The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1892-07-21

~ Nlb = yNffglzing attention; that
VTI{T VI HI4aFthc man who had
GN@EZT .callosities on the
-I- tM=@TT-1T5- inside of his fingers
~ Mlllll.l! .,,---- was al out To super
mr." |EIIffll lHsedc the man who
FAH0nEBI- NH y T. got his bread ly the
III NKV W u sweat of his lnge-
nuity anl had ra;sei corns on the eoa-
volutions of Ii brain by owe. working
that organ.
Well what are the facts9
Why, the facts are that the lawyer is
just as dominant in this Congress as
ever, There are IL few more farmers
than usual but they have no more in
fluence on legislation than they had i'll
the Fifty-tirst Congress, and their voices
are scarcely hearl. AS John Davis,
one of the ablcst farmers in Congress,
said to me yesterday: We scarcely
expect to get any of our important
measures through this session, but shall
oe satisfied with an educational cam
paign. We are going TO make some
speeches that will influence votes here
after"
Another Congressman-f farmer from
the West permits me to publish his
plaint thus:
The lawyers always rule the States
And all the rustic drudges:
They crowd the bar as advocates,
And fill the bench as judges:
And no man understands the laws
ILL after he has paid them.
Fer they are tangled up. because
The cunning lawyers made them.
This is the Farmers Congress" yet
there ar only twenty-three members
who really get their living by agricult-
ure, and there are 210 lawyers, about
e-fourths of the whole, and twenty
more belong to one of the so-callcd
| learned professions. In the TenneSs ec
delegation both Senators and all ten
Congressman are lawyers Foth Sen
| ators from Virginia are lawyers, and all
the ten congressman, except parson
| and an editor. Both Senators from Texas
are also lawy rs, and ten out OF the
eleven congressman, the odd man being
| "Parson Long" who indicates in the
Congressional Directory tha- he is vir-
| tually and sentiIncn. ally a Presbyterian
| farmer.
Other Professions.
| Among tn, other clergymen are Sena-
| tor Kyle. o. South Dakota tCongregra-
| tionalist); Mckinney, of New Hamp-
shire baptist; Baker, of Kansas: and
Posey Lester, Of Virginia. who is an
itinerant preacher in ghteen States.
Among th" doctors are Gallinger. of
New Hampshire; Docicry. of Missouri:
l.. F.. Atkinson. of Pennsylvania: and
| Thomas Dunn Ef gsish, Of New Jersey,
| far better known as a poet and author.
1t is noticeable that there is only ono
merchant in the House, but Il number
are engaged III mercantile pursuits.
| So Il lot of the lawyers are chrome
| farmers-tillerS of the soil at long
range. There half a dozen bankers, too,
who are fiat farners-raisng produce at
| a tremendous expense. the horny hands
| with which they toll being attached to
somebo ly else's should r..
Some Of the most extensive farmers
| snd planters in this Congress are those
| Shosc practice law as their chief in
| tereSt. This is true of Senator Gill son
| of Maryland, Il man of 30, who does not
| look his years. Gibson keeps "A farmer,
| of course. He raises corn and wheat
! twenty-five to thirty bushels to the acre
| of the latter He ha four or five thou
sand peach trees and sends the peaches
and much small fruit to New York and
| Baltimore.
Holman is running farm of three or
| four hundred acres in the southeastern
| corner OF Indiana, and he can stand on
| his front doorsiil and see court houses
| in three States-Indiana. Ohio and Ken
| lucky. His slightly home is on the Ohio
River hills, and the house is the one
he was born in. built by his father
in the early pioneer days in the
| first quarter of this century. The
kind of ability resulting from courage,
| sagacity and experience gives him {.
great deal Of influence on the floor of
| the House. He his been lawyer, but
he now spends most of his time farming
when he is not here. He raises hay,
| wheat. and corn, AMI farmer" is writ
ten all over him. He is homelier than
Lincoln. Nature male him when she
| was feeling reckless. He looks as if he
had been rived out with a dull ak from
| a tough maple log. His gestures are all
| everely angular, and his voice sounds
like a tinmans s cart on a corduroy rOaI
His beard is always three times as long
as it ought to be. and his head is COW
cred with COW licks, evidently bcstowe d
| when the animal was feeling mad. Not
| withstandiny his personal appearance,
he has Il kind heart, and will help any
body kill an appropriation with all the
suavity of Ches. crficld. He isn't as
poor as he tohs, but in spite of his
proverbial honesty is worth, they say,
S15O,00O.
The Northern Senators are mostly
small farmers and the Southern mostly
large planters. Mr.. Morrill, spends all
the time he can on his little Vermont
farm of sixty-tv' a. res, and never en-
joys himself s. we'll as when he is
there. He has been in Congress almost
forty years.
| Senator Casey of North Dakota was
sent here as a farmer by the farmers.
He is one of the biggest farmers in the
land, having the control Of over 30O, ,OWl
acres and owning IL good deal of it him
self. Irrigation IS his continual text
AMI he expects to make his State IL gar
den by bringing to the surface the Va Il
lake which undcrlies it.
| Mr.. Vance is Senatorial farmer
Around his country seat in the noun
tains of North Carolina. which he calls
"Gombroon, he owns several thousan
| acres of land, Il little o. it arabic, but
most o. it covered with some of the
best timber in the United States. He
got it for II song and it has grown very
valuable on his hands. He pines for his
! farm constantly when in Washington
and he not only enjoys life there, bu,
dispenses large hospitality
George OF Mississippi is probably the
most extensive planter in the Senate
owning some thousands OF acres.
!. Ten Of the Southern Senators were
MAJOR Generals in the Confederat,
army, and four of them surrendered tt
Grant at Appomattox.
Winn, Farmers Alliance. of Georgia
tells me: My opinion is that we shal
all get back here again. unless som,
, legislation is had in the farmers inter
ests."
Jerry Simpson is as lively on his fee