The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-03-12

slaves to the democratic party. they will
! therefore try to induce all their readers
TO become democrats. or in other words
servants Of the democratic party. These
papers seem to be entirely ignorant OF
the solid foundation laid down III the
Bible. the principles Of justice and
righteousness. Seltishness seems to be
their main motive power. and the trend
of all of Farmer Johns political papers
is to ridiculc and to oppose any phiian
trorhlc move or any public measure not
originated in the democratic camp. You
again ask me If this is coffee. or tea; but
will only say that it is not wine nor even
j the mixed wine, for
II smells like whisky
Good government it deiie;
IT looks like d rUwGy,
And tells many lies.
These papers tell Farmer John that
only the democratic larty can give re-
lief and lift the farmer out of indebted
ness, and as soon as the accurSed prOhi
hition can be repealed and license law
| enacted, money will tf plenty. the price
! Of the license will pay nearly all the
taxes. and barley will fetch Il big price,
and SO the farmer c@u get out Of debt.
| One day Farmer John got hold Of i
/ reform paper and he read right then
and there, that the farmers debts could
only be paid with money, and that there
| was not enough money in the nted
! States to pay the farmers debts. let
alone other Indebtedness. and what little
i money there was i'll the country the
! bankers and the monopoliS1s owned and
! controlled.
/ This set Farmer John to thinking. He
! thought like this: Where will the
! money come from To pay the high license
! If We should defeat prohibition" and who
Will pay Tor the extra price of barley
t We'll. swan, says John. Il had never
! thought of il that way before. and of
course the man who drinks the liuuur
! pays the high license, and also the extra
! price of barley Who drinks the liquor?
! Well. guess it is Farmer John aud some
Of his ncighbor> and my fellow Iatorrrs
: i'll town: and all this time Farmer John
and the laborrrs are IN debt 10 those
! bankers and monopolisis who own and
| control the money" Farmer john was
! iii a pickle. He had never studied the
/ science Of government except through
| the democratic newspapers. He thought
/ SO much about what the one reform pa
/ per had said that his head achcd. and he
resolved not to read any more such
papers. and Vote the Democratic ticket
/ straight and trust To luck. | see another
! paper laying on johns table. 1t has the
picture OF Il horse on it. II seems 20 be
closc to Farmer Johns heart. as il is
+ kept neatly folded. 1t is al agricultural
! paper. This paper teaches John many
! things about stock raising and farming
in general. Most of tie advertising in this
/ papcris appropriate and useful. and when
john tires OF reading he finds it a pleas
ute To look over the different pictures of
the advertising part. Besides the agri-
I cultural and advertising il has often
/ something else TO say. 1t sometimes
i happens that all agricultural paper has
/ endearcd itself to the farmers and has
| become a paper of great influence, and
is therefore sought by designing party
| leaders. and Il large price will be paid for
the privilege of controlling the oicy of
! the paper. Consequently the policy of
| the paper is changed sometimes. to the
detrimeni of farmer John and the paper
! itself.
! ! will now hurry across the road to
! Farmer Tom, and see what kind OF read
/ ing matter he has. | find the reading
matter much different from Farmer
! John :: and again. i very careful eX-
animation with little knowledge of the
past history will reveal that there is
! very little difference While Farmer
Johns literature was democratic. that of
| Farmer Tom is republican, barring the
| Bible of course. Farmer Tom seems to
read his Bible more than Farmer John.
| Farmer Tom is all enthusiastic republi
can. because his papers tell him
that republican is more iuteli-
gent and more refined than
democrat. His papers also tell him
that the hard times are caused by over
| production. He tries to reason it out
| how it can be possible that over-produc-
| ton should be the cause of starvation
and rags. He knows that it Is hard for
him to clothe himself and family decently
and he reads in his papers about the
suffering for want of food and clothing
! in Dakota. Nebraska. Kansas. and all
! the large cities.
/, lie reads how a great, Staiwart repub-
! lican newspaper man has invented Il
| stove for the special purpose of reducing
! the enormous corn crop by burning it.
This same newspaper man and his party
| had burned the grcenbacks. the produc-
ers money. and why not burn his corn?
| Farmer Tom begins To think His
| thoughts go to the shivering and starry
| ing thousands in the eastern cities. about
whom lie reads. He remembers of hay
| ing read in the dear republican paper
! Just the other day about the yagabonds
! in the city of New York, aud how u
mother had stolen a loaf of bread, and
| how she had run to the hovel where she
staid with her six starving children. and
how the policeman had followed her and
brutaly assaulted her and taken the
| bread from her.
Some of You may think that | should
have said something about literature to
make the farmers homes pleasant.
am sorry that | cannot conscientiously
| do that. I believe in the old saying, As
we travel through life'S journey let us
live by the way" claim that the great
mass of the American farmers are not
| living, they are only existing. They
have no homes. but only households.
| Pray do not ask me to go into these sad
places aud advise them what home jonr-
nal and what books are nice and pleas
ant paStime. That would be mockery.
feel more like going in to weep with
them. Even if should be able to fur
nish them with that kind of literature.
free OF cost to them. they could not avail
themselves of it on account of their sur
roundngs. They would not even have
time to read them. The axerare Amer
lean producer does not sing out loud the
| sweet song called ''Home. Sweet Home,
for he has no home, but is only house,
holder. He is not living, only existing.
If the literature that has been dished up
to the farmers by the press and the pull
pit was coffee then the farmer wants tea,
! and if it was tea then he wants coffee.
- IT
THE black rat of Ireland il so rare o,l t.
side of its own country that one was kept