New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-07-24
AN ESSAY IN AMERICAN1SM

Writing to a meeting of farmers at
Kansas City, Mr.. William Kent of the
Federal Tariff Commission indorses their
purpose of getting together for united
action in placing their views before the
public authorities of State and Nation.
And he gives them pertinent advice
out of his experience as farmer, cattle
grower, and preacher of democracy.
His letter, which was in lieu of the speech
for which the farmers asked, covered
many subjects with the vigor and pithy
brevity for which this unique public
man has come to be widely known.
THE persecution of farm organiza-
tions, notably of the Non-partisan
League" he tells them, 'sshows the
need Of united demand for our civil
liberties, the right of practical assemblage,
the open channels of publicity, and the
prosecution through the National Gov-
eminent, if the States fail in their duty,
of those who conspire against the Con-
stitution.
ave have the right to demand open
channels between ourselves as producers
and the consumers of the Nation, free
from such abuses as are practised by the
packers and the millers. We have the
right to demand economy in distribu-
ZION with immunity from parasitic
speculation and from the wasteful and
unproductive manipulations of unneces-
sary middlemen. We have right to
demand of our elected officials most
careful scrutiny into our present systems
of distribution, to the end of opening
and Strengthening the channels Of trade
and removing the obstacles that impede
the flow of our foodstuffs from the farm
to the italics OF our people.
We are right in demanding that the
natural resources of the country shall be
SO managed, whether through direct
public agencies or under concessions
granted to private individuals or cor
carnations, that their use may benefit
Alrl!he people, who legally share in their
ownership. When we consider the list
Ot our natural resources, we can in no
way forget the greatest of our natural
resources, the land. Permanently of
tenure, a sense of home, is inherent in
our traditions and our civilization. We
cannot afford to forego this institution,
but we can and should take from land
occupation the speculative, irresponsible
privileges The right to misuse, destroy,
Or leave unused is contrary to all ideas
IF public policy and is the opposite of
production,
Mr.. Kent does not stop with things
that will tickle the ears of the farmers.
H opposes the demand for taking off
: all immigration restrictions during the
war. 1--WE must see to it that those,
no matter how humble, who are engaged
ar production, shall be recognized as
part>ana parcel Of our democracy, with
equal rights in deciding it's policies and
its course. Any other theory leads
stzalght through peonage into virtual
slavery. Until all our pres
ent population not in military service
is forced by law and the pressure Of
public opinion into productive work,
there should be no talk of diluting Or
vmrecking our citizenship at the call OF
Lha present emergency" Mr.. Kent
urges the extension of the age limit Of
the draft and the universal application
II the wogk-or-fght principle.
In conclusion, Mr.. Kent cautions the
farmers against a narrow class move
ment After reverting to the persecu
ton of the Non-partisan League by
the piratical, profiteering patrioteers
and by those who have, through thei
ignorance, been used as cats paws,
he writes:
1T is necessary that, when the farmer
feel the lash of persecution, they care
fully consider the cause of others unde
similar conditions, and that when the
demand their rights, they see to it tina
Tine demand is a general one and not
$elass cry. l have spoken of the agri
aa1ltural interests az being inherentl
conservative and at the same time bein
progressive. There is no such thin