1002 
THE RURAL, NEW-TOftKER 
September 2S, 
Hope Farm Notes 
The New York State Fair affords a 
good place for sounding public opinion 
as it is formed on farms or in country 
places. Farmers come from all over 
the State. They are usually willing to 
talk, and they know just how their 
neighbors and friends stand on import¬ 
ant questions. In a Presidential year 
nothing interests people more than a 
fair discussion of the candidates and 
their chances of election. New York is 
the most important State politically, and 
the farmers’ vote this year is the tough¬ 
est problem for the politicians. So we 
tried to get a fair expression of opinion. 
My first idea was to advertise and or¬ 
ganize for a very large vote. We soon 
found that this would not be fair, for 
friends of one candidate or another 
would “stuff the box’’—that is, work 
up a larger vote for their candidate than 
a fair proportion w'ould warrant. So 
we organized a “straw vote - ’ for read¬ 
ers of The R. N.-Y. and passers-by. 
The object simply was to get the opin¬ 
ions of representative farmers just as 
they came, without any arguments or 
attempt to ‘“boom” any particular man. 
We simply took a box (it happened to 
be a soap box) and left a hole in the 
top. There were printed ballots. The 
voter marked the name of his candidate 
and dropped the ballot in the box. I 
helped count them and know the figures 
are correct. We told everyone that it 
made no difference to us how they vot¬ 
ed—all we wanted was a fair expres¬ 
sion of the feeling among New York 
farmers. Here are the figures for three 
days: 
Taft . 215 
Wilson . 395 
Roosevelt .. 496 
Chafin .. 87 
Debs . 93 
Undecided . 500 
This “undecided” vote is a fair esti¬ 
mate. The other figures are based on 
actual results of the voting. The most 
remarkable thing about it was the large 
number of people who say, “/ do not 
know hozv to vote this year.” Most of 
these seem to be Republicans who have 
not quite decided whether to vote for 
Taft or if they decide to vote against 
him, whether to vote for Wilson or 
Roosevelt. There was one group of 
well-to-do farmers 'who discussed it 
about as follows: 
No. 1.—“I think Mr. Taft is a fine 
man personally—clean and able. I 
would gladly vote for him if i could 
separate him from Barnes and those 
other politicians. How can I make this 
separation? If we elect Taft these 
crooks will feel that we have endorsed 
them!” 
No. 2.—“I am afraid of Roosevelt, 
but I like the principles of the new 
party. If I could separate it from 
Roosevelt I would gladly vote the ticket. 
If we elect him he will feel that he has 
a-warrant to do just as he pleases.” 
No. 3.—“I like Wilson personally, and 
if I knew I could separate him from 
Murphy and that crowd 1 would vote 
for him. I have no confidence in tlie 
Democratic party. It ran over Cleve¬ 
land, who was a stronger man than 
Wilson.” 
Now r , that is the way these undecided 
voters talk. The way they finally settle 
it, that way, I believe. New York will 
go. You hear few people talking about 
voting a party ticket—they are for one 
man or the other—something quite new 
in American politics. Without question 
along the upper border of the State 
there is a bitter feeling against Mr. 
Taft. This is largely because of his 
stand on Canadian reciprocity. Strange 
to say, this very course has made some 
votes for him in the towns and cities. 
While our figures show the larger vote 
for Roosevelt, I found few of his back¬ 
ers who really believe he can carry the 
State. They feel that the new party is 
unorganized and, as one man put it, 
“Taft has behind him the strongest and 
most resourceful crowed of politicians 
ever known in the world’s history!” 
The fact is, many of the new party men 
are apprehensive at the very silence of 
the Taft managers, for they feel that 
some underground work is going on 
which they cannot understand. They 
have the noise and sentiment and at 
present the decided votes—but what will 
these silent, powerful schemers do to 
this undecided element? There was 
one old Grand Army man who expressed 
the views of many: “I am afraid of 
them politicians. The Democrats did 
not dare defeat Wilson when the ’folks 
at home’ said what they wanted. The 
home pressure on these Republican poli¬ 
ticians was three times as great, and 
yet they rode right over it and did what 
they wanted to. They are strong men, 
and must have some mighty power back 
of them.” 
“But what can they do?” said a young 
man just old enough to cast his first 
vote. 
As if to answer him two middle-aged 
farmers approached the box and voted. 
They were prosperous men above the 
average in intelligence. They marked 
Roosevelt ballots and proudly held them 
up where all might see. Two shrewd- 
looking men stood near. One was ap¬ 
parently a merchant—the other seemed 
like a manufacturer with a farm. 
“Tell me,” said the merchant, “why a 
farmer like you should vote for Roose¬ 
velt ?” 
“Because he stands for honesty and 
a square deal. The Republican party 
did not want Taft. The politicians and 
big interests nominated him. Both the 
old parties are dead and don’t know it. 
We need new issues. Taft tried to force 
reciprocity on us, and does not seem to 
know any more than a child what farm¬ 
ers want.” 
“Tell me, my friend, if crops and 
prices are good?” 
“They are, on the whole; it's a good 
year.” 
“Have you ever had four better years 
on your farm—leaving out drought or 
cyclones, etc. ?” 
“I doubt it—we have done pretty 
well!” 
“Were there ever any more automo¬ 
biles around in your town?” 
“Of course not.” 
“Ever a time when farmers were do¬ 
ing more painting or cleaning up than 
right now?” 
