The National Co-Operator (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 52, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 10, 1906 Page: 1 of 8
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Vol. 1.
MINEOLA, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 190(*>
No. 52
Resolutions by Wood Co. Union.
Quitman, Tex., Jan. 6. 1906.
Whereas, As President Calvin
of the Texas State Union, called
a meeting of the various State
Unions to meet in the city of
Texarkana on Dec. 5, 1905, and,
Whereas, The said Texarkana
rjiQgtiijg was called to perfect a
National Organization, and,
Whereas, The said Texarkana
meeting resulted in the organ-
ization of a National Union,
therefore,
Be it resolved, That the Farm-
er's Educational and Co-Opera-
tive Union of Wood County, in
j County Union assembled, do
most earnestly endorse the action
of the delegates at the National
Union held at Texarkana on
Dec. 5, 1905, and,
Whereas, The delegates to the
National Union saw fit, in their
wisdom, to elect our personal
friend and union brother, O. P.
Pyle, as National President, and,
Whereas, We, most of us, have
been acquainted with him per-
sonally about eighteen years, and
some of us all his life and know
whereof we speak, therefore,
Be it resolved, That we, the
personal friends of O. P. Pyle,
knowing him to be an honest,
upright, Christian gentleman,
and capable in every respect of
filling the office of National Pres-
ident of the Farmer's Education-
al and Co-Operative Union of
America, with greater respect
and credit to t membership
than anyone known to us, we
unhesitatingly take great pleas-
ure in recommendinghim, not only
to our brethren everywhere, but
to a reading and thinking public
as well. To say that Bro. O. P.
Pyle stands for the producing
and laboring people is putting it
too mildly. He has ever been
found in the thickest of the fight
i'l the interest of the laboring
people. He was born on the
farm and he was raised on the
farm. Was sent to country schools
in Hunt County, Texas until he
had acquired sufficient education
to teach school, which he did
through the fall and winter and
farmed during spring and sum-
mer until 1894, when the Alliance
brethren of his county (Wood)
persuaded him to take charge of
the Mineola Courier, the Alliance
paper then owned by the Alliance
of Wood County. This he at
first refused to do, pleading his
inability as a journalist, but he fin-
ally accepted the work, and it was
soon seen that the people of his
county' had made no mistake in
their choice of the proper person
to represent their interests, he
having been a member, and ar-
dent supporter of the Alliance
from its incipiency until it ceased
to be,
That, the editorials of his paper
(The Courier) found lodgment
in the minds and hearts of his
friends and enemies, as well,
needs no comment.
As we have said, he is a Chris-
tian, belonging to the Christian
church, and giving liberal sums
of money each year to the sup-
port of his church, and, also, to
the Missionary Baptist, and all
other denominations that call on
him for help,
That he was the first to wage
war against the mortgage sys-
tem in Texas, no one doubts.
That he was the one who fired the
first shot in behalf of the Farm-
ers' Educational and Co-Opera-
tive Union of Texas, is univer-
sally admitted. And to say, or
even intimate, that he has not
been loyal and true to the trust
we have given into his hands,
and that he has ever proven rec-
reanttothe interestof the farming
and laboring people, we would
not only refer such people to the
columns of his paper since the
first issue, but as his personal
friends would take such an inti-
mation as a public insult.
In the spirit of unity, with the
Golden Rule as our guide, we,
the members of Wood County
Union, will never sit idly by and
see our grand organization manip-
ulated, and a true and tried
brother wronged without enter-
ing our protest, first, last and all
the time. Never, no, never.
Resolved, That a copy of these
resolutions be sent to the Dallas
News, the Houston Post, and to
all Union papers, with a request
that they be published.
These resolutions were passed
without the knowledge or con-
sent of our President, O. P. Pyle,
while he was in Dallas, Texas,
attending to the interests of the
National Union.
W. R. Blalock, Pres.
J. W. Park, Sec-Treas.
Grimes County Union.
Bedias, Tex., Jan. 6.—Grimes
County Union met Dec. 15, with
Sandhill Union, No. 2998. Bro.
