when too late. Organize for better laws; for through legisla tion comes prosperity or adversity.

During the past quarter of a century, the farmers of this country have labored, and others have made the laws. What has been the result? The non-producer has thrived while the producer has grown poor. Not only have the non-producers organized against the farmers, but almost all other producers. There is hardly a manufactured product, or even a raw material, that is not subject to the guidance of an organization or combination of the whole, excepting the products of the farm. This means the spoliation of all who cannot meet this force with similar power. That being true, the farmer becomes the easy prey of all, and receives the treatment his own neglect brings upon him. All non-producers are the avowed enemies of producers, and should be so considered in all propositions of economics. When they organize, it is for the purpose of increasing their strength, which in turn makes them a correspondingly more dangerous enemy, and increases the necessity of stronger defence. In the vast amount of national legislation of the past twenty-five years, there is not one single act which was passed in the interest of the farmer. Search through the whole mass, and not one will be found that was introduced, passed, and put upon the statute books, for the sole benefit of agriculture. Until this is changed, and labor in production is made to bring a reward, industry is useless and economy is folly.

Because of these facts and conditions, some action on the part of the farmers toward legislative reform became necessary. The National Farmers' Congress, which was organized in 1875, seems to have been the first to formulate ideas in conformity with such a proposition. At each annual session, the necessity for some change in agricultural legislation became more and more apparent. This congress, which may be considered the pioneer, gave way to the Farmers' Alliance, of which we shall now undertake to give a history.

CHAPTER II.

UNRECORDED HISTORY OF THE ALLIANCE.

THE origin of the Farmers' Alliance is not so clearly defined as to leave no room for conjecture. Nearly every other reform movement can date back to some particular time when the first efforts were made that resulted in forming the organization. The Knights of Labor, the Grange, the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association, the Wheel, the Farmers' Union, all have the satisfaction of giving the details of their initial meeting. Not so with the Alliance. Until recently, it has been an accepted theory that it started in the States of New York and Texas at about the same time, in 1874 or 1875. It was believed that the Alliance, originating in New York, found its way to the west, and that it is now represented by what is designated as the Northwestern Alliance; while the one which originated in Texas was taken east and north, and is now known as the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union.

This coincidence of origin has always appeared unnatural, and considerable speculation has been indulged in the attempt to clear up the seeming mystery. But nothing tangible has been reached until recently. Whether this is a true solution or not remains to be more clearly proven. It seems quite plausible at least, and the reader can take it for what it is worth. Mr. G. Campbell, of Kansas, claims that the Alliance originated in that State, and makes the following statement to substantiate its

correctness:

"It will be remembered that, early in the sixties, Congress granted the M., K. & T. and the L., L. & G. railway companies a tract of land in and through the State of Kansas, to aid in the construction of their roads. At the time this grant was made, there was a tract of land lying in the southeastern part of the State, known as the Osage ceded lands, which was reserved from the operation of the grant, inasmuch as it was not a part of the public lands of the State. When the roads were built, however, these lands had been treated for and were a part of the public domain, and were patented to the respective railway companies.

"The settlers in the meantime settled upon these lands in '64, '68, '69, and '70, in good faith, thinking that they were government lands, and were so informed by the Interior Department at Washington, D.C. Many of the settlers made valuable improvements on what proved to be lands covered by the patents from the government to the railway companies, either as lands included in the original grant, or indemnity lands, and the railway companies required the settlers to pay the value of their own improvements, besides a high price for the lands. This the settlers refused to do, and prepared to resist the railway companies in the courts, and with physical force if need be. The legal point involved, briefly stated, was this: The railway companies claimed that their grants took effect when their roads were built in and through the State of Kansas,' and that when these roads were constructed, the Osage ceded lands were a part of the public lands of the State, and subject to their grants. The settlers, on the other hand, claimed that these lands were open to pre-emption settlement, by the proclamation of the President of the United States; that in pursuance of such proclamation they had entered upon these lands as innocent parties in good faith, and had erected lasting and valuable improvements thereon, and that the grants of land to the railway companies did not extend beyond the limits of what was the public lands of the State of Kansas at the time the grants were made by act of Congress. This is the case briefly stated: The settlers organized openly at first to resist the encroachments of the railway companies upon their rights; but the companies were posted as to all the settlers' movements and defeated them. The closed organization was then adopted, early in '72, which was called 'The Settlers' Protective Association,' but which was generally known as the Settlers' League, or Alliance. They took upon themselves political action; they instructed and pledged their congressmen, and through the members of the Legislature their senators. The result was that an act was passed by Congress, early in the seventies, known as the 'Enabling Act,' which authorized the settlers to bring an action in the name of the United States to set aside the patents issued by the government to these railway corporations, so far as they related to the Osage ceded lands, and the United States District Attorney was instructed, in company with the settlers' attorneys, to prepare the case for the United States court.

