sive scale. The Grange and the Farmers'
Alliance, and later the Farmers' Union, have made attempts and,
although many failures are recorded, their work paved the way for a
far larger movement toward farm organization now under way. The
tendency toward close organization of industrial groups may also be
seen in the labor movement, the American Federation of Labor and the
Industrial Workers of the World in this country, and the syndicalist
movement in Europe; and in the organization of employers' associations
and the National Chamber of Commerce on the part of business men.
Whatever may be thought of the unfortunate phases of this movement
toward closely organized group consciousness, however Bolshevistic it
may be said to be, it must be recognized that class consciousness has
come to stay. The old-type citizen who voted as a Republican or a
Democrat and as an individual regardless of his industrial
affiliations is passing away, and to-day the business men as a class,
the wage-earners as a class, the farmers as a class, approach the
leaders of both traditional parties with their ultimatums as to what
they will do if certain policies are not recorded in their respective
platforms. And the best-organized groups, those that can swing the
most votes or can produce the largest financial inducements, are the
ones that get most consideration. This may be Bolshevism, but if it
is, it is a fact in American life, and we may as well adjust ourselves
to handling the situation wisely instead of lamenting the passing of
the system of individual representation which was the basis on which
American government was founded.

The farmer cannot be accused of leadership in this change in the
American State. Business men and wage-earners began it, and the farmer
has been forced to follow their example. The old type individualism of
the landowning-operating farmer has long handicapped the farmer in his
relations with other industrial groups. And it is with many mistakes
and setbacks that he is now endeavoring to follow the example so ably
set by the multimillionaires of the other groups. Better organization,
not for exploitation but for protection and maintenance of a safe
balance of influence in economic affairs, is fully justified, and the
minister of the gospel is serving the farmer best when he encourages
right and efficient organization.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, begun a few years ago through the
encouragement of county agric