"His standard of duty was supernatural. It was not founded on any
intuitive ideas of right and wrong, nor was it fashioned upon any
outward experiences of time and place, but it was formed entirely on
what he held to be the revelation of the will of God in the written
word, and throughout all his life his faith led him to act up to the
very letter of it."
_Published Works._--_Chemical Manipulation, being Instructions to
Students in Chemistry_ (1 vol., John Murray, 1st ed. 1827, 2nd 1830,
3rd 1842); _Experimental Researches in Electricity_, vols. i. and ii.,
Richard and John Edward Taylor, vols. i. and ii. (1844 and 1847); vol.
iii. (1844); vol. iii. Richard Taylor and William Francis (1855);
_Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics_, Taylor and Francis
(1859); _Lectures on the Chemical History of a Candle_ (edited by W.
Crookes) (Griffin, Bohn & Co., 1861); _On the Various Forces in
Nature_ (edited by W. Crookes) (Chatto & Windus, no date).
BIOGRAPHIES.--_Faraday as a Discoverer_, by John Tyndall (Longmans,
1st ed. 1868, 2nd ed. 1870); _The Life and Letters of Faraday_, by Dr
Bence Jones, secretary of the Royal Institution, in 2 vols. (Longmans,
1870); _Michael Faraday_, by J.H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Macmillan,
1872); _Michael Faraday; his Life and Work_, by S.P. Thompson (1898).
(J. C. M.)
FARAH, a river of Afghanistan. It rises in the southern slopes of
Siah-Koh, which forms the southern wall of the valley of Herat, and
after a south-westerly course of about 200 m. falls into the Seistan
Hamun. At the town of Farah it has a width of 150 yds. in the dry season
with 2 ft. of water and a clear swift stream. It is liable to floods,
when it becomes impassable for weeks. The lower valley of the Farah Rud
is fertile and well cultivated.
FARAH, a town of Afghanistan. It is situated on the river that bears its
name on the main road between Herat and Kandahar, 160 m. S. of Herat and
225 m. W. of Kandahar. It is a place of some strategical importance, as
it commands the approaches to India and Seistan from Herat. The town
(2460 ft. above sea-level) is a square walled enclosure standing in the
middle of the plain, surrounded with a walled rampart. Owing to its
unhealthiness it is now almost deserted, being only occupied by the
Afghan regiment quartered there. It is a place of great antiquity, being
probably the Phra mentioned by Isidore of Charax in the 1st century A.D.
It was sacked by the armies of Jenghiz Khan, and the survivors
transported to a position farther north, where there are still great
ruins. The population returned to the original site after the
destruction of the medieval city by Shah Abbas, and the city prospered
again until its bloody siege by Nadir Shah. Subsequently under constant
attacks it declined, and in 1837 the population amounting to 6000 was
carried off to Kandahar. The sole industry of the town at present is the
manufacture of gunpowder. In the districts east of Farah are to be found
the most fanatical of the Durani Afghan tribes.
FARAZDAQ [Hammam ibn Ghalib ibn Sa'sa', known as al-Farazdaq] (ca.
641-ca. 728), Arabian poet, was born at Basra. He was of the Darim, one
of the most respected divisions of the bani Tamim, and his mother was of
the tribe of Dabba. His grandfather Sa'sa' was a Bedouin of great
repute, his father Ghalib followed the same manner of life until Basra
was founded, and was famous for his generosity and hospitality. At the
age of fifteen Farazdaq was known as a poet, and though checked for a
short time by the advice of the caliph Ali to devote his attention to
the study of the Koran, he soon returned to making verse. In the true
Bedouin spirit he devoted his talent largely to satire and attacked the
bani Nahshal and the bani Fuqaim. When Ziyad, a member of the latter
tribe, became governor of Basra, the poet was compelled to flee, first
to Kufa, and then, as he was still too near Ziyad, to Medina, where he
was well received by Sa'id ibn ul-Asi. Here he remained about ten years,
writing satires on Bedouin tribes, but avoiding city politics. But he
lived a prodigal life, and his amorous verses led to his expulsion by
the caliph Merwan I. Just at that time he learned of the death of Ziyad
and returned to Basra, where he secured the favour of Ziyad's successor
'Obaidallah ibn Ziyad. Much of his poetry was now devoted to his
matrimonial affairs. He had taken advantage of his position as guardian
and married his cousin Nawar against her will. She sought help in vain
from the court of Basra and from various tribes. All feared the poet's
satires. At last she fled to Mecca and appealed to the pretender
'Abdallah ibn Zobair, who, however, succeeded in inducing her to consent
to a confirmation of the marriage. Quarrels soon arose again. Farazdaq
took a second wife, and after her death a third, to annoy Nawar. Finally
he consented to a divorce pronounced by Hasan al-Basri. Another subject
occasioned a long series of verses, namely his feud with his rival Jarir
(q.v.) and his tribe the bani Kulaib. These poems are published as the
_Naka'id of Jarir and al-Farazdaq_ (ed. A.A. Bevan, Leiden, 1906 ff.).
In political life Farazdaq was prevented by fear from taking a large
part. He seems, however, to have been attached to the house of Ali.
During the reign of Moawiya I. he avoided politics, but later gave his
allegiance to 'Abdallah ibn Zobair.
The fullest account of his life is contained in J. Hell's _Das Leben
Farazdaq nach seinen Gedichten_ (Leipzig, 1903); Arabian stories of
him in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_ and in Ibn Khallikan. A portion of his
poems was edited with French translation by R. Boucher (Paris, 1870);
the remainder have been published by J. Hell (Munich, 1900).
(G. W. T.)
FARCE, a form of the comic in dramatic art, the object of which is to
excite laughter by ridiculous situations and incidents rather than by
imitation with intent to ridicule, which is the province of burlesque,
or by the delineation of the play of character upon character, which is
that of comedy. The history of the word is interesting. Its ultimate
origin is the Latin _farcire_, to stuff, and with the meaning of
"stuffing" or forcemeat it appears in old cookery books in English. In
medieval Latin _farsa_ and _farsia_ were applied to the expansion of the
_Kyrie eleison_ in litanies, &c., by interpolating words and phrases
between those two words; later, to words, phrases and rhymed verses,
sometimes in the vernacular, also interpolated in various parts of the
service. The French _farce_, the form to which we owe our word, was
originally the "gag" that the actors in the medieval drama inserted into
their parts, generally to meet the popular demand for a lightening of
humour or buffoonery. It has thus been used for the lighter form of
comic drama (see DRAMA), and also figuratively for a piece of idle
buffoonery, sham, or mockery.
FAREHAM, a market town in the Fareham parliamentary division of
Hampshire, England, 76 m. S.W. from London by the London & South Western
railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 8246. It lies at the head of a
creek opening into the north-western corner of Portsmouth harbour. The
principal industries are the manufacture of sackings, ropes, bricks,
coarse earthenware, terra-cotta, tobacco-pipes and leather. Fareham has
a considerable trade in corn, timber and coal; the creek being
accessible to vessels of 300 tons. Three miles E. of Fareham, on
Portsmouth harbour, are the interesting ruins of Porchester Castle, an
extensive walled enclosure retaining its Norman keep, and exhibiting in
its outer walls considerable evidence of Roman workmanship; Professor
Haverfield, however, denies that it occupies the site of the Roman
_Portus Magnus_. The church of St Mary has some fine Norman portions. It
belonged to an Augustinian priory founded by Henry I. At Titchfield, 3
m. W. of Fareham, are ruins of the beautiful Tudor mansion, Place House,
built on the site of a Premonstratensian abbey of the 13th century, of
which there are also fragments.
