Book Reviews : Discontent at the Polls: A Study of Farmer and Labor Parties, 1827,1948. By MURRAY S. STEDMAN, JR., and SUSAN W. STEDMAN. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1950. Pp. x, 190. $2.75.)

• Published date: 01 December 1950
• Date: 01 December 1950
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295000300427
• Subject Matter: Articles

646

Discontent

at

the

Polls:

A

Study

of

Farmer

and

Labor

Parties,

1827,1948.

By

MURRAY

S.

STEDMAN,

JR.,

and

SUSAN

W.

STEDMAN.

(New

York:

Columbia

University

Press.

1950.

Pp.

x,

190.

$2.75.)

On

numerous

occasions

in

American

party

history,

especially

since

the

Civil

War,

groups

of

farmers

and

industrial

workers

have

organized

and

supported

third

party

movements

and

candidates.

Although

attacked

as

&dquo;radical&dquo;

by

their

opponents,

the

programs

of

most

of

these

dissentient

minorities

have

been

well

within

the

framework

both

of

the

American

constitutional

system

and

of

capitalism.

The

authors

of

the

volume

under

review

have

analyzed

the

basic

factors

of

farmer

and

labor

parties,

includ-

ing

the

record

at

the

polls,

geographic

patterns,

economics

of

protest

voting,

strategy

and

tactics,

and

the

various

legal

barriers

which

militate

so

effec-

tively

against

third

parties.

While

there

is

little

that

is

new

in

their

study,

they

have

presented

in

readable

and

persuasive

fashion

the

record

of

these

groups

of

&dquo;men

who

think

otherwise.&dquo;

The

platforms

and

utterances

of

farmer

and

labor

parties

have

drawn

a

telling

indictment

against

the

political

and

economic

policies

of

big

business

and

monopoly

capitalism,

but

only

a

few

extremist

and

doctrin-

aire

groups

have

been

outside

the

American

political

tradition.

Taxation,

the

tariff,

transportation,

the

currency,

and

other

economic

issues

concern-

ing

the

distribution

of

the

national

income,

as

well

as

the

improvement

of

the

status

of

agrarian,

debtor,

and

industrial

labor

groups

have

been

the

&dquo;great

issues.&dquo;

Protest

politics

rather

than

class

politics

is

the

American

way.

The

authors

show

that

in

only

two

national

elections,

1892

and

1924,

and

in

only

two

elections

in

the

several

states,

1878

and

1890,

did

a

farmer

or a

labor

party

poll

a

significant

portion

of

the

total

vote.

The

geographic

center

of

support

was

for

many

years

west

of

the

Mississippi

River;

more

recently

it

has

centered

in

North

Dakota,

Minnesota,

and

Wisconsin,

and

in

the

industrial

areas

of

New

York.

The

dominant

questions

have

been

domestic

questions,

but

foreign

policy

must

now

receive

serious

consideration.

Independent

parties

of

protest

have

achieved

little

success

in

periods

of

prosperity.

Nor,

paradoxically,

have

they

done

well

in

times

of

depres-

sion

and

a

declining

price

level,

whenever

the

major

parties

have

recog-

nized

the

danger

and

have

put

in

operation

a

program

of

recovery.

In

fact,

a

third

party

is

not

always

the

most

effective

promotional

agency

of

new

ideas

and

policies,

although

few

would

deny

their

educational

value.

In

the

formation

of strategy

and

tactics,

a

farmer

or

labor

party

faces

the

difficult

choice

of

factionalism

or

of

fusion,

with

resultant

disaster

in

either

case.

The

Stedmans

discuss

as

a

new

technique

the

balance-of-