CHAPTER VI.

POWER OF THE FARMERS.

WHY FARMERS DO NOT WIELD POLITICAL POWER.

We have shown that heretofore our legislative bodies have been composed of professional men chiefly. There are a number of reasons why this has been the case; the principal one being that we are all too much inclined to be led away by what has been vulgarly called the gift of gab. A good talker, that is, one who is able, from a natural flow of words, to talk glibly, albeit without argument, naturally leads the masses the world over. Lawyers are, notably, sophists, and many of them sound reasoners and deep thinkers. Their education gives them such training that they naturally wield great influence. Hence their vast preponderance among those elected to do the legislation.

Another reason why farmers have not secured a proper representation is, that, as a class, they are not a reading people; and yet there is no calling in life, requiring continued manual labor, in which so much of that invaluable element, brains, can be exercised, or where so much is accomplished in this direction by natural thinkers, as that of the farmer. He may pursue any given train of thought while plowing, driving his team along the road, and during many other of his occupations, which the mechanic or artisan can not do.

The statistics of the book trade, however, show that the average farmer is not an average reader, either of books or newspapers—especially of those devoted to his profession. But farmers, although working slowly for the better in this respect, are nevertheless working surely. The rising generation is thirsting after knowledge, and when it has fairly entered the arena of public action must, if its predecessors do not, solve the problem of the social and political equality of the masses.

OUR DEFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

One great difficulty is that our "higher system" of education has tended to bring labor into contempt. Happily, this also is being changed. The elements of science are now taught in many of our common schools, though imperfectly, in most cases, and through the old groove-channels of the dead past. Our colleges are beginning to see the necessity of instruction in the practical application of science. Our agricultural colleges, especially, are manifesting a just appreciation of that higher education which teaches of things rather than of theories.

The "coming farmer" must be educated to a fairer and broader comprehension of the true status of the masses, and the advancement of the industries. He must study for his business, just as the merchant does for his, and as the professional man does for his. This attainment is growing easier every day; for, with the progressive settlement of a country, the agricultural masses become less and less segregated, and neighborhood Clubs, Granges, and social reunions are more and more possible.

If the farmer and the artisan longer refuse to do their share in the education to, and the legislation for, the great

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body politic, they will have none to blame save themselves. The initial point upon which all this must hinge, so far as concerns the farmer, is the neighborhood Club or Grange, in like manner as with Unions among artisans. The latter class, by the way, are still far in advance of the farmers in this respect. Their organizations can make themselves felt, and are growing daily in power and importance.

FARMERS MUST AROUSE THEMSELVES.

Farmers, you must arouse yourselves to the dignity and importance of your calling. You must educate yourselves to that intellectual status which will enable you to rule, as you are entitled to do by your numerical strength, instead of being ruled, as now, by classes in nowise your superiors, save as you permit them so to make themselves.

To do this, you must work, you must read, you must think! You must combine, and support the organizations for your elevation and advancement already founded. You must array yourselves in solid column, and insist, by your voting power, that the law-makers whom you elect do their duty, by subserving the interests of the whole people, and not those of merely a class.

A nation should be represented by its dominant industries. Agriculture is the dominant interest of the United States. You have the power, if you choose to use it. You represent a majority of the voting power, and your productions constitute one-half the gross annual value of all the products of all the varied industries of the country, or nearly four thousand millions of dollars.

The artisan should have his full share of representation, and the merchant, the manufacturer, and the other professions should have theirs. Nay, even the gambler in stocks

ought, perhaps, to have what representation he is entitled to, although it would be somewhat difficult, under a just pro rata, to see just where his individual member of Congress would come in. Perhaps, New York and some other of the great cities might gain one by clubbing together.

There is one important point in this connection which farmers must constantly keep before their minds. It is that, having put their hands to the plow, there must be no looking back. "Revolutions never go backward," is a good saying and a true one. The agitation now going on must

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Brought to the Bar at Last.

be continued, until the corruption now rife among our public men has received its death wound. The centralizing and monopolizing tendencies of capital must be unceasingly combatted until they be checked, or our country will soon be free only in name. The Transportation Companies must be made to feel that the power which created them can also regulate them; that, while their just rights will be respected, such vested interests as they claim, which are antagonistic to the public good, are, de facto, nullities.

The results of the Farmers' Movement have, already, unmistakably shown themselves. The infant Hercules has

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strangled the serpent in his cradle--witness the Illinois judicial elections, the Illinois "Railroad Law," and the panic precipitated among stock-jobbers by the prescience of their impending fate. And truly it is time that the many-headed hydra of corruption prepared for its approaching end.

NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE FARMERS.

Twenty years ago, the numerical strength of the Agricultural, compared with all other of the producing, classes in this country, was as three and a half to one. The relative difference in the number of farmers and that of the aggregate of mechanics and manufacturers was as five to one. The preponderance of the farmer over the so-called "learned professions" was in the proportion of fifty-six to one; and of all the producing classes over all the learned professions, as seventy-two to one.

Thus it will be seen that, over the whole country, it then took one individual out of seventy-three to bleed and blister, preach to, and plead for, the people of the United States. Nearly seven-eighths of the legislation of the country, however, has always been performed by one of these professions, namely, the law.

At the present time (using the latest tabulated statement which I have seen) the adult population of the United States is divided, as to occupations, as mentioned in the first table on the page following.

A glance at the second table reveals the fact that nearly one-half of the total earnings of the country are composed of the earnings of the agriculturist. But it will be observed that this sum, immense as it is, represents less than five hundred dollars per caput, per annum, for those actually engaged therein.