The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-06-27

preme court Justice, why the necessi
ty Tor ''any lawyer" for district
Judge?
As the Capital seems to be quite
forgetful, it may here be told that Of
the I65 members of the Kansas legis-
lature OF 1889, there were 159 mem.
bers OF the republican party.
Was it stupidity personi6ed for
these eminent patriots to propose
that "any elector of the state shall
be eligible to be elected or appointed
Justice of the supreme court p
Again: Has the Capital forgotten
that the republican party Of Kansas
in 1868, nominated and elected DR..
Addison Danford, of Fort Scott, who
was not "any lawyer" for attorney
general of the state-the official low
officer Of Kansas?
TO to the ant, thou sluggard
Learn of her and be wiser than thou
art!
NASHVILLE CENTER, May 9th.
EDITOR GREAT WEST:
There is uniform and systematic
effort being made by the subsidized
local newspapers, all over the coun-
try, to prove to the farmer that he
is or ought to be, in a prosperous
and thriving condition. Notable
amongst the papers which have tax
en- up the mission of c. L. Smith is
the "Fairmont Sentinel" in which pa
per Martin County is held up as a
place where the farmers are making
money fast, and in a great many
cases getting rich. OF course, the in
ference which such newspapers intend
to convey is, that the American
farmer has no real grievances; that
the high protective tariff has been
and is great blessing to him; that
the railroad and elevator companies
deal fairly and honestly by him; that
in fact, he gets a fair shake all
around, and consequently that there
is no excuse for the existence of the
Farmers Alliance or any other farm
ers organization. Such writings are
also intended to prove to the farmer
that he is in far more prosperous
condition than his brother farmer
was previous to the Rebellion under
the low Ii cent tariff at that time in
force. The writer's of such stuff must
place a very low estimate on the in
telligence Of the farmer or they would
never try to blind him with such
chaff, for it does not need any great
amount OF common sense to see that
the question is not whether the
farmer is doing well; or as well as
the English farmer, or as well as the
American farmer did before the Re-
bellion, but whether he is doing as
well as he ought to do, and would
do, if our government was what it
claims to be, a government of equal
rights. II the benefits of all the ma
chinery, and the improved methods
OF farming which have been intro
duced in the last 30 years, are so
small that it takes a C. L. Smith or
a Frank Day to discover them, the
cost has been out of all proportion
to their worth. But we DENY that
there has been any advance at all,
and farther than that, we will say.
without fear OF successful contradic-
ton, that not only the American
farmers but the American wOrkmen
also, are living on a lower plane than
they ever did before since we became
a nation. We never had this fact so
forcibly presented to us as it has
been the last three weeks during
which time our business has kept us
continually on the road. In that
time we have visited more farmers
and had a chance of seeing the condi-
ton OF more farmers than we have
seen in an experience of some 25
years. Pope says that the proper
study of mankind is man, our study
OF the Minnesota farmer has been
both painful and discouraging, we no
longer wonder at his beleading to the
polls by gang of reckless, unprin-
cipled and dishonest politicians.
What can we expect from a body Of
men who work from 4 o'clock in the
morning until nine at night, and
never read anything but a trucking
lickspittle country newspaper. Shake
speare says: "He who is robbed,
not knowing it, is not robbed at all. :"
That seems to be the case with the
average farmer, he seems to think >
and this is the most discOuraging