1892 - Farmers Unite!: J. A. Everitt, Seedsman, Indianapolis and The American Society of Equity

Here's where J. A. Everitt gets interesting if you are political.  

He was by nature a communicator, someone who could, and liked to, share his opinions through publishing.  There was an important issue that  involved him deeply; the farmers were being jerked around by price manipulation.  He founded  The American Society of Equity in 1902 to organize farmers into a cohesive bargaining group.

His book, The third power : farmers to the front   explains why farmers needed to join together.

TO THE LARGEST CLASS 

THE MOST DEPENDENT CLASS 

THE HARDEST WORKING CLASS 

THE POOREST PAID CLASS  

OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

THE FARMERS 

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

(You might want to take a quick detour to visit to the PBS Timeline of American Farming to get a feel for the big picture.)  

There were many farm publications, most concerned with the science of farming.  Everitt was interested in explaining marketing.  (I can't find an issue of it though!  grrr....)

In the full page ad for the American Society of Equity (at the bottom of this post) he states that Up-to-Date Farming is the semi-monthly journal which represents the ASE.  Yet in 1910 an account is written that says:

"Up-to-Date Farming is an agricultural semi-monthly that was started by J. A. Everitt in 1898 and was published by him till January, 1909, when it passed into control of an incorporated company, of which he is the chief owner. It claims 125,000 circulation." 

It goes on to report in the next paragraph that

"The Equity Farm Journal is the official organ of the American Society of Equity, and is devoted more to agricultural buying and selling than to the science of cultivating the soil. It was started in Chicago as an independent publication in November, 1907, but was acquired by the society and moved to this point in January, 1908, the headquarters of the society being here. Its circulation is about 60,000 and is rapidly increasing."

Quoted above - Greater Indianapolis: 

The History, the Industries, the Institutions, 

and the People of a City of Homes  Jacob Piatt Dunn

There was a takeover of the ASE,  pushing out Everitt.  And it was nasty.  

May 7, 1908 - The Jackson Herald from Jackson, Missouri

The case of the State of Illinois against Theo. G. Nelson, John Gentner and Chas. W. Bowne for committing criminal libel against J. A. Everitt by publications in their paper, Equity Farm Journal, came to trial in the First Criminal Branch of the Municipal court of Cook County, (Chicago), Thursday, April 9th, and was concluded on April 18th with a verdict of guilty by the jury against all the defendants. 

Mr. Everitt, as the members of the  A. S. of E. and readers of this paper know was charged with many misdemeanors including "mismanagement of the society while he was its president and head". These things were charged or insinuated against him before, and at, the October, 1907 convention, but he was prevented from facing his accusers at the convention, except the alleged opportunity on Friday night when all of the work of the convention had been done and the truth could not have been used to prevent the conspirators from carrying out their designs. 

But it is not necessary to review the acts of the convention or subsequent ones leading up to the arrest of the three people who now stand convicted of one of the most contemptible crimes in the calendar. Mr. Everitt was not allowed his day in the convention, but he has had his day in court and after the most searching investigation of nearly every act of his life for thirty years, stands an exonerated and vindicated man. He has borne with meekness the insults and black accusations heaped upon him by his enemies who thought to profit by tearing his business down and besmirching his name and fame, but always confident that right must prevail. 
There doubtless were songs of thanksgiving among the angels in heaven when the jury returned the verdict that showed Justice and Equity still abide on the earth, and these songs were of peace on earth and good will to men. but we do not write this in the spirit of vindictiveness. The crimes were committed, the prosecution was necessary, the verdict of "guilty" was inevitable, if justice was done.

 Mr. Everitt regrets all the past as he would much rather that nothing had occurred to arrest the development of the society. Even the guilty people should be thankful that the end has come as they have known for some time that the pendulum had swung to the limit of its arc and must return and would rend asunder the fabric of malice, wrong, injustice, and vilification that they had woven. We believe every honest man, every true and loyal member of the society and every former subscriber to Up-to-date Farming will rejoice over the fact, as proven by the verdict, that their confidence in Mr. Everitt, the founder of the society, was not misplaced and had not been abused. Right will prevail and wrong must perish. 

We now believe any who were placed in a position of doubt will doubt and hesitate no more, but that they will, without delay, renew their allegiance to this paper which was their guide and counselor in the past. By doing this its old time strength will be retained and it will speedily put our chosen people the farmers on a firmer and sounder basis than ever before. 

