876 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC. 20 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. 
If wheat is not as good a security for paper money as 
U. S. bonds, why not ? If there are two parties in this 
country—one interested in having money scarce and dear 
and the other wanting it plentiful and cheap, how can the 
matter be compromised with satisfaction to both ? Will 
cheap money finally react disastrously on all classes ? c. F. 
“THE MASSES” ARE ON TRIAL. 
PROF. J. W. SANBORN. 
I am glad to observe that a section of The Rural has 
been devoted to political economy, for I suppose that this 
is the real purpose of the new department. [Yes. To 
teach and to learn and more the latter than the former. 
“What do the people really wantt” This is the first 
point to be learned.—E ds.] Farmers are now apparently 
at that dangerous point of success when their best powers 
are most critically needed. The final success of the farm¬ 
ers’ movement will be gauged by the intelligence and 
moral force with which their power, whatever it may be, 
is used. It is my belief that the equality of condition for 
which the masses are contending will be approximated 
in very nearly exact ratio to their increase of intel¬ 
ligence and the moral quality of the acts on the part of the 
masses. 
Diffusion of intelligence increases the ratio of those 
qualified to act in the so-called higher walks of life, and 
therefore increases the competition in the more lucrative 
positions, while at the same time relieving pressure in the 
least desirable occupations. The time will come when 
the ratio of the population that is fitted for the most 
desirable positions will be so great that the compensation 
received in these positions will, as a rule, be as little 
and often less than that paid for labor of a comparatively 
low order. The ends and aims of socialistic reforms will 
be achieved by peaceful revolution brought about by the 
school-house—and by school house I mean all of the educat¬ 
ing Influences of the day. 
A careful and impartial study of statistics will show 
that such a revolution is going on and that, despite dis¬ 
claimers, the condition of the “masses” has improved in a 
ratio faster than that of the “ classes.” Some of the evils 
against which we inveigh so stoutly are but the momen¬ 
tary manifestations of the rapid action of profound mov¬ 
ing causes whose end is for humanity. But I have 
digressed. 
Intelligent moral action is the only security for con¬ 
tinual success. This is jeopardized I fear, at least in a 
measure, by acting forces. During our campaign an 
astonishing ignorance of the first principles of political 
economy has been manifested by many of those who were 
leading the farmers’ movement, while a second class ap¬ 
pealed to prejudices and sought to inflame the minds of 
their hearers or readers without any too close adherence to 
the elementary principles of right. There are certain 
causes or forces that have been observed in the history of 
nations, whose effects are as definitely known as are the 
laws of Nature. Neither the laws of the one nor of the 
other can be broken without unfortunate results. There 
are, before the public, many counselors who are advising 
either in utter ignorance or In utter defiance of history. 
So vast a wealth as the world’s experience should not be 
flung away. Only men of broad information and of great 
deliberation should be put to the front just now. 
But I wish particularly to call attention to the fact that 
no feeling of unrighted wrongs should for a moment 
tempt farmers to demand a whit more than absolute 
equity. If moral rectitude is not a sufficient force to con¬ 
trol actions, then it should be fully understood that noth¬ 
ing but justice is profitable. As farmers constitute the 
bulk of our population, it is impossible to inject poison 
into any part of the system or the body politic without the 
chief member of that system feeling its share of its influ¬ 
ence. Laveleye, the able and brilliant French writer on 
political economy, says : “In the ethical code you find the 
true root of economic laws. The good, the end of ethics, 
and the useful, the end of political economy, without being 
confounded, are inseparable ; for the pursuit of the good 
is always favorable to the production of the useful.” 
He quotes Bordas Demoulin : “The useful is the prac¬ 
tical aspect of the just; the just the moral aspect of the 
useful,” and says: “These qualities cannot be antago¬ 
nistic ; and if they appear to be so, to choose that which is 
just is to insure that which is useful.” I am thoroughly 
convinced that these remarks are just. Man’s security in 
all that which is just to him has been, and is, the measure 
of his advance. Nations stood still so long as force was 
the standard measure of right. The subtle influence of 
equity has been and will remain potent in the growth of 
man. Farmers should be the last to cut loose, in however 
small a degree, from its teachings. 
The cunning man who grasps more than justice con¬ 
cedes, robs the future, if not the present, and as he is im¬ 
mortal here through his children, discounts his own 
inheritance. The general principles of the Sermon on the 
Mount are the only safe guide of statesmanship, and will 
lead a movement that will never retrograde. This has not 
long appeared to be true because the world has not been 
ready for it, if indeed, as some would assert, error is not 
committed in assuming it to be true now. In a general 
sense, I think it is safely true now that advances are no 
longer liable to be lost as of yore, for they rest upon endur¬ 
ing forces that were wholly unknown In past ages. This 
being true, farmers need demand nothing unfair, nor 
need they feel fear of anything but their own errors. 
