The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-29

-labored under the most oppressive and
grievous burdens and drawback For
centuries he was serf, or, at best.
mere tenant. War in some form, either
of defense, conquest or plumber, was the
chief fashionable employment of the feu-
dial and middle ages. The military chiefs
and their principal subalterns assumed
all political power, and aggrandized the
ownership and control Of all the land, and
the great mass of the people were forced
TO till the same as serfs or tenants. with
out any political rights or voice In the
government. Political rights and political
power was an appurtenance of land own
ership. The descendants Of these chiefs
and subalterns-the lords, barons, earls
and dukes-of the feudal ages, continued
in the exclusive possession Of the land:
the masses remained helpless and without
power. Such was the condition in Eng
land, in France, in Germany, in Italy, in
fact, all over Europe, except in two small
states, Switzerland and Norway. In these.
two states the farmers as a rule owned.
the land they titled and as a consequence
were never entirely Invested of their per-
sonal and political rights. 1t seemed. as
tho their land ownership was their one
great shield and protection. AS the tillers
| of the soil turnout Europe became land
owners they gradually became invested
with political rights and were no longer
brutally ignored. One Of the chief causes
bloody revolution in France was the fact
| that the great mobiles owned all the land.
and the masses had none, but were mere
| tenants. And one of the most beneicent
results Of that revolution was that the
i large estates Of the mobiles were broken
up and the land distributed in small farms,
| in fee, among the French peasantry, who
| have ever since been prosperous and
thrifty farmers. Since the French peasant
became landowner royalty and monar-
chical institutions have been unable to,
maintain a permanent foothold in that
country, Napoleon the First, a couple of
Bourbons, and Napoleon the. Third have
leach had their brief day and have uncere-
EInoniously. been swept off the stage by
the French people And today and for a
long time past, they have; had sober and
!, conservative republic, which seems to be
I in harmony with the people and to rest
on a permanent and enduring basis.
Thus it will appear. if we scan the his
tory and evolution Of the past, that land
emancipation has always brought In it's
wake political emancipation. Political
/ power always accompanies and goes hand
| In hand with the ownership of land and
where the masses of the tillers of the soil
own the farms they till, there they have
/ their full share of personal and political
reedom-there their voice is dominating
and controlling.
The American farmer is the monarch
| and owner Of the land he tills, and with
the American farmer rests today the con-
| trolling power in the affairs of state. He
is one of the chief mainstays of our politi-
! cal, social and economic fabric, sober,
conservative and mindful of the welfare of
the republic, and not subject to the 1uc-
tuations that sometimes take place among
| our urban population.
| Possessed of this power, as you are, it
| behooves you farmers, and 1t Is duty
clearly entai1ed upon you, to be always
active and vigilant, In season and out
Of season, to exercise your political rights,
and to perform your political duties, to
the end that the republic may continue to
prosper and to the end that future gem
erations may call you blessed.