The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-02
FARMER FLAGG.
THE FARMERS MOVEMENT.

THE FARMERS MOVEMENT.
TIE HISTORY OF THE AGRICULTURAL CLASS
TIE ORIGIN OF THE FARMERS MOVEMENT
IN THE wEST-THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
REFoRM-THE DISCUSSION OF THE PAPER.
Attbe social science congress in New York
on the 10th inst, paper was read by Mr..
Willard C. Flsgg, of Illinois, on THE Farm
er,s Movement of the West" The following
extracts are taken from this address: In all
mast aces the agricultural class, like the
other industrial classes, has by force, fraud,
or cunning been prevented from gaining
yporethap subsistence by Its labor. Inc
robber baron, the medieval merchant, the
royaI tax gatherer. and the railway mon
.onoIy have thriven: but the men who, in
rain and sun, toiled early and late, painfully
and penuriously, have seldom, if at all, re-
ceived a due reward for their labor. Agri-
culture has been system OF spolatlon. Inc
landlord, the transporter, and the middle
man rob the farmer. The farmer roDS the
land. and WORKOUT lands remain to tell the
story of bad husbandry and worse political
economy. And yet, in the great discussion
that has arisen concerning labor and capital,
work and wages, in these latter days, the
men who do most of the labor and constitute
more than half the race, have by some
strange inadvertence been hardlythought of
by our labor reformers. Hamlet, in this
pineteenth century tragedy of ours, has
been left out, and did not force himself into
notice till 1872, in the farm laborers' move
ment in England, and the farmers move
ment in our Western states. AS the intelli-
cence the ability. and the will to associate
for the common good become developed re-
sistence to oppression begins, and positive
efforts are made to promote the general well
fare. It's noticeable that the farmers and
farm laborersofthe civilized world are among
tn. LAST TO COMBINE
q result due not so much to lack of intelli-
sence as to isolation, suspicion, and unwieldy
numbers. Resistance begins where oppres-
sion Is most felt, and where there is the
cseatest ability to resist it. Hence, the
tarmers, movement first showed it's strength
in the Western states. There cheap lands
and a fertile soil attracted large body of
Intelligent emigrants, 1t is safe TO say, men
of more than average intelligence ana edu-
cation These men, in that region, comprise
more than half the population, instead of 80
per cent. of it, as in all New England, except
Rhode Island, where it is only II per cent
They produce far in excess of the local con-
sumption, and the large surplus from their
farms, seeking the seaboard, must pass
through the hands of dealer and transporter
The farmers wants, when not supplied 10y
local production, must be met by purchase
OF goods that have gone through the same
hands. The result is high cost of produc-
ton and a low price OF products, that has
rendered, even in favorable seasons, their
business unremunerative, and made them
poorer in the midst of plenty. This farm.
ers' movement seized upon such existing
organization of the agricultural classes as
seemed most adapted to meet its new wants.
1t passed by for the most part the agricul-
tural societies, the boards of agriculture,
and organizations generally that were de-
voted to holding fairs and the like, because
these organizations often contained more or
less men that were neither farmers nor in
sympathy with farmers. But the farmers
clubs, organized for discussion and mutual
Improvement in the art of "a riculture. and
the oranges, whose object was mutual help,
co-operation, and social intercourse, came
nearer what was needed, and they were con-
-centrated upon the new work. The loose
organization OF the clubs, and the secrecy
and prohibition OF politics in the oranges
were drawbacks to their efficiency; but
these difficulties have been to some extent
corrected. Now the farmers being a large
class, their interest is very nearly the COM
mon interest OF the people of the whole
country. Hence
THE INFECTION SPREADS
or reacts. The trade organizations are
strengthened, or, what is better, become
fused together in a class organization of me-
.chanics and operatives, with broader and
less selfish purposes and aspirations than the
single trades unions can have. Sooner or
later these industrial interests, comprising
from 20 to 20 per cent. of the population,
promise to join hands and to combine in
putting down whatever seems to be incon-
sistent with the fundamental doctrines of
our republic. In this they will, without
doubt, receive the aid of fair men of all
classes, and will be opposed only by the
more selfish of the privileged classes, who, at
the expense of other classes, have grown
wealthy from legal advantages furnished by
improper legislation. Thus, the movement
which begun with the agricultural class re-
acts upon other classes, and becomes gen.
eral and hostile to existing parties, decadent
or triumphant. The discussion which results
in ferreting out the causes of known evils,
is most valuable in reforming abuses
and educating the people up to more radical
and democratic opinions than have yet been
accepted by the country. Our existing sys-
tenn of national taxation, whereby the con-
sumner paws the tax; of state taxation, which
makes the farmer the greater tax payer of the
country; our inconvertible currency, whose
depreciation is a heavy burden, first upon
farmers, next upon mechanics and laborers,
and finally upon all men engaged in legiti-
mate business, our transportation, placed
by law in the hands of monopOlies; our
patent laws, whereby the many are inordi-
nately taxed to make few unusually
rich-all these and other abuses discussed In
the hight of more intelligent and pro-
nounced republicanism, tend to build up a
new political organization, which, appealing
to the first principles of the declaration, goes
forward to war against class privilege and
distinction. The farmers movement means,
then, primarily an advancement in the in
telligence and ability of the tillers of the
soil; an unusual feeling of
OPPRESSION AND DISTRESS,
yesultiDg from the mischievous legislation