Notwithstanding the doubt that has existed as to whether farmers can organize and whether they will stick together,  we believe that before many months they will be stronger in organization than ever before. If any still hold back they confess that they are incapable of independent thought and action, but will be swayed by designing people bent on wrecking our beloved society and who, for selfish ends and for greed of plunder, struck the blows that have been so destructive and which shook the organization to the very foundation and which were intended to work Mr. Everitt's personal ruin, destroy his business and detract from his fame and character. 

More: 
This book reads well if you want to know what was going on with the factions jockeying to represent farmers.

For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America by John Curl,  Ishmael Reed Seeking to reclaim a history that has remained largely ignored by historians, this dramatic and stirring account examines each of the definitive American cooperative movements for social change--farmer, union, consumer, and communalist--that have been all but erased from collective memory. With an expansive sweep and breathtaking detail, this scholarly yet eminently readable chronicle follows the American worker from the colonial workshop to the modern mass-assembly line, from the family farm to the corporate hierarchy, ultimately painting a vivid panorama of those who built the United States.

1892 - J. A. Everitt, Seedsman, Indianapolis - With A Fantastic Engraving!!

Look to the
bottom of post
for a wonderful
cutaway illustration
of the building and the
business.
Enjoy!!

















J. A. Everitt, Seedsman,
121 and 123 West Washington Street,
Indianapolis, Indiana






A tad different looking today!

The following is from some old mag being complementary, and I just edited and changed tense:

This business was established in 1886.  In 1890 the concern was incorporated and in 1892 the large brick building now occupied, 195 feet in length, consisting of six floors, was built for the exclusive use of the business.  It was one of the largest and most completely equipped seed houses in the country. The trade extended throughout this and foreign countries, and half a million catalogues were printed and distributed annually to the patrons of the house. About 75 persons were employed by the concern.  

The stock embraced a full line of seeds of every description, grown to special order, chiefly in the North and East, including the standard varieties, such as bean, beet, cabbage, carrot, celery, sweet-corn, cucumber, lettuce, melons, onion, parsnip, pea, radish, spinach, tomato, turnip, etc., of the choicest character, with novelties and specialties in the same lines; the plants from which show superior growth, producing qualities and better average results than those obtained from any other source.Their floral department was equally select and desirable. The list contained every seed known to the lexicon of florists, put up in handsome packages, each package containing the firm's trade-mark and full directions for sowing and cultivating. Their small fruit and plant departments, their departments of farm seeds, of lawn and other grass and clover seeds, of esculents, including the great early potato "The Everitt" were likewise unsurpassed in variety and completeness.

The celebrated "Man Weight" farm and garden tools are also manufactured by this corporation, and have an extensive sale. 
The officers of the company are: J. A.Everitt,  president; L.J. Everitt,  secretary and treasurer.

Up-to-Date Farming is an agricultural semi-monthly that was started by J. A. Everitt in 1898 and was published by him till January, 1909, when it passed into control of an incorporated company, of which he was the chief owner.

In May 1906, The Plymouth Tribune, (Volume 5, Number 33, 24 May 1906) reported that Harry O. Chamberlain had been appointed receiver for William N. Everitt, Indianapolis seedsman, on complaint of James A. Everitt, a brother of William N. Everitt, who claims part ownership. A dissolution of the firm is asked.    

To the above I can only say I do not know what is going on...nor could I find any other info on the mysterious William N. Everitt.

The Name Game... 1894 J. A. Everitt Vegetables

 Was tennis the posh fad in 1895 or something?

 In this century it brings to mind rather tough, unpleasantly fuzzy lettuce...

The corn's name, however,  is still as strong as it was in 1894!

I wonder who wrote the copy and who came up with the names.

"Lightening EarlyValentine"...a bean worth knowing according to Everitt.

Are you familiar with the Japanese product naming style of picking English words more for their sound punch than for the the meaning?  When viewed by a native English speaker the names create a mental confusion that is enchanting, baffling, or hilarious.

This bean does that for me.  Almost any other ordering of those 3 words feels better than Lightening-Early-Valentine!

(Note: Just as I finished writing this, the words popped into place and no longer feel strange...the bond between Early and Valentine was broken. I'm leaving this here more as a neurological artifact than a comment on names!)

 A tour de force of lettuce engraving!