RESULTS OF AGRARIANISM 263 



farmers are following in the wake of their syndicated 

 exemplars of factory, mine, and counting room." 8 



Public welfare and national prosperity will de- 

 pend in the future upon a wiser distribution of eco- 

 nomic power and political influence. Throughout 

 our national history there has been a wide range 

 of inequality between these influences. Industry, 

 finance, and transportation interests have exerted 

 unequal power and influence with reference to each 

 other, but individually and collectively they have 

 exerted a predominant influence over agricultural 

 enterprise. This was true when the agricultural 

 population far outnumbered the combined popula- 

 tions engaged in other pursuits. It has continued 

 until the present time. 



But it is generally admitted that the agricultural 

 population has been slowly gaining economic and 

 political strength in recent years. This is explained 

 by the fact that the rural population has gained 

 greatly in social consciousness and the agricultural 

 wealth of the country has more than kept pace with 

 industrial enterprise. This tendency supplies the 

 basis of hope for the equilibrium of social forces. 



The Green Rising, therefore, whose swell tide may 

 not yet have been reached, is not a sinister, social 

 phenomenon. It is merely the subtle working of the 

 silent forces of readjustment in the onward progress 

 of national life. But there will be no peace until 



See The New Republic for April 16, 1924, p. 201. 



