SECOND DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. IT.) 



<ms of all evils that could befall our country must be checked, or the result 

 must be most disastrous. It can end in but one way — in the downfall of 

 our ( rovernment. 



To attain the destiny intended for us and expected of us by the fathers 

 of our ( rovernment there must be a higher education of the masses. There 

 must be an education of the morals. This nation has drifted far from the 

 landmarks of its fathers. There is a spirit of atheism, of infidelity, of 

 socialism, communism, and anarchy pervading the masses imported from 

 the disturbed and disorganized masses of Europe that must be arrested. 



To use the language of the immortal Lincoln, we must bend every energy 

 "to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom," 



The evil doctrines of the corrupt and vicious of other nations are upon 

 us. This evil can only be overcome by a purer and stronger morality, a 

 higher and nobler manhood and womanhood, a return to that higher stand- 

 ard which marked the lives and characters of the founders of this republic. 



I cannot resist the temptation to introduce here an extract from the pen 

 of one of the ablest of American writers of to-dav: he says: 



ft 

 The successive decay of the great nations of antiquity is a wonderful phenomenon. 



How hard to realize that Egypt, now at tin- foot of the nations, was once the head; that 

 Rome was the mistress of the world; that Greece, in all the great products of intellect, 

 was the master-mind of the race, with a supremacy excelled by no nation since. 



In modern times Spain has sunk down from one of the highest seats of power in Europe 

 to one of the lowest. A similar process is seen going on in other nations. Do the ele- 

 ments of decay inhere in the life of a nation as they do in that of an individual, so that 

 decrepit age must necessarily succeed to the most vigorous national manhood'.' 



Why this national decay? 



History shows us that the ancient nations perished because power and 

 prosperity brought to one class luxury and effeminacy, and to the other 

 crushing poverty ; and thus to both every possible vice and physical degen- 

 eration. The same causes are ever prolific of the same effects. 



But it is the cities that are the centers of decay. In these the destruc- 

 tive forces are most numerous, strongest, and most incessantly at work. 

 Cautlie. in his " Degeneration Amongst Londoners," says a pure Londoner 

 of the fourth generation is impossible. Certainly it is not as bad as that 

 in our country. God forbid it should be. Yet we find in each generation 

 that the leading business and professional minds in our great cities are 

 importations from the rural districts. 



What would happen if this constant supply of good blood should cease ? 



Mr. President, I am not an alarmist, nor would I offend any ; but this 

 subject has received considerable attention at my hands, and I submit it 

 requires no prophet to see the end, dark and gloomy, that the policy of the 

 American people is leading to. 



May I not, then, without submitting to severe criticism, sound a note of 

 warning in the ears of my countrymen who are so busy in looking out for 

 their own private affairs, and striving to add a little more to their private 

 fortunes, that they may be forgetting their government, the foundation and 

 support of that private fortune they so zealously strive to acquire ? But I 

 would ask no man to take my judgment; I would ask him to investigate 

 for himself, and if that be done. I feel the evil will be averted, for I have 

 an abiding faith in the patriotism, integrity, and intelligence of the Ameri- 

 can people, once you have their attention turned to threatening dangers. 



I will take occasion to say here that I am not a disciple of Henry 

 George. I do not believe that the real estate of the Republic or State 

 should bear all of the burdens of taxation. I do believe that, of all 

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