The fact that Fareham (Fernham, Ferham) formed part of the original
endowment of the see of Winchester fixes its existence certainly as
early as the 9th century. It is mentioned in the Domesday Survey as
subject to a reduced assessment on account of its exposed position and
liability to Danish attacks. There is evidence to show that Fareham had
become a borough before 1264, but no charter can be found. It was a
mesne borough held of the bishop of Winchester, but it is probable that
during the 18th century the privileges of the burgesses were allowed to
lapse, as by 1835 it had ceased to be a borough. Fareham returned two
members to the parliament of 1306, but two years later it petitioned
against representation on the ground of expense. A fair on the 31st of
October and the two following days was held under grant of Henry III.
The day appears to have been afterwards changed to the 29th of June, and
in the 18th century was mainly important for the sale of toys. It was
abolished in 1871. Fareham owed its importance in medieval times to its
facilities for commerce. It was a free port and had a considerable trade
in wool and wine. Later its shipping declined and in the 16th century it
was little more than a fishing village. Its commercial prosperity in
modern times is due to its nearness to Portsmouth.
FAREL, GUILLAUME (1489-1565), French reformer, was born of a noble
family near Gap in Dauphine in 1489. His parents meant him for the
military profession, but his bent being for study he was allowed to
enter the university of Paris. Here he came under the influence of
Jacobus Faber (Stapulensis), on whose recommendation he was appointed
professor in the college of Cardinal Lemoine. In 1521, on the invitation
of Bishop Briconnet, he repaired to Meaux, and took part in efforts of
reform within the Roman communion. The persecuting measures of 1523,
from which Faber found a refuge at Meaux, determined Farel to leave
France. Oecolampadius welcomed him to Basel, where in 1524 he put forth
thirteen theses sharply antagonizing Roman doctrine. These he defended
with great ability, but with so much heat that Erasmus joined in
demanding his expulsion from the city. He thought of going to
Wittenberg, but his first halt was at Strassburg, where Bucer and Capito
received him kindly. At the call of Duke Ulrich of Wurttemberg he went
as preacher to Montbeliard. Displaying the same qualities which had
driven him from Basel, he was forced to leave Montbeliard in the spring
of 1525.
He retraced his steps to Strassburg and Basel; and, at the end of 1526,
obtained a preacher's post at Aigle, then a dependency of Bern. Deeming
it wise to suppress his name, he adopted the pseudonym Ursinus, with
reference to his protection by Bern. Despite strenuous opposition by the
monastic orders, he obtained in 1528 a licence from the authorities to
preach anywhere within the canton of Bern. He extended his labours to
the cantons of Neuchatel and Vaud. His vehement missionary addresses
were met by mob violence, but he persevered with undaunted zeal. In
October 1530 he broke into the church of Neuchatel with an iconoclastic
mob, thus planting the Reformation in that city. In 1532 he visited the
Waldenses. On the return journey he halted at Geneva, then at a crisis
of political and religious strife. On the 30th of June 1532 the council
of two hundred had ordained that in every church and cloister of the
city "the pure Gospel" should be preached; against this order the
bishop's vicar led the opposition. Reaching Geneva in October 1532,
Farel (described in a contemporary monastic chronicle as "un chetif
malheureux predicant, nomme maistre Guillaume") at once began to preach
in a room of his lodging, and soon attracted "un grand nombre de gens
qui estoient advertis de sa venue et deja infects de son heresie."
Summoned before the bishop's vicar, his trial was a scene of insult and
clamour, ending in his being violently thrust from the court and bidden
to leave the city within three hours. He escaped with difficulty to Orbe
by boat. Through the intervention of the government of Bern, liberty of
worship was granted on the 28th of March 1533 to the Reformation party
in Geneva. Farel, returning, achieved in a couple of years a complete
supremacy for his followers. On New Year's Day 1534 the bishop
interdicted all preaching unauthorized by himself, and ordered the
burning of all Protestant Bibles. This was the signal for public
disputations in which Farel took the leading part on the Reformation
side, with the result that by decree of the 27th of August 1535 the mass
was suppressed and the reformed religion established. Calvin, on his way
to Basel for a life of study, touched at Geneva, and by the importunity
of Farel was there detained to become the leader of the Genevan
Reformation. The severity of the disciplinary measures which followed
procured a reaction under which Farel and Calvin were banished the city
in 1538. Farel was called to Neuchatel in July 1538, but his position
there was made untenable, though he remained at his post during a
visitation of the plague. When (1541) Calvin was recalled to Geneva,
Farel also returned; but in 1542 he went to Metz to support the
Reformation there. It is said that when he preached in the Dominican
church of Metz, the bells were rung to drown his voice, but his voice
outdid the bells, and on the next occasion he had three thousand
hearers. His work was checked by the active hostility of the duke of
Lorraine, and in 1544 he returned to Neuchatel. No one was more
frequently and confidentially consulted by Calvin. When the trial of
Servetus was in progress (1553), Calvin was anxious for Farel's
presence, but he did not arrive till sentence had been passed. He
accompanied Servetus to the stake, vainly urging him to a recantation at
the last moment. A coolness with Calvin was created by Farel's marriage,
at the age of sixty-nine, with a refugee widow from Rouen, of unsuitable
age. By her, six years later, he had one son, who died in infancy. The
vigour and fervency of his preaching were unabated by length of years.
Calvin's death, in 1564, affected him deeply. Yet in his last year he
revisited Metz, preaching amid great enthusiasm, with all his wonted
fire. The effort was too much for him; he left the church exhausted,
took to his bed, and died at Metz on the 13th of September 1565.
Farel wrote much, but usually in haste, and for an immediate purpose. He
takes no rank as a scientific theologian, being a man of activity rather
than of speculation or of much insight. His _Sommaire_ was re-edited
from the edition of 1534 by J.G. Baum in 1867. Others of his works (all
in French) were his treatise on purgatory (1534), on the Lord's Prayer
(1543), on the Supper (1555). He "was remarkable for boldness and energy
both in preaching and prayer" (M. Young, _Life of Paleario_). As an
orator, he was denunciatory rather than suasive; thus while on the one
hand he powerfully impressed, on the other hand he stimulated
opposition. A monument to him was unveiled at Neuchatel on the 4th of
May 1876.
Lives of Farel are numerous; it may suffice to mention C. Ancillon,
_Vie de G. Farel_ (1691); the article in Bayle.; M. Kirchhofer, _Das
Leben W. Farels_ (1831-1833); Ch. Schmidt, _Etudes sur Farel_ (1834);
F. Bevan, _W. Farel_ (1893); J.J. Herzog, in Herzog-Hauck's
_Realencyklopadie_ (1898). (A. Go.*)
FAREY, JOHN (1766-1826), English geologist, was born at Woburn in
Bedfordshire in 1766. He was educated at Halifax in Yorkshire, and
showed such aptitude in mathematics, drawing and surveying, that he was
brought under the notice of John Smeaton (1724-1792). In 1792 he was
appointed agent to the duke of Bedford for his Woburn estates. After the
decease of the duke, Farey in 1802 removed to London, and settled there
as a consulting surveyor and geologist. That he was enabled to take this
step was due largely to his acquaintance with William Smith (q.v.), who
in 1801 had been employed by the duke of Bedford in works of draining
and irrigation. The duke, appreciating Smith's knowledge of the strata,
commissioned him in 1802 to explore the margin of the chalk-hills south
of Woburn in order to determine the true succession of the strata; and
he instructed Farey to accompany him. Farey has remarked that Smith was
his "Master and Instructor in Mineral Surveying," and his subsequent
publications show how well he had profited by the teachings he received.
