The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-03-28
"rHz MAN WITH THE HOE"

WA OaAS OS y e4S9S~
of the European serf, who has lost his
independence and become
"a thing that grieves not and that
neve hopes.
Ssolid and stunned, a brother to the
OK
is good, true to life, and worthy OF the
attention it has received.
It is not good as a picture of the
American ''man with the hoe, as he
is to day, though who knows that he
may not become as the serf if he does
not rouse from his lethargy and make
the world feel his powerl 1t is dread
full to contemplate-an idle dream, we
hope, yet who will dare say that
monopoly. the emblem Of 1.-The worlds
blind greed" would not, il it could, re
duce the American farmer to sertdom
and put on his back ''the burden of
worlds" And who will dare say that
it cannot do this, if the American
imam with the hoe" remains as he now
appears, disorganiz2d, ''stolid, and
%stunned3'
To the man who does not look be
meath the surface, the signs OF the
times are not propitious. While the
other industries are organizing and
pooling their interests, the farmers
have plodded on with that blind in
difference suggestive of the despair
that marks the serf "Who grieves not
- -wL@ w,1-O~ hnnCc.O hn "a mani
tested no IL creased interest in their
grange meetings and their Alliances;
have evinced no strong disposition to
right by their own strength the wrongs
of humanity, plundered, profaned
and d~isinherited."
B 1t there is yet hope. The imam
with the hoe" accustomed to give the
foremost positions in science, politics
and art to others, is naturally slow to
realize that he must work out his own
salvation, but in his soul is the spark
of independence and perseverance
which is the hope Of a brighter and
better day.
Another thought is suggested by the
poem. In the language of the author,
there is no being more fraught with
menace to the universe" than the
blind, careless and hopeless toiler there
depicted. You have seen him often;
he is a hard working, conscientious
man, but poverty has haunted him
until he believes himself "too poor to
take a paper" too poor to learn of the
affairs OF the outside world, too poor to
make an intelligent use OF his priv
leges as an American freeman and
citizen.
What gulfs between him and the
serRphim!
Slave to the wheel of labor, what to him
Are Plato and the swing Of Pieades2
What the long reaches Of the peaks OF
song,
The rift of dawn, the r~eddening OF the
rose9"
Such a mans worst enemy is him
self-his own ignorance. Entrusted
with the privilege and duty OF preserv
ing his own freedom and the freedom
of his posterity, he is likely to be a
plant tool in the hands Of his Cypress,
ors, by his own ignorance booming
himsel and his children to the same
careless and %despairing toll which he
leads. There is nothing, we say, that
threatens the future prosperity and
happiness Of the American working
man as does this class Of toilers.
Trusts, mouopolies, the greed Of or.
ganiZed cRpital-these are not half so
dangerous. II the Workingmen read
and think and intelligently exercise
their privileges as freemeD, there is no
danger that plutocracy will eve be
able to take their liberties from them.
The hope and purpose of plutocracY
therefore is to increase the number of
WoTkingmen who are too busy or too
careless to study the problems of the
day, and to furnish those who do read
with literature which If it does not
openly advocate the cause Of monopoly.
at least keeps silent, and is therefore
as dangerous as ignorance itself. This
is why the ignorant, blinded and
prejudiced laborer is to day the great
est menace to American liberty and
the only tool by the use of which mo
nopoly can steal away the priceless
privileges of the American freeman.
In q word, then, the hope Of plutoc
racy IL ignorance-darkness the hope
of labor ia education-light.
TAKE AN UNPREJUDICED VIEW
OF THE CASE.
W. h-oo thor ~ 1iaov1aeiDp 4ho No1