The movement made will never be lost, as some hope, 
and as others fear it will, although lack of full intelligence 
may cause reactions. It is a part of the forward move¬ 
ment of this age, and is imbedded in causes that make It 
one of the requisites of the advance of the social organism 
all along the line, and while it must work out its destiny 
through experience that involves stumblings and errors, 
we may yet plead for a minimizing of these errors through 
the use of the experience already acquired. Fortunately 
intelligence is conservative, and recent history has shown 
us that the intelligence of our people is such that power 
possessed by any great body of our citizens of whatever 
calling in its use always stops short of very dangerous 
manifestations. Ally it to truth and none shall fear. No 
other union is right or prudent. 
Utah. 
INDIVIDUALISM. 
I want a word or two with our good friend Bucephalus 
Brown, because I see from his article on page 740 that he 
misapprehends Mr. Rice’s position on the question of the 
hour, as stated in his letter to which reference is made. 
I fully recognize the fact that there are many evils which 
no law can remedy ; but what law has done it can 
undo, and for this reason, if for no other, I advo¬ 
cate the passage of such “ laws ” as will tend to 
establish equity and repeal those which were obviously 
not passed to subserve the cause of justice or the 
protection of the weak against the strong. B. B. has said 
about all that can be said for individualism, and said it 
well, and as a stimulant to individual effort his article is 
worthy of the highest praise; but the objectionable part 
lies, not in what is said, but in what is left unsaid, for in this 
as in Mr. Rice’s letter, the plain and unmistakable infer¬ 
ence is, that if the large majority of our farmers were first, 
second or even third-class men instead of belonging to the 
“higher figures,” a remedy would soon be found for “agri¬ 
cultural depression,” if under such conditions such a thing 
could exist. The “depression,” however, exists not only 
among those who are counted among the “higher figures” 
but among all others as well. There are thousands upon 
thousands just as good farmers as ever stood between plow 
handles, that are on the brink of ruin. Now this fact alone, 
it seems to me, is fatal to B. B.’s position. 
Does he really believe that “ every citizen has an equal 
chance according to his Industry and ability ?” I don’t. 
Here are brothers Terry, Chamberlain, Rice and a few 
others who by their own showing are not engaged in this 
terrible struggle with the wolf; but, on the contrary, are 
deservedly surrounded by everything desirable for comfort 
and happiness. If this is claimed to be the sole result of 
a superior ability and industry, why should the thousands 
referred to be less happily situated ? Are they not as 
deserving ? Is not the “ fault ” rather in the conditions, 
local and otherwise, instead of in “themselves f” 
Again, the civilization of the nineteenth century can 
boast of a higher sentiment and a stronger feeling for the 
sanctity of human life than any that antedates it, and 
everything that can be done is done to save life, but B. B. 
says that “the survival of the fittest” *is a general law 
which none can escape. Now, through organization, we 
should establish reforms on cooperative lines, that would 
make it possible for those with the “ short legs ” not only 
to exist but to exist in such condition as to make life 
worth living. It may be deemed presumption on the part 
of one who is of that “ large class that are trying to be 
farmers without knowing how,” to question the state¬ 
ments of those having a superior “ ability,” or to attempt 
to enlighten them on these vital questions in which all are 
interested; but I would respectfully ask what is to be done 
with that “large class” of unfortunates who are honest, 
industrious and willing to work, but, because of an in¬ 
ferior ability, have, according to the law of individualism, 
no right or title to exist ? I rather incline to the belief 
that he is either a very poor farmer or a very lazy one that 
is not entitled to an equal chance with the hired man. 
Turn the pages of The Rural for the last few years and 
you will find plenty of evidence that for the past 10 or 15 
years the hired man has had much the best of it. 
JOHN WARR. 
TWO VIEWS ON THE TOBACCO TARIFF. 
A Rosy View.— Every systematic farmer knows that 
every piece of tobacco he has set for the past few years has 
run him in debt. Why ? Because the old rate of duty en¬ 
couraged the foreign instead of protecting the American 
raiser, and the consequence was that we were obliged to 
sell our crops at a loss ; but with the increased duty on 
imported tobacco the American farmer becomes the pro¬ 
tected and the foreigner “gets left.” I was informed -by 
one raiser of tobacco—and he only spoke the mind of 
others—that if the McKinley Bill passed, instead of one 
acre, he would plant six or eight. G. H. glover. 
Tolland County, Conn. 
A Dark View.— Paragraph 249 of the McKinley Bill 
will, if properly inforced, be a little benefit to the scientific 
grower of tobacco, while paragraph 243 will, unless great 
care is used, nullify the other. It has been customary to 
bring or smuggle in wrappers in what is commercially 
known as Havana fillers. The McKinley Bill, as expressed 
in those paragraphs, with experts to classify the goods, 
will make a shade in favor of domestic goods, if properly 
grown and handled, but the bill as a whole is truly an 
abortion of the Morrell Act and its amendments, which 
was temporarily in force to meet the claims of war. We 
are not assured even that Blaine’s “reciprocity ” will not 
include tobacco. What has hurt the tobacco grower the 
worst is the excise or internal revenue part of the so-called 
law. The customs and excise laws together are the 
most iniquitious laws on any statute book. The old law 
was so onerous that it has never been enforced, and grow¬ 
ers have sold their crops regardless of it. The McKinley 
excise law will not furnish a market for an extra pound of 
tobacco or lift a pound of oppression off the small cigar- 
makers’ shoulders; but it wonderfully helps the specu¬ 
lators and wealthy manufacturers. On the whole, the im¬ 
port duty provided by the bill robs the grower where the 
excise law ceases to do so. Tobacco is a proper source of 
revenue for the government; and a heavy tax should be 
put on imports, and also a just tax on the domestic 
goods, but it should not be heavy enough to kill the grow¬ 
er’s market and choke out of existence the small cigar- 
maker ostensibly to raise revenue, but really in the inter¬ 
est of corporate monopoly. subscriber. 