Farey prepared the _General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of
Derbyshire_ in two vols. (1811-1813) for the Board of Agriculture. In
the first of these volumes (1811) he gave an able account of the upper
part of the British series of strata, and a masterly exposition of the
Carboniferous and other strata of Derbyshire. In this classic work, and
in a paper published in the _Phil. Mag._ vol. li. 1818, p. 173, on "Mr
Smith's Geological Claims stated," he zealously called attention to the
importance of the discoveries of William Smith. Farey died in London on
the 6th of January 1826.
See Biographical Notice, by W.S. Mitchell, in _Geol. Mag._ 1873, P.
25.
FARGO, WILLIAM GEORGE (1818-1881), pioneer American expressman, was born
in Pompey, New York, on the 20th of May 1818. From the age of thirteen
he had to support himself, obtaining little schooling, and for several
years he was a clerk in grocery stores in Syracuse. He became a freight
agent for the Auburn & Syracuse railway company at Auburn in 1841, an
express messenger between Albany and Buffalo a year later, and in 1843 a
resident agent in Buffalo. In 1844 he organized, with Henry Wells
(1805-1878) and Daniel Dunning, the first express company (Wells & Co.;
after 1845 Livingston & Fargo) to engage in the carrying business west
of Buffalo. The lines of this company (which first operated only to
Detroit, via Cleveland) were rapidly extended to Chicago, St Louis, and
other western points. In March 1850, when through a consolidation of
competing lines the American Express Company was organized, Wells became
president and Fargo secretary. In 1851, with Wells and others, he
organized the firm of Wells, Fargo & Company to conduct an express
business between New York and San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of
Panama and on the Pacific coast, where it long had a virtual monopoly.
In 1861 Wells, Fargo & Co. bought and reorganized the Overland Mail Co.,
which had been formed in 1857 to carry the United States mails, and of
which Fargo had been one of the original promoters. From 1862 to 1866 he
was mayor of Buffalo, and from 1868 to his death, in Buffalo, on the 3rd
of August 1881, he was president of the American Express Company, with
which in 1868 the Merchants Union Express Co. was consolidated. He was a
director of the New York Central and of the Northern Pacific railways.
FARGO, a city and the county-seat of Cass county, North Dakota, U.S.A.,
about 254 m. W. of Duluth, Minnesota. Pop. (1890) 5664; (1900) 9589, of
whom 2564 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 14,331. It is served by the
Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St
Paul railways. The city is situated on the W. bank of the Red river of
the North, which in 1909 had a navigable depth of only about 2 ft. from
Fargo to Grank Forks, and the navigation of which was obstructed at
various places by fixed bridges. In the city are Island and Oakgrove
parks, the former of which contains a statue (erected by Norwegians in
1908) of Henrik Arnold Wergeland, the Norwegian poet. Fargo is the seat
of the North Dakota agricultural college (coeducational), founded in
1890 under the provisions of the Federal "Morrill Act" of 1862; it
receives both Federal and state support (the former under the Morrill
Act of 1890), and in connexion with it a United States Agricultural
Experiment Station is maintained. In 1907-1908 the college had 988
students in the regular courses (including the students in the Academy),
117 in the summer course in steam engineering, and 68 in correspondence
courses. At Fargo, also, are Fargo College (non-sectarian, 1887; founded
by Congregationalists), which has a college department, a preparatory
department, and a conservatory of music, and in 1908 had 310 students,
of whom 211 were in the conservatory of music; the Oak Grove Lutheran
ladies' seminary (1906) and the Sacred Heart Academy (Roman Catholic).
The city is the see of both a Roman Catholic bishop and a Protestant
Episcopal bishop; and it is the centre of masonic interests in the
state, having a fine masonic temple. There are a public library and a
large Y.M.C.A. building. St John's hospital is controlled by Roman
Catholic sisters, and St Luke's hospital by the Lutheran Church. Fargo
is in a rich agricultural (especially wheat) region, is a busy
grain-trading and jobbing centre, is one of the most important wholesale
distributing centres for agricultural implements and machinery in the
United States, and has a number of manufactures, notably flour. The
total value of the city's factory products in 1905 was $1,160,832.
Fargo, named in honour of W.G. Fargo of the Wells Fargo Express Company,
was first settled as a tent city in 1871, when the Red river was crossed
by the Northern Pacific, but was not permanently settled until after the
extinction in 1873 of the Indian title to the reservation on which it
was situated. It was chartered as a city in 1875. The Milwaukee railway
was completed to Fargo in 1884. In June 1893 a large part of the city
was destroyed by fire, the loss being more than $3,000,000.
FARIA Y SOUSA, MANUEL DE (1590-1649), Spanish and Portuguese historian
and poet, was born of an ancient Portuguese family, probably at
Pombeiro, on the 18th of March 1590, attended the university of Braga
for some years, and when about fourteen entered the service of the
bishop of Oporto. With the exception of about four years from 1631 to
1634, during which he was a member of the Portuguese embassy in Rome,
the greater part of his later life was spent at Madrid, and there he
died, after much suffering, on the 3rd of June 1649. He was a laborious,
peaceful man; and a happy marriage with Catharina Machado, the Albania
of his poems, enabled him to lead a studious domestic life, dividing his
cares and affections between his children and his books. His first
important work, an _Epitome de las historias Portuguezas_ (Madrid,
1628), was favourably received; but some passages in his enormous
commentary upon _Os Lusiadas_, the poem of Luis de Camoens, excited the
suspicion of the inquisitors, caused his temporary incarceration, and
led to the permanent loss of his official salary. In spite of the
enthusiasm which is said to have prescribed to him the daily task of
twelve folio pages, death overtook him before he had completed his
greatest enterprise, a history of the Portuguese in all parts of the
world. Several portions of the work appeared at Lisbon after his death,
under the editorship of Captain Faria y Sousa:--_Europa Portugueza_
(1667, 3 vols.); _Asia Portugueza_ (1666-1675, 3 vols.); _Africa
Portugueza_ (1681). As a poet Faria y Sousa was nearly as prolific; but
his poems are vitiated by the prevailing Gongorism of his time. They
were for the most part collected in the _Noches claras_ (Madrid,
1624-1626), and the _Fuente de Aganipe_, of which four volumes were
published at Madrid in 1644-1646. He also wrote, from information
supplied by P.A. Semmedo, _Imperio de China i cultura evangelica en el_
(Madrid, 1642); and translated and completed the _Nobiliario_ of the
count of Barcellos.
There are English translations by J. Stevens of the _History of
Portugal_ (London, 1698), and of _Portuguese Asia_ (London, 1695).
