National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union. National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union. Proceedings of the Farmers and Laborers Union of America, at St. Louis, Mo., December 3-7, 1889 . Washington D.C.: The National Economist Print, 1889. [format: book], [genre: proceedings]. Permission: Northern Illinois University
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pointed a committee to receive the visiting committee and seat them on the platform. After an interchange of views the committee retired, and on motion the following committee on conference was appointed to confer with the National Alliance of the Northwest.

H. W. Hickman, Missouri; Mitchell, South Carolina; Page, Virginia; Clover, Kansas; Lybrand, Arkansas; Patty, Mississippi; Tucker, Tennessee; Anderson, Texas; and Morgan, Louisiana.

Also the following committee was appointed to confer with the Mutual Benefit Association:

Davis, Missouri; Clayton, Louisiana; Cowan, Tennessee; Bird, Alabama; and Worth, North Carolina.

President Jones delivered his annual address:

To the Officers and Members of the Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America, greeting.

DEAR BROTHERS — This is certainly an auspicious occasion, it being the first meeting of our organization; an organization that to-day stands without a peer in its influence for good — not to the farmers and laborers only, that you represent, but to every legitimate and necessary interest of a free and independent government; and upon the perpetuation of its principles and their influence upon our people depend the prosperity and liberty of all classes, and the stability and power of our nation. An organization whose fundamental principles are founded upon equity and justice and whose cardinal doctrines inspire peace on earth, a love of liberty and good will to all mankind; an organization whose rise and progress is without a parallel, and which is destined in no distant day to embrace the entire agriculture and laborers of the world, and whose power and influence shall protect their liberty and interest from the encroachment of rings, trusts and soulless combinations, which are absorbing all of the profits of labor, and thereby paralyzing the industries of our country.

The wonderful growth of our order during the brief period of ten years, and the rapid strides it has taken in establishing its various business enterprises, based upon fair and equitable principles, have had a salutary influence upon commerce and excited the admiration and respect of the business world.

It has also aroused the hostility of the greedy and avaricious trusts, rings and monopolistic combinations to such an extent that great and persistent

efforts are put forth by them to thwart us in every attempt at reform or effort to correct the prevailing evils that now environ and threaten the destruction of our industrial classes.

Ours is no common effort. We are approaching a period of social and political development that will test the wisdom and patriotism of our whole people, and will demand the most guarded and conservative action of our greatest statesmen.

The weal or woe of our nation depends upon the intelligent action of the industrial and conservative classes through organization, education and co-operation.

Brethren, in view of the above facts, and recognizing you as representing the intelligence of the various State organizations in this, our highest legislative body (a creature of the National Farmers' Alliance and Co-operative Union of America and the National Agricultural Wheel, the consolidated power and influence of which makes it one of the greatest organizations in the world), I would call your attention to the gravity, magnitude and importance of this occasion, and impress upon you the necessity of the most guarded, intelligent and conservative action.

It is an evident fact that to free our industrial classes from the oppressions that now prevail so universally, it will require a perfect concert of action of all sections; therefore, one of the most important subjects to be considered by this body is a basis of union or co-operation with all kindred organizations, and whereas there have been negotiations between the National farmers Alliance and the banners Mutual benefit Association of the Northwestern States, looking to a consolidation of these two great agricultural organizations with the Farmers and Laborers Union of America, and as delegates from the National Farmers Alliance and National Mutual Benefit Association are now in the city, would recommend that you give this matter your immediate attention, and if possible agree upon a basis of union, or at least co-operation.

I would call your attention to the necessity of more closely guarding State rights in our constitution.

Would recommend that the work of organizing should come under the jurisdiction of State organizations, provided, however, that in unorganized

States the President of the Farmers and Laborers Union of America shall appoint organizers and take general supervision of the work. And

WHEREAS, The constitution defines the duties of an executive committee, would call your attention to the failure of its providing for the creation of same. And

WHEREAS, The constitution, under the head of miscellaneous, now provides that all trials for offenses shall be by the Farmers and Laborers Union of America while in session. And

WHEREAS, The time of holding said meetings is limited, and the expenses of the same great, would recommend the creation of a supreme judiciary, who shall hear and try all cases.

