The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 7, 1918, Page 6

SN N JUNE, 1890, there was assembled at Huron, South Dakota, at a special state convention of the Farmers’ alliance, a determined bunch of farmers. A generation before, in 1856, thore had been a similar meeting that had resulted in the organization of the Republican party, a party that was.destined in the first 10 years of its history to free millions of black men and women from slavery. Then that party had gradually lost its high purpose, its leaders had become influenced and corrupted by the great railroads and other big business combina- tions. . ' The farmers who gathered at Huron proposed to organize another great political party that should free many more millions of white workers in farm and country from industrial slavery. ; The personal story of President H. L. Loucks of the South Dakota Alliance is the best example of the growth .of radical ideas among the farmers. Loucks, a conservative, had been affiliated with rail- roads and steamboat companies. When he first joined the Alliance it was only with the idea of learning more about “better farming.” But Loucks soon found it was not enough to raise more wheat—it must be sold at a fair price. And he became interested in co-operative enterprises. During the 80’s the Alliance had gone into c¢o-oper- ative enterprises, much as the Equity farmers are doing today. They organized companies to buy farm machinery and implements, binder twine, etc.; com< -panies to build farmers’ warehouses, a hail insurance company and a life insurance company. ‘But Loucks - found that the laws were framed so that many of these co-operative enterprises could mnot succeed against the competition of the railroads and other great combinations for-private profit. So the farm- ers politely asked the legislators to provide fair laws. The ‘legislators, with their pockets stuffed full of = railroad passes, laughed at them. INDEPENDENT PARTY ; STARTS IN SOUTH DAKOTA —Then the farmers had tried to elect the legislators with indifferent success. They had tried to capture the Republican party organization' and had been cheated out of a victory. . Now Loucks proposed to the farmers, gathered in _.-special convention at Huron, that they cut loose : _the United States. from the past, forget old party ties and organize a new party of their own. --Some of the farmers fairly gasped when the prop- . osition was put up to them. But every aspect was discussed thoroughly—the failures and breaches of faith in the past—and finally the large majority, three-fourths or four-fifths, agreed to the new party - plan; : *Arrangements were made for a special nominating convention to be held a month later and the second convention, meeting in July, put a full South Dakota - ticket in the field, headed by Loucks for governor. - ‘The new party was called the Independent: party. It was the first farmers’ ticket to be put in the field in Later, when a national conven- tion was held, the name “People’s party” was decid- ed upon, ; ! : The new Independent party stood first of all for a free market for the farmers’ product. It stood for - .. faiz-election laws. It stood for the abolition of rail- road passes. It stood for “the People’s legislature” and for “the imperative mandate.” i : Do you know what these last two terms mean? Perhaps it would: be better if they were translated into- more modern language. “The Peoples legisla- HAIRE, CATHOLIC PRIEST, JOINS THE MOVEMENT = endum; the “imperative mandate” was the recall, reforms starfed. - There was in South Dakota at this time a Catholic priest, the Rev. Father Rgbert w ture’” was the 1890 term for the initiative and refer- - 1t is interesting to note how the demand for these tsbirth, PopaTem R P T This is the second installment of the story of the farmers’ fight in South Da- kota—part of the important historical series which began in the Leader sev- " eral weeks ago. . This installment car- ries the account of the old Farmers’ al- liance through its development into the People’s party, and of the fusion of the People’s party with the Democrats and the final breaking up of this great farm- ers’ political movement of 20 to 30 years ago. The farmers once captured South Dakota politically, as this install- ment tells. Why did they afterwards lose control?: You will want to know. You will want to be posted on the mis- takes, as well as the good work, of this old farmers’ struggle, and learn how the farmers today can avoid the causes that broke up their organization in the old days. 7The next part of the his- - torical series will deal with the fight in Minnesota, and the story of Wisconsin will follow. The series will include the story of the farmers’ political and eco- nomic fight in every state where the Nonpartisan League is organizing. Haire. Haire had become interested in the Knights of Labor movement. His “going into politics” brought him into disfavor with some of the church leaders and for many years Haire was a priest with- A South Dakota Sioux Indian chief in full regalia.- “There were more of these Indians and much more wild and undeveloped country in South Dakota 30 - years ago than there is now, when the great Farmers’ alliance movement, with which this story deals, had out a parish. Haire was of Irish extraction but had been brought up in New England as a Protestant and had become a Congregational minister, later renouncing this faith to take up Catholicism. Haire knew. nothing of the initiative and referen- dum having been adopted by the republic of Switz- erland (there was not as much information in regard to political conditions in other countries then as there is now) but he had worked out, in his own mind, a plan for the people to make their own laws “by submitting them by petition and voting upon them and to stop bad laws made by the legislature, and he called this plan “the People’s legislature.” Haire, seeing that the workers of the Knights of Labor and the workers on the farm really had the same cause, had joined with the farmers in their ‘Alliance movement some years before. Besides having a good platform, real wrongs to be . redressed and the great majority of the farmers, the Independent party had the support of a number of disgruntled politicians. The old machine, ;hinking itself secure, had been ruling with an iron hand and " many politicians were at outs with the organization. To encourage interest and add to the campaign fund " the farmers had buttons printed with the word.“In- dependent” on them. The buttons cost 1214 cents and were sold for 25 cents. They were not unlike the “We’ll Stick” buttons that the Nonpartisan. league farmers wear now, but they were sold, not only to farmers, but to everybody who would buy them. With an unpopular Republican machine in the saddle many of the politicians called themselves “Independents” and bought the buttons. Some of them got in’such a position as to make trouble for the farmers later. It looked as if the farmers ticket would have clear sailing. FARMERS MOVEMENT NEEDED MONEY BADLY But with these things in its favor the farmers’ ticket had many obstacles to overcome. Remember, the farmers at the Huron convention were not abso- lutely unanimous on the need for a new party. It was a new, an unheard of thing. It was as radical a move for the Alliance farmers to decide to organ- ize a mew political party of their own as it would be today for the American Society of Equity, or- ganized to boost co-operative enterprises such as the Alliance then was doing, to turn itself into the Non- - partisan league. It was more radical, because at ~ that time no farmers’ organization had ever gone into polities and the farmers proposed to go farther " than merely selecting candidates to run on old party tickets—they proposed a brand new party. But worse than this was the question of finances. Remember,, the Alliance tried to get along on dues of $§1 a year. They had to have additional money, of course, for a campaign fund, but they could only get it by voluntary subscriptions and the time was short and money was even shorter. There had been no large fund accumulated in advance. They tried to raise money by such means as the sale of the ‘Independent” buttons but they could not get nearly enough to make the preparations that were made by their opponents, with unlimited railroad campaign contributions behind them. i Throughout the entire history of the People’s party the lack of funds was one of the worst conditions they had to face. The writer talked, the other day, ' to Henry W. Smith, a farmer who lives near Sioux Falls, who was one of the Alliance’s first candidates for congress. Smith was one of those who at the Huron convention, opposed the Alliance going into Dpolitics, but he remained loyal after the decision had been reached. = : POOR FINANCES WERE THE GREAT HANDICAP “We went into politics too soon and without proper financial backing,” said Smith.’ troubled us in every campaign, You can't make “Lack of money (5 i P v v € > . ‘ b i | - » + A P S B x §F > 1 bhoie S o e o T - ‘\! \..a T ¥