State Convention—The Farmer in Politics. 177 
tice the onerous position you hold in the community and the duty 
you owe to coming generations, to arouse you to the necessity of 
evading the toils of designing men and breaking the bonds a cen¬ 
tralized party is riveting around you. 
In this I am not putting your danger, your power, or your duty, 
in the least degree above what relatively belongs to you, nor am I 
setting } r ou above or in antagonism with any other class of people. 
Statistics show that you outnumber any other one class of people, 
and almost equal every other class, and that you represent more ma¬ 
terial wealth; and that your labor and your wealth is more general¬ 
ly diffused throughout the country, and more directly connected 
with other industries than any other labor; that you are poorer 
paid than any other class of laborers, that your business returns 
you less profits, a smaller amount per head, and that money earns 
by the simple interest capitalists fix upon its use, three times as 
much as your labor produces, and this interest determines the price 
you shall pay for what you buy, as well as the price you shall take 
for what you sell; and capital, controlled by a high order of ability, 
is ever vigilant, is ever looking to its own advancement; ever 
smothering its passions and prejudices; it never allows itself to be 
hampered by platforms or to be deceived by its candidates; it pays 
when necessary for services rendered and never deserts its friends. 
Yet, with all this continually before us, continually being forced 
upon us, and continually being pounded, as it were, into our minds, 
we allow our prejudices to over-awe our reason; allow ourselves to 
be allured from the path of duty, by the plausible and insidious ut- 
terings of the paid tools of capital; allow ourselves and our dear¬ 
est interests to be swept into the maelstrom of fraud and deceit 
they create; fail to be just to each other; and neglect, aye, refuse 
to pay for sevices rendered, be they ever so valuable, or stand by 
our friends, be they ever so true. 
It is, therefore, no wonder, that in political action the farmer 
has not the consideration to which he is entitled; it is no wonder 
we have ceased to hold the respect of the people at large, or that 
our fellow laborers in other industries fail to put further trust in 
our professions; it is no wonder that merchants and manufacturers 
treat us with derision, or that we receive the scorn of capital, the 
sneers of the city press, and the profound contempt of so many of 
the bar. 
12-A 
