CHAPTER III.

KINDRED ORGANIZATIONS - continued.

The Northwestern Alliance. - The Northwestern Alliance, so called to distinguish it from the Alliance which originated in the South, was the result of considerable agitation among the farmers of that section regarding the depressed condition of agriculture. This agitation was forced upon the people by the teachings of the Greenback party, then in its prime, and the hard times which followed specie resumption and the contraction of the currency. This feeling of unrest among the farmers rapidly intensified during the years succeeding 1876, and hastened the formation of the organization which is the subject of this paper. The first Alliance in the West was organized in the office of the Western Rural, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 1880, and named Cook County Alliance, No. 1, with G. A. Hauf, President; C. E. Tuerk, Vice-President; James W. Wilson, Secretary; and Milton George, Treasurer.

The national meeting at St. Louis in 1882 was not a success, and the one held in Chicago the year following was almost a failure. At this meeting it was determined that the officers elected should hold their positions until their successors were elected, and that the board of officers be empowered to act in the place of the National Alliance, according to its best judg ment. In 1884 an attempt was made to hold a national meeting, but it failed. In 1885 no effort was made; but in November, 1886, a meeting was called at Chicago, which was fairly well attended. Hon. A. J. Streeter was elected President; J. J. Burrows, Vice-President; Milton George, Secretary; A. A. Arnold, Treasurer. Minneapolis was selected as the next place of meeting. Strong resolutions were adopted and the meeting adjourned.

The seventh annual meeting convened at Minneapolis, Minnesota, October, 1887. Six States were represented. Although the attendance was small, a feeling obtained that important

questions of public policy, as connected with agriculture, would soon arouse the farmers to greater activity.

Since 1887 the order has grown considerably in certain localities. It is not definitely known just how many members it has. A safe estimate would be from 125,000 to 175,000. At the present time its largest membership is in the States of Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota. This order is not necessarily secret, but confines its membership to the agricultural classes.

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES OF THE NORTHWESTERN FARMERS'
ALLIANCE.

1. The free and unlimited coinage of silver.

2. The abolition of national banks and the substitution for their notes of legal treasury notes, and the increase of currency to $50 per capita. 3. Government ownership of all railroads and telegraphs.

4. The prohibition of alien ownership of land, and of gambling in stocks, options, and futures.

5. The adoption of a constitutional amendment requiring the election of President and Vice-President, and United States Senators, by direct vote of the people.

6. The Australian ballot system.

The Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association. — The order originated, it seems, in this way: In the fall of 1882 or 1883 (some give one date and some the other), five neighboring farmers of Johnson County, Illinois, of more than ordinary determination and independence of character, happened on the same day at their local wheat market, each with a load of wheat. The local buyers refused to take it, claiming that the market was so unsettled they dare not make figures. The farmers believed this was a method agreed upon between the buyers, for the sole purpose of depressing the market and plucking them. After a brief consultation, a committee was quietly sent to the telegraph office, and wired for the city market. The answer came, highly satisfactory, showing the market not only firm but actually rising. They then telegraphed to the railroad authorities to know if they could get a car. There happened to be a car already upon the track, which was not just then to be used, as the regular buyers had stopped buying for the time.

This the farmers were kindly given the refusal of.

Returning

to the buyers, the farmers again offered to sell their wheat at the price that had been paid the day before, and were again refused. They then told the buyers that if they (the buyers) would not take it, the farmers would ship it themselves.

uce.

This incident, of course, became the talk of the neighborhood, and set all the farmers to thinking of shipping their own prodIt was at once seen that, in order to do so, co-operation was necessary, as different persons must necessarily ship together. This led to the formation of clubs. Five such clubs were organized during the winter, very much on the style of the ordinary neighborhood debating society. It very soon became apparent that, if they devised any plans for their mutual benefit, secrecy was an absolute necessity, as they found themselves at once surrounded by prying enemies of their plans. A meeting of the five clubs, or lodges, was called at New Burnside, Johnson County, Illinois. At this meeting a constitution and bylaws were adopted, a secret work formulated, the meeting was termed a General Assembly, and the name Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association was chosen for the organization. The five lodges then organized drew lots for the numbers they should bear, from one to five. The General Assembly was to meet every three months, and each lodge was made an organizer to organize other lodges, on petition from a sufficient number to form a new lodge. These new lodges were to be branches of the lodges organizing them, until the General Assembly should meet, when they could send their representatives and be admitted as regular lodges. The branch lodges, however, as soon as organized, could proceed to organize new lodges. No other method of organization was provided for.

July 4, 1887, the General Assembly met at Mt. Vernon, Illinois. This may be set down as the turning-point in the success and growth of the organization. A committee was appointed to secure a legal incorporation, to revise the constitution and laws, and otherwise place the order on a firm basis, and give it a legal standing and rights in the courts.

In October, 1887, the General Assembly met at DuQuoin, Illinois. The Committee on Incorporation reported a general charter, granted under the corporation laws of Illinois, with

authority to work and charter subordinate lodges in any State or Territory in the United States. The next meeting of the General Assembly was held at Fairfield, Illinois, in December, 1887.

The next General Assembly was held at Murphysborough in October, 1888. Several important measures were discussed. A Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association Printing Company was formed, and general satisfaction seemed to prevail over what had been done in the past, and what might be done in the future.

The next General Assembly met at Mt. Vernon, Illinois, in November, 1889. Again a rapid and permanent growth was apparent on every side. The order had passed the turning point, and was now on the highway of prosperity.

The last meeting of the General Assembly was held at Springfield, Illinois, November, 1890. This order sent fraternal delegates to the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union at Ocala, in December, 1890.

Such, briefly, are the history, aims, and purposes of an organization that has done, and is doing, good and earnest work in the line of reform.

The Farmers' Political League. This organization originated among the farmers of Massachusetts, during their contest with the manufacturers of oleomargarine. For a number of years the farmers had petitioned the legislature for a law to prohibit the coloring of oleo like butter, and, as is usual in such cases, these demands were entirely ignored. Early in the fall of 1889 it was suggested that a Farmers' Political League be organized to carry these reforms squarely into politics, and make them the issue in all primaries, caucuses, and conventions, of all parties. The idea met with instant favor. The Farmers' League of Massachusetts was temporarily organized in October, and there not being time enough to perfect permanent organizations in every township, in season for elections, the plan was adopted of circulating a pledge among the voters in agricultural districts, irrespective of party, whereby they bound themselves "to vote only for such candidates for governor and for the state legislature, as shall pledge themselves to work and vote for a bill to prohibit the coloring of oleo like butter." A State League