The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-09
ONE SENSITIVE FARMER
who Thinks TiIIers of the Soil
Are Laughed ut Too Much.


Are Laughed at Too Much
TO the Editor of The Globe:
As the state fair will soon be in full
blast, I want to say a few words to the
newspapers of the Twin Cities and also
10 some of the Inhabitants of St. Paul
ana Minneapolis, and tell them that they
do more to! keep down the gate receipts
than all other things combined. l used
TO attend the state fair regularly and
always rocked forward with pleasure to
the first of September, when l could go
down there and spend three or four days
enjoying myself and learning something
at the same time, but 1 am almost dis
gusted with going down there and being
laughed at and made fun of just because
L am a farmer. 1 used to think that the
state fair was held for the interest and
benefit of the farmers as much as 1t was
for anybody else, and that the farmers
were entitled to receive fair treatment
and be respected and honored just as
much as any other class of citizens. and
they have been, as far as the officers
ana employees of the fair grounds are
concerned, for they have always been
very obliging and pleasant TO US at all
times But there is a class of smart
AlecKs who live in the Twin Cities and
who generally get in groups of four or
live during fair time and watch everybody
bltol passes dIOHSp anu I1Sy aIO dAW oy .
making some sarcastic remarks when
ever they see a farmer or man from
the country going by, and that same far
mer perhaps could buy out the whole
group and has more brains under his old
straw hat than all of them put together.
1 know that we will be told to pay no
attention to such fellows or their re-
marks, but we do have few sensitive
feelings even if we do live out among
!, ,,f,t sill hot nd
toothpick shoes.
And [ have also noticed that the Twin
City papers for the past few years have
always made some slurring remarks
about the country folks who attended the
fair-how that such day the Wild Bill
shows, the Punch and Judy shows and
peanut vendors reaped rich harvest
from the countrymen who were on the
ground in great numbers.
l asked one of my neighbors this morn
ing if he was going to attend the state
fair this fall, and he answered no; that
he did not propose to go down there to
be laughed at and made fun of any more,
and believe he expressed the sentiments
of thousands of other men who live in
the state of Minnesota and have helped
to make the state what it is.
[ know that we appear awkward and
do not use very good grammar some
and do not generally wear very fine
clothes, but we are human all the same
and are entitled to just as respectable
treatment as any other class of citizens,
for what would Minneapolis or st. Paul
be without the farmers?
Country people are no more awkward
or ludicrous in the cities than city folks
are while out in the country. L have
had lawyers and ministers and merchants
from your city up here to spend a few
days with us during the past few years,
and 1t was very amusing to listen to their
talk about farming and what farmers
should do to get rich. | think that they
would make just about as much of a
success at farming as 1 would to go DOWN
to the city to keep a first-class drug
store.
In closing this letter 1 want to say that
I believe that if we could be permitted
to take a look at that great eternal city
that we hear so much about, where all
good people are supposed to go when they
are done with this world, we would see
just as many people from the country
walking the golden streets and playing on
the golden harps as we would Of those
who had come from some other places
that I know Of
Charles Wilcox.
Sunrise, Mimi, Aug. 8.