bought nearly 20,000 tons of 
raw materials and expended for the same 
nearly $300,000. The syndicate of Vienne 
purchased in 1885 more than 600,000 kilo¬ 
grams of fertilizers and materials for the 
same; last year, its purchases of the same 
class of commodities amounted to 8,970,500 
kilograms, with an aggregate value of 790,- 
325 francs. It also bought during the 
same year, seeds and agricultural imple¬ 
ments to the value of 8,000 francs. 
The membership dues in most of the syndi¬ 
cates are very light, usually ranging from 
two to five francs a year, and sometimes they 
are as low as one franc, and in many cases 
there is no admission fee. The expenses are 
small, the officers serving without compen¬ 
sation in most cases. Still there are ex¬ 
penses connected with analyzing fertilizers, 
testing seeds, book-keeping, printing, etc., 
and to meet these some of the syndicates, 
instead of making a fixed annual charge, 
add a little to the invoice prices of the 
articles bought through their agency. 
This addition is usually two per cent., and 
the charges are thus distributed somewhat 
in proportion to the interest[of the members 
in the transactions of the society. Others 
make a small charge for each cultivated 
acre, while others proportion the charges to 
the number of members,—the greater t he 
membership, the smaller the dues. 
Many of the syndicates propose “ to go into 
politics but some of the most influential 
leaders are opposed to such a course; still 
there is no doubt that the knowledge of the 
wishes of so large a body of agriculturists 
must have great influence on legislation, 
especially in matters connected with their 
own interests. 
THE FARMERS’ ALLIANCE. 
W HAT a sensation has been produced 
among the old political “ war- 
horses ” by the recent eruption of political 
agitation among American farmers. Never 
before have the “ party hacks ” seen farmers 
in such a belligerent frame of mind or so 
bent upon organizing. “Agricultural 
socialism ” is the stigma affixed to many of 
the measures advocated by the farmers’ 
organizations and “thesocialistic Senator” 
is the epithet hurled at Senator Stanford, 
of California, for having dared to urge that 
the Government should loan money to 
farmers at a nominal rate of interest se¬ 
cured by mortgages on real estate. The 
Farmers’ Alliance, the most colossal and 
aggressive of the obnoxious organizations, 
is just now attracting widespread attention. 
Scarcely six years old, its leaders already 
claim a membership of over 2,000,000 and 
more than 1,000,000 voters. Texas, in which 
the movement started, has 300,000 mem¬ 
bers ; Missouri, 250,000; Georgia, 150,000 ; 
Tennessee, 125,000; Kansas, 85,000, and the 
order is growing with marvelous speed in 
Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and other West¬ 
ern and Northwestern States; while for the 
last few months vigorous efforts have been 
successfully made to secure members and 
extend its influence in the Middle and 
Eastern States, so that now it has a strong 
foothold in 23 States and several Territories. 
Like that older organization, the Grange, it 
is a secret association, and the qualification 
for membership is as follows : 
No person shall be admitted as a member 
of this order, except a white person, over 
16 years of age, who is a believer in the 
existence of a Supreme Being and has re¬ 
sided in the State more than six months, 
and is either, first, a farmer or a farm 
laborer; second, a mechanic, a country 
preacher, a country school teacher or a 
country doctor; third, an editor of a strict¬ 
ly agricultural paper. Provided that each 
State and Territory shall have the right to 
prescribe the eligibility of applicants for 
membership in reference to color within 
the limits of the same. Provided, further, 
that none but white men shall be elected 
as delegates to the Supreme Council. 
The Alliance has already absorbed or be¬ 
come consolidated with several other agri¬ 
cultural and industrial organizations, the 
most notable of which are the Agricultural 
Wheel, a powerful Southwestern farmers’ 
society, and the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit 
Association, having a large membership all 
over the West and Southwest. It has also 
assimilated the Farmers’ and Laborers’ 
Union, and joined hands with the Knights 
of Labor in seeking State and National leg¬ 
islation for the benefit of artisans and lab¬ 
orers as well as of agriculturists in all 
cases in which the interests of both classes 
do not clash. From present indications it 
is also highly probable that the still more 
numerous order of the Federation of Labor, 
with a claimed membership of over 600,000, 
will co-operate politically with it in the 
various State and National elections where 
the common interests of both organizations 
can be advanced by their joint action. It 
is entirely non-partisan, now supporting 
the Democrats, now the Republicans, its 
choice being always determined by the con¬ 
cessions made to its demand by either 
party. It is at all times ready to co¬ 
operate with any other agricultural or 
any labor organization to achieve its 
ends. It is always bold and out-spoken in 
its opinions and is as ready to denounce 
the sedate and popular Senator Allison of 
Iowa or the vitriolic and still more popular 
Senator Ingalls of Kansas, for their failure 
to initiate and support national legislation 
in favor of the “masses,” as if both these 
prospective candidates for the Presidency 
were obscure but obnoxious members of a 
State legislature. The reforms it seeks are, 
some of them, of so radical a nature that 
several of the great Eastern dailies have 
stigmatized it as a socialistic organization. 
