- -2; ; t : -; : . ^AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



these contain no mention of such organizations. The feudal sys- 

 tem seemed to mean a social organization based upon the owner- 

 ship of land. It was in reality a condition in which public rela- 

 tions were dependent upon private relations, and political rights 

 upon landed rights, and the land was concentrated in the hands 

 of a few persons. While this situation admitted of little or no 

 chance of organization among those who tilled the soil, it is 

 quite clear from the old records that at certain times, and in 

 many countries, their protests have been heeded and their 

 demands granted. These movements, however, were in no 

 sense political. So far as agriculture is concerned, the condi- 

 tions have always been unfavorable to combinations or organiza- 

 tions, for any purpose whatever, among farmers in Europe. The 

 system of government, social relations, and tenure of land, have 

 conspired to keep the farmer out of politics, and relegated him 

 to the task of feeding and clothing those who did make the 

 laws, and, as a rule, compelled him to bear the burden of taxa- 

 tion as well. 



Just in proportion as the people have been granted political 

 rights and privilege's, the agricultural portion of the community 

 has made its influence felt in public affairs. It is a conspicuous 

 fact, acknowledged by all, that agriculturists have uniformly 

 manifested good judgment and a spirit of conservatism, in all 

 their political efforts. In nearly every European country reforms 

 have been demanded, at various times, by the rural population. 

 Such demands have often been followed by bitter contentions, 

 because they were usually of a special or class character, requir- 

 ing the redress of special grievances, or the granting of special 

 privileges. For centuries before the discovery of America, an 

 undercurrent of unrest is traceable among the rural population, 

 and, as the enlightenment which waited upon the progress of 

 civilization became more and more diffused, this discontent 

 increased. There is no doubt 'that the hard times which had 

 fallen to the agriculturists of Europe hastened the settlement of 

 the New World. Political and religious freedom seemed to be 

 the object of nearly all immigration to this continent. Agri- 

 culture being the basis upon which this structure of human 

 liberty was to be built, the founders of the nation, as well as 

 the Pilgrim Fathers before them, granted to the farmers equal 



