FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR ACTION 167 



until the present time. But the Farmers' Alliance 

 during the period under review gradually absorbed 

 most of the other farm organizations except the 

 Grange. This order finally despaired of satisfactory 

 results through independent action and sought relief 

 by means of political influence. 



Farmers have adopted two methods of politics 

 to secure their ends. Throughout most of our his- 

 tory they have operated within the regular political 

 party organizations. But at times they have become 

 disheartened or impatient and organized independ- 

 ent parties through which they have undertaken 

 to accomplish their purposes. History clearly shows 

 that a political party composed primarily of farmers 

 has never been very successful. Farm organizations, 

 when they have gone into politics, have been usually 

 short-lived and relatively ineffective. They seem 

 to accomplish more for their membership by the 

 adoption of sound business practices and the utiliza- 

 tion of regular channels of government than by 

 attempts at independent political action and appeal 

 to class consciousness. 



Farm influence on party action is clearly indi- 

 cated in the platforms of political parties through- 

 out most of the history of the country. It appears 

 most persistently in the platform announcements 

 with reference to the tariff. The Democratic plat- 

 form of 1840, for example, declares that "justice and 

 sound policy forbid the federal government to foster 

 one branch of industry to the detriment of another, 



