The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 1, 1892 Page: 4 of 16
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SOUTHERN MEKt'UKY.
Dec. 1, 1892
AN OPEN LETTER
To the Farmers' Allianco arid the
General Public.
The Farmers' Allianco, as an or
ganization, has reached a very crit
ical period in its history. I was
present at ttífc organization of the
the first National Alliance at Waco,
Tex., in January 1887, and since
that day have put in my whole
time working for that cause, and
have discharged the duties of the
most responsible office up to the
18th ult., when I withdrew from
official connection with the Supreme
Council. My reasons for having
withdrawn from a body which rep-
resents a cause I love beeter than
any other, I deem it right and pru-
dent to make to the public.
My action in withdrawing from
the body was not the result of an-
ger or disappointment, it was not a
new born idea or a hasty resolve—
it was the result of at least a year
of calm and careful deliberation,
coupled with a determination to
serve the true interests of the Far-
mers' Alliance at the risk of any
personal sacrifice. It would not
have been true to the thousands of
men who have followed me in this
movement on account of the prin-
ciples I taught, if I had submitted
to defeat from a source that would
subvert and destroy those princi-
ples as landmarks of the order. It
was not a question of place or posi-
tion or pay, but of principle, and
duty required that I die at my
post rather than suffer defeat.
1. have admitted, to those who
did not know, that I was the author
of the subtreasury plan. Brethren
have written me from all sections
inquiring, but I have always said
that the Supreme Council desired
the authorship to be ascribed to the
committee that reported tho resolu-
tion. Nevertheless the report went
out from the St. Louis meeting and
has been current ever sine© that I
was the author of the plan. It is
true I did present it at the St.
Louis meeting in 1889, and the
plan as presented by me was em-
bodied in the report of the com-
mittee, but I presented it to the Su-
preme Council with the expressed
understanding that I was not to be
known as tho author of it. It was
to be discu&sed, and, if adopted, go
out.as from the entire body. I ox-
plained to them my reason for this.
I told them that no man could long
live in this country who presented
a plan to break tho back of the
money power, that he would be
hunted and hounded by every con-
ceivable means of destroying him
financially, politically and even per-
sonally. If Wall street let him
live it would be for the sole pur-
pose of painting him so black with
slander that he would only excite
the contempt of the very people ho
had sought to benefit. 1 am not
ashamed of tho subtreasury plan;
1 think it the grandest conception
of my life, and that it is a great
honor to suffer for having presented
it to an oppressed and downtrod-
den people. It contains principles
of absolute right, and I shall advo-
cate it while I live, but I had
hoped to gain for it a better hear-
ing if it emanated from a great
body or men than it would get if
it came from the brain of one man,
and at the same time free it from
the late that I thought (and still
believe) sure to follow the man
known as its author.
The subtreasury plan rapidly
developed into the main issue and
for the last two years has been re-
cognized as the basis for the fight.
Without it both political parties
would have given the Alliance all
it asked long ago. But without it,
there is no relief for the people. It
is the watchword, the battle cry,
the Shibboleth and lines have been
so tightly drawn upon it, that to
question a congressional candidate
upon that, was like shaking a red
blanket at a mad bull. It has
grown in the hearts of the people
and been a nightmare to the
schemes of Wall street.
There are two classes of enemies
to the subtreasury plan. One an
open and avowed one and the other
a secret enemy masking under the
garb of friendship. The open foe
consists of all those who openly op-
pose the plan either because it will
interfere with their business by de-
stroying the power of money to op-
press, or because they they have an
improper conception of the plan
and as they understand it think it
unwise and impracticable. The
other class, the secret enemies, con-
sists of professional politicians, and
there are professional politicians as
well in the new parties as in the
old. They can only see success by
combinations and fusion, dickering
and trading, they want no uncom-
promising plank in the platform, it
leaves no room for their genius to
advance their own personal inter-
ests, and the subtreasury has been
a sure guide to the middle of the
road every time and has stranded
the fusionists high and dry. They
feel very sore over it and realize
that they cunnot conduct practical
politics by machine methods while
the subtreasury remains in the
platform. They dare not openly
oppose it, because it is popular with
the people. They announce them-
selves as for it and give such false
and flimsy reasons in favor of it
that they do cause harm. They
hope, by some means, to kill off its
champions and secure such modifi-
cations of the plan that they can
use it for trading or fusion with the
old parties. True Alliancemen be-
lieve the principles of the order are
of first importance and are willing
to accept any laudable method
even to the extent of a new party,
if necessary, for the sake of enact-
ing theso principles into law,
but there is a class of men who
pose as reformers wlio seem to
that the formation of a new «politi.