FARIBAULT, a city and the county-seat of Rice county, Minnesota, U.S.A.,
on the Cannon river, at the mouth of the Straight river, about 45 m. S.
of St Paul. (Pop. 1890) 6520; (1900) 7868, of whom 1586 were
foreign-born; (1905) 8279; (1910) 9001. Faribault is served by the
Chicago Great Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, and the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railways. The city is attractively
situated near a lake region widely known for its summer resorts.
Faribault is the seat of the Minnesota institute for defectives,
embracing the state school for the deaf (1863), the state school for the
blind (1874), and the state school for the feeble-minded (1879); of
three institutions under control of the Protestant Episcopal Church--the
Seabury divinity school (incorporated 1860), the Shattuck school (1867;
incorporated in 1905), a military school for boys, and St Mary's hall
(1866), a school for girls, founded by Bishop Whipple; and of the Roman
Catholic (Dominican) Bethlehem Academy for girls. In the city are the
cathedral of our Merciful Saviour (1868-1869), the first Protestant
Episcopal church in the United States built and used as a cathedral from
its opening; and the hospital and nurses' training school of the
Minnesota District of the Evangelical Synod. The city has a public
library, and owns and operates its own water-supply system. There is a
good water power, and among the city's manufactures are flour, beer,
shoes, furniture, rattan-ware, warehouse trucks, canned goods, cane
syrup, waggons and carriages, gasolene engines, wind-mills, pianos and
woollen goods. Faribault, named in honour of Jean Baptiste Faribault, a
French fur-trader and pioneer who made his headquarters in the region in
the latter part of the 18th century, was permanently settled about 1848,
and was chartered as a city in 1872. A French millwright, N. La Croix,
introduced here, about 1860, a new process of making flour, which
revolutionized the industry in the United States, but his mill was soon
destroyed by flood and he removed to Minneapolis, where the process was
first successful on a large scale. Faribault was for many years the home
of Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), the pioneer bishop
(1850-1901) of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Minnesota, famous for
his missionary work among the Indians.
FARIDKOT, a native state of India in the Punjab. It ranks as one of the
Cis-Sutlej states, which came under British influence in 1809. Its area
is 642 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 124,912. It is bounded on
the W. and N.E. by the British district of Ferozepore, and on the S. by
Nabha state. During the Sikh wars in 1845 the chief, Raja Pahar Singh,
exerted himself in the British cause, and was rewarded with an increase
of territory. In the Mutiny of 1857, too, his son and successor, Wazir
Singh, did good service by guarding the Sutlej ferries, and in attacking
a notorious rebel, whose stronghold he destroyed. The estimated gross
revenue is L28,300; there is no tribute. The territory is traversed by
the Rewari-Ferozepore railway, and also crossed by the Fazilka line,
which starts from Kotkapura, the old capital. It is irrigated by a
branch of the Sirhind canal. The town of Faridkot has a railway station,
84 m. from Lahore.
FARIDPUR, or FURREEDPORE, a town and district of British India, in the
Dacca division of eastern Bengal and Assam. The town, which has a
railway station, stands on an old channel of the Ganges. Pop. (1901)
11,649. There are a Baptist mission and a government high school. The
district comprises an area of 2281 sq. m. The general aspect is flat,
tame and uninteresting, although in the northern tract the land is
comparatively high, with a light sandy soil, covered with water during
the rainy season, but dry during the cold and hot weather. From the town
of Faridpur the ground slopes, until in the south, on the confines of
Backergunje, it becomes one immense swamp, never entirely dry. During
the height of the inundations the whole district may be said to be under
water. The villages are built on artificially raised sites, or the high
banks of the deltaic streams. Along many of the larger rivers the line
of hamlets is unbroken for miles together, so that it is difficult to
say where one ends and another begins. The huts, however, except in
markets and bazaars, are seldom close together, but are scattered amidst
small garden plots, and groves of mango, date and betel-nut trees. The
plains between the villages are almost invariably more or less depressed
towards the centre, where usually a marsh, or lake, or deep lagoon is
found. These marshes, however, are gradually filling up by the silt
deposited from the rivers; in the north of the district there now only
remain two or three large swamps, and in them the process may be seen
going on. The climate of Faridpur is damp, like that of the other
districts of eastern Bengal; the average annual rainfall is 66 in. and
the average mean temperature 76.9 deg. F.
The principal rivers of Faridpur are the Ganges, the Arial Khan and the
Haringhata. The Ganges, or Padma as it is locally called, touches the
extreme north-west corner of the district, flows along its northern
boundary as far as Goalanda, where it receives the waters oL the Jamuna
or main stream of the Brahmaputra, and whence the united stream turns
southwards and forms the eastern boundary of the district. The river is
navigable by large cargo boats throughout the year, and has an average
breadth during the rainy season of 1600 yds. Rice is the great crop of
the district. In 1901 the population was 1,937,646, showing an increase
of 6% in the decade. The north of the district is crossed by the line of
the Eastern Bengal railway to Goalanda, the port of the Brahmaputra
steamers, and a branch runs to Faridpur town. But most of the trade is
conducted by river.
FARID UD-DIN 'ATTAR, or FERID EDDIN-ATHAR (1119-1229), Persian poet and
mystic, was born at Nishapur, 513 A.H. (1119 A.D.), and was put to death
627 A.H. (1229 A.D.), thus having reached the age of 110 years. The date
of his death is, however, variously given between the years 1193 and
1235, although the majority of authorities support 1229; it is also
probable that he was born later than 1119, but before 1150. His real
name was Abu Talib (or Abu Hamid) Mahommed ben Ibrahim, and Farid ud-din
was simply an honourable title equivalent to Pearl of Religion. He
followed for a time his father's profession of druggist or perfumer, and
hence the name 'Attar (one who sold 'itr, otto of roses; hence, simply,
dealer in drugs), which he afterwards employed as his poetical
designation. According to the account of Dawlatshah, his interest in the
great mystery of the higher life of man was awakened in the following
way. One day a wandering fakir gazed sadly into his shop, and, when
ordered to be gone, replied: "It is nothing for me to go; but I grieve
for thee, O druggist, for how wilt thou be able to think of death, and
leave all these goods of thine behind thee?" The word was in season; and
Mahommed ben Ibrahim the druggist soon gave up his shop and began to
study the mystic theosophy of the Sufis under Sheik Rukneddin. So
thoroughly did he enter into the spirit of that religion that he was
before long recognized as one of its principal representatives. He
travelled extensively, visited Mecca, Egypt, Damascus and India, and on
his return was invested with the Sufi mantle by Sheik Majd-ud-din of
Bagdad. The greater portion of his life was spent in the town of
Shadyakh, but he is not unfrequently named Nishapuri, after the city of
his boyhood and youth. The story of his death is a strange one. Captured
by a soldier of Jenghiz Khan, he was about to be sold for a thousand
dirhems, when he advised his captor to keep him, as doubtless a larger
offer would yet be made; but when the second bidder said he would give a
bag of horse fodder for the old man, he asserted that he was worth no
more, and had better be sold. The soldier, irritated at the loss of the
first offer, immediately slew him. A noble tomb was erected over his
grave, and the spot acquired a reputation for sanctity. Farid was a
voluminous writer, and left no fewer than 120,000 couplets of poetry,
though in his later years he carried his asceticism so far as to deny
himself the pleasures of poetical composition. His most famous work is
the _Mantik uttair_, or language of birds, an allegorical poem
containing a complete survey of the life and doctrine of the Sufis. It
is extremely popular among Mahommedans both of the Sunnite and Shiite
sects, and the manuscript copies are consequently very numerous. The
birds, according to the poet, were tired of a republican constitution,
and longed for a king. As the lapwing, having guided Solomon through the
desert, best knew what a king should be, he was asked whom they should
choose. The Simorg in the Caucasus, was his reply. But the way to the
Caucasus was long and dangerous, and most of the birds excused
themselves from the enterprise. A few, however, set out; but by the time
they reached the great king's court, their number was reduced to thirty.
The thirty birds (_si morg_), wing-weary and hunger-stricken, at length
gained access to their chosen monarch the Simorg; but only to find that
they strangely lost their identity in his presence--that they are he,
and he is they. In such strange fashion does the poet image forth the
search of the human soul after absorption into the divine.
The text of the _Mantik uttair_ was published by Garcin de Tassy in
1857, a summary of its contents having already appeared as _La Poesie
philosophique et religieuse chez les Persans_ in 1856; this was
succeeded by a complete translation in 1863. Among Farid ud-din's
other works may be mentioned his _Pandnama_ (Book of Counsel), of
which a translation by Silvestre de Sacy appeared in 1819; _Bulbul
Nama_ (Book of the Nightingale); _Wasalet Nama_ (Book of
Conjunctions); _Khusru va Gul_ (The King and the Rose); and
_Tadhkiratu 'l Awliya_ (Memoirs of the Saints) (ed. R.A. Nicholson in
_l'ersian Historical Texts_). See Sir Gore Ouseley, _Biographical
Notices of Persian Poets_ (1846), p. 236; Von Hammer Purgstall,
_Geschichte der schonen Redekunste Persiens_ (Vienna, 1818), p. 140;
the Oriental Collections, ii. (London, 1798), pp. 84, 124, containing
translations of part of the _Pandnama_; E.H. Palmer, _Oriental
Mysticism_ (1867); E.G. Browne, _Literary History of Persia_ (1906).
FARINA, SALVATORE (1846- ), Italian novelist, was born in Sardinia, and
after studying law at Turin and Pavia devoted himself to a literary life
at Milan. Farina has often been compared as a sentimental humorist with
Dickens, and his style of writing has given him a special place in
modern Italian fiction. His masterpiece is _Il Signor Io_ (1880), a
delightful portrait of an egoist; _Don Chisciottino_, _Amore bendato_,
_Capelli biondi_, _Oro nascosto_, _Il Tesoro di Donnina_, _Amore a cent'
occhi_, _Mio figlio_, _Il numero 13_, are some of his other volumes.
FARINATO, PAOLO (1522-1606), Italian painter and architect, was a native
of Verona. He is sometimes named Farinato degli Uberti, as he came from
the ancient Florentine stock to which the Ghibelline leader Farinata
degli Uberti, celebrated in Dante's _Commedia_, belonged. He flourished
at the same time that the art of Verona obtained its greatest lustre in
the works of Paolo Cagliari (Paul Veronese), succeeded by other members
of the Cagliari family, of whom most or all were outlived by Farinato.
He was instructed by Niccolo Giolfino, and probably by Antonio Badile
and Domenico del Riccio (Brusasorci). Proceeding to Venice, he formed
his style partly on Titian and Giorgione, though he was never
conspicuous as a colourist, and in form he learned more from the works
of Giulio Romano. His nude figures show knowledge of the antique; he
affected a bronzed tone in the complexions, harmonizing with the general
gravity of his colour, which is more laudable in fresco than in
oil-painting. Vasari praised his thronged compositions and merit of
draughtsmanship. His works are to be found not only in Venice and
principally in Verona, but also in Mantua, Padua and other towns
belonging or adjacent to the Venetian territory. He was a prosperous and
light-hearted man, and continually progressed in his art, passing from a
comparatively dry manner into a larger and bolder one, with much
attraction of drapery and of landscape. The "Miracle of the Loaves and
Fishes," painted in the church of S. Giorgio in Verona, is accounted his
masterpiece; it was executed at the advanced age of seventy-nine, and is
of course replete with figures, comprising those of the painter's own
family. A saloon was painted by him in S. Maria in Organo, in the same
city, with the subjects of "Michael expelling Lucifer" and the "Massacre
of the Innocents"; in Piacenza is a "St Sixtus"; in Berlin a
"Presentation in the Temple"; and in the communal gallery of Verona one
of his prime works, the "Marriage of St Catherine." Farinato executed
some sculptures, and various etchings of sacred and mythologic subjects;
his works of all kinds were much in request, including the wax models
which he wrought as studies for his painted figures. He is said to have
died at the same hour as his wife. His son Orazio was also a painter of
merit.
FARINELLI (1705-1782), whose real name was CARLO BROSCHI, one of the
most extraordinary singers that ever lived, was born on the 24th of
January 1705, at Naples. He was the nephew of Cristiano Farinelli, the
composer and violinist, whose name he took. Having been prepared for the
career of a soprano, he soon acquired, under the instruction of N.A.
Porpora, a voice of marvellous beauty, and became famous throughout
southern Italy as _il ragazzo_ (the boy). In 1722 he made his first
appearance at Rome in his master's _Eumene_, creating the greatest
enthusiasm by surpassing a popular German trumpet-player, for whom
Porpora had written an obligato to one of the boy's songs, in holding
and swelling a note of prodigious length, purity and power, and in the
variations, roulades and trills which he introduced into the air. In
1724 he appeared at Vienna, and at Venice in the following year,
returning to Naples shortly afterwards. He sang at Milan in 1726, and at
Bologna in 1727, where he first met and acknowledged himself vanquished
by the singer Antonio Bernacchi (b. 1700), to whose instruction he was
much indebted. With ever-increasing success and fame Farinelli appeared
in nearly all the great cities of Italy; and returned a third time to
Vienna in 1731. He now modified his style, it is said on the advice of
Charles VI., from mere _bravura_ of the Porpora school to one of pathos
and simplicity. He visited London in 1734, arriving in time to lend his
powerful support to the faction which in opposition to Handel had set up
a rival opera with Porpora as composer and Senesino as principal singer.
But not even his aid could make the undertaking successful. His first
appearance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre was in _Artaserse_, much
of the music of which was by his brother, Riccardo Broschi. His success
was instantaneous, and the prince of Wales and the court loaded him with
favours and presents. Having spent three years in England, Farinelli set
out for Spain, staying a few months on the way in France, where he sang
before Louis XV. In Spain, where he had only meant to stay a few months,
he ended by passing nearly twenty-five years. His voice, employed by the
queen to cure Philip V. of his melancholy madness, acquired for him an
influence with that prince which gave him eventually the power, if not
the name, of prime minister. This power he was wise and modest enough to
use discreetly. For ten years, night after night, he had to sing to the
king the same six songs, and never anything else. Under Ferdinand VI. he
held a similar position, and was decorated (1750) with the cross of
Calatrava. He utilized his ascendancy over this king by persuading him
to establish an Italian opera. After the accession of Charles III.
Farinelli retired with the fortune he had amassed to Bologna, and spent
the remainder of his days there in melancholy splendour, dying on the
15th of July 1782. His voice was of large compass, possessing seven or
eight notes more than those of ordinary singers, and was sonorous, equal
and clear; he also possessed a great knowledge of music.
FARINGDON, properly GREAT FARINGDON, a market town in the Abingdon
parliamentary division of Berkshire, England, 17 m. W.S.W. of Oxford by
road. Pop. (1901) 2900. It lies on the slope of a low range of hills
which borders the valley of the Thames on the south. It is the terminus
of a branch of the Great Western railway from Uffington. The church of
All Saints is a large cruciform building with low central tower. Its
period is mainly Transitional Norman and Early English, and though
considerably altered by restoration it contains some good details, with
many monuments and brasses. Faringdon House, close to the church, was
built by Henry James Pye (1745-1813), poet laureate from 1790 to 1813,
who also caused to be planted the conspicuous group of fir-trees on the
hill east of the town called Faringdon Clump, or locally (like other
similar groups) the Folly. The trade of Faringdon is agricultural.
FARINI, LUIGI CARLO (1812-1866), Italian statesman and historian, was
born at Russi, near Ravenna, on the 22nd of October 1812. After
completing a brilliant university course at Bologna, which he
interrupted to take part in the revolution of 1831 (see CARBONARI), he
practised as a physician at Russi and at Ravenna. He acquired a
considerable reputation, but in 1843 his political opinions brought him
under the suspicion of the police and caused his expulsion from the
papal states. He resided successively in Florence and Paris, and
travelled about Europe as private physician to Prince Jerome Bonaparte,
but when Pius IX. was elected to the Holy See and began his reign with
apparently Liberal and nationalist tendencies, Farini returned to Italy
and was appointed secretary-general to G. Recchi, the minister of the
interior (March 1848). But he held office for little more than a month,
since like all the other Italian Liberals he disapproved of the pope's
change of front in refusing to allow his troops to fight against
Austria, and resigned with the rest of the ministry on the 29th of
April. Pius, wishing to counteract the effect of this policy, sent
Farini to Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, to hand over the command of
the papal contingent to him. Elected member of parliament for Faenza, he
was again appointed secretary to the ministry of the interior in the
Mamiani cabinet, and later director-general of the public health
department. He resigned office on the proclamation of the republic after
the flight of the pope to Gaeta in 1849, resumed it for a while when
Pius returned to Rome with the protection of French arms, but when a
reactionary and priestly policy was instituted, he went into exile and
took up his residence at Turin. There he became convinced that it was
only through the House of Savoy that Italy could be liberated, and he
expounded his views in Cavour's paper _Il Risorgimento_, in La Frusta
and _Il Piemonte_, of which latter he was at one time editor. He also
wrote his chief historical work, _Lo Stato Romano dal 1815 al 1850_, in
four volumes (Turin, 1850). In 1851 he was appointed minister of public
instruction in the D'Azeglio cabinet, an office which he held till May
1852. As a member of the Sardinian parliament and as a journalist Farini
was one of the staunchest supporters of Cavour (q.v.), and strongly
favoured the proposal that Piedmont should participate in the Crimean
War, if indeed he was not actually the first to suggest that policy (see
G.B. Ercolani's letter in E. Parri's memoir of Farini). In 1856 and 1857
he published two letters to Mr Gladstone on Italian affairs, which
created a sensation, while he continued to propagate his views in the
Italian press. When on the outbreak of the war of 1859 Francis V., duke
of Modena, was expelled and a provisional government set up, Farini was
sent as Piedmontese commissioner to that city; but although recalled
after the peace of Villafranca he was determined on the annexation of
central Italy to Piedmont and remained behind, becoming a Modenese
citizen and dictator of the state. He negotiated an alliance with Parma,
Romagna and Tuscany, when other provisional governments had been
established, and entrusted the task of organizing an army for this
central Italian league to General Fanti (q.v.). Annexation to Piedmont
having been voted by _plebiscite_ and the opposition of Napoleon III.
having been overcome, Farini returned to Turin, when the king conferred
on him the order of the Annunziata and Cavour appointed him minister of
the interior (June 1860), and subsequently viceroy of Naples; but he
soon resigned on the score of ill-health. Cavour died in 1861, and the
following year Farini succeeded Rattazzi as premier, in which office he
endeavoured to carry out Cavour's policy. Over-exertion, however,
brought on softening of the brain, which compelled him to resign office
on the 24th of March 1863, and ultimately resulted in his death on the
1st of August 1866. He was buried at Turin, but in 1878 his remains were
removed to his native village of Russi.
His son Domenico Farini had a distinguished political career and was at
one time president of the chamber.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Several letters from Farini to Mr Gladstone and Lord
John Russell were reprinted in a _Memoire sur les affaires d'Italie_
(1859), and a collection of his political Correspondence was published
under the title of _Lettres sur les affaires d'Italie_ (Paris, 1860).
His historical work was translated into English in part by Mr
Gladstone and in part under his superintendence. See E. Parri, _Luigi
Carlo Farini_ (Rome, 1878); L. Carpi in _Il Risorgimento Italiano_,
vol. iv. (Milan, 1888); and G. Finali's article, "Il 27 Aprile 1859,"
in the _Nuova Antologia_ for the 16th of May 1903. (L. V.*)
FARM, in the most generally used sense, a portion of land leased or held
for the purpose of agriculture; hence "farming" is equivalent to the
pursuit of agriculture, and "farmer" to an agriculturist. This meaning
is comparatively modern. The origin of the word has perhaps been
complicated by an Anglo-Saxon _feorm_, meaning provisions or food
supply, and more particularly a payment of provisions for the sustenance
of the king, the _cyninges feorm_. In Domesday this appears as a food
rent: _firma unius noctis_ or _diei_. According to the _New English
Dictionary_ there is no satisfactory Teutonic origin for the word. It
has, however, been sometimes connected with a word which appears in the
older forms of some Teutonic languages, meaning "life." The present form
"farm" certainly comes, through the French _ferme_, from the medieval
Lat. _firma_ (_firmus_, fixed), a fixed or certain payment in money or
kind. The Anglo-Saxon _feorm_ may be not an original Teutonic word but
an early adaptation of the Latin. The _feorm_, originally a tax, seems,
as the king "booked" his land, to have become a rent (see F.W. Maitland,
_Domesday Book and After_, 1897, p. 236 ff., and J.H. Round, _Feudal
England_, 1895, p. 109 ff.). The word _firma_ is thus used of the
composition paid by the sheriff in respect of the dues to be collected
from the shire. From the use of the word for the fixed sum paid as rent
for a portion of land leased for cultivation, "farm" was applied to the
land itself, whether held on lease or otherwise, and always with the
meaning of agricultural land. The aspect of the fixity of the sum paid
leads to a secondary meaning, that of a certain sum paid by a taxable
person, community, state, &c., in respect of the taxes or dues that will
be imposed, or to such a sum paid as a rent by a contractor for the
right of collecting such taxes. This method of indirect collection of
the revenue by contractors instead of directly by the officials of the
state is that known as "farming the taxes." The system is best known
through the _publicani_ of Rome, who formed companies or syndicates to
farm not only the indirect taxation of the state, but also other sources
of the state revenues, such as mines, fisheries, &c. (see PUBLICANI).
In monarchical Europe, which grew out of the ruins of the Roman empire,
the revenue was almost universally farmed, but the system was gradually
narrowed down until only indirect taxes became the subject of farming.