NOTES. 
Some Sense from Ohio.— When we talk about “ free 
trade ” should it be limited to revenue or be absolutely free? 
If the latter, what provision is to be made for the support 
of the government? Then if we want a tariff for protection, 
how high should it be, and what should be done with the 
revenue in excess of the needs of the government economi¬ 
cally administered ? Between the two dominant political 
parties comes the Farmers’ Alliance, making all old 
political hacks open their eyes and wonder what will he 
the outcome. The Rural appears to think that the new 
political party has occasion to regret that its success was 
so great. From a strategic point of view there may be 
truth in this; but if there is a man in that party who 
regrets that the people have come to do their own think¬ 
ing and made their thoughts manifest, it would be a 
strange state of things indeed. The moral effect of their 
work during the late elections is worth more than the 
“ balance of power.” Had those old political party en¬ 
gines got “stuck on the center”—been evenly balanced 
so that the new party could set one to moving—the trade 
and dicker would be more likely to result in the annihila¬ 
tion of the new party. We can well see that reasonable 
men of all parties will be likely to march to the music of 
common sense when they dare cut- loose the party cords 
which have bound them. Hence the moral effect of the 
sweeping victories of the Farmers’ Alliance is worth more 
than the balance of power, in view of the status of the 
prospects in the near future. It is quite evident that the 
high protection tariff men are at sea and have no chart or 
compass, or even a given port to sail into. The futile effort to 
prove to the farmers that now they would be on the high 
road to prosperity, opened the eyes of so many that a revo¬ 
lution followed. When a grave and honorable Senator 
attempted to teach the farmer how to dispose of his labor 
and money to his best advantage the farmer made up his 
mind that he knew as much as the teacher. A Senator of 
our own State undertook to tell his farmer constituents that 
if they needed a wagon worth $100 rather than send else¬ 
where for it they could go to work and make it themselves, 
by which economic process they would have a wagon and 
their $100 also—a plan by which they could eat their plum 
and have it to eat again. I can easily fancy that farmer, 
with his ordinary farm tools manufacturing a wagon and 
suffering his farm to grow up to weeds, yet no doubt the 
wagon would be a daisy. By this process the protectionist 
contradicts his own theory; for what would the manufac¬ 
turer do, and what would he eat if every farmer were able 
to follow the Senator’s theory and practice it ? Neither 
political party can claim infallibility and the Farmers’ 
Alliance will have to make haste slowly else it will be 
liable to overdo mattters, and its disappearance will be 
more rapid than its appearance. geo. F. MARSHALL. 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio. 
“ Banks Sustaining Farmers.”— This year, like several 
of its predecessors, has been profitable to the farmer of 
the Eastern Shore of Maryland only in hard-earned experi¬ 
ence. He has learned, for one thing, that his powers of 
endurance were much greater than he imagined. Last fall 
he felt certain that another bad year would utterly ruin 
him, but he has this year seen fruit a total failure; wheat 
partially so, and corn only a moderate crop, and yet he 
staggers on, not unharmed indeed, but still on his feet and 
hopeful that next year will be more prosperous. The 
banks are sustaining the farmer nobly, and before the 
Alliance approves any measure that will overturn our 
present banking system, they had better study the present 
situation and see where lies the reserve force that has 
carried our agriculture safely through three unsuccessful 
years. C. F. E. 
Easton, Md. 
Patent Extortion.— Why don’t farmers insist on 
reformation in the patent law ? They are the greatest 
sufferers from the abuses of the present system; why do 
they endure them so phlegmatically, when they can cause 
their prompt removal by agitation through their various 
organizations ? They may, perhaps, suffer most in pocket 
from the important patents which are operated by the 
large manufacturers, who quietly add their extra charges 
to the cost of the goods ; but they certainly suffer most in 
temper from the multitude of unimportant and worthless 
patents connected with articles in every-day use, and 
which generally cover so-called improvements in them, 
though they often claim to cover the original forms. 
Through faults in the Patent Laws and carelessness in the 
Patent Office, such patents are granted for mere triviali¬ 
ties, that have, for the most part, been in public use for 
years and frequently for generations, still royalty can be 
claimed on them until they have been declared invalid by 
the United States Courts. All sorts of extortions and 
swindles are practiced every year on the users rather than 
the makers of articles covered by such useless patents. 
Away with them [ h. w. l. 