"About this time, George R. Peck, who was a railway lawyer, was appointed United States District Attorney, which greatly incensed the settlers, and under the pretence of consulting the Hon. George R. Peck, the 'Grand Council' got him to come to Parsons, and the settlers pledged him.' I shall not say how it was done; he can tell if he desires; but I will say that he was true to his pledges, and to the interests of the settlers, and is entitled to a greater reward than that he has received at their hands. I sent our plan of organization to New York, my native State, where they attempted to organize, but with little success, as they were soon swallowed up by the Grange; but they preserved their identity, and after the Grange movement had subsided it began a growth as a trade organization. The agent who transacted the Alliance business in New York State, I believe, bore the name of Johnson,

and resided in New York City. Several families who were members of this league, or alliance, went from this section during our controversy, and settled in Texas, and a man by the name of Tanner, who lived west of this city, is said to have organized the first Alliance in Texas, as a trade organization, which was one of the features of this movement; and hence we hear it said that the Alliance originated in Texas and New York at the same time, while the facts remain that it originated in Kansas.

"This Alliance never did take up the questions of money, transportation, and land, and confined itself to purchasing its supplies at wholesale, and was an open organization, both north and south, consisting of discontented local alliances which sprang into existence in different parts of the country, east, west, north, and south; but there was no central organization; in other words, it was without a head, and that is the case yet in some localities.

"In the spring of 1875 we got our decision from the Supreme Court of the United States, setting aside the patents granted to the railway companies to the Osage ceded lands, and opening them to pre-emption settlement. Many of us were very poor at this time, having spent what little we brought with us in the fight for these lands, and the price of all property was greatly depressed in consequence of the panic of '73, brought on by the contraction of the currency. As a sample of the prices prevailing for property at that time, I remember of husking my corn and hauling it sixteen miles to Parsons with my team of oxen, and then could not sell it for ten cents per bushel in cash, and had to get it stored until such time as it would sell, or haul it back. I preferred the former. In this dilemma we began to say that the government ought to give us this land, or make some arrangements by which it would loan us money to pre-empt with. Finally the government came to our aid, and allowed us to pay $50 on the quarter section, and gave us one, two, and three years on the deferred payments, by paying $50 a year and 5 per cent interest. This was virtually a loan of $150 on each quarter section at 5 per cent interest, and this was the first 5 per cent money the people of Kansas ever borrowed, and this is the first instance that I now call to mind where the government has ever loaned its money to the people. But it demonstrated the practicability of such a system, and in 1876 I issued a circular, and set forth the system that New York had adopted in loaning its school fund to the farmers, upon real estate security, and demonstrated the practicability of such system for the United States.

"I selected one post-office in each county of the United States, and sent a few of these circulars, to be handed out by the postmaster, and I had the satisfaction of seeing farmers' clubs springing up in all parts of the country. This circular is the first, so far as I am informed, ever written and circulated since the Constitution of the United States was adopted, advocating government loans to the people, upon real estate security."

This statement bears the marks of candor and directness, that will no doubt convince many of its truthfulness. Be that as it may, it discloses an attempt to correct economic evils in that

.

State, at an early date. The movement thus inaugurated continued to increase in strength, and finally culminated in the campaign of 1890. There is not a single one of the many great States organized into this grand agricultural demand for "Equal rights to all and special privileges to none," that would take from Kansas an iota of the credit she may justly claim. If this Alliance Movement originated in Kansas, well and good; she has proved herself worthy of that honor.

The history of the movement in New York has been given in another chapter, and will doubtless be read with interest in connection with the above. It is to the Alliance in Texas that the attention of the reader is invited. To the brethren in Texas belongs the credit and everlasting honor of placing the Farmers' Alliance before the country and the world. To them the toilers of the earth can bow in gratitude, for originating, through distress, organizing under great difficulties, and perfecting with consummate wisdom, the most powerful reform organization that has ever been known in the history of the race. All hail to the grand State of Texas, the mother and protector of the Alliance! The wave of civilization and development swept the world, from east to west; and when it reached the western border, it was reflected back as a great reform movement. It is the reflex wave of a higher civilization which promises to improve all existing countries, as the present civilization improved upon barbarism; the difference being that the march of civilization apprised the world of the use of power, and this great reform movement is to teach the world the power of justice.

The credit due to those who participated in the first struggles of the Farmers' Alliance is not as great as the present size and importance of the order would indicate. It was started as a local organization, for local purposes, and has developed by the work it has been called upon to perform. The earliest conception of its object seems to have been to organize landowners to resist the efforts of land-sharks, who set up fraudulent titles to their lands, and brought suit to either dispossess the owner or secure from him a payment for a compromise. A great amount of land litigation of this kind was rife in Texas, on account of grants claimed to have been issued by the Mexican government, prior to the independence of Texas.