178 
Annual Report of the 
farmers for self protection? There is no use of my working on my 
farm and earning 2 or 3 per cent, when others with capital are 
permitted to earn 15 per cent. Just as interest goes up, down goes 
the price of my land, and as interest comes down, up goes the price 
of my land. 
Mr. Merrill. It is quite evident that we farmers are laboring- 
under a great evil. We all feel it. Well, it now becomes us, as Mr. 
Young in his remarks tried to show, that there is an adaptation of 
means to ends—it becomes us to adapt the means to the end, and 
not to jump rashly at the conclusion. 
Now, we may draw an analogy from medicine. The quack doc¬ 
tor has a remedy instanter for every disease, and just so in this 
country everything jumps right into legislation. We think if we 
can only affect politics we can remedy this matter, forgetting that 
we are borne down already by too many laws. Should we not let 
natural laws have some sway and do away with a little of this 
meddling? I hold that would be one way to begin to do away 
with all this artificial intermeddling in every branch of industry. 
The remedy which is now proposed is organization. By that is 
meant secret organization. We understand that organization as 
carried on through the country is secret organization. Well, what 
is the result? It is arraying class against class. Truth is a tower 
of strength. Now we want to commence building on the basis of 
truth and work up from that, and not like the quack doctor 
load up with every kind of nostrum; for actually the American 
people are just like a drugged patient, and if we would remove 
some of those drugs there is vitality enough in the people to rise 
above all these obstructions. You will find the great remedy 
among farmers is legislation, until we pile up volume after volume 
on the subject. 
I think I see one evil resulting from secret organization. The 
welfare of the farmer is the welfare of the country. Well, in one 
section up north it is secret organization every where; and what is 
the result? Farmers'go into the grange. When they have organ¬ 
ized a grange they think they have done a great thing and have 
commenced to hew down those evils that are troubling American 
commerce, and they lose sight of the fact that it is intelligence 
among the laboring class that is going to get at the root of all the 
trouble, and bring to bear public opinion. And there is where we 
