The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1899-04-27
LOOKING FORWARD.
Governor Rogers Story of an American Farm
A Faithful Portraiture.


of Looking forward" dedicates this
book "To the woman who never lost
faith in me-my wife" In the preface
he says: This story OF an American
Farm first appeared in the columns OF
the Kansas Commoner, then published
at Newton, HANS, under the manage
ment OF the writer. Recently it has
been revised and partially rewritten,
without, however, changing the design
and arrangement of the book or the char
acter OF the narrative which, az may be
surmised, is from actual experiences
among the farmers of Kansas" Dated
at Olympia, Washington, January 10,
1898 The contents are divided into 80
chapters of 325 pages in all, bound in
lavender cloth, proiusely illustrated Ivy
pen and ink drawings and hsIf-tone en-
cravings.
THIS is story with Il purpose. The
object lesson taught is that the Alliance
movement or Peoples party uprising in
the vest WAS in the nature OF true dem
ocratic revival. For twenty years II has
existed in the vest, although now this
seems largely at an end. The plan pro-
posed was this: The possession of the
general government; with that in hand,
various reforms were to be inaugurated.
Nothing was possible until possession Of
the general government had been Sc
cured. 1t was later found that the gen.
eral government WAS like the gods, far
off and seemingly ont of reach. Cover.
nor Rogers and other retormers of the
state Of Kansas about ten years ago
came 10 the conclusion that seli-heIp
through state action WAS the only practi-
cal relief This WAS and is the mOU OF
"Lolklng Forward" United action by
the tillers oil the soil in Kansas, unified
and electrified by orators and writer's,
turned down the 10000 republican ma
jority in Kansas and install ed the Peo-
pies party in power. This story then a
serial in the governors paper, the Com
moner was one of the potent influences
in the transformation. The mission of
the book has only just begun. The story
deals with American rural life, and its ar
gument is that here lie the forces of true
democracy and the healthful springs of
national life. True reform must be peace
full and should orr sinste in the rural
homes and begin with the tilers of the
soil and in the interest of those who live
upon and by means Of the soil. This is
the far cry Of The Story of an American
Farm" 1t is surmsed that many incl
dents of the work are experiences of
Gov Rogers himself and of his family
while toilng for years against falling
prices and failing crops to raise enough
produce to save his home from the greed
of the money mongers. The hero of the
story, George Grafton, is saved from the
common place and common lot of farmers
10y assassination. His short and simple
annals, however, are but rescript of the
lives of numberless evicted land owners
reduced to tenantry and even peasantry
by man-made laws. Strung like ran
dom pearls throughout the book are bits
of pathos and philosophy that stamp the
author as man of the people whose
genius, consecrated to humanity, stands
in bold relief compared to the mediocrity
entrenched in power that passes for
craftsmanship, with the unthinking.
The daughter of George Grafton, Mary,
pearl richer than all the tribe of Kan
sas usurers, marries an agitatOr of the
Wendell Phillips stripe. This attach
ment forms love story that, apart from
the lessons oi government taught, makes
the volume ii fascinating one for the
general reader.
On page 10 An old schoolmate of a
pennsvivauin banker advises him to 90
to karsSs where rates Of interest are
higher. The money loaner says: "You
rem Der Jim -. son of Old -, the
bis farmer OF by-gone years? Well, Jim
married Nancy -, fine buxom girl,
and his father gave him this farm as
patrimony and started him ont in lie.
They seemed to be as hsppy as larks for
time; finally Nancy fell sick and there
was year or two of poor crops. Jim
got behind and came to me for a loan,
and to make II long story short, let him
have $1,000 tweuty-three years ago at 1
Der cent This amount was afterward
added to a. the same rate, and I'll Just
tell You that now, after twenty-three
years of Il struggle, Jim and Nancy are
out in Chautauqua county, Kansas, with
houseiu of children, trying to make a