GENESEE FARMER. 



No\ 



The Farmer.— His Position, Responsibili 

 ties, and Duties. 



NUMBER THREE. 



In my last I spoke of the responsibilities of 

 ftfg Fanner in his character as a Citizen. He is, 

 iii truth, more than a mere tiller of the soil — 

 fnore than a simple machine, whose proA-ince it 

 hio labor and toil. Our institutions regard him 

 ^ an intelligent being — a moral agent, invested 

 *¥ith political power — for the riglitful exercise 

 «Sf ^'hich he is surely accountable. Let us look 

 i^ iiftle ai this matter, and see how the case 



Iii a Republican Government, the exercise of 

 political power is one of the highest and most 

 leered duties which devolves upon the citizen — 

 6ae which he cannot use wrongfully, without 

 euipability, nor yet refuse to use without equal 

 guilt. Not only his own, but the happiness of 

 ervery other of his fellow citizens, depends up- 

 &u his action. The laws which he is instrumen- 

 tal in framing, and the policy which his political 

 action marks out, are laws and a policy which 

 are to affect the highest interests and dearest 

 3°fghts of the mass of the people. Government 

 ^ the first consideration with any people, and 

 Slike important to those who would preserve 

 tlieir freedom, as to the despot who would as- 

 ^me supreme power. Civilized men cannot 

 dwell together in large numbers, without rules 

 <5>f action general in their nature, and to which 

 sH must conform. So prone are the strong to 

 ^rey upon the weak, the rich to oppress the- 

 poor, the vicious to injure the virtuous, that 

 s^i'ety imposes the imperative necessity of com- 

 bination, and of bringing the united power of 

 all to protect and guard the rights and interests 

 of each, A good govei'liment — one just in its 

 principles and action — is, then, the higliest good 

 co a people. And a government founded on 

 Mse principles, which are framed as instruments 

 to be used by the (cw, to oppress and hold in 

 subjection the many, is the greatest curse which 

 can be inflicted on a nation. The power with 

 tvhich it crushes individual rights, and the force 

 ■#-ilh which it strikes down the liberties and 

 jj«-osperity of the people, is overpowering and 

 jrresista'ule. In the light of these reflections 

 ^e farmer will not fail to see the importance — 

 Sie absolute necessity — of a system of law and 

 giublic rule which is equitable in principle, and 

 looking in its action to. the protection, in "life, 

 liberty and the pursuit of happiness," of all the 

 people. And how is this to be affected 1 — how 

 ]{)reserved, when accomplished ? How else in 

 fliis country, than by the exercise of political 

 power, on the part of the masses ? Reflect 

 coolly, calmly upon it, farmers of America, and 

 fei!-n to appreciate p;-operly, your political duties. 

 I have no expectation that party feeling will 

 ever be broken up in this country, or party at- 



tachments dissolved. It is hardly possible that 

 such should be the fact, and perhaps it is not de- 

 sirable. Men will differ on political subjects, 

 honestly differ, a.s to the best meaas to promote 

 the public good. I would by no means urge the 

 ftirmers of the country to attempt the folly of 

 forming a farmers party — but this I would urge, 

 that they study carefully their political duties, 

 and see to it that they have their due share in 

 shaping the policy, and in making the laws of 

 the State and Nation. I would have them re- 

 member that their votes are their own — a 

 means put into their hands for high and solemn 

 purposes — a moral weapon, to be used for the 

 accomplishment of important ends. 



Farmei's compose the mass of both great po- 

 litical parties, and they may, if they will, con- 

 trol the action of both of those parties — and 

 that, too, without any improper combinations oi- 

 undue exercise of power. How is the fact 1 — 

 Let us look fairly at, and talk frankly on, the 

 subject. Is it not true that party politics, as a 

 general thing, has become a perfect jungle — so 

 much a matter of bargain and sale, under the 

 control of a few, that it is almost a disgrace to 

 mingle much in it — and with which the high- 

 minded farmer will have little or nothing to do. 

 The truth is not to be disguised, that in this 

 State, at least, there is much of corruption about 

 the actions of parties — that, as a general thing, 

 a few men, and they not of the best and purest, 

 control party organizations, and dictate party 

 action. A few professional men, located in a 

 county town, together with a man hez'e and 

 there in the towns, form a county regency, and 

 by skillful manouvering, and constant attention 

 to study, manage the politics of the county ; and 

 the I'esult is, in many instances, that the aggran- 

 dizement and interests of cliques is alone con- 

 sulted in the political action of the State, and 

 the interest and prosperity of the greet mass en- 

 tirely overlooked or disregarded. This is radi- 

 cally wrong, and the farmers of the State ought 

 not to suffer it ; they ought not to permit a few 

 lawyers, and professed politicians, to chalk out 

 the political game of their party, and then be 

 wheeled into line under the battle cry that the 

 interests of the party require it, or marched up 

 to the polls, under the drill of party tactics, 

 simply to do the bidding of others. Party alle- 

 giance is due, and only due, when measures are 

 proposed and means used which tend to the ad- 

 vancement of the j)rinciples upon which the 

 party is founded — but the truth is that the far- 

 mers of the country are responsible for the 

 evils that exist ; their subserviency as a class, 

 and their lack of intelligence and want of atten- 

 tion, has made them "hewers of wood and draw- 

 ers of water" to other classes. They have of- 

 tener acted as though they had no right to think 

 and act for themselves, than to pursue an inde- 

 pendent, manly course of political action. Hu- 



