696 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



that love of country was not an abstract idea, but was born and nurtured 

 by the scenes of youth. A boy reared in a land made beautiful by the 

 arts of agriculture will never forget the scenes or places of his youth. His 

 love for them will begin with the planting of the tree his father planted 

 and grow with its growth, and they will be for him fit to live for and fit to 

 die for. 



There are social problems now being wrought out, but whether the out- 

 come shall be for weal or woe I cannot say. There are none so blind who 

 cannot see we are approaching a crisis of momentous issue. We are yet 

 in the experiment of free government. History teaches us, if it teaches 

 anything, that the happiness of a nation does not depend upon its opulence 

 or splendor. Indeed, perhaps the reverse is true, that the period of begin- 

 ning decay is the moment when inordinate wealth has accumulated and 

 luxurious tastes and devotion to the so called " gospel of art " take the 

 place of economy and simple habits. Mr. Webster said " that the true 

 principle of