The Washington herald., 1914-03-15
POLITICAL SITUATION.

| POLITICAL SITUATION.
The House of Representatives has
|been engaged for more than a week in
1.-THE delectabie occupation of catching the
farmer vote.
h The spectacle is not new one. 1t
has been presented annually for several
years. The Democrats. therefore. are
only following in the footsteps Of the
Republicans, but they are doing II quite
successfully. As a matter of fact, the
party now IN power would not dare to
lgo backward. The farmer vote Is an
important factor in each campaign, and
iit would be dangerous for any party to
alienate it. The Republicans made =
tremendous effort to hold 1t in aors, but
were unsuccessful President Taft, with
his suggestion of reciprocity with. Cam
ada, made the farmers angry. All over
the United States, but especial. in the
States along the Canadian border, there
was resentment on the part of the farm
ers against an effort which seemed in
furious to their interests. In vain did
President Taft show that Canadian reci-
procity had also been indorsed by Roose-
yelt; in vain did the Republican cam
paign orators insist that il the Demo-
cratic party should be victorious, the
farmers would get Something worse
than reciprocity. Equally futile were
the arguments that under Republi-
can administrations the appropriations
for the Department of Agriculture had
risen from 100000 to SI7,ooo,ooo, and
that during the same period the farmers
had enjoyed unexampled prosperity
owing to the high prices received by
them for farm products. All was in
vain, The farmers were mao and not
to be reasoned with. They deserted the
Republican party by the hundreds of
thousands.
Democrats Want Farmer Vote.
1t is not altogether certain that the
farmers will profit by the new tariff.
Already there are symptoms of discon-
tent in the agricultural district. If the
Democratic. party cannot hold the farm
er vote it will have hard time in the
approaching election, and in the next
Presidential campaign.
Therefore, the agricultural appropria-
tion bill this year reaches the enormous
aggregate of about SI8,ooo,ooo. Not only
this, but the administration is committed
to what is known as the rural credits |
bill. This is proposition which, briefly |
stated, allows the farmer to raise money |
upon his land through governmental as
sistance. There is to be, according to
one bill introduced, bureau of the Fed
eral rural credit system in each State,
and through this bureau any farmer who
has fifty acres of land, or more, can ar
range to get his needed cash. This is,
of course, wide stretching of the gen
eral welfare" clause of the Constitution,
but if it helps the farmer, why should
the Constitution interfere? The farmer
votes and the Constitution does not,
which makes all the difference in the
world.
But farm credit banks are things of
the future, while money for the farmer
is thing of the present. Therefore, the
pages OF the Congressional Record have
been filled during the past week with
eulogies of the horny-handed sons of
toll. To read the speeches is to gain the
idea that merchants, lawyers, doctors,
and all other classes of workers are not
in it for a minute with the farmers. 1t
will not be long before the mails are
loaded down with reprints of these
speeches, going to every farmhouse in
the land. In addition to this, nearly
every Congressman has been busy dur
ing the past two or three months send
ing to his agricultural constituents list
Of bulletins issued by the Department of
and inviting the voters to
designate which of these bulletins they
desire to receive. The editions of these
bulletin lists must run up into the mil
lions of copies. The letters, printed by
the hundred upon a letter-printing ma
chine, manifest the deepest interest on
the part of the Congressman toward his
farmer friend and offer him enough gov
.rnment publications, free of cost, to
Keep him busy reading for year.
So the Democrats want the farmer
vote. So do the Republicans, for that
matter, but as the Democratic party is
IN power, it is the Democrats who must
show activity and produce results. They
appreciate the situation and are as busy
Is bees. i
Enormous Sums for the Farmer. l.
r Al 4. II. |