Politics for Farmers 



the ass crouching beneath two burdens, will 

 deserve their fate. 



" Granted, then, the necessity for agricultural 

 members, how shall we get to work? " asks the 

 farmer, " for if we put up a man, the labourers 

 will vote solidly against him, or the Radical 

 shopkeepers in the village will oppose him, or 

 the old-fashioned Tory farmers will not hear 

 of him " ; and they point to cases where a farmer 

 has stood and failed. He has failed for a good 

 reason. A farmer's member must consider only 

 the interests of the land. He must give pledges to 

 neither the brewer, teetotaller, Protestant, Home 

 Ruler, or Socialist. He must abstain from speaking 

 or voting on any subject other than agriculture, 

 confining his attention strictly to the interests 

 he represents, so that all those who live by or 

 on the land can support him. In rural districts 

 probably 90 per cent of the people live directly 

 by the land as farmers or labourers; or indirectly 

 as merchants or professional men. If these had 

 the political sagacity of bricklayers or engine- 

 drivers the agricultural candidate would sweep 

 the board. He may fail at first from sheer novelty, 

 but success must follow. When once the city 

 worker finds what an unspeakable idiot he is to 

 vote for a rich master, instead of a fellow worker, 

 he cannot revert; and a purely Labour seat (apart 



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