France from the 16th to the 18th centuries is the most interesting
modern example. Owing to the hopeless condition of its revenues, the
French government was continually in a state of anticipating its
resources, and was thus entirely in the hands of financiers. In 1681 the
indirect taxes were farmed collectively to a single company of forty
capitalists (_ferme generale_), increased to sixty in 1755, and reduced
to the original number in 1780. These farmers-general were appointed by
the king for six years, and paid an annual fixed sum every year in
advance. The taxes which they collected were the customs (_douanes_ or
_traites_), the _gabelle_ or salt tax, local taxes or octrois
(_entrees_, &c.), and various smaller taxes. They were under the
management of a controller-general, who had a central office in Paris.
The office of farmer-general was the object of keen competition,
notwithstanding that the successful candidates had to share a
considerable part of the profits of the post with ministers, courtiers,
favourites, and even the sovereign, in the shape of gifts (_croupes_)
and pensions. The rapacity of the farmers-general was proverbial, and
the loss to the revenue by the system was great, while very considerable
hardships were inflicted on the poorer contributors by the unscrupulous
methods of collection practised by the underlings of the farmers. In
addition, the unpopular nature of the taxes caused deep discontent, and
the detestation in which the farmers-general were held culminated in the
execution of thirty-two of them during the French Revolution and the
sweeping away of the system.
See also AGRICULTURE, DAIRY AND DAIRY-FARMING, FRUIT AND FLOWER
FARMING, &c.
FARM BUILDINGS. The best laying out of a farm, and the construction of
its buildings, are matters which, from the variety of needs and
circumstances, involve practical considerations and expert knowledge,
too detailed in their nature for more than a brief reference in this
work. It may be said generally that the best aspect for farm buildings
is S. or S.S.E., and with a view to easy disposal of drainage they
should be built on a slight slope. The supply of water, whether it be
provided from wells by engine or windmill power, by hydraulic rams or
other means, is a prime consideration, and it should if possible be laid
on at different suitable points or at any rate the central source of
supply should be in the most accessible and convenient place as regards
stables and cow-sheds. The buildings should be constructed on or within
easy distance of the public road, in order to save the upkeep of private
roads, and should be as near as possible to the centre of the farm. On
mixed farms of ordinary size (200 to 500 acres) the building may be
advantageously planned in one rectangular block, the stock-yards being
placed in the centre separated by the cow-sheds, and surrounded by the
cart-sheds, stables, stores and barn, cattle-boxes, piggeries and minor
buildings. On farms of larger size and on dairy farms special needs must
be taken into account, while in all cases the local methods of farming
must influence the grouping and arrangement of the steading.
For a more detailed treatment of the subject reference may be made to
the following works;--S. Taylor, _Modern Homesteads_, _a Treatise on
the Designing of Farm Buildings_ (London, 1905); A.D. Clarke, _Modern
Farm Buildings_ (London, 1899); P. Roberts, _The Farmstead_, in the
"Rural Science Series" (New York, 1900), and articles in the _Standard
Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_, vol. 3, and in the _Cyclopaedia of
American Agriculture_, vol. 1.
FARMER, RICHARD (1735-1797), Shakespearian commentator, the son of a
rich maltster, was born at Leicester on the 28th of August 1735. He was
educated at the free grammar school of his native town, and at Emmanuel
College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1757 a senior optime; three years
later he proceeded M.A. and became classical tutor, and in 1775 master
of his college, in succession to William Richardson, the biographer of
the English bishops. In the latter year also he was appointed
vice-chancellor, and three years afterwards chief librarian of the
university. In 1780 he was appointed to a prebendal stall in Lichfield,
and two years later to one at Canterbury; but the second office he
exchanged in 1788 for that of a canon residentiary of St Paul's.
Cambridge, where he usually resided, was indebted to him for
improvements in lighting, paving and watching; but perhaps London and
the nation have less reason to be grateful for his zealous advocacy of
the custom of erecting monuments to departed worthies in St Paul's. In
1765 he issued a prospectus for a history of the town of Leicester; but
this work, based on materials collected by Thomas Staveley, he never
even began; it was carried out by the learned printer John Nichols. In
1766 he published his famous _Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare_, in
which he proved that the poet's acquaintance with ancient and modern
Continental literature was exclusively derived from translations, of
which he copied even the blunders. "Shakespeare," he said, "wanted not
the stilts of language to raise him above all other men." "He came out
of nature's hand, like Pallas out of Jove's head, at full growth and
mature." "One might," he said--by way of ridiculing the Shakespearian
criticism of the day--"with equal wisdom, study the Talmud for an
exposition of _Tristram Shandy_." The essay fully justifies the author's
description of himself in the preface to the second edition: "I may
consider myself as the pioneer of the commentators; I have removed a
deal of learned rubbish, and pointed out to them Shakespeare's track in
the very pleasant paths of nature." Farmer died at Cambridge on the 8th
of September 1797. He was, it appears, twice offered a bishopric by
Pitt, but declined the preferment. Farmer was immensely popular in his
own college, and loved, it was said, above all other things, old port,
old clothes and old books.
FARMERS' MOVEMENT, in American political history, the general name for a
movement between 1867 and 1896 remarkable for a radical socio-economic
propaganda that came from what was considered the most conservative
class of American society. In this movement there were three periods,
popularly known as Granger, Alliance and Populist.
The GRANGE, or Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (the latter the
official name of the national organization, while the former was the
name of local chapters, including a supervisory National Grange at
Washington), was a secret order founded in 1867 to advance the social
needs and combat the economic backwardness of farm life. It grew
remarkably in 1873-1874, and in the latter year attained a membership of
perhaps 800,000. In the causes of its growth--much broader than those
that issued in the financial crisis of 1873--a high tariff, railway
freight-rates and other grievances were mingled with agricultural
troubles like the fall of wheat prices and the increase of mortgages.
The condition of the farmer seemed desperate. The original objects of
the Grange were primarily educational, but these were soon overborne by
an anti-middleman, co-operative movement. Grange agents bought
everything from farm machinery to women's dresses; hundreds of grain
elevators and cotton and tobacco warehouses were bought, and even
steamboat lines; mutual insurance companies were formed and joint-stock
stores. Nor was co-operation limited to distributive processes;
crop-reports were circulated, co-operative dairies multiplied,
flour-mills were operated, and patents were purchased, that the Grange
might manufacture farm machinery. The outcome in some states was ruin,
and the name Grange became a reproach. Nevertheless these efforts in
co-operation were exceedingly important both for the results obtained
and for their wider significance. Nor could politics be excluded, though
officially tabooed; for economics must be considered by social
idealists, and economics everywhere ran into politics. Thus it was with
the railway question. Railways had been extended into frontier states;
there were heavy crops in sparsely settled regions where freight-rates
were high, so that--given the existing distributive system--there were
"over production" and waste; there was notorious stock manipulation and
discrimination in rates; and the farmers regarded "absentee ownership"
of railways by New York capitalists much as absentee ownership of land
has been regarded in Ireland. The Grange officially disclaimed enmity to
railways; but though the organization did not attack them, the
Grangers--through political "farmers' clubs" and the like--did. About
1867 began the efforts to establish regulation of the railways, as
common-carriers, by the states. Such laws were known as "Granger laws,"
and their general principles, soon endorsed (1876) by the Supreme Court
of the United States, have become an important chapter in the laws of
the land. In a declaration of principles in 1874 Grangers were declared
to be "not enemies of railroads," and their cause to stand for "no
communism, no agrarianism." To conservatives, however, co-operation
seemed communism, and "Grange laws" agrarianism; and thus in 1873-1874
the growth of the movement aroused extraordinary interest and much
uneasiness. In 1874 the order was reorganized, membership being limited
to persons directly interested in the farmers' cause (there had been a
millionaire manufacturers' Grange on Broadway), and after this there
were constant quarrels in the order; moreover, in 1875 the National
Grange largely lost control of the state Granges, which discredited the
organization by their disastrous co-operation ventures. Thus by 1876 it
had already ceased to be of national political importance. About 1880 a
renascence began, particularly in the Middle States and New England;
this revival was marked by a recurrence to the original social and
educational objects. The national Grange and state Granges (in all, or
nearly all, of the states) were still active in 1909, especially in the
old cultural movement and in such economic movements--notably the
improvement of highways--as most directly concern the farmers. The
initiative and referendum, and other proposals of reform politics in the
direction of a democratic advance, also enter in a measure into their
propaganda.
The ALLIANCE carried the movement farther into economics. The "National
Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union," formed in 1889, embraced
several originally independent organizations formed from 1873 onwards;
it was largely confined to the South and was secret. The "National
Farmers' Alliance," formed in 1880, went back similarly to 1877, was
much smaller, Northern and non-secret. The "Colored Farmers' National
Alliance and Co-operative Union" (formed 1888, merged in the above
"Southern" Alliance in 1890) was the second greatest organization. With
these three were associated many others, state and national, including
an annual, non-partisan, deliberative and advisory Farmers' National
Congress. The Alliance movement reached its greatest power about 1890,
in which year twelve national farmers' organizations were represented in
conventions in St Louis, and the six leading ones alone probably had a
membership of 5,000,000.[1]
As with the Grange, so in the ends and declarations of the whole later
movement, concrete remedial legislation for agricultural or economic
ills was mingled with principles of vague radical tendency and with
lofty idealism.[2] Among the principles advocated about 1890,
practically all the great organizations demanded the abolition of
national banks, the free coinage of silver, a "sufficient" issue of
government paper money, tariff revision, and a secret ballot (the last
was soon realized); only less commonly demanded were an income tax,
taxation of evidence of debt, and government loans on lands. All of
these were principles of the two great Alliances (the Northern and the
Southern), as were also pure food legislation, abolition of landholding
by aliens, reclamation of unused or unearned land grants (to railways,
e.g.), and either rigid federal regulation of railways and other means
of communication or government ownership thereof. The "Southern"
Alliance put in the forefront a "sub-treasury" scheme according to which
cheap loans should be made by government from local sub-treasuries on
non-perishable farm products (such as grain and cotton) stored in
government warehouses; while the "Northern" Alliance demanded
restriction of the liquor traffic and (for a short time) woman suffrage.
Still other issues were a modification of the patent laws (e.g. to
prevent the purchase of patents to stifle competition), postal currency
exchange, the eight-hour day, inequitable taxation, the single-tax on
land, "trusts," educational qualification for suffrage, direct popular
election of federal judges, of senators, and of the president,
special-interest lobbying, &c.
In 1889-1890 the political (non-partisan) movement developed astonishing
strength; it captured the Republican stronghold of Kansas, brought the
Democratic Party to vassalage in South Carolina, revolutionized
legislatures even in conservative states like Massachusetts, and seemed
likely completely to dominate the South and West. All its work in the
South was accomplished within the old-party organizations, but in 1890
the demand became strong for an independent third party, for which
various consolidations since 1887 had prepared the way, and by 1892 a
large part of the strength of the farmers' organizations, with that of
various industrial and radical orders, was united in the People's Party
(perhaps more generally known as the Populist Party), which had its
beginnings in Kansas in 1890, and received national organization in
1892. This party emphasized free silver, the income tax, eight-hour day,
reclamation of land grants, government ownership of railways, telephones
and telegraphs, popular election of federal senators, and the initiative
and referendum. In the presidential election of 1892 it cast 1,041,021
votes (in a total of 12,036,089), and elected 22 presidential electors,
the first chosen by any third party since 1856. In 1896 the People's
Party "fused" with the Democratic Party (q.v.) in the presidential
campaign, and again in 1900; during this period, indeed, the greatest
part of the People's Party was reabsorbed into the two great parties
from which its membership had originally been drawn;--in some northern
states apparently largely into the Republican ranks, but mainly into the
Democratic Party, to which it gave a powerful radical impulse.
The Farmers' movement was much misunderstood, abused and ridiculed. It
accomplished a vast amount of good. The movement--and especially the
Grange, for on most important points the later movements only followed
where it had led--contributed the initial impulse and prepared the way
for the establishment of travelling and local rural libraries, reading
courses, lyceums, farmers' institutes (a steadily increasing influence)
and rural free mail delivery (inaugurated experimentally in 1896 and
adopted as part of the permanent postal system of the country in 1902);
for agricultural exhibits and an improved agricultural press; for
encouragement to and increased profit from the work of agricultural
colleges, the establishment (1885) and great services of the United
States Department of Agriculture,--in short, for an extraordinary
lessening of rural isolation and betterment of the farmers'
opportunities; for the irrigation of the semi-arid West, adopted as a
national policy in 1902, the pure-food laws of 1906, the
interstate-commerce law of 1887, the railway-rate laws of 1903 and 1906,
even the great Bureau of Commerce-and-Labor law of 1903, and the
Anti-trust laws of 1903 and later. The Alliance and Populist movements
were bottomed on the idea of "ethical gains through legislation." In its
local manifestations the whole movement was often marked by eccentric
ideas, narrow prejudices and weaknesses in economic reasoning. It is not
to be forgotten that owing to the movement of the frontier the United
States has always been "at once a developed country and a primitive one.
The same political questions have been put to a society advanced in some
regions and undeveloped in others.... On specific political questions
each economic area has reflected its peculiar interests" (Prof. F.J.
Turner). That this idea must not, however, be over-emphasized, is
admirably enforced by observing the great mass of farmer radicalism that
has, since about 1896, become an accepted Democratic and Republican
principle over the whole country. The Farmers' movement was the
beginning of widespread, effective protest against "the menace of
privilege" in the United States.
American periodicals, especially in 1890-1892, are particularly
informing on the growth of the movement; see F.M. Drew in _Political
Science Quarterly_ (1891), vi. p. 282; C.W. Pierson in _Popular
Science Monthly_ (1888), xxxii. pp. 199, 368; C.S. Walker and F.J.
Foster in _Annals of American Academy_ (1894); iv. p. 790; Senator
W.A. Peffer in _Cosmopolitan_ (1890), x. p. 694; and on agricultural
discontent, _Political Science Quarterly_, iv. (1889), p. 433, by W.F.
Mappin; v. (1890), p. 65, by J.P. Dunn; xi. (1896), pp. 433, 601, xii.
(1897), p. 93, and xiv. (1899), p. 444, by C.F. Emerick; Prof. E.W.
Bemis in _Journal of Political Economy_ (1893), i. p. 193; A.H. Peters
in _Quarterly Journal of Economics_ (1890), iv. p. 18; C.W. Davis in
_Forum_ (1890), ix. pp. 231, 291, 348.