This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ...Strong, Josiah. New Era. Chapter 8. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. Hart, R. L. "A New England Hill Town." Atlantic Monthly, 83: 561-574, 712-720. CHAPTER XII THE FARMER IN POLITICS One of the most significant tendencies in Western civilization during the past century has been that of the rising consciousness of economic groups. This movement has founc concrete expression to some degree in state and federa political councils, but the probabilities are that group interests are not as yet nearly so definitely defined nor organized as they will be in the future. The latter half of the past century witnessed in American life the rise of the wage earners in the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, and the opening of the twentieth century has witnessed the progress of this movement in the expansion of the syndicalist and the socialist movements. In railway development those in control have been moving toward a solidity of interest in their political activities. The manufacturing interests of the country have long been well organized for political action. Chambers of commerce have long represented the commercial interests of the country. The latter half of the nineteenth century also witnessed the rise of an agricultural consciousness in such movements as national farm congresses, the Grange, and Farmers' Alliance; and more recently the Farmers' Union and a number of national cooperative associations have appeared on the field. The importance of knowing something of the status of the farmer in the great game of political life is indicated by the type of questions that come up for consideration which may favorably or unfavorably affect rural welfare. The protective tariff, forms of taxation, type of internal...