FARMERS TO THE FRONT 37 



panic would surely follow. That is, unless con- 

 cessions were made to the farmer. And as the capi- 

 talists and speculators think they don't want to make 

 concessions to the farmer, they would intensely dis- 

 like being put in a position where they would have to 

 make them or suffer ruin. 



Every one that has a grip on the farmer, who sells 

 to the farmer at exorbitant prices — all would find 

 that their grip was broken, and that on the contrary 

 the farmer had the upper hand. 



The mere shifting of power from the few to the 

 many would be enough to rouse opposition on the 

 part of the few. Oligarchies always hate democ- 

 racies. The four or five men who now fix railroad 

 freights throughout the country would naturally 

 feel that it was an impertinence for the 10,000,000 

 farmers to insist on being heard on the subject. 

 Those few men may combine to regulate the com- 

 merce of a continent, but the farmers may not. 

 They think control by the few is right and proper, 

 but control by the many is a bad thing. The banker 

 might find that with such a combination the farm- 

 ers would have to borrow less money, and that they 

 would have more to say about the rate of interest 

 and the security than they do now. If, when the 

 representatives of the organized manufacturers 

 went to Washington to demand favors at the ex- 

 pense of the people, they found themselves con- 

 fronted by a lobby of able and intelligent men repre- 

 senting the farmers' organization, the job of push- 



