e Democrats because of the influence
of the race question which negro suffrage had raised. From the
reestablishment of Southern home rule until the advent in politics of
the Farmers' Alliance no issue appeared in the Southern States that even
threatened to split the dominant vote. But under the economic pressure
of the late eighties the old white leaders parted company and even
contended with each other for the negro vote to aid their plans.

The political influence of the Alliance cannot be measured at the polls
in the South as easily as in the West. In most States, in 1888 and 1890,
Alliance tickets were promoted, often in fusion with the Republican
party. The greater influence, however, was within Democratic lines, at
the primaries or conventions of that party. Here, among the candidates
who presented themselves for nomination, the professional politician
found himself an object of suspicion. The lawyer lost some of his
political availability. Men who could claim to be close to the soil had
an advantage.

The value placed upon the dissatisfied farmer vote is shown in the
autobiographical sketches which Senators and Representatives wrote for
the _Congressional Directory_ of the Fifty-second Congress. Some who had
never before held office stated the fact with apparent pride. One, who
appeared from the Texas district which John H. Reagan had represented
through eight Congresses, announced that he "became a member of the
Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and took an active interest in advocating
the cause of progress among his fellow laborers; is now Overseer of the
Texas State Grange and President of the Texas Farmer Cooperative
Publishing Association." From Georgia came several Representatives of
this type. One "has devoted his time exclusively [since 1886] to
agricultural interests, and is a member of the Farmers' Alliance."
Another was elected "as an Alliance man and Democrat." A third "was
Vice-President of the Georgia State Agricultural Society for eleven
years, and President of the same for four years; he is now President of
the Georgia State Alliance." A fourth, Thomas E. Watson, lawyer, editor,
historian, and leader of the new movement, "has been, and still is,
largely interested in farming." A South Carolina Representative covered
himself with the generous assertion that he was "member of all the
organizations in his State designed to benefit agriculture."

The agricultural bases of the Southern political distur