In Georgia and Texas it has established 
vast depots for supplying its members with 
various kinds of merchandise on the co-op¬ 
erative plan, and it also aims to dispose of 
their products without the intervention of 
middlemen. Buying at wholesale, it can 
secure unadulterated goods at low figures 
and, dealing with heavy aggregate ship¬ 
ments, it is in a position to demand the low¬ 
est freight charges. As its scope and mem 
bership extend, it intends to follow the 
same policy in other sections. 
The Supreme Council of the National 
Farmers’ Alliance the other day fixed the 
salaries of its officers as follows: Pres¬ 
ident, $3,000, office expenses and $900 for a 
stenographer, with headquarters at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., and traveling expenses; 
Secretary, $2,000 and office expenses ; Treas¬ 
urer, $400; Lecturer, $2,000 and actual 
traveling expenses; Chairman of the 
Executive Board, $2,000; members of the 
Board, $500 each and actual expenses while 
in the active service. 
The Alliance claims to be able to control 
4,000,000 votes at the next national election, 
with the support of the labor interests. 
Out of 14,744,942 males of all ages engaged 
in various industrial occupations at the 
time of the last census, 7,075,983, or almost 
one-half, were pursuing agriculture as a 
vocation. Farmers are therefore the 
largest single element of our voting popu¬ 
lation, and a compact union of the farmers 
of the country in a single organization or a 
combination of organizations would over¬ 
throw all other parties, because it would be 
impossible to unite the other elements and 
classes solidly against them. Whatever 
legislation the farmers want, they can 
therefore command if united. 
§ftt£ceUitne0u.!S 
Of all kinds at almost half price. Lov¬ 
ett’s Guide to Horticulture gives hon¬ 
est descriptions and prices, tells how 
to purchase, plant, prune, etc. It is a 
book of 90 pages, richly illustrated. 
Mailed free ; with colored plates 10c. 
Trees and Plants by Mail a Specialty. 
J. T. LOVETT CO., Little Silver, N. J. 
ECLIPSE CORN PLANTER. 
Will plant Field and Ensilage Corn, Beans, Peas and 
Beet Seed In hills, drills and ehecks-in hills up 
to 45 Inches; In cheeks from 36 Inches up to any dis¬ 
tance desired. Will distribute all Fertilizers wet or 
dry. Farmers, send for circulars giving truthful tes¬ 
timonials. ECLIPSE CORN PLANTER CO.. 
Entleld, Grafton Co. New Hampshire. 
FASQ73A8 SETSTOHJ C02H PLANTES'" 
Warranted the best corn dropper and moat 
|perfect force-feed fertUzer distributor In the 
l world. Sana 
roaCATALoera. 
Address 
. A. B. 
pisama. 
York, Pa. 
Send for large Illustrated Catalogue. 
PERCHEEONS 
AND 
FEENCH 
COACH HOUSES. 
Send for 100 page illustrated 
catalogue. 
JOHN W. AKIN, Scipio, N. Y. 
AGENTS 
WANTED 
Send for 
Circular 
and 
pricelist 
BREED S UNIVERSAL 
WEEDER AND CULTIVATOR 
T. B. TERRY, of Chio, says: “ It 
cultivated two 
rows at once; 
hoed them per¬ 
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over .even acres 
In five hours.’• 
UNIVERSAL 
WEEDER CO. 
florlh Wean?, M. 11. 
AGENTS WANTED FOR 
WILLIAMS’ CRINDER 
FOR MOWING MACHINE KNIVES. 
Introduced in 1889 proved a Great Success. Also for 
Williams’Automatic Seed Sower 
A new invention—just ready. Descriptive 
Circulars sent free. The very liberal terms 
to agents given to the first applicant from 
any town where no agency is established. 
THE WILLIAMS BEOS. M’F’G CO., 
Naubuc, Hariford Co., Conn. 
PRINTER. ” Seta up any name, print, car'to, paper, envelop*., Me., mark. 
Hnen. Worth fiOo. The beet gift for young people. Poetpaid only 25c., 3 fbr flOc., 
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and PK1CES. MARION. OHIO. 
