700 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



recently the practical politician expected comparatively little shift- 

 ing in the political allegiance of his rural constituents : the voters 

 in cities were the uncertain element in his game. The isolation 

 of the agriculturists renders it difficult for them to be suddenly 

 moved by a common impulse, such as is necessary to break party 

 ties and cause a cleavage from traditional political connections. 

 A property interest in the soil, such as is secured by the general 

 prevalence of land ownership or an equitable system of tenantry, 

 is also a most influential factor in rendering the farmer instinc- 

 tively cautious and conservative. In the vigorous language of an 

 English writer : " Peasant proprietorship is the one great force 

 in a democratic country which opposes most strongly the doctrines 

 of plunder and confiscation." In view, therefore, of the tradi- 

 tional habit of mind of rural populations, their present condition 

 of unrest in nearly every civilized land is most extraordinary. 

 During the past few years this condition in the United States 

 has produced a political party which, gaining rapidly in power, 

 disrupting the political associations of a lifetime and disappoint- 

 ing the calculations of the most astute politicians, has captured 

 the electoral vote of several states and placed a number of its 

 representatives in each house of Congress. 



Such considerations the prevalence of agrarian problems 

 throughout the civilized world, their unexpected character, and the 

 precipitation of the disturbed state of the agricultural mind in the 

 United States into a formidable political organization cannot 

 but enlist the interest of the student of economic and social re- 

 lations. In a country like our own, endowed by nature with such 

 lavish abundance and fertility of soil, discontent among the agri- 

 cultural classes is an unusually fascinating subject for study. It is 

 the purpose of this essay to analyze this discontent with the object 

 of determining to what extent it rests upon economic grievances, 

 how far its explanation is found in a growth of social wants, to 

 what degree it can be attributed to the nature of the farmer's 

 business, and how much it has been intensified in recent years by 

 special conditions. 



For the purpose of determining the economic condition of the 

 American farmer, I shall consider in the present study the relative 



