they are the most confiding and the slowest to act. They are more suspicious of the acts of others than jealous of their own rights, and are quite apt to impugn the motives of any one who seeks to bring about any innovations upon existing customs and usages. Reform in this

direction can only follow education, and that is only brought about by patient efforts. While they may be slow to act, it is also true that their efforts are earnest and vigorous when once put in motion. It would be a blessing to the race if reformers were unnecessary; but the wish is useless, since, notwithstanding all the appeals that have been made in ages past, for God and humanity, the tide of oppression seems to be augmenting as time rolls on, and the wails of the poor, needy, and distressed are unnoticed, even in a land consecrated to liberty.

It is here that the herculean task of the reformer presents itself. It is here that he must choose between ease, comfort, and possible riches, and a life of self-sacrifice, deprivation, and possible want. It is here that he must choose between the soul and the body, between the man and the animal. If a reformer, he chooses the right and despises the wrong. Observation has already taught him that great reforms are of slow growth, and that all forms of selfishness must be buried in the great work in which he is engaged. The idea of reward, except in the great world to come, must not possess him. We would cheerfully grant to him the consoling thought that a life devoted to some good work is advancing heavenward.

The reformer must live in the future, and consider present discomforts as the credit marks for coming appreciation. Emerson further says:

"He who would help himself and others should not be a subject of irregular and interrupted impulses of virtue; but a continent, persisting, immovable person,—such as we have seen a few scattered up and down in time for the blessing of the world, men who have in the gravity of their nature a quality which answers to the fly-wheel in a mill, which distributes the motion equally over all the wheels, and hinders it from falling unequally and suddenly in destructive shocks. It is better that joy should be spread over all the day in the form of strength, than that it should be concentrated into ecstasies, full of danger and followed by reactions. There is a sublime prudence, which is the very highest that we know of man, which, believing in a vast future, sure of more to come than is yet seen, postpones always the present hour to the whole life; postpones talent to genius, and special results to character. A purer fame, a greater power, rewards the sacrifice."

Another point usually lost sight of is that all reformers begin at the bottom. It is the substratum of what is called society that furnishes the material out of which both reforms and reformers are usually produced. It is among the discontented, the distressed, and those who are not satisfied with their environment, that all reforms begin. Those who

are satisfied with their conditions are not, as a rule, satisfied to divide with others, or consent without a protest to a change. Hence the reformer, in the discharge of his duty, runs counter to the interests of the rich, powerful, and educated. Reforms that are founded in philanthropy are quite certain to end in failure, while those based upon principle are always in the end triumphant. To meet with average courage

all these obstacles; to fight manfully all opposition; to bear insult, suffer wrong, and bear reproach, these constitute the plain duties of every

true reformer.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE SUB-TREASURY PLAN.

BY HON. HARRY TRACY, LECTURER NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLIANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION, EDITOR Southern Mercury, DALLAS, TEXAS.

BEFORE beginning a discussion of this plan I will give the original bill in full, as it deserves to be handed down to history.

H. R. 7162 is the official designation of the bill introduced by Hon. John A. Pickler of South Dakota, embodying the demand of the Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. Its title is, "A bill to establish a system of sub-treasuries, and for other purposes," the full text of the bill being as follows:

"SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there may be established in each of the counties of each of the States of this United States, a branch of the Treasury Department of the United States, to be known and designated as a subtreasury, as hereinafter provided, when one hundred or more citizens of any county in any State shall petition the Secretary of the Treasury requesting the location of a sub-treasury in such county, and shall,

"1. Present written evidence duly authenticated by oath or affirmation of county clerk and sheriff, showing that the average gross amount per annum of cotton, wheat, oats, corn, and tobacco produced and sold in that county for the last preceding two years, exceeds the sum of $500,000, at current prices in said county at that time, and,

“2. Present a good and sufficient bond for title to a suitable and adequate amount of land to be donated to the government of the United States for the location of the sub-treasury buildings, and,

"3. A certificate of election showing that the site for the location of such subtreasury has been chosen by a popular vote of the citizens of that county, and also naming the manager of the sub-treasury elected at said election for the purpose of taking charge of said sub-treasury, under such regulations as may be prescribed. It shall, in that case, be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to proceed without delay to establish a sub-treasury department in such county as hereinafter provided.

"SEC. 2. That any owner of cotton, wheat, corn, oats, or tobacco may deposit the same in the sub-treasury nearest the point of its production, and receive therefor treasury notes, hereinafter provided for, equal at the date of deposit to eighty per centum of the net value of such products at the market price, said price to be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, under rules and regulations prescribed, based upon the price current in the leading cotton, tobacco, or grain markets of the United States; but no deposit consisting in whole or in part of cotton, tobacco, or grain imported into this country shall be received under the provisions of this act.