“Probably not.” 
“Then why do you want to change 
and put either a wild man or a free 
trader in?” 
“But Taft didn’t give us good times!” 
“But they came with him and will go 
out with him if he is defeated. You 
have got a good thing which promises 
better. Why throw it aw'ay?” 
Then the manufacturer came forward. 
"Did you see what Vermont did?” 
“Yes. Roosevelt got a big vote.” 
“Where did it come from? Not a 
Democrat voted for his candidate. The 
Democratic vote was larger than ever. 
The new party vote all came out of the 
Republicans. Roosevelt cannot be elect¬ 
ed—he will only kill the Republican 
party and elect Wilson. You do not 
want reciprocity, but Wilson does and 
more, too—free trade.” 
"But we will come back with our new 
party as the Republicans did after 
Cleveland.” 
“Don’t you make the mistake. You 
will no longer be the Republican party. 
1 f you elect Wilson you will have 20 
years of the old democracy. The Dem¬ 
ocrats are shrewd enough to give you 
just enough small things to keep you 
chasing after them in the hope of get¬ 
ting more. If you really want to make 
your new party a permanent one you 
should elect Taft.” 
“What rot that idea is!” 
“No rot at all if you think a little. 
If, as you say, Barnes and these other 
politicians are in control they will make 
things worse during the next four years. 
This will hold your new party together 
and give it a fighting issue so that noth¬ 
ing can stop it. On the other hand, 
elect Wilson and the Democrats go on 
their good behavior and spoil your is¬ 
sues and your new party cannot hold 
together. It is like the old Fremont 
campaign. It is doubtful if the Repub¬ 
lican party would have lived had Fre¬ 
mont been elected. It needed four years 
in which to get together and an issue 
made stronger by the old party.” 
There you have the answer to the 
question : 
“What can they do?” 
Can the undecided voters stand that 
sort of argument? Answer that and 
you may know what the New York 
country vote will do. I am just giving 
you the facts as we found them. The 
Roosevelt men feel confident that these 
undecided votes will come to them. The 
Taft men talk what they call “sober 
second thought” and feel even more 
confident. 
After the first day we were able to 
tell from a man’s appearance about 
how he would vote. Most of the Taft 
voters were nearly middle age or over. 
A few were younger. They are usually 
of the more prosperous class of farmers, 
and the solid rather slow-thinking con¬ 
tented class. Most of the Roosevelt 
men are younger—though there are 
many elderly men as well. The pro¬ 
gressive movement is largely one of 
young men—who carry youth along in 
their yea ” or have not yet dropped it. 
The Wilson men are mostly old mem¬ 
bers of the Democratic party. They 
have gained some recruits and lost 
some. Mr. Wilson spoke at the fair 
a:^d made a good impression. He ad¬ 
mitted that he did not know a thing 
about farming and the farmers ap¬ 
preciated that. Mr. Charles Murphy, 
the Democratic “leader,” was present. 
It seemed absurd to see the local papers 
well filled with wise remarks from this 
gentleman about farming and the future 
of the State Fair. As one solid old 
voter put it: 
“We have to go to such fellows now, 
hat in hand, if we want anything for 
farming. I like the new party because 
it will give us a chance to keep our 
hats on and go ourselves.” 
This was the same man who said he 
would like to separate Wilson from 
Murphy. We made a special effort to 
learn the views of colored men and 
Grand Army veterans. Every colored 
man we could find on the grounds was 
interested. About 65 per cent, of them 
were for Roosevelt. There was one 
colored man wearing a Grand Army 
badge. He was for Taft. Of the white 
Grand Army men the majority were for 
Roosevelt—somewhat to my surprise. 
Some of them voted for Wilson. These 
old soldiers are not at all “undecided.” 
They will stick. One of them told me 
that his Post at home was nearly unani¬ 
mous. He said in explanation: “This 
thing has been growing for 20 years. 
Many of us have been dissatisfied for 
a long time, but we said little and voted 
straight. They kept the lid on us, but 
now it has blown off and I think they 
can never fit it on again.” Yet the boys 
and young men may well be careful. At 
the Syracuse State convention the great 
crowd started singing the “Battle 
Hymn 
The grand old party lies a mouldering in 
the grave. 
It came to save the nation, hut itself it 
could not save, 
It's Boss Barnes’ plaything and Guggen- 
heimer’s slave, 
As we go marching on. 
One of these old soldiers started it 
but stopped short. He sung the origi¬ 
nal hymn with a musket on his shoulder 
when the “grand old party” really 
meant something. There was no joy 
for him at the funeral of an ideal. The 
boys may overdo this thing of smashing 
idols. 
Of the agricultural graduates the ma¬ 
jority seem to be for Roosevelt. The 
storekeepers, merchants and small 
manufacturers are mostly for Taft as 
are, I think, a fair majority of the busi¬ 
ness men. The undecided voters are 
mostly the middle class farmers and 
their hired men. Most of these are 
very conscientious and regard their bal¬ 
lot as a privilege which they will not 
abuse. It is this “undecided” vote 
which makes the situation badly mixed. 
There was little or no personal abuse 
of Taft or Wilson, but considerable for 
Roosevelt. No one seemed to think 
the country will be ruined in any event, 
and business men and manufacturers 
say the outlook is good. It is the 
strangest Presidential campaign ever 
conducted in this country, with the re¬ 
sult very much in doubt at this time. 
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