THE AGRICULTURAL WHEEL. 205 



Brother Wheelers, we are debarred, by our organic law, from taking 

 any steps politically as an organization ; and I thank the Giver of all 

 good and perfect gifts that we are, as I firmly believe that, if we were 

 to take any steps as a political organization, our order would soon cease 

 to exist. 



But it is a self-evident fact to me that the farmers of this broad land 

 have been and are being unjustly dealt with by the law-makers, both 

 State and national. If it were possible for the farmers to get represen- 

 tation according to their numerical strength, I feel satisfied that there 

 would be but very little class legislation. 



With your permission, brethren, I will quote a little from the address 

 of President Macune to the Farmers' Alliance held at Shreveport, Louisi- 

 ana. He says : " We have the two great principles and conceptions as 

 contended for by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, as a basis for a 

 division into two great political parties. These should suffice." I 

 would infer that Brother Macune was opposed to a third party move- 

 ment. 



Now, Brother Wheelers, I am not going to advocate the third party 

 movement ; neither will I tell you that you can have all your wrongs 

 redressed by remaining in either of the two old parties. No man 

 holding the position that I do at this time, and under our laws, has a 

 right to advise or suggest in his annual message anything pertaining to 

 partisan politics. But as politics is the science of government, and it 

 is necessary that every citizen should be well informed upon the eco- 

 nomic questions of the day, in order to vote intelligently, I think it is the 

 duty of this body to elect a committee, to consist of one delegate from 

 each State Wheel, the said committee to be a Committee on Demands ; 

 and, if you elect, I would recommend that you make it their duty to 

 formulate and submit to this body, before its adjournment, such changes 

 in the national laws, if any, as they in their wisdom would deem to the 

 interest of the agriculturists and wage-workers. And if two-thirds of 

 this body can agree upon the said demands, I would most earnestly 

 recommend that it be made the duty of the Executive Committee of 

 each State Wheel to submit the same to the candidates for congres- 

 sional honors in their respective States, whether they be Democrats, 

 Republicans, Union Labor, or Prohibitionists. 



I have come to this conclusion, that the time has arrived for the 

 agriculturists to make their demands, and use every honorable effort to 

 have those demands inserted as a plank in all of the national platforms, 

 if possible. A law that will benefit a Republican farmer will not injure 

 his neighbor farmer, though he be a Democrat or a Union Labor man. 



