Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-02-07
NJ. II. GARDNER, Editor.
THE FARMERS.

The signs Of the times day by day are
not very encouraging to those cheerful
advocates Of class Legislation who have
been saying that the uprising OF the
farmer, would quickly subside like an
ebullition Of childish petulance. Their
predictions might have come true II the
evils OF what the farmers, as a class,
complain were at all bearable. The
dwellers in the country are vastly more
conservative than the town people. They
are slow to lay aside opinions long held,
or TO change political Affections in
which they have been brought up. With
many of them political party is almost
like church, and they hold political
principles as a sacred creed. Once
thoroughly convinced of an error they
are slow to return to it. The floating
vote in the towns shifts easily from
party to party with each successive
election. When our friends in the
country change they change for keeps.
The fatal trouble with the Republic
can politicians is this year Of grace 1891
is that they do not understand the
farmer. They do not believe he is in
earnest. They confidently expect that
after little more fretting and Tuning
hewill fall into u penitential mood, go to
the polls next time and vote to make
che Mckinley robber tariff perpetual,
approve the demonetization of silver,
the steamship subsidy swindle and all
the outrages of class Legislation with
which the Republican party has oppress-
ed the agricultural producers to the
verge OF ruin.
The farmers will do no such thing.
They are not only fully convinced that
they have been made the mud-sills OF
the Republican system of finance and
taxation, but they are getting nearer
all the time to correct understanding
OF the proper means of relief. The up
country farmers in the South Carolina
Legislature did not retire WADE HAMP-
TON from the Senate because they had
ceased to honor him, but because he
had ceased to represent them in some
matters which they held vital to their
own interests. The Alliance men in
Kansas who sent the brilliant INGALLS,
to the rear simply gave him taste OF
the most practical kind OF political poll
tics; they defeated him because his
votes in the Senate were always against
them and their interests. The farmers
organizations throughout the West,
which have been declaring against the
New England Force bill. have also
shown that they understand The game
of practical politics quite as well as does
Mr.. Lodge of Massachusetts or Mr..
Chandler of New Hampshire. They
adhere with true American patriotism,
to the principles OF constitutional repre-
sentative government; but they also see
uery clearly that the force bill is aimed
to cripple the strongest allies of the
West in the fight against sectional
monopoly Legislation.
In Missouri the farmers are showing
their good sense and their sound knOwl-
edge of practical affairs by beginning to
unload the only palpable economic her
esy that was sanctioned by the national
convention OF the Farmers and Labor
ers' Union at Ocala. Some of the local
unions adhere to the Ocala platform
without reservation, but the stronger
lodges are emphatically declaring
against the subtreasury plan, and the
Picker bill, in which this impracti-
cable scheme has been presented before
Congress. Tho great agricultural or
ganizations in the West is mainly COM
posed of mon of abundant common-sense
and conservative views who are much
more determined upon practical reforms
than upon fantastic schemes for finding
baps of gold at the ends OF rainbows.