CHAPTER VIII 

 FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR POLITICAL ACTION 



The land policies of the government, railroad sub- 

 sidies, and the changing tariff schedules caused the 

 farm population of the country to feel the inequali- 

 ties resulting from legislation. The spirit of in- 

 dividualism on the part of the farmer had gradually 

 declined as the rural population increased and the 

 mechanical and social agencies promoting solidarity 

 developed. By the end of the first decade after the 

 close of the Civil War, conditions were ripe for defi- 

 nite political action on the part of the farmers. 

 All that was needed to bring all the latent forces 

 of rural life into action was a real or imaginary 

 common cause. The financial depression of 1873 

 supplied this cause and started a movement the sig- 

 nificance of which has not yet been realized fully. 

 Haworth, in commenting upon the underlying 

 causes of the new agrarian tendencies of this period, 

 says: "Gradually discontent spread. For a score of 

 generations Anglo-Saxons had been travelling the 

 stony road to political equality, and in theory at 

 least the goal had been attained. But men were 

 beginning to realize that political equality was a 

 poor thing unless through it they could obtain some- 



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