State Convention—The Farmer in Politics. 185 
Orledge was reading his paper, and that is, in our primary conven¬ 
tions and others for the nominations of officers, I think the gen¬ 
eral practice has obtained, throughout the entire country, that it is 
not the men that we believe will best represent us, who are nomi¬ 
nated, but whom can we elect. Party ties are so strong that we 
will go party though sometimes wrong, and when men meet in 
convention to consult as to their true interests, they should sa,y T 
such a man understands what certain class interests desire. If he 
understands what certain interests are and what is best for their 
particular interests, and he is a fair man in regard to all other in¬ 
terests, then he is the proper man to select and elect to represent 
those interests. I do not believe in class-legislation of any kind. 
Legislators should be men of sufficiently broad views to represent, 
all interests fairly and honestly, but I will tell you, that we too 
often in conventions simply ask, who is the man we can elect in 
our party, and I have heard men say, and heard it this last fall in 
my own district, 11 1 don’t care whom we nominate if we can elect- 
him. We will manage him when we get him there.” Now, that 
is not the class of men who ought to be nominated; it is not the 
class of men we ought to elect. A man should be nominated and 
elected to any representative position because of his fitness for that 
place, and only that, and if these conventions shall bring the far¬ 
mers and manufacturers and those representing the various indus¬ 
trial interests to see what their true interests are in politics, as well 
as upon all other subjects, it will be a vast advantage to those in¬ 
dustrial interests and to the country. 
Mr. Carswell: We can never tell what a man will do before we 
try him. We never have been able to find out what one of our 
representatives has done after he got through. Now, the farmers 
come here and talk about it, and here, on the 22d, is to be a con¬ 
vention to elect delegates to decide who the next president is to be. 
Pope says, u Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise,” and I 
have certainly come to that conclusion; and I have said of politics 
for the last forty years, the less a person knows about it, the sweeter 
he sleeps. They nominate a candidate, and tell you that he is for 
the support of the railroad laws, that he never held any railroad 
stocks, but as soon as he sits down under the corrupt influence 
around the capitol, then they repeal those laws. When you can 
guarantee that man is infallible, and is not susceptible to any out- 