cal party is of first importance and
for that purpose they are willing to
accept any principles that may
have any local popularity. The
difference is fundamental, the one
would build up the Allianco. as a
great reserve force for good, a sink-
ing fund as it were, to which resort
can be had for united strength to
meet ovil in all its forms, and that
social, physical, financial business
or political methods may be resort-
ed to as a mean8 of securing the
end sought but they can never be
the object of the organization. The
object must ever be to meet evil
and unjust conditions, no matter
when or how presented, and secure
justice and right, these aje Alliance
men indeed and in truth, and if
their cousels prevail they will build
up the order to a grand and glori-
ous future, because it never can fail
on that line, and it never will suc-
ceed while there is evil to be met or
wrong to be righted. The other
class are those who see no good in
anything but a new political party,
and believe that the Alliance has
performed its highest mission if in
its death it gives birth to the party
and allows the young offspring to
feed and fatten on the life blood of
its parent to the last drop. These
are two entirely different concep-
tions of the genus of the Alliance,
and so different are they that they
never will harmonize or agree
I am well • known to be
thoroughly identified with the for-
mer. And the vindictive opposi-
tion of the latter class has been
directed at me with fully as much
venom and force as any fight that
came from the open foes of the
order.
The first real fight was opened
on me just one year after the pre-
sentation of the Sub-treasury plan.
I did not understand it then, did
not know as I have above shown
that the difference was fundament-
al and the division irreconcilable.
It was at Ocala, Florida, and just
prior to the meeting the newspa-
pers had been flooded with false re-
ports about my personal character
and official acts, and I was sur-
prised to find quite an element
within the order giving credence to
what they should have required
proof to even listen to. I did not
realize the situation as I now do,
and attributing all to the apparent
causes I called for an investigating
committee of one from each State.
This was granted, and in spite of
the fact that a full showing satis-
fied every member of that commit-
tee except one, the persecution by
the press and the same element
within the order continued without
any abatement whatever.
The next year just before and
during the „ Indianapolis meeting,
the press was again loaded with
slanders and falsehoods calculated
to break down my influence and
destroy my usefulness in the order.
I again saw a certain portion of
the order willing listeners, to all
this slander, grasping at it without
examination or verification and
magnify it with agonizing look
and mild rebuke calculated to en-
courage evil. I then realized that
the difference between us was a
radical one, that it was founded on
principle and that the conflict must
go on until one or the other was de-
feated. I well knew that I could
compromise and have fair sailing,
and a clear sky if I would yield
one point, and that is that the new
party is entitled to more fealty
than the order or its demands. By
yielding this I would have become
subscrvcnt to their wishes and the
war from within upon me would
have stopped, and that from with-
out is not to be dreaded if harmony
prevails within. I mean by this
that any office in the order was
open to me to hold as long as I
chose had I yielded, to this point,-
and when I refused to yield 1 was
doomed to an unrelenting opposi-
tion, which it seemed quite likely
would sometime defeat me. The
alternative was, whether I would
yield up my principles and deliver
what influence I had in our order to
the political schemers to be used for
the purpose of combinations and
fusions, or whether I would remain
true to the trust reposed in me by
the people even if it required one
to retire from all official position
whatever.
When the crisis came I chose the
latter, and in spite of all the ca-
lumny they can heap upon me, I
must prevail in the end because I
go with a clear and approving con-
science. a bright record and have
no ambition save to serve my fam-
ily, honor my country and be true
to my God. I challenge the world
to show one word or deed of mine
that has not been true to this or-
der.
At the Indianapolis meeting the
executive committee of a political
party met at the same time, and
as afterwards shown in the papers
of the country, acted as a lobby
with a steering committee to go in-
to the meetings and seek to control
and dominate that meeting in the
interest of that party. They were
defeated in all but a few resolu-
tions. This same political party
executive committee was again
present at the St. Louis conference
meeting in February last, and dur-
ing that meeting I was informed
by friends, time and again, that it
was current talk on the streets that
if I opened my head in that meet-
ing they would utterly destroy me,
and that they proposed to destroy
the influence of The National Econ-
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In Need
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Boothbay (Me.). Register.
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Park, Milton. The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 1, 1892, newspaper, December 1, 1892; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185493/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .