FARMER-LABOR

Following the accepted pattern of American politics, the dissatisfied elements in the middle-West are once again moving toward the formation of a third party. Already well-advanced in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Montana, this movement promises to figure prominently in the approaching state elections and may be the decisive factor in determining the balance of power in the coming Congress. Third party movements in this region have been frequent in the past but have always failed to achieve their objectives because of opposition by both of the major parties.

Since the death of Jacksonian democracy the agrarian interests of the country have labored under the constant domination of the industrial and have swayed from one party to the other in a vain attempt to find a permanent resting place. The political subjugation of agriculture has been fully reflected by every administration since the Civil War. All efforts have been directed toward the encouragement of industry. The periodic uprisings of the farmers have been staved off by temporary palliatives. This policy has failed dismally since the World War, and the present situation of the farmer is the most serious problem facing the industrially minded Roosevelt administration. The western farmers cannot be put off much longer with vague promises; their situation is desperate and their psychology well portrayed by the recent milk riots.

This basic struggle between agriculture and industry has been disguised by the existence of two major parties of national scope which rested upon compromise. The Democratic Party is rapidly becoming the expression of the industrial interests and the Republican Party appears temporarily removed from the field on national politics. The void left by the Republican incapacity will be filled by this new third party led by the Farmer Labor contingent, a party which will crystallize the discontented farmers into a group of prime political importance.