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OF BALTIMORE, MD..,
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BEFORE THE

‘Oxford Agricultural Society,

On Friday, October 7th, 1870.

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OXFORD) |\PA.:

~ * PRESS,”’ BOOK, CARD AND JOB PRINTER. =
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ADDRESS

Hon. Chas. EB. Phe Ips

OF BALTIMORE, MD.,

BEFORE THE

Oxford Agricultural Society,

Qn Friday, October 7th, 1870.

OXFORD, PA.:
‘‘ PRESS,”? BOOK, CARD AND JOB PRINTER.
1870.

CORRESPONDENCE.

OxFoRD, Pa., October Lith, 1870.
At the meeting of the Board of Managers of the Oxtord Agri-
cultural Society, on the 12th inst., a resolution of thanks to Hon.
Charles E. Phelps, for his very able and highly practical address at
the First Annual Exhibition of the Society,on the 7th,was unanimously
adepted, and the Secretary was instructed to request a copy for publi-

cation. From the minutes.

Ao. BRINION, Com, Saag

BALTIMORE, Md., October 18th, L870.
REv. JOHN M. Dickey, D. D.,.

Dear Sir: Your esteemed favor of the 17th instant, is received, en-
closing a copy of Resolutions of the Board of Managers of the Oxford
Agricultural Society.

I beg that you will take occasion to assure the Board of my very
high appreciation of the compliment contained in their vote of thanks
and request of a copy of the address delivered on the 7th inst., for
publication, and to inform them that the manuscript is at their service.

Yours very truly,

CHARLES L. PHELPS

a al

ADDRESS OF

Hon. Charles E. Phelps,

menOhe THE OXFORD AGRICULTURAL SOCTETY,

LREDAYGOCTOBER (th, 1870.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: and the slopes of Gettysburg, must in all
A citizen of another State, and afuture time answer for the fate of Mason

member of another profession than that

ef Agriculture, the honor has been as-

signed to me of addressing the first an-)
nual meeting of your Society. History
records that cnce there existed a line of
division between your State and mine.
Upon the Pennsylvania side, agricu'tu-
ral labor was then as il is now, voluntary,
and compensated. Upon the Maryland)
side it was to a considerable extent
compulsory, a lingering but tenacious
legacy of by-gone barbaric ages and)

and Dixon’s line. It is therefore with
great propriety that your association
has, as I understand, extended its fra-
ternal recognition and welcome beyond
the limits of Chester county to the far-
mers of the adjoining counties of Penn-
sylvania aid Maryland. The climate
and the seasons with them, are the same
as with you. The natural capabilities
of the soil are without material differ-
ence. The products of the soil are iden-
tical. The system of labor is the same.

usages. Practically, Maryland,tuougha/There exists no longer even an imag-
slave state, wasa stronger abolitien inary line of political or social separa-

state than her free sister Pennsylvania. tion. Common interests, pursuits, ne-
Up to the war of the rebellion she had cessities, added to close neighborhood
voluntarily emancipated more slaves than here along both sides of this old border
Pennsylvania ever owned; and while State line, unmistakably point toa bet-
that war was at its most doubtful crisis,,ter understanding anda closer union be-
as if to blow up with nitro-glycerine the|tween the farmers of Pennsylvania and
bridge between her and the belligerent Maryland.
and almost triumphant confederacy, The sphere of usefulness of your So-
Maryland with one constitutional vote|ciety is plainly not to be circumscribed
shattered the hoary fabric into ruin. by state or county lines. There isa
Upon the long list of casualties of significance in the very indefiniteness of
the great war of the rebellion, no names its title, ‘"The Oxford Agricultural So-
are recognized as more thoroughly dead, ciety.”’ Here in this thriving, beautiful
than those of Mason and Dixon among borough, the seat of an Institution of
the killed ;and more completely lost, learning, the first of its kind not only in
than that of Mason and Dixon’s line this country but in any country, here in
among the missing. ‘the heart of a land famous for its barns,
Opinions may vary as to the precise its dairies, its cattle, its crops, you have
day or spot upon which they fell, but established the headquarters of the or-
none dispute the mournful fact that ganized agricultural interests, not of a
they and their line are gone, and gone single county merely, but of a wide re-
beyond the reach of resurrection. ‘gion. There is no limit to the benefi-
One thing is certain, their most mor-'cent influences which are designed to
tal wound was received, as was right, radiate from Oxford as the selected seat
in Pennsylvania’s soil, and from Penn- and center of our efforts at enlightment
sylvania hands. Meade and Hancock, and improvement. And there is no reason

