The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-08

FIRST IN DATE AND FIRST IN
HONOR.
Bone and Sinew of the Land.

y. !. Ledger
Without wishing TO discuss in
these columns the expedtency OF
any OF the political or economical
proposals made ut the Farmers
Alliance, We cannot but share the
satisfaction of dlsiuterested patriots
at the reawakened interest evinced
by American farmers in State and
Federal government. Farmers are
now, as they have always beeu, tue
hone and sineW of the American
people. They feed us, and they
furnish the bulk of the products
wheIewith we purchase European
commodities In their hands is the
malnsprlng, the great driyingw wheel
of our social machinery. Through
them we reap the bounty of our
genial mother earth, at whose
breasts we must be nourisbed from
the cradle to the grave. OF all hon
orabte vocations the tiIlage Of the
soil is the first III date and the first
in honor.
Especially weighty is the debt
owed to farmers by the American
community, for the first settlers in
this country, unlike Anglo-SaXon
invaders of Britain, had 10 ply the
axe and level the primeval forest
before they could push the plough.
Moreover, the tilIerS of the soll
have continued to play a dominant
role in the United States from the
time when at Lexington "tne en-
battled farmers stood" up to com
paratiyelS recent period.
OF the first five Presidents, -four
were farmers in the sense that they
depended for a livelihood on the
returns from land titled under their
SUPERVISION and at their expense.
1t was rot until after the overthrow
| Of the >o-called "Nirginia dynasty"
that farmers were gradually elbOwed
| by lawyers out of the Federal Con-
gress and the State Legislatures,
until at one time the agricultural
interest seemed almost extinct as a
factor IN American politics. In the
great crisis Of the Civil War, how
ever, the farmers fully recognized
their duty to the State, and they
| formed the mainstay of the armies
on either side Of that fratrlcldal
conflict. Their present activity Is
| the inevitable outcome Of their
awakening to the profound social
changes undergone by our country
within a generation, They feel the
lmmlnence Of economical problems
ia whose solution farmers as well
as al! other members of the cOmmu
nifty are vitality concerned. Their
alliances and combinations are
simply efforts to give themselves a
voice in legislation proportlonate tC
Their social functions.
he ideal human society, as con
ceived bv Thomas jefferson, was al
agricultural community. He saw
as be thought, an approach to 1t IL
the Virginia of his day, and he
wished to see all the A merican com
monwealths adapted to that model
lit was not to be. Nature hat
framed this country for more
complex civilization, IN which com
merce aud manufacturers, no less
than agriculture, were to find room
for their manifold activities. w
cannot undo the work OF century
or revive the community Whlcf
Jefferson administered, or even tha
which De Tocqueyllle described
But we may frankly recognize tina
the functions of the agriculturis
are still of transcendent moment
aud that farmers ought to take II
public affairs part fully commen
surate with their numerical lmpOr
tauce and their social utility.