a very natural condition of dissatisfaction, ruin, and dismay 

 throughout the agricultural classes in this country, then the 

 Radical party and the Farmers' Alliance see their opportunity of 

 making capital out of the situation, and immediately drop their 

 unsavoury bait in front of the unfortunate farmer in the hope of 

 distracting his attention and tempting him from his former allegiance 

 by destroying those ties of affinity which have for generations bound 

 together the landlords and tenants. I am frequently asked what 

 the Farmers' Alliance really is ? 



WHAT IS ITS CONSTITUTION AND WHAT AKE ITS OBJECTS ? 



I cannot attempt to explain its composition otherwise than by 

 describing to you who and what are the leaders and officials of this 

 organisation. As far, therefore, as I can gather, it consists of a 

 president, two vice-presidents, a secretary, and, I presume, a council 

 or committee, but for all practical purposes the president, the vice- 

 presidents, and the secretary form the recognised executive. The 

 president is Mr. James Howard, the member for Bedfordshire, and 

 a partner in a very large firm of implement makers, who have 

 amassed a considerable fortune from this business, naturally and 

 in a great measure out of the pockets of the British farmer. 

 The \"ice-president (at least the one who is best known and most 

 active in this work) is Mr. Barclay, the member for Forfarshire, 

 who is, I am told, a manufacturer of artificial manures, and has 

 made a considerable fortune, I presume, out of the pockets of the 

 Scotch farmers. I will not refer to the antecedents of the secretary 

 beyond saying that I believe he was formerly the editor of a Radical 

 London newspaper, which has the good fortune to be now 

 regarded as the organ of the Farmers' Alliance. The only other 

 member of this self- constituted Salvation Army whom I know is 

 also a large and influential agricultural implement maker. Now I 

 do not for a moment desire to refer to the private occupation or 

 business of any of these gentlemen in an ofi'ensive manner, but my 

 object in doing so at all is to point out to you the entire absence of 

 the tenant-farmer element from the posts of responsibility or manage- 

 ment of this body. The programme of the Alliance contains much 

 that is useful and of which I entirely approve ; but I share the 

 opinion of the boy regarding the powder in the spoonful of jam, 

 that the jam contains much that is exceedingly distasteful. The 

 most important feature in the programme of the Alliance is 

 that the managers of that body profess to see that the farmers 

 of England shall be better represented in Parliament. They also 

 profess to be a non-pohtical body, always considering agricul- 

 ture fii'st and politics afterwards ; but if this be so, how 

 do they- reconcile this statement with the fact that all the 

 leaders and officials mentioned above are extreme Radicals ? It is 

 true, I believe, that one of the vice-presidents — a Mr. Parsons — is 