4

why this enterprise, so successfully inau- cus narrator,Pliny,spent his country life
gurated, should not continue year after upon the banks of one of these Italian
year its ‘career of splendid but peaceful lakes, and died in ignoranee of the fasci-
conquest, collecting and diffusing practi- nating lore secreted beneath its waters.
cal information, gathering a richer har- No ancient chronicle, no legend, no tra-
vest of induction from a continually ex- dition extant in Phny’s time, in the first
panding field of experiment, exciting to century of our era, could have suggested
generous emulation the tillers of far the faintest trace of these primeval pre-
distant acres, and making permanent decessors of the Gauls, Helvetians and
contributions to the Agricultural science Etruscans. They had long before his
of our race. time perished from the memory of man.
Much has been written, and much has) And yet we are as well assured that
been spoken, par ticularly on occasions these forgotten generations once lived,as
like the present, of the’ importance of we are certain of the existance of our.
agriculture to the welfare of mankind, own grand-fathers. We have in our
and of its dignity in the scale of human hands as convincing and conclusive evi-
pursuits. The theme, like its subject, is dences of the fact, as if their own depo-
a boundless one. It 1s at once the oldest sitions had come down to us properly au-
and the newest of arts. The processes, by thenticated. We not only know the fact
which are extracted from the soil and that they lived. but we know how they
atmosphere the materials for food and lived. The science of archaeology has
clothing, are patented every day in asucceeded to a partial, itis true,but mar-
thousand improved forms, and yet they velous degree, in reconstructing the
are essentially the same proe¢esses, pro- Shattered and forgotten fabric of their
ducing precisely the same results,as those clumsy civlization, by a similar analysis
which were rudely practised in pre-his- to that by which ‘the genius of Cuvier
toric times. nebulous with myth and fa- from a fossil tooth or fragment could re-
ble. Men ploughed, and sowed, and produce the entire frame of a mastodon.
weeded, and watered, and digged, aud, We can see to-day the indentical ves-
fertilized, and reaped and thrashed, and/sels in which they storod their milk, the
winnowed, and gathered into barns.ages) drainers in which they pressed
before the Hebrew shepherd Boy super- cheese, the porringers from which they
intended the colossal granaries of Egypt, took their soup. Weapons of war and of
or a vineyard was planted by the surviv- the chase they certainly possessed, but
ing Patriarch of the deluge. Very recent none have yet been discovered among
discoveries in the lakes of Switzerland, the relics of these primative populations
Italy and Germany,ia the bogs of Ireland as murderous as the needle-gun, or the
and the peat mosses of Scandinavia, have mitrailleuse with its forty death-dealing
brought to light the rude implements ofa barrels breathing the gentle sj irit of
primative agriculture , buriedand forgot- modern civilzation, inspired by the lessons
ten, long before Eur opean history com- and examples of nineteen Christian
menced. Fragments of pottery, hatchets, centuries.
scythes, sickles, horse-shoes, bridle-bits, The utensils of husbandry which have
plow shares, orind-stones, the relics ofra- been found are of various patterns, in
ces and periods as to which the oldest his- stone and metal. 'vhose of stone are as-
tory is silent, have been within the last signed to the earliest period; those of
ten vears disinterred from beneath the iron, to the latest. The intermdiate
tombs of uncounted centuries. The skill period is called the age of bronze, and
of the antiquarian has exhausted itself the implements belonging to it have been
in vain in assigning to the successive found in a remarkable state of preserva-
ages of stone,of bronze and of iron indi- tion. The composition of this metal is
cated by the archaeological strata through copper and tin. No zine is found in the
which he has burrowed in search of these bronzes of this period. Utensils of horn
mysterious relics, some known data by and bene, and earthenware are common
which the latest of them could be con- to all thess periods. Not only have these
nected with the most ancient historical lost generations of antiquity bequeathed
or traditional times. No author of antiq- to us their old farming tools and crock-
uity refers to these relics, or to the ger- ery, they have even left us samples of
erations whose presenceon our globe their bread. The bread has been kept
they attest. An acute observer,and copi- safe and sound through several thousand