I would also call your attention to the necessity of bonding your secretary. Also to the more clearly defining Article 7, governing eligibility.

The advancement of civilization, the development of the natural resources of our country, the promotion and perpetuation of our free institutions, the stability, power and influence of our republican system of government, the creation and successful operation of all our gigantic enterprises, which gives strength and influence to government, depends largely, if not wholly, upon the intelligent application of the true principles of co-operation. The most, if not every failure of all the various business efforts of our order, is due to a want of a proper understanding and a strict adherence to the business principles of co-operation.

It is the foundation that underlies the whole superstructure of our noble order, and a strict adherence to its principles will lead the membership to a degree of prosperity that shall gladden the hearts of all, and bring joy and contentment around the family circle.

I would recommend that you spare no effort in providing the necessary facilities for the better education of the membership in these great principles.

The monopolization of finance has been, and now is, the fountain from which all monopolies, rings, trusts and oppressive organizations draw their support, strength and power.

Money in shrinking and insufficient volume remits labor to idleness, reduces the price of products, plants mortgages on the homes of our people,

bankrupts those who are forced to borrow, paralyzes our industries, and produces hard times and great privations among the masses.

It is impossible to have an equitable adjustment of capital and labor so long as money is contracted below that which is adequate to the demands of commerce; hence, if we would correct the abuses and powers that are now prostrating and enslaving our industries, lift the mortgages from the homes of our people, restore peace and prosperity to our now paralyzed and almost ruined agricultural and laboring people, we must have a circulating medium in sufficient volume to admit of transacting our business upon a cash basis.

I would therefore recommend that you demand at the hands of the law-making functions of our nation a monetary system that shall conform to the interest of the producing and laboring classes as well as the speculator and usurer.

That the coinage of silver be as free as gold, and that gold and silver be supplemented with treasury notes (which shall be a full legal tender for all contracts) in a sufficient amount to furnish a circulating medium commensurate to the, business necessities of the people.

There is, perhaps, no question that demand more serious attention at this time than the present condition of our land.

From its many resources flow all the wealth of our nation, and upon its proper and just distribution depend the prosperity, contentment, and happiness of the yeomanry — a class upon whom all nations must largely depend for strength and support.

During the greatest prosperity of Rome, about eighty-five per cent of her population owned titles in land. It was then that she was founded upon a rock, and was mistress of the world; but in the course of her history, through the monopolization of her lands by the few, through unjust legislation, the homes were wrenched from the hands of the masses, and when the dark death ford was reached, upon which civilization was to die, less than two per cent of the people controlled the land; and it is said that about fifteen hundred men controlled the wealth of the world.

To-day we find in America millions of acres of her fertile lands, bought by the lives and efforts of our forefathers, which should have been held sacred for homes for their posterity, squandered

upon railroads and other corporations, and millions more are owned and controlled by domestic and foreign syndicates; while a large per cent of our homes are hopelessly mortgaged, and about fifty per cent of our sons are tenants.

This wholesale absorption of land by aggregated capital must be checked, or it will finally enslave the honest yeomanry of our country, and inevitably destroy our much loved republic.

The hope of America depends upon the ownership of the land being vested in those who till the soil.

Give the people homes, theirs to improve, theirs to cultivate, theirs to beautify, and theirs to enjoy, and our grand republic will stand as the acme of modern civilization and national greatness.

I would recommend that you demand legislation for the better protection of the lands and homes of our people, and a law prohibiting the alien ownership of land in America.

Lands of America should be owned and controlled by citizens of America.

