Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1880 — The Farmer as a Citizen. [ARTICLE]

The Farmer as a Citizen.

I think the influence of agriculturists ought to be increased in public affairs. I would not like to see a Legislature composed exclusively of farmers and mechanics, nor would it be for the public good that there should be no representatives of these in that body. There should be in -every Legislature men skilled in the laws of the State; there ought also to lie there an influential body of men connected with the leading industries of the State, familiar with the wants and wishes of the great mass of the people. If they should draft 110 laws, if they should inaugurate no new and untried policies, still there would be that in the very atmosphere in which such a body of men move which will influence beneficially the action of the Legislature.— Judge George Starkville, Miss.