AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. 105 



the attention of deep-thinkers and eminent political econo- 

 mists in the present, as well as in the past ; but one which in 

 this discussion I shall apply to our own State and our own 

 conditions, asking for it from you all a careful attention. It 

 is that farming — as a business, as an investment, as a firm 

 and staple occupation, shall be more largely engaged in than 

 heretofore — engaged in with a purpose, with honest endeavor 

 after success, with a true aim for its compensations and a 

 love for its rewards ; that the back lanes and poor tenements 

 of our cities shall give up their miserable inhabitants, sending 

 them forth into the green and health-giving country, where 

 they may gain an honest living and bring up children who 

 shall go to school, never knowing what it is to be hungry; 

 that our forsaken and neglected farms shall again be made 

 the happy homes which they once were, and our rich and 

 abundant public lands be occupied by sturdy men who are 

 not afraid to work, but who have the courage to meet the 

 slow and honest gains which are sure to come from intelli- 

 gent, economical and persistent labor upon the farm. 



It is a truth of political economy that land, real estate, is 

 the only true property. Blackstone, the foundation author 

 in all legal matters, defines land as real property because 

 "it comprehends all things of permanent, substantial, fixed, 

 immovable nature." In many parts of the Old World, where 

 land is poor, and rugged, and often somewhat desolate, it is 

 held to most firmly, alienated only under dire necessity, and 

 forms a secure . source of investment, in many instances even 

 regardless of income. Capitalists often regard two per cent, 

 return from real estate better than six from commerce and 

 trade, because the land gives no losses ; while in speculative 

 pursuits the losses are so numerous as to shrink the income, 

 frequently, below two per cent. Land being so stable and 

 secure, the wealth coming from its culture, or the increase 

 which labor bestowed upon it yields, is alike positive and 

 safe. Old Adam Smith — the man with two famous names, 

 who has been regarded as the father of political economy — 

 gave utterance to these forcible and enduring truths : 