As a means of developing the many natural resources of our great and powerful nation and the distribution of our products for the use and comfort of our people, the railroads take the lead as a benefactor of the human family if properly used; but the avarice and greed manifested on the part of these great corporations, have through their unjust manipulation of transportation destroyed all competition, and become oppressors rather than servants of the people for which they were created. These corporations have rights that should be protected; a right to business, to legitimate profit, to property and restricted power.

It is not the railroads of which the people complain, but the abuses of their powers, chartered rights and privileges.

Everything they have and enjoy hangs like a plummet to its cord upon law alone; and as the law derives its strength solely from the will and obedience of the people, every rail, car, stock, bond and charter has its security and protection chiefly from that tender homage and reverence which emanates from the hearts of our law abiding and liberty loving agriculturists; and in oppressing them, they are chafing the cords upon which alone hangs their profits, franchises and existence.

I would recommend that you demand such legislation,

both national and State, as shall regulate and control rates and classifications of freights on all lines of transportation, that fair dealing and justice may be secured to all.

While our order, as an order, is strictly nonpartisan in politics, yet. Section I in our declaration of purposes says: That we shall labor for the education of the agricultural classes in the science of economic government, in a strictly non-partisan spirit.

It is an evident fact that the origin and power to perpetuate the existence of the various rings, trusts and combines that now oppress our people and threaten the overthrow of our free institutions is due to unjust legislation and the intimacy and influence that still exists between our representatives and these powerful corporations and combines, are such as to give good reason for serious alarm.

We have reached a period in the history of our government when confidence in our political leaders and great political organizations is almost destroyed, and the estrangement between them and the people is becoming more manifest every day.

The common people are now beginning to see that there is no just cause for the now almost universal depression that pervades the laboring classes of every section of our country, and are disposed to attribute the same to the corrupting influence that these great combines and corporations exert over our leaders and political, moral and social institutions.

So long as our people neglect to inform themselves upon the great issues of the hour, and continue to follow blindly machine politicians to the neglect of their own interest, they will continue to lose their individuality, influence and power in our political institutions, and be wholly at the mercy of the soulless corporations that are now wielding such an influence over our Government.

The very existence of our free institutions and republican form of government, the very life and prosperity of the agricultural and laboring people depend largely if not wholly upon financial, land and transportation reformation.

It is a conceded fact that a republican form of government lives alone in the hearts of the people; and its destiny depends entirely upon the purity of the ballot, and as this is in the hands of

every man there can be no safety, except as is guaranteed by its intelligent use.

This is the fortress of our nation's strength; and if our order would reach that high degree of usefulness for which it was created, it must through a well-defined system of economic questions, produce this intelligence and virtue, thus preparing our people for an intelligent use of their franchise.

When the dissolution took place of the two National bodies that compose the Farmers and Laborers' Union of America, I found myself in a very awkward and embarrassing situation.

The responsibility of these two national bodies merged into one imperfect organization, with a defective constitution and with demands coming from the various States for organizers, new rituals, secret work and other printed matter, and having no fluids in the treasury for defraying expenses, and being compelled to draw upon my own private funds for the defraying of all my office and official expenses, with considerable division and dissension in some of the States, and having no executive committee or supreme judiciary to share my responsibilities, I must confess that it was with great forebodings that I assumed my official duties.

Among my first official duties was to appoint an executive committee, composed of Brothers J. H. McDowell of Tennessee, G. L. Clark of Texas and J. A. Tetts of Louisiana. I also arranged with Brother J. H. McDowell for the printing of 50,000 rituals and the new secret work — which were ready for distribution to State secretaries within thirty days from the issuing of our official proclamation.

During the two months of our organization I have given the order my very best efforts, availing myself of every possible means for the harmonizing of the brotherhood in States where unity failed to exist and to perfect our organization.

There were brethren who were ever ready with their counsel and encouragement, which assisted me greatly in the discharge of my arduous duties. To them I shall ever feel grateful for their assistance, fidelity and patriotism to the order during those trying hours.