5

years by being carbonized like the peat/tions for their subsistance.
in which it was found buried. It was re- And this condition as necessarily in-
ported to be good bread, but somewhat volves the idea that the efforts of the
stale. I have not heard that any butter husbandman have advanced beyond the
has been sampled as yet. With respect point of a mere provision for the wants
to the bread it is curious that the very of himself and his family, to the accumu-
erain of which it was made has been rec- lation of a surplus wealth. With this sur-
ognized. Some has been found of millet, plus he feeds the city and at the same
and some evidently of wheat, the flour time gains an exchange in her markets.
being unbolted and imperfectly ground. Agriculture therefore must have become
There are many parts of the earth an art before cities were possible.
where the art of agriculture to-day is Commerce has been frequently called
very little advanced beyond the point the great civilizer of mankind. It is
attained in those pre-historic ages. I certainly difficult to over estimate the
have myself seen in the plains of Lom- importance of this noble department of
bardy, a man ploughing with a _ sin- human industry. Whether foreign or
‘gle beast, harnessed before a crooked inland, by caravan or trading ship; by
stick,which appeared to tickle the earth’s trireme or steamer, by conestoga wagon
skin about hard enough to make it or railroad, it hasin ancient and modern
laugh. Inthe same classic region, not times diffused among mankind the com-
far from the banks of the Ticino, where forts and appliances of an improved life,
Hannibal,after his descent from the Alps, stimulated industry and enterprise, com-
first encountered the Roman legion un- municated knowledge, enlarged and lib-
der Scipio and routed them ina pitched eraiized the inteilect. More than all this
battle, Isaw with my own eyes, a man, the crowning glory may probably be as-
a woman, and several children in a field cribed to commerce of having given let-
by the roadside. driving a cow round ters to the race, and made thought and
and round over what looked hke a large genius immortal. The Phenecian mar-
sheet spread upon the ground. Upon iners and merchants who were the _pio-
inquiring the meaning of the singular neers of coastwise and ocean commerce,
exhibition,a sort ofone cow circus, learn- finding memory too short for their multi-
ed that it was an agricultural family of plied transactions, committed them to
of the period engaged in threshing out symbols which are still perpetuated in
their crop of rape seed. These people the alphabet of Homer, Shakespeare and
and their predecessors have been plough- Schiller.
ing and threshing in precisely the same, But though commerce has done all
wav, upon the same spot, from the time this and more, though she has found
of Hannibal’s invasion, and doubtless the magnetic needle, colonized old and
long before. discovered new continents, though she
As Agriculture is the most ancient of has given to science that magnificent
of arts, so it is the chief corner stone of revelation of the true form and motion
civilization. This statement may possi- of the planet that has led to the astound-
bly at first sight seem too broad, and in ing discoveries of Newton, Kepler and
conflict with the terminology of the word La Place, she is after all but the com-
‘‘civilization”’ itself, which as well as the mon carrier of agriculture. The raw ma-
kindred term “urbanity’’ appeur to im- terial and the manufactured fabric which
ply a contrast between the polish andare the interchange of commerce, are
refinement attributed to the populous to a very large extent the direct product
life of cities, and the rustic isolation and of the soil, or else thai product combin-
independence of the fields. A moments ed with skilled labor, which though not
reflection, however shows; that even agricultural depends immediately upon
from that point of view, the position is agriculture for support.
well taken, and literaliy correct. With From this casual reference to manu-
out agriculture, and indeed an advanced factures, it is natural to pass to a some-
stage of agriculture, there could be no what closer attention to the relations
cities, no towns. between that branch of industry and the
Their very existence necessarily im- one which it is the object of your Society
plies a systematic and provident culture to foster. To prepare the soil for the seed,
of the surrounding country upon which it must be broken up. A repeated stirring
they can depend with unfailing expecta- of the soil is required to keep down the

6

weeds. The matured crop must be cut,|zed man.