W. J. Long was elected president
pro tem. J. D Wilson was ap-
pointed secretary pro tem, and
Wm. Cain C. K. The following
Unions were represented, and
after discussing several subjects
the Union adjourned to meet at
9 a. m., Saturday. After open-
ing, we went into election of fol-
lowing officers for the ensuing
year, with following results:
A. J. Horton, president; R. T.
Curry, vice-president; A.E. Tuck,
secretary-treasurer; J. W. Grant,"
chaplain; I. D. Cheghorn, D. K.;
W. D. Dooley, conductor; J. 0.
Murray, lecturer. Executive
committee; L. W. D. Quinn, W.
J. Long and M. K. Hendrix. The
secretary was instructed to re-
quest the former secretary to
present his report at the next Co.
meeting at Iola, Jan. 26-27, 1906.
Committee on Warehouse was
continued. The secretary was
instructed to ascertain if any
constitutions in the German,
Polish and Bohemian languages
had been ordered. If not, to get
them as soon as possible. The
Union adjourned to meet with
Iola union, Jan. 26-27, 1906.
A. E. Tuck,
Secretary.
WHAT OF THE NIGHT?
IIV NKWT • IIIKHIIAM, NATIONAI. OlHI A NIK Hit.
Poor mortals that we are. We
have an organization now of
many, many thousands of mem-
bers. And it has come to pass
that the tillers of the earth have
again organized. What for? For
education, for protection, for co-
operation, for business. What
have we done up to date? Not
much. Only organize. What
does the thing look like now?
What are the indicators? Where
are we at? I hope our people
will now look matters straight in
the face. Don't dodpre. Don't
refuse to look. Don't imagine
that all is well and turn over and
slumber again. The Farmers' Un-
ion has now reached a period in
its history that looks like a ca-
lamity. Any sort of boneless an-
imal can look nice on dress pa-
rade, can stay in ranks when
there is nothing to do, can talk
loud and boast of the farmer as
the man who feeds and clothes
the world, can howl calamity and
turn the atmosphere green witn
curses of the fellow who toils not
nor spins, but gets there all the
same. Any sort of an ass can
bray—but the time has come now
when the Farmers' Union needs
men of brains, of integrity, of
honesty, of patriotism. The time
has now come when we need
men who will "stick." The
world has told us that the farmer
could do wonders if he would on-
ly stick; and he can. But they
say he won't stick. Will he?
Will he stick? If he will, now is
the time to show it, for now we
are up against the real thing.
They told us that sharpers would
get in, that the political trickster
would get in, and that when he
could not control the organization
to suit his own selfish ends, that
he would kill it. And they told
the truth—or at least a part of it.
The trickster is in. The political
schemer is here. He is on deck,
just as predicted. He is yelling,
"wolf, wolf, stop thief!" He
says in his heart, "The people
be damned." He invited us to
Texarkana to join with him in
council, "looking to the organi-
zation of a National Union, if
deemed timely and advisable."
Six State Unions were represent-
ed by a strong delegation, that
cost them hundreds of dollars of
hard-earned money—money that
was earned in the cotton fields.
Seven other states were repre-
sented—scattering—those that
had no State Unions, but a few
local unions, and, perhaps, a
County Union or two—they got
a few dollars together and sent a
delegate also. Thirteen states in'
all had delegates at Texarkana.
They were invited to join the or-
ganization of a National Union
if "deemed timely and advisa-
ble." We all got t here. Our
friend, the schemer, looked
around, felt of the water, took
his bearing, sniffed the air and
shook his head and said, "it
won't do. It is neither timely
nor advisable." Why not? Don't
like the looks of things. Why
not? Listen, why not.? Read
on and see if you can find "why
not." The gavel fell. Prayer
was offered to the great God who
made us all, that our delibera-
tions might be with an eye-single
to the glory of God and the good
of the men, women and little
children who toil; that we might
do right and fear no man. The
ball opened, and our friend, the
schemer, stated his case with all
the earnestness he could com-
mand. There were less than one
dozen of these gentlemen who
said, "the time is not yet."
They did the best they could.
Everybody took them to be hon-
est, but mistaken. They were
out-voted by about ten to one,
but they couldn't help it.
