REPORT 



San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Association, 

 District No. 2, Stockton, California, November 30, J 880. 



Hon. I. N. Hoag, Secretary State Board of Agriculture, Sacramento: 



Sir: I have the honor to herewith transmit my report for the fiscal 

 year ending December 1, 1880. 



Very respectfully, 



J. M. La RUE, 



Secretary. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS, 



By IIox. Frank M. Pixley, of San Francisco. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: The triumph of our 

 Country is the triumph of labor over land. It is the achievement of 

 the ax over the forest ; of the plow over the prairie. Its march began 

 with the Mayflower passengers in New England, westward across the 

 continent, building homes and creating farms, subduing the primal 

 wilderness and subjecting its soil to the demands of cultivation; 

 wresting its grains and fruits with the keen edge and shimmering- 

 blade of plow and spade. The steady, onward tramp of the invad- 

 ing toiler was westward till it reached the Pacific, and with gleaming 

 picks made the Sierras give up the treasures of their hidden wealth, 

 gold and silver, and only stayed his inarch because the continent 

 Avas no broader and there was no farther West for the Argonauts to 

 explore. 



Other nations had their conquests and their achievements, more 

 brilliant, perhaps, than ours. Armies have marched with the splen- 

 dor of banners, and armed men have conquered by the force of arms. 

 The genius of war has displayed itself with the terror of invad- 

 ing hosts, but in all the history of civilization there has been no 

 grander victory than the peaceful conquest of a virgin continent by 

 the army of free labor. This army lias not confined itself to the 

 subjection of mine and field and forest; not been content with mate- 

 rial triumphs over wave and furrow; has not rested with inventions 

 and improvements in the dominion of science and art and letters, 

 but it lias achieved its victories in the nobler fields of conflict. It 



