Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-10-06
From the New York World.
the Farmers In Politics.

The great awakening among The Western farm
ers, which Is the most remarkable thing In the
politics OF the present year, better deserves the
attention OF statesmen and politicians than any
other political manifestation In this country since
the close of the negr0 cylce. l.
In earlier periods OF our history separate move
mCnt by the farmers would have been impossible,
BECAUSE for the first half century after the adoI-
tion OF the Constitution, we were q nation of ag
rlcnltuTalists tho farmers forming q msjoTtv Of
our people so overwhelming that no other class
or other combination OfnteTests could be brought
into competition with them ID eontcats for politi-
cal pIwer. Those were the bright and halcyon
days OF the Democratic patty. 1t was the agri-
cultural population which gave the Democratic |
party strength during the long period of its as
tendency. The manufacturing interest the |
moneyed interest, and all monopoly interests, |
were always opposed to Il; hat the good sense and
political supremacy OF the farmers from the year
800 to the year 1880 gave them the control of the
government. The separate organization of the
farmers as an antLmonOpOly party IA favorable TO
/ the re-esta0lishment Of the Democratic order of
iaaas ssehe controlling force il our politics.
The rise Of Q sepprate farmers party is
transitional movement; and besides its great
significance in other respects, it marks pOliti
4 ealIy asslage in the de- elOPement Of the eoun-
try to which the decenial census ahoVs that We
have been steadily, and for the last few decades,
rapidly tending. Our city and village popula-
ton has been enormously increasing in relative
weight since The extensive use Of labor-saving
machinery and especially since the era Of rail-
roads, and vast interests have grown up which
bring immense accumuIationS OF capital and
prodigious numbers Of people into distinct
separation from the agricultural tone Of feeling.
The farmers movement is Of especial signif-
canoe as one Of the symptoms Of this mighty
change in the character and pursuits OF our
population. The farmers have felt compelled
to organize for selfprotection against encroach-
ments upon their rights by other great and rising
Interests. u.
= This movement has its seat in the West,
D where agriculture Is still, and will long con-
tinue, the predominant pursuit. 1t is located
: in section of the country which, by mere
y growth Ofpopnh nousis destined 10 coHtTol the
political destInies Of the country whenever its
0 people are toleEably united. The wild fertile
0 region between the Great Lakes aad the Allie
0 ghenies on one side. and the Rocky Mountains
. on the other, will contain a majority Of ouI
people long before the close Of this century, and
y and probably before the close Of this decade
y This is true already Of the part Of the country
4 north Of Mason aud Dixon's line and the Ohio
q River. Under the appOrt;Onment of the las
0 census the New England aud Middle States
o send ninety Representatives to Congress and the
% NoEthWes States this side Of the Rocky
y Mountains have niAety-seVen Representatives
y y The new agricultural, anti-monopOIy politics
n may, therefore, even now, control the country
n If the farmers movement sufficiently shatter
o and disOrganizes the Republican party in tn
o West. The great similarity ofinterests betWeel
% the West and the bOuth-both being mainl,
y observation-disclosures the cooperation of tn
y Soulh ~ soon - the West becomes fully unite
" against the extoFtiOns Of the monopolisls.
nj Nothing could possibly be more oppOrtun
y than this grest movement which has taken suc
% a strong hold on public feeling throughout th
W West 1t differs from minor local agitations il
70 the fact that It spreads through the most import
% ant and PopulOus geographical divisions of tn
N country; and as every great division has an az
re ricultural interest," il enlists wider and promT
al ter sympathy than any new agitation which eV
IL er arose in our politics. lis great promise an
s- power lie in the Circumstance that it has sue
denly diverted political feeling into fresh char
IN mel and detached II completely from what poo
Mr.. Greeley, in his letter Of acceptance, calle
"the wreck and rubbish Of OuiW ,Fn contention
and bygone fuds" The political feeling of Ii
Wet can never again find nutriment in any
81 the defunet questions which grew out OF the W;
~ and the abolition Of slavery II is often the Gu
y - that sentiments which have fallen dead in pol
of tics continue to retain influence as tradition
All But the lins OF continuity has been abrupt
to broken Blythe Grmers' movement in the We
90 and it is moral and political impOssibiity tn
IL the eInaneipated Western people should ever
ny back and iced ON the dry husks fthe anti -sla
cry era. The issues upon which the Repub
can party was founded have cease to have al
ity life or meaning in our politics; and the keen
ne terest in new live question which the farms
ne m0vement has excited has consigned the old
y, sues to "the tomb Of all the Capulets" 1t brin
'' back onr politics 10 the class Of ante-war qu,
nd iOns--qnsalions connected with the busine
"a 6nanePs and ihdostriaI Interests Of the countr
q class Of questions on which the order of ide
advocated by the Democratic party always vi
,ed the favor and secured the endorsement Of I
eW people, % long as questions Of that kind VIZ
Nd the dominant issues Of our politics.
ng The farmers who are thus br9aking away frC
to the Republican party have profound conv
'1o iOn that that party is the chief obstacle to tn
~ success The grasping mohopOlies against viii
they have declared war have grown up unC
the fostering care Of Republican adminislratio
an stats and federal and, a. they can neither exp
favor nor sympathy from Democrats, they v
u- all be aFvayed On ths Republican side. TIL
- can be efsctualIy opposed Only by opposing I
an Republican party In which they take refu
M. The FarmsEs' Oranges and the Democratic p
~ have therefore a similar tone of seniime
Il, common object and Substantially the same n
IJy sion, and they must ultimately beiloand fight
side BY side against the common enemy.