The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-12-15

The men of other occupations unite
| together to work for and advance
their several il terests, and this union
is sure way to accomplish their OBJ
jects. The fact of their union has
been unWisely used to excite the jeal-
Gus suspicious of the farmer, and the
organization of farmers has been
urged for the alleged purpose of max
ing war upon middlemen and other
classes who were wrongly designated
non-producers. If it is wrong for 9TH
er classes to organize and act in union,
then it would be equally wrong for
farmers to unite.
The object. OF the organization of
the various callings and professions
has beer misapprehended, and sinister
motives have led men to misrepresent
their objects. The purpose of these
organizations has been to promote
their own interests and not to make
war upon the interests of other classes.
There are certain class Of minds
who can only be organized to act in
unison on what may be termed a war
baSiS-that is, they can only be united
for the purpose of attacking some right
enjoyed by others, by which means
they expect to gain an advantage for
themselves. For instance, some would
be glad to organize and act in unison
to control the price of the labor they
had to employ on the farm. If the
farm laborer were asking twenty dol
lars per month they would be willing
to combine and fix the price at fifteen
dollars per month. 1t would be suf-
ficient excuse to say that fifteen dollars
per month would be all its worth, and
If more were paid the laborer would
get more than his share of the profits
of labor and capital combined. But
if it were possible, by combining, to
enforce fifteen dollar rate it would
be possible to enforce a still lower rate,
and in the end the laborer would have
no rights which the farmer would be
bound to respect, at least with regard
to setting price upon all he (the la
borer) had to sell, namely his own la
Dor. In the past farmers have organ
lied for the purpose of warning on
middlemen, at least to the extent of
doing away with them; but after con-
siderable experience they found the
middlemen were doing a necessary
work, and that they would do the work
cheaper and better than the farmer
himself could do it.
The isolated condition of the farmer
has produced in many a sort of mo-
roseness and disposition to enjoy his
solitaryness. He is not sociable in any
true sense of the word. He may oc-
casionally visit his blood relations, but
he seldom shares hospitality with his
or they with him. If by his
experience he has gained valuable
knowledge in the art of farming he |
keeps it secret and imagines he is just
so much ahead of his neighbors. The
principle he acts upon is to get as
much as ne can for little. He has no
feeling of regard or esteem for his
and consequently does not
enjoy or seek social intercourse with
them.
1t is impossible to organise such ma
terial, and consequently general organ |
ization is impractical. There are, how |
ever, many neighborhoods where there |
is sufficient material to organize, and |
it could easily be accomplished if some !
one would take the lead. The extend
ed and varied business of the farmer |
taxes his time and attention to such |
an extent that his time for social inter-
course is very limited. The farmers
club affords the farmer the opportunity |
Of visiting dozen or more of his
at one and the same time,
and is certainly a matter of economy
in the saving of time. Social inter-
course is one of the great wants of our
nature, and can only be denied to our
great detriment. It is practicable to
enjoy meeting a dozen families in one
afternoon and evening in the farmers
club, while it would be utterly imprac-
ticable to make dozen or even half a
dozen separate visits during the peri
DDS between meetings.
There are so many good reasons why
farmers should unite together for the
good purposes set forth that the hope |
that several farmers clubs may be or
ganized during the winter should not
be fruitless. r. F. R.