They did their best and fell
in line. The decision
was that is both timely and
advisable to organize a National
Union, and what did we do?
We organized a National Union
right over our friend, the schem-
er. He got no office. He al-
ready had one but he wanted
another. He was only a state
officer but he wanted to be Na-
tional. What did he do? He
said to himself, "Just wait, we'll
fix 'em. We hold the national
franchise. We bought it from
those fools over in Rains County,
who had a good thing and didn't
know it. If we had it to do over
we'd take it away from them and
kick them out. We promised to
pay them $3,000 for it and paid
$2,700 of it before we found out
that we didn't have to. We'll
see 'em in hell before they get
the other $300, even if they have
got our note. We can repudiate
that—that's easy. Yes, We hold
the National franchise, and we
wont let 'em have it, and if they
undertake to do anything we'll
enjoin them with the courts, be-
cause we are now in Dallas.
We've talked with Tom Camp-
bell, our lawyer, whom we are
going to make governor, and
Tom says the injunction law is
the stuff that will put 'em to
sleep."
And it came to pass that the
Texarkana Committee—the Na-
tional Executive Committee, after
having been abused by the M-P.,
the organ of our friend the schem-
er—after having been ridiculed
and called all manner of ugly
names, too numerous to mention,
met over in the city of Dallas,
according to previous appoint-
ment, to meet the committee of
our friend the schemer, who held
the franchise, but, lo! and alas,
the dirty work had been done so
well that only one man would
budge an inch. Four of them
said, "Nay, verily sweet Pauline
you.can't cutter (all hail to the
name of J. R. Luce, the only
man on the committee who was
at the Texarkana meeting and
the only man on the committee
who was willing that the people
should have a National Union if
' 'deemed timely and advisable.'')
The other four were not at Texar-
kana and only took the word of
our friend the schemer. And
here we are. What shall we do?
"Why," say a thousand voices,
"just as I expected. 1 told you
so. I knew they wouldn't stick.
Goodbye, I'm g'wine home."
What shall we do? No charter,
no franchise, no nothing, and
our friend just simply dares us
to move one wheel he swears if
we do he'll invoke the injunction
and he can do it, and I believe he
will, because with the right kind
of pull you can get anything you
want in Dallas. They believe
that they have the Farmer's
Union in their vest pocket and
can do anything they please with
it even to electing Tom Camp-
bell governor of Texas.
What are you going to do boys?
Quit? Throw up the sponge?
Swear that it is just as you ex-
pected? Are you going to do
that? No, you won't. You'll
"stand firm" and see the salva-
tion of the Lord.
Fraternally,
Newt Gresham.
Call to Fruit and Truck Grower*.
All Fruit and Truck growers
of Wood, Hopkins and Franklin
Counties, are hereby called to
meet in the town of Winsboro on
Saturday Jan. 20, 1906, for the
purpose of arranging for the
handling of our Fruit and Truck
during the coming season. This
will be a meeting of great im-
portance. The fact that both
north and south, have failed to
raise an Irish potato crop, gives
us an opportunity, such as we
have not enjoyed for many years,
let all of us hasten to grasp the
opportunity, as we certainly real-
ize the uncertainty of a cotton
crop, with millons of boll weevil
everywhere. Cut down your
cotton crop, and plant Irish pota-
toes this one time. Everybody
come to the meeting.
R. L. Barnett,
President Fruit and Truck grow-
ers Exchange, Wood County,
Texas.
FARMERS' MEETINGS.
Fort Wort Fat Stock Show,
March 22, 23 and 24.
Texas Cattle Raisers' Associa-
tion at Dallas March lit, 20 and
21.
Executive Committee Texas
Farmers' Congress at Palestine,
January 23.
Texas State Horticultural So-
ciety at Palestine,.January 25 and
2f .
Oklahoma State Board of Agri-
culture, at Guthrie, January 10,
17 and 18.
Executive Committee of South-
ern Cotton Asssociation meets at
Hot Springs, Arkansas, January
16. "
Yr
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Pyle, O. P. The National Co-Operator (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 52, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 10, 1906, newspaper, January 10, 1906; Mineola, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth254304/m1/1/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mineola Memorial Library.