hauled, threshed, and hauied again. It was stated in the outset, that agri-
Without implements, therefore the far- culture is at once the oldest and the
mer is helpless, Hence the dependence newest of the arts. Within the last fifty
of agriculture upon ihe mechanic art. It years, it has made more progress, than
will be of course understood that the ag- during the three thousand years before.
riculture here spoken of is the progres- For much the larger portion of this im-
sive art practised by civilized men, and provement, it is indebted to the wonder-
not the mere manual drudgery of extort- ful mechanical inventions that have dis-
ing asimble subsistance from the soil tinguished this half century beyond any
by those who manufacture the clumsy other period of history. Men are now
tools they till with. In that phase of living, who have seen the oldstrap plow,
agriculture which preceeded the division or wooden mould board,superseded by the
of labor, when the husbandman made his steel clipper, and the shovel and the hoe
own plow out of a root or branch hard- laid down before the rotary spader and
ened in the fire,and his own spade or hoe the cultivator. Since the organization of
outof a flint stone, such as are found the Patent Office, more thana thousand
in the Indian mounds of this continent, patents have been issaed in America for
and his own sickle out of the same rude improvements in plows and cultivators
material, or from the more artificial me- alone. Very few of this number it is true
tallic composition of which specimens have been generally approved,and most
have been found amidst the relics of the of themare practically worthless, ex-
age of bronze, the husbandman might cept as approximations and suggestive
with-strict propriety be called indepen- possibillities which only await.the next
dent, and it is in that phase,and in that step in the march of inventive genius to
sense alone.thatlagriculture may be regar realize new and brilliant conquests of
ded as an indepevdent pursuit. But it is mind over matter. It is to this transition
when most independent, that husbandry period that we must for the present as-
and the husbandman are in the most ab- sign the idea of the steam plow, as prac-
ject condition. After expending much tically available to American tillage.
valuable time and much hard labor that In like manner, a living generation
should have been devoted to the cultiva- has seen the hand sickle, the scythe, the
tion of the soil upon the preparation, or cradle, the rake, the flail and the open
repair, or renewal of his implements, he cylinder, give place to machine reapers
finds those contrivances so imperfect and mowers with self-raking and binding
that with all his diligence in their use no auxiliaries, tothreshing machines, with
fruits of his industry result beyond a separators,winnowers and straw carriers.
meager sustenance. It is only when the These cunning combinations of wheel
skilled artisan begins to make the farm- and lever which subsidize the muscle of
er dependent upon him for time-saving the animal creation and substitute brute
and laboz-saving utensils, that agricul- power for its equivalent in human labor,
ture begins to advance as an art, with are mainly the inventions of American
capacities for indefinite progress and machinists, and within the last quarter
perfectibility. The use of these improved of a century have revolutionized the sys-
appliances, enabling the farmer to make tem of agriculture not only of our own
twice the crop in one half the time, not country, but of the civilized world. There
only gives him leisure for reflection,obser- were according to the census of 1860,
vation and comparison of experiences two and a half millions of farmers in the
with others similalry engaged, and oppor- United States, employing nearly 800,000
tunties for projecting new modes of culti- farm laborers. It has been estimated,
vation, but provides him with a surplus andin my opinion the estimate falls consi-
capital on which he may venture to make derably below the truth,that agricultural
experiments,acquire additional land,hire machinery has added the tabor ofa mul-
the labor to till it, contribute his lion more able bodiedmen. Whata_tre-
quota to the defence of the state, the mendous reinforcement to the military
maintenance of public order, and the powerofanation, this substitution of ma-
support of religion, and finally to sur- chanism for muscle, has been illustrated
round himself with these comforts and by the late civil war,which withdrew from
embellishments which tend to dignify, industrial pursui's, chiefly agricultural, in
eleyate and adorn the social and civili- the northern states alone, nearly two

millions of men; and yet more acres
were tilled, and more bushels were har-
vested by the farmers who staid at home
than in years of profound peace.

But afterall,important as is the art

T

immortal youth, eternal and indestructi-
ble save by a fiat as Omnipotent as that
which created them, these atoms and
particles with all their properties and
qualities, their chemical affinties, their

