176 
Annual Report of the 
mand of any political party—I care not what it is—that they shall 
carry out those views in their platforms, speeches and acts, 
then they will do it and not before. 
I have served many years in the Legislature, and I always acted 
upon my convictions of right and justice unless my constituents told 
me what they wanted, and if they did advise me of their wishes I 
always told them I would carry out that idea. A representa¬ 
tive should do that or resign. 
Mr. Orledge. There are one or two remarks in the paper just 
read that strike me forcibly, that is, forcing people to do what they 
don’t want to—forcing people to go to school, and forcing people 
to vote or to do one thing or to do another thing. I like that idea. 
There is something very nice in having a government above us that 
can tell us just what to do, and when to do it. It takes away a 
good deal of trouble. We must not obey the dictates of our own 
minds at all. I hope the people of this country will think many 
times before they go into forcing people to do anything. 
Mr. Clark, of Green county. It appears to me that the gist of 
the whole matter is, forming public opinion. If we form public sen¬ 
timent, let it be understood that the public opinion of the farmers 
in this country is demanding such and such actions, and there is no 
trouble in having political parties adopt them. 
It seems to me one of the greatest objects is to know how to 
mould that public opinion, and in doing that I think the farmers of 
the state and of the United States make a great mistake! We all 
know that the public press is probably the greatest power in the 
land. Monopolists of all kinds know that, and have sustained it, 
and sustained it liberally. They sustain the press that sustains 
them, and crush if they can those who oppose them. Now is not 
that an example that the farmers ought to follow? Do we sustain 
the papers that sustain us? Do we sustain the agricultural papers, 
or the papers that take up industrial interests for us? As far as my 
experience is concerned we do not. On the other hand we are 
throwing in our dollars and dollars to sustain other papers that are 
doing all they can to crush us and sustain the moneyed monopolies 
of the country, and we are letting the papers that are fighting the 
battles for us starve and die. 
Mr. Anderson. I must acknowledge that Mr. Young expresses 
my opinion ably and well, and much better than I could have done 
