AS A POLITICAL FORCE 87 



of Independence, and set forth at great length the conditions 

 which had led to the uprising of the agricultural class. It 

 concluded by declaring the farmers absolutely independent of 

 all past political connections, and by pledging them to give 

 their suffrage to such men only as would use their best endeavors 

 to promote the desired ends. 1 This declaration was solemnly 

 read at hundreds of gatherings in Illinois and in some of the 

 neighboring states, and the customary spread-eagle oratory by 

 local politicans gave way to earnest discussions of political topics 

 by the farmers themselves, and fiery addresses by leaders of the 

 movement, such as that by Hon. S. M. Smith, the secretary of 

 the State Farmers' Association, at Pontiac in Livingston County. 2 

 Thus the enthusiasm of the farmers for their cause was wrought 

 up, and numerous picnics and harvest festivals, 3 together with 



1 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 196 (June 21, 1873); Chicago Tribune, June 16, 1873, 

 p. i. The declaration is printed in full in Prairie Farmer, xliv. 217 (July 12, 1873), 

 and in Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1873, p. 2. Some extracts from this curious 

 document may not be out of place: 



" When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a class of the 

 people, suffering from long continued systems of oppression and abuse, to rouse 

 themselves from an apathetic indifference to their own interests, which has become 

 habitual ... a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they 

 should declare the causes that impel them to a course so necessary to their own 

 protection." 



Then follows a statement of " self-evident truths " and a catalogue of the sins 

 committed by the railroads, together with a denunciation of railroads and Con- 

 gresses for not having redressed these evils. The document concludes: 



" We, therefore, the producers of the state in our several counties assembled 

 ... do solemnly declare that we will use all lawful and peaceable means to free 

 ourselves from the tyranny of monopoly, and that we will never cease our efforts 

 for reform until every department of our government gives token that the reign 

 of licentious extravagance is over, and something of the purity, honesty, and 

 frugality with which our fathers inaugurated it, has taken its place. 



" That to this end we hereby declare ourselves absolutely free and independent 

 of all past political connections, and that we will give our suffrage only to such 

 men for office, as we have good reason to believe will use their best endeavors to 

 the promotion of these ends; and for the support of this declaration, with a firm 

 reliance on divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our 

 fortunes, and our sacred honor." 



2 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 217, 220, 225 (July 12, 19, 1873); Chicago Tribune, 

 July, 1873, passim. 



3 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 224 (August 2, 1873); Chicago Tribune, 1873, August 7, 

 pp. i, 2, 4, August 22, p. i. 



