In Georgia, the effort to organize a Farmers Alliance was led by two men: Oswald Wilson and J.B. Wilkes. Wilkes set up the first four local groups (or sub-alliances) in Carroll, Heard, Coweta, and Troup Counties, starting in the fall of 1887.
    In December 1887, the very first State Alliance Assembly was held in Fort Valley, Georgia, and was attended by members from 15 counties. Reverend Robert H. Jackson of Heard County was elected the first State Alliance president.
    In 1888, the leadership of the Southern Farmers Alliance decided to exercise its muscle and boycott the “Jute Trust.” Jute, used for bagging cotton, was sold by a single Saint Louis firm which had an effective monopoly on supplies, and charged exorbitant prices.
    Southern Alliance farmers, therefore, stopped buying jute, devised alternative methods for securing cotton bales, and in less than a year the cartel was forced to drop the price of jute to below pre-boycott prices.
    In June of 1888, the Georgia State Alliance set up its first Cooperative Exchange in Atlanta on the corner of Fulton and Forsyth Streets. Its purpose: “Conduct a general merchandise business, to act as agent for the purchase and sale of all kinds of farm and orchard products and as general forwarding agent for all kinds of commodities.”
    In Bulloch County, there were several Alliance newspapers. The Bulloch County Banner (an Alliance paper) was run by H.G. Everett, R.L. Moore, J.N. Woods, J.E.C. Tillman, and R.H. Cone. The Statesboro Eagle, run by J.A. Brannen and his sister-in-law Florence Williams, ran an editorial in December of 1890 supporting the Southern Alliance’s official positions.
    They were: keep all new public lands for more settlements and not for foreign or Eastern investors; lower or remove agricultural tariffs; have sufficient silver coinage available for the public use and establish a gold standard; and repeal all unfavorable national bank laws.
    In Bulloch County, sub-alliances were established throughout the county: in Statesboro, George Emmitt was president; in New Castle, G.T. Brewtor was president; in Nellwood, T.F. Brannen was president; in Echo, R.F. Stringer was president; in Harville, John I. Lane was president; In Eureka (meeting at Smith’s Chapel) C.R. Davis was President; and in Mill Creek, W.E. Gould was president.
    Alliance men gained political power: 192 of 219 candidates for state representatives and six out of ten state senators in the 1890 campaign were Georgia Alliance members.  At this time, the Southern Alliance eventually formed a new political party which they named the “Peoples Party.”
    Party delegates approved the ideas of railroad regulation, national bank closures, unlimited coinage of currency, a tax on earnings, fewer and shorter working hours, and limits on immigration as their platform.
    General James Weaver became the Alliance presidential candidate, and in the national election received over one million popular votes and 22 electoral votes in the presidential race.
    By the mid 1890s, the Georgia State Alliance claimed a membership of over 100,000 farmers in almost 2000 lodges. With such popular support, the Georgia State Alliance easily elected William Y. Atkinson as the new Governor of Georgia in 1894.
   
    Roger Allen is a local lover of history. Allen provides a brief look at Bulloch County's historical past. E-mail Roger at rogerdodg er53@hotmail.com.