of the mechanic to agriculture, there is|attractions and repulsions, their gravi-
one thing even more indispensable.|tation, their polarity, their luminous,
Armed and equipped as the farmericalorific and electric vibrations, have
might be with all the appliances and |through an infinitely varied series of
enginery of mechanical skill, he would be combinations and dissolutions,decompo-
the most helpless of beings unless bread sitions and recompositions, supplied the
were in his soil; for if bread is not in the material for all the generations of vege-
soil.no invention that human enginuity table, animal and human life. Not an
can devise can get bread out of it. Injatom of them is lost, nor its place un-
the economy of nature there is no waste, known to Omuniscience.
no destruction, no annihilation of ele-| One day in the brain of Shakespeare,
ments, but a constant flux and reflux. the next, ascending in vapor to the
Let us consider this for a moment.|clouds, the next falling in rain upon the
There is no species of property, which|sod; it may then be caught for a few
we are accustomed to regard as so pe- years in the bony frame work of a graz-
culiarly, so exciusively and so indefeasi- ing ox, and patiently awaiting the mould-
bly our own, as the property we hold in ering of its skeleton upon the soil, may
the flesh that covers our bones. pass through a grain of wheat to flash
We commonly look upon it as per-in the eye of beauty or strike with the
sonal property of the highest order, arm of power.
and yet it may be logically and And thus what was grass yesterday
philosophically demonstrated that no is flesh to-day, and what is flesh to-day
greater fallacy could possibly be enter- will be grass again to-morrow. Such has
tained, and that our individual tenure of been the constant order and sequence
that identical flesh, and of the bones of nature ever since and long before
inside it, so far from being a fee simple, Isaiah wrote ‘All flesh is grass.’? But
undivided interest, is not even a life it is no part of thisinexorable law that
estate,out the merest temporary tenancy, the second crop of grass shall necessari-
and that upon very trancient leases. ly grow upon the same spot with the
Pythagoras held the doctrine of the first. It is just as likely to sprout up on
transmigration of souls, the fundamental the opposite circumference of the globe,
error of which, doubtless, was a heathen- or to waste its verdure upon some un-
ish confounding of the material with the peopled isle in mid-ocean. The labor
spiritual part of man. Had Pythagoras of man is necessary; that labor at once
stopped at the transmigration of bodies, provident, intelligent and unceasing, to
his philosophy would have been nearer control these accidents of nature, and to
the literaltruth. These mortal vestments guide its dissolving fluxing and_fertili-
of ours, are but the cast off clothing of zing elements to their proper destina-
other men and animals, both the living tions.
and the dead. Of them we might say The principle that underlies and reg-
with quite as much sincerity, and proba- ulates this effort, is the simple one ot
bly as much truth 2s the arch hypocrite, justice. It recognizes in nature, not the
Iago, said of his purse—‘‘whosteals my’’ slave of man bound to yield at his su-
flesh ‘steals trash. Twas mine, ‘tis his preme mundate its unearned bounties,
and has been slave to thousands.”” These but his ally and copartner, requiring
atoms and particles of carbon and hy- only the simple justice of an equivalent
drgen and oxygen and nitrogen in which for what she yields him.
we robe ourselves to-day in allthe pride. There is neither magic nor mystery in
and plenitude of personality, have come good husbandry. There is simply the
down to us from ages far beyond the plain downright justice of giving back
flood, each with its own unconfused to the soil the fertility of which it has
identity and distinct biography. been cropped. The best of farmers is
Hoary with an antiquity of unrecord- he who takes heavy crops from his broad
ed centuries and cycles past the power acres, and leaves them better than he
of numbers to compute, yet fresh with) found them.

8

It is in this aspect especially that ag-|¢

ricuiture, within a recent period, has

been elevated from an art,and has attain
ed the proportions and dignity ofa sci-
many localities farmers clubs with more

ence.

Science has to deal with facts—with
truths—with the confirmed results of ob-
servations and experiments ; and from
a patient, methodical classification and
analysis of those results,
investigation and discovery of principles
and laws. Without facts to start with,
established facts, facts varied and quali-
fied by every possible condition and

mode, facts tested and multiplied ty ev-)

ery possible experiment, there can be no
generlization, no induction,no discovery
of law and consequently no pr ediction

to rise to the,

arden products, with premiums
offered for successful competition,
have become the great rural exchange
of our people. There have sprung up in

frequent meetings for interchange of
views, comparison of experiences.and in-
formal discussion of matters connected
with their profession. Some of these clubs
are kept up with somuch interest and
spirit that their proceedings are regular-
ly reported for the public press, and
read with eagerness and profit, by intel-
ligentfarmers throughout the country.

