The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-09-22
NAT. F. A. AND !. u. DEPT
Edited by j. @. Hanlcy, State Secre-
tary.
At st. Paul Mr.. ]. c. Iianley will re-
ceive subscriptions for The Representa-
tive at his office. 200 Washburn bldg
VERY IMPORTANT MATTER.

Farmers Protect Yourselves.
To the Farmers of Minnesota, Greeting:
Do you want the interests Of the farm
ers of Minnesota represented by clique
Of state house politicians? If not, will
you help to send farmers as representa-
tives of your county fair association as
delegates to the agricultural society
meeting in January, 1898? Each coun-
ty agricultural society is entitled to
three delegates to the state society. If
| no delegates are elected the officers are
eX-officio delegates by state law and are
empowered to give their proxies to some
politician or representative of the state
fair gang, who use said proxies and vote
themselves into Office and leave the
farming interests on the outside. This
same crowd has openly ignored and in
suited an organization of $500 farmers
in Minnesota, by refusing to allow a
program of the Farmers Alliance to
be conducted in which speeches of prom
inent farmers of the state would be
presented, touching upon the interests of
the farmer.
1t appears that the state agricultural
society is not what it is generally belev
ed to be, an institution in which the agri-
cultural interests and resources of the
state are exhibited; but political
graft" in which a small coterie of
politicians obtain paying offices at the
expense of the farmer and which guards
jealousy any encrOachments upon their
charmed circle from the horny-handed
farmer, whom they look upon as a good
enough individual to furnish them the
feast while they furnish the appetite.
But he is too much of a hay-seed-ignor
anus to run his own enterprise, there
fore the superlative degree of intelli-
gence which those "city farmers on pa
per" possess, make them the real source
of agricultural intelligence. But to a
man who can look beyond his nose it
looks as though the only crop he can
raise is a crop of successful politics,
which lands him and his family of
uncles, cousins and aunts in fat Of
fee, at the expense of the farmer whom
he generally (mis)represents.
Will the farmers of the state put up
with this outrage?
l would therefore like to receive the
address of officers and members of the
following county fair associations, and
ask the cooperation of every prominent
farmer in each county where the follow
ing named county fairs are held, to cor
respond with me, and l will furnish
such information as will be necessary to
secure control of this state institution
by the farmers themselves. We will
hold an Alliance convention in St. Paul
just previous to the meeting of the state
agricultural society, and would like the
delegates to the Alliance to also hold
credentials as delegates from your local
county fair association, or the proxy of
the delegate so elected; but be sure that
you demand as citizen of your county
that the delegate or proxy shall go to
farmer from your county, as it is prop
erly a farmers institution, and should
not be represented by lawyers, mer-
chants, railroad men, etc. If this is done
the farmers of the state can secure con-
troll of a state institution devoted to
their interests and kick out a small ca
bal Of greedy and ambitious politicians
who have fattened off the farmers of
this state. We propose to open up
bureau of information and organiza-
tion," and would like to have the farm
ers of every locality come to our aid,
and, through large and substantial Or
ganization demand control of the state
institutions which represent agricultural
interests, and representation on all
boards and state institutions wherein
the farmer pays Is per cent of the tax
to support, but who has been ignored
by the powers that be in giving him
representation thereon.
Herewith we present list of county
fairs in Minnesota. The dates Of the
Minnesota county and district fairs have
been carefully collected by the North
western Farmer, and are as follows:
Aitkin, Aitkin Sept. 1913.