St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-25
A WORD WITH THE FARMERS

Whenever farmers convention is held
there are always lot of apparently we'll
meaning gentlemen around advising them
above all things else to keep politics out of
their proceedings. If these gentlemen refer
to low partisan politics then they are right
about it, But if they mean that farmers
are to take no interest in political matters
and are not to discuss political questions or
to have hand in shaping political policies,
then they are wrong. If there is any man
in the world who ought TO be an active
politician it is the farmer. He has
more at stake in the decision
of political questions and i'm the
shaping of political matters than anybody
else. And he ought to be just as indepen-
dent as he is active. If there are to be polit-
ical bosses the man who earns his bread
by the sweat of his brow is the man who
ought to be the boss.
There is an old saying, and very true
one. that the best way to fight the devil is
with fire. If the laborers of the country
ever expect to hold their own against the
expressions OF corporate monopoly it is by
adopting the tactics OF the enemy-by COM
bining together ana sticking to each other.
There is every reason why the farmers
and the various labor organizations
should unite and concentrate their
strength. 1t is the only possible way TO
resist the enchrUachmentS of monopoly. A
union OF the labor organizations and the
| agricultural associations on a common DO
litical basis could knock corporate power
out of joint in the twinkling of an eve. Ii
tcan be done, the only wonder is that it is
not done. The only reason that it is not is
because that farmers and mechanics have
permitted their individual judgments TO be
blinded by partisan prejudice, and have
suffered themselves to be bought and sold
in the political market like sheep in the
SHAMELESS. Thus it is that the great body
of the people who work with their
own hands through all the weary
! days of the year. and whose earnings
constitute the real wealth of the nation, are
standing to-day in painful anxiety praying
for relief against the exactions and the ap-
palling injustice imposed upon them by the
owners of idle capital. the favorites of for
tune and special legislation, who, like the
lilies, toll not. yet surpaSs kings In the
splendor of their habits and luxuries. Why
is it so?. 1t is because the, capitalist, armed
with the powers of bonds, banks and man
ufactories, walks into the halls of our state
and national legislatures and takes possess
sion. Wherever he treads monopoly
lifts up its ugly crest and mocl1s the people
with the special favors it has received at the
hands of the government But the farmers
ana the mechanics are not seen i'm places
of political power Their sunburnt faces
are unknown in the precincts of national
legislation, at the ear of the executive. and
in the long and busy aiSles of the depart
ments The iabOrer tolls at home to meet
the exactions of the tax gatherer. while
those whose hands are unstained with labor
and whose lives are given TO sumptuous
ease shape the legislation of the country for
the purposes of private gain and individual
monopOlies. 1t is time that this condition
of affairs had an end. 1t is time that the
plain clothes of the laboring man were
seen amid the things which invade the ma
tional capital. He is the power
above all others which uphoIds the
political and social fabric. The farmer
forces the bosom of the earth to yield its an
nual products for the support of men and
nations, while the mechanic increases the
value of things by his skillful industry.
From their hard hands flow those rivulets
which feed and swell the ocean of our reye-
nues Then why should they not take a
| hand in controlling the government which