The advocate., 1892-06-15
THE RAILWAY EMPLOYE AND THE
FARMER,


lished two addresses, one by L. s. Stead
man, and the other by ex-Gov. Gear, Of
Iowa, delivered before the railway en-
ployes' club, at Des Moines. We are not
specially interested In what these gentle
men said. Our task is to note what the
RaiEOGy Age says. The editor Of the
RGEllCGy Ags 10 profoundly interested in
the farmer, bemOans his ignorance and
stupidity, his general want of common
sense, the easy way he Is buncoed, and
therefore seeks, with much ado, to per-
suade the farmer that he Is, and has been
from the start, an easy victim of decep-
tlon; that an ordinary pup, before its
eyes are open, knows quite as much
about railroads, politics, economy and
legislation as the average farmer, and
that his condition never will improve
until he listens to the advice given by
such gentlemen as Messrs. Steadman and
Gear, and drills with the railway en-
ployes' clubs designed to enable farmers
to cut their eye teeth. The Rails0ay
Age editor says:
It appears to be a difficult thing to make
the public understand the farmer
understand--thst hostility to the profess
sionsl demagogue and granger" politician
is not hostility to the farmer. A certain
section of the farming community have
for long time suffered themselves to be
hoodwinked and led astray by the politi-
clan of the sockless kind, who has no end
to serve but his personal interests. They
have believed in his loud mouthed oratory
at election times and have gained nothing
by it; they have sent him to the state legiS-
lature again and again, where he has found
q field for nothing but the exhibition of his
own political corruptness. The sookless
politician has prohted no one. He has
earned nothing for the farmer. But he
has harrassed the railways and injured the
railway employe. He has alarmed capital
and brought discord and distrust into the
business and economic relations of the
country. His efforts have been purely de-
structive and of the injury to the financial
welfare which he has wrought, the agricul-
tural interests have had to bear at least
their share. And this is all that the real
farmer has received from the granger dema-
gogue.
It was quite unnecessary for the editor
Of the RailVay Age to be so verbose. His
prolixity is great waste OF space. He
goes roundabout way to tell the farmer
he ls an egreglous ass, the weak, limp
victim of charlatans, aslnlne TO an ex-
tent that he requires the protection Of
such benevolent and philanthropic men
as own and operate rallroads-Jay Gould,
for lnstance-whose great hearts are
ceaselessly yearning to rescue farmers
from "demagogues and granger poll
ticians," bunco Steerers, robbers, willy
and oily pirates, who agitate until con-
gress passes interstate commerce laws,
based upon the fact that pious, godly,
sublimsted railroad presidents and d.
rectors, ct al, should cease their plracies
under severe penalties. And these "dema-
gogues and granger politicians" these
cheats and vulgar tricksters, have 80 kept
up their agitation that the representa-
tives Of the people in various states have
passed laws which railroad magnates say
they will not obey II they can help 1t,
and to accomplish their purpose they sp-
peal to their employees to club together
for the purpose Of aiding them to in
tlmidate the lsw-making powers, and the