Such associations are of the highest
value, and ought ip every way be en-

couraged. Like everything else of real

worth, they are not to be had without

effort, nor properly sustained without
continued exertion. They do not come
of themselves. Farmers are not natu-
rally gregarious. The very necessities
of their occupation tends to scatter and
isolate them. Deployed over the face
of the earth at distant intervals, each
one finds sufficient employment for his
attention upon the acres that surround
cause each successive generation plod- him; and the farmer’s work you all know
ded on in the beaten path marked out is never done. It istrue that occasion-
by its predecessors, and rode to the mill ally they are drawn together by law,
with grain in one end of the bag and a politics or religion but neither the church,
stone in the other to balance, for no bet- the barbecue nor the court house can
ter reason than because somebody’ s be converted into schools of agricultural
erand-father had always ridden in the improvement. Agricultural colleges
same way before him. The first with experimental farms attached, have
step in the direction of elevating been recently established, but they cal
agriculture to a science of discovery accomplish no more for this special de-
and prediction was taken when the first partment than any other college.for any
agricultural society was organized. other learning which they teach; they
There are now nearly 1400 agr icultural can lay the foundation for an education,
and horticultural societies, st tate and lo- not ¢ omplete it. This is _pre- -eminently
cal in correspondence with a depart- the age of co-operation. Everybody
ment of the National Government at else is combining. organizing, disciplin-
Washington specially dedicated to the ing and drilling.
agricultural interests of the country. The farmers must do the same thing,
Journals and periodicals devoted to the or they will be left behind, imposed up-
same interests exclusively, now circulate on and victimized. Without these ad-
a number of copies larger than the ag- vantages of mutual aid, organized and
gregate circulation of all the newspapers disciplined movement which character-
of ever y kind printed at the commence- ize the age we live in, the farmers whiie
ment of this century. Sesides the agri- they imagine they are only attending to
cultural Journals proper, nearly every their own business, and letting well
newspaper printed in the city or coun- enough alone, will by and by discover
try, whether daily or weekly, habitually that they are being driven, and sold,and
assigns a liberal and leading place in its fleeced like their own sheep. Take your
columns to agricultural topics. In addi- great railway corporations for instance.
tion tothe state and local associations’ They are really dependent on agriculture
whose annual exhibitions of cattle and for the life blood that feeds them. Their
horses, sheep and hogs and poultry, lucrative freights, the enormous profits
and of farm and dairy, orchard aid in which their bond and_ stockholders

of science. Agriculture for several thou-
sand years has made but little progress
as an art, and as a science has only be-
gun to exist within the memory of liv-1
ing men; and why? Because the contri-
butions of new facts were few or none
at all ; because there were no organized,
systematic efforts to elicit such contri i-
butions or to collect these results, be-

y

participate, are nothing but the coined middle-men are as fairly entitled to their
sweat and toil of thetarmers. But what reasonable vrofit as the farmer to his.
hascombination done for these great It is only when the miller, the merchant
lines of communieation ? It has made and the broker from capitalists become
them practically masters of thesituation. speculators, and from speculators
Though the farmers out number and conspirators to take advantage of the
might out vote all other interests combi- necesities of both the producer and con-
ned yet, because they have neglected to sumer, that a disturbing and dangerous
concentrate their strength, they are element is introduced, which affects most
bound hand and foot allalong the lines disastrously the agricultural interests of
of these gigantic corporations, which ex- the country. There isa class of opulent
tinguish all competition, silence all farmers whose accumulated wealth ena-
oppositions, control the legislation bles them to hold back their crops, and
of great states, and in some instances who are thus beyond the reach of the
the administration of justice itself. unprincipled intrigues. But the great
The struggles of these great rival majority are not capitalists, they are
lines to secure the contested through fighting the battle of life with all their
traffic, and {hus make their monopolies forces in front,they have no reserves to
still more complete and crushing, are call into action, or to fall back upon,
carried on in merciless and arrogant dis- when the pressure of onset is felt. No
dain of the hapless way-freighters, at matter at what sacrifice, their crops and
whose cost the unprincipled war-fare is their cattle must move to market, forced
waged. The time has come for the far- down artificially though it be by:the mani-
mers of the country to organize in self- pulations of confederate speculators, or
defence against the ruinous tactics of visions of judgments, mortgages and the
these audacious coalitions. It is time sheriff’s hammer,haunt their dreams like
for them to understand and assert their spectres. Their humble barns are emp-
power, and with all the force of their tied sadly, mournfully and with tears,at
numbers’ intelligence and influence com prices which bitterly suggest the unre-
bined in disciplined and persistent ef- quited toil, hazard and privation of the
fort demand the necessary legislation to year’s labor which keep the children at
remedy these abuses of monopoly. If home from school, and the mother in
state legislatures are powerless to cor- her old dress and bonnet. His little
rect the evil, then let Congress exercise crop has gone into the plethoric ware-
its constitutional power, over commerce house of the speculator who can afford to
between the states, and enact a uniform await his own time and price,and his cat-
tariff of freights,so much per ton per tle are the property of aring of monop-
mile the whole country over, and thus olists. Bread and beef are still dear to
put local and through freights upon the the consumer, though the farmer has re-
same equitable basis, and let through alized but little in producing them.
freights find their natural ouilet cover) Here is a problem which legislation
the shortest. routes. has grappled with time and again for

But there are other combinations al- centuries, and has at last given up in
most equally formidable and oppressive despair. The old common law misde-
to the farmer. although not legislated meanor of forestalling and regrating
into the shape of bodies corperate. Why have long since become obsolete. Wri-
is it that there are times when the con-ting more than a century ago, Black-
sumer has to pay extravagant prices for stone informs us in this connection that:
the necessaries of life, while for the same ‘‘Combinations among victuallers or arti
staples the farmer, who produces them ficers to raise the price of provisions, or
can barely get a living price for his la- any commodities, or the rate of labor,
bor,and sometimes not even that? Let me are in many cases severely punished by
not be misunderstood, I am about to particular statutes, and, in general, by
make no onslaught upon the great tra- statute 2 and 3 Edw. Vic. 15, with the
ding classes of the country. The com- forfeiture 10 1. or twenty days imprison-
mission merchant is as necessary to the ment, with an allowance of only bread
farmer as the mechanic, as necessary as|jand water for the first offence, 20 1. or
the railroad. Thefarmer cannot be his the pillory for the second and, 40 1. for
own huckster, he must reach the consu- the third, or else the pillory, loss of
mer through middle-men, and these one ear, and perpetual infamy.

10

In the same manner, by a constitution Other features might be united in this
of the Emperor Zeno, all monopolies plan, such as that of a Mutual Insur-
and combinations to keep up the price of ance company, anda Mutual Building
merchandize,provisions or workmanship, Association. Mutual Insurance Compan-
were prohibited upon pain of forfeiture panies have long been established and
of goods and perpetual banishment. 4 are well known in all parts of the coun-
com. 159. try. Building, Benefit or Homestead

If any laws of a similar tenor still ex- Societies have been recently multiplied
ist upon the statute books of any of our in cities and towns to an astonishing ex-
States, they are practically a dead let- tent. There are several hundreds of
ter. Nobody ever heard of a Grand them in the city of Baltimore alone, in
Jury indicting any of those operators, which all classes of the community are
although they are as well known in more or less interested, but principally
every community as if they were mechanics and working men. They are
marked under the old statute of Edward based upon the same principle as the co-
VI,with acropped ear. operative societies or unions already re-

It is a question for serious considera- ferred to, and result in making the ten-
tion whether this evil,which legislation ant his own land-lord. The system by
has proved utterly powerless to cope which this is accomplished is a very in-
with,cannot be at least in some measure genious and artificial one, too elab-
remedied by concert of action amongst orate in all its detail to be explained at
the farmers. There seems to be no length withouttedious prolixity,but sim
good reason why farmers should not be ple enough to be perfectly intelligible to
able by co-operative agencies to protect the plainest understanding.
themselves from extortion and plunder) The sum and substance of it is to en-
as effectually as laborers and artisans. able the stockholders by the payment
Factory operatives in Great Britan have of small weekly sums, not larger than
formed themselves into joint stock com- the amount he wouid otherwise pay for
panies with shares of moderaie amount; the rent of his dwelling house, to re-
and have for a long time,and with great deem at the expiration of a term of
success, carried on co-operative stores years the mortgage held by the company
from which they draw their family sup- upon the house, which he has purchased
plies at fair prices, and realize the pro- with the means advanced by his Building
fit upon their own custom in the shape Society, and which thus becomes his
of handsome dividends. Not only own property instead of reverting toa
stores,but large manufacturing enterpri- landlord. The advantages of such a sys-
ses have been established,and success- tem, to the individual, as well as to
fully worked upon the same principle, society are obvious und important. The
the laborer and the capitalist being uni- prospect of acquiring a home of his own
ted in the stock holder. Following out is an ever-present incentive to exertion
the same idea it would seem practicable and frugality, and the payment of these
for the farmers of a neighborhood to weekly dues to the Building Society di-
start a co-operative ware-house with verts hundreds of thousands of dollars
sufficient capital to make advances upon from the corner dram shops. They are
produce deposited in pledge, which in fact the best Temperance Societies.
would give the farmer the benefit There is no reason why the advanta-
of the rise in price when he should ges of such a system should be confined
choose his own time to sell, and at the to the city or to the mechanics, and in-
same time, place him in funds to bridge deed it has already begun to be introdu-
over the anxious intervals. The inter- ced among the farmers in some parts of
est upon those loans with storage and Maryland. Through such agencies, far-
profit would pay all expenses if honestly mers of moderate means might be ena-
and judiciously administered, and yield bled to put up improvements on their
a moderate dividend. A good Board of land of abetter class than they would
Directors of the most substantial and otherwise attempt. Their application
reliable farmers in the concern, a fre- to the condition and necessities of the
quent inspection and audit of accounts rural districts would of course involve
and frequent meetings of the stockhold-jsome modification of details, which are
ers would secure both an honest and ju-'arranged with special reference to the
dicious administration of the funds. dwellers in towns, but the underlying

S

2

i

principles and results would be the same chain is only the strength ot the weakest
and the outlines of the system identical. link in it, and if only one link in his
[ have one more suggestion to make chain of titie can have a flaw picked in
ofa practical character before I con-it by a lawyer, the farmer will find a
clude. I take it for granted that in se- Bill in Chancery or an Ejectment suit
lecting for your orator on this occasion, going through his possessions not quite
« member of the bar, you have not ex- so quickly as a steam plow, but a good
pected to be enlightened much on the deal more effectually.
subject of farming. As every man in Seriously, however, my friends, the
America is a natural born statesman, so remark with which I conclude is the
every man thinks heis a born farmer, close and intimate communion with na-
and no matter what his occupation may ture in all her aspects and phases and
be, expects some day to retire from bu- phenomena, by which the cultivators of
sinesseand run a farm by way of recrea- the soil are favored beyond all other
tion. But I can assure you that so far classes of men, and which ought to in-
as lam concerned, I have not come spire and teach to look “through Nature
here with the slightest idea of instruct- up to Natures God.’’ The man whatever
ing you as to the proper rotation of crop his occupation may be, whose highest
or of teaching the ladies of Chester Co., aim is to feed and fatten his mortality is
how to put up butter. I have nothing not fit for an agriculturist, except in that
to say about manures, soils, plows or sense in which swine are agriculturists.
reapers, I have no new fertilizer to ad- With him, as withthem,it is simply
vertise in thismarket, and am not the root pig and die. The profession of the
agent for anybody’s patent horse medi-/husbandman is a favored one, its tenden-
cine. Nor do I appear here in any offi- cies are naturally, to him who remem-
cial capacity, nor as a public functiona- bers that he has an intellect and a soul,
ry, either actual or potential, either in elevating and noble. From that profes-
present or possible future tense. I am/sion, more than all others combined, are
here in response to your call in my exal- drawn the rich imagery, the similes, the
ted capacity of a private citizen. As a/illustrations, the parables of Holy Writ.
member of the legal fraternity I take I feel that I cannot more profitably part
credit to myself for greet forbearance,|from you than in the exact words of one

and some modesty in having refrained,

on so eligible an opportunity, from en-|

larging upon the indispensible impor-
tance of the legal profession to agricul-
ture. I think it could have been made

of those impressive lessons in which the
apostle Paul has swept into the track of
his glowing and resistless logic the whole
philosophy of agriculture -

| ‘*Be not deceived ; God is not mock-

clear that farmers, so far from being the'ed ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that
independent persons they are sometimes shall he also reap.

supposed to be, are in fact wholly de-- For he that soweth to his flesh, shall
pendent upon courts and lawyers, and of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that
courts are only lawyers sitting down in- soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit

stead of standing up. Thestrength ofa

‘reap life everlasting. Gal. VI—7—%.