35 



have the benefit of the diminution of the cost of the manufactured article, and 

 of merchandize generally. 



For this consumption, however, without which the large town cannot exist, it 

 looks to the country, that is, in the main, to the agricultural producer. The town 

 and the country are mutually markets to each other, and the citizen is as much 

 interested to penetrate the interior with canals and railroads, as the fanner is to 

 find these avenues for the transportation of his produce to the mart. We present • 

 interests here that are not antagonistical, but are mutual and harmonious. The 

 town thrives by the growth and prosperity of the country, and the country by 

 the growth and prosperity of the town. 



All this is manifest — and yet it is no more strange than true that in some 

 agricultural communities, there has sprung up a narrow jealousy of the town, 

 grudging its prosperity, ripening into settled hostility — tainting, perhaps, the 

 legislation of the State, by unequal taxation, and by denial of those facilities of 

 production and trade, which are essential to the healthy developement of the 

 town. 



Farmers of Wisconsin ! the towns which line your borders, and dot the interior, 

 live not for themselves alone, but for you — they grow with your growth — they 

 are your credit abroad, and your profit at home. An enlightened self interest, 

 on your part, demands that your policy towards them shall be conceived in a 

 liberal and comprehensive spirit. 



The railroad is a swift witness of the identity of the reciprocal interests of town 

 and country. It brings the rural districts under the very gates of the city ; and 

 it lodges the merchant and artizan at home, scores of miles, perhaps, from the 

 scene of his daily toil. This indefinite expansion of towns, with their capital, 

 intelligence and enterprise — this amalgamation, as it were, of the city and the 

 country, is destined to play, henceforth, a distinguished part in the advancement 

 of civilization. 



III. But once more. Agriculture, in common with Manufacture and Com- 

 merce, is interested in the pi-ospei'ity of the Professions. 



It is conceded that the sustaining of the professions is a charge on the pro- 

 ducers of value. — But it is also to be conceded, that without the agency of the 

 professions — without the sound social conditions of health, order, and mora- 

 lity, production would be at an end. So much for the mere economical 

 argument. 



But when we consider the intrinsic importance of these social conditions 

 themselves, we can hardly over-estimate the obligations of productive agency to 

 professional service. Here, as in the arts and in commerce, " Live and let live," 

 is a maxim addressed not so much to the magnanimity and generosity, as to the 

 economical and social interest, of the cultivator of the ground. 