Brethren, never before in the history of organized labor have we been confronted with graver questions of business of greater magnitude and importance than will be presented to this convention.

You virtually hold in your hands the destiny of

our order, upon whose success or failure depends the weal or woe of the patient and long suffering agricultural and laboring people of our Nation.

To-day all eyes are turned to St. Louis, while millions of anxious, waiting hearts are trusting to your patriotism and wise deliberation that shall pave the way for their relief.

Feeling confident that you will meet bravely, calmly and unselfishly the great work which now lays before you; and realizing your responsibility and the necessity of having justice done to all respecting the humble as well as the highest members of the order, thereby strengthening the ties that now bind us together in one common brotherhood, I assure you as your chairman that my motto shall be "Equal rights to all and special privileges to none."

Let us, therefore, as brethren true to our God, cause and families, enter upon the business of this meeting with full confidence in each other and brotherly love to all mankind, and may He who doeth all things well guide us in our deliberation to the perfecting and perpetuating of our order, free our nation from corporative power and break the shackles that now bind our industries in iron chains.

The President's address was referred to a special committee, as follows:

H. F. Simrall, of Mississippi; J. H. Turner, of Georgia; W. J. Talbert, of South Carolina; J. H. McDowell, of Tennessee; and Wm. H. Barton.

The following committees were provided for by motion: First, committee on demands, composed of one delegate from each State, and that all resolutions and demands shall be referred, after reading to said committee; second, a committee of three on credentials, which shall be continued through this meeting; third, a committee of five on national constitution; and that said committees be required to report during the meeting of this National Union.

Adjourned to meet at 7.30 p. m.

Meeting called to order at 7.30 p. m.

On motion a committee of conference on cotton tare and bagging, consisting of one from each cotton

State, was appointed, consisting of the following brethren:

A. M. Street, Mississippi; W. S. Morgan, Arkansas; Elias Carr, North Carolina; E. T. Stackhouse, South Carolina; J. F. Livingston, Georgia; R. F. Kolb, Alabama; R. J. Sledge, Texas; R. C. Betty, Indian Territory; B. M. Hord, Tennessee; T. J. Guide, Louisiana; R. F. Rogers, Florida.

On motion the following additional committee on credentials was appointed:

S. M. Adams, Alabama; J. H. Turner, Georgia; A. E. Dickinson, Kansas.

After discussing the question of organic law for some time, a committee on secret work was appointed, as follows:

J. A. Tetts, Louisiana; T. L. Darden, Mississippi; T. J. Anderson, Texas; S. B. Erwin, Kentucky; W. J. Reid, South Carolina; and C. C. Adams, Tennessee.

Also the following committee on constitution was appointed:

C. W. Macune, L. L. Polk, W. J. Talbert, J. P. Buchanan and Robert Beverly.

On motion the following committee on the order of business by which this body shall be governed during this session was appointed:

Livingston of Georgia, Quicksall of Kentucky, Barton of Oklahoma.

The committee on conference then made a report as follows:

The joint committee agree to recommend to our respective organizations the adoption of the following resolutions, to wit:

First, That a joint committee of five on the part of the National Farmers' Alliance and a like number on the part of the National Farmers and Laborers' Union be appointed with authority to formulate a plan for a confederation of said organizations and of other known agricultural and industrial organizations in the United Slates, to the end that immediate and practical co-operation may be secured for the accomplishment of the objects common to all.

Second, that the autonomy of said organization be preserved intact until such time as the way

may be found clear to effect organic union if the same should hereafter be found necessary.
A. J. Streeter, (Ill.) Chairman. ROBERT C. PATTY, (Miss.) Secretary.

The committee on conference was reduced to five, consisting of the following, and appointed to confer with a like committee from the National Alliance:

Hickman, Missouri; Patty, Mississippi; Page, Virginia; Clover, Kansas; and Mitchell, South Carolina.

On motion the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association was allowed representation on conference committee, to confer with Northwestern Alliance.

Adjourned to meet to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock.

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