We
began to talk of the farming interest again, later in the day, when the
members of our little group came together, and I told them what the
Altrurian had been doing. The doctor had been suddenly called back to
town; but the minister was there, and the lawyer and the professor and the
banker and the manufacturer.
It was the banker who began to comment on what I said, and he seemed to be
in the frank humor of the Saturday night before. "Yes," he said, "it's a
hard life, and they have to look sharp if they expect to make both ends
meet. I would not like to undertake it myself with their resources."
The professor smiled, in asking the Altrurian: "Did your agricultural
friends tell you anything of the little rural traffic in votes that they
carry on about election time? That is one of the side means they have of
making both ends meet."
"I don't understand," said the Altrurian.
"Why, you know, you can buy votes among our virtuous yeomen from two
dollars up at the ordinary elections. When party feeling runs high, and
there are vital questions at stake, the votes cost more."
The Altrurian looked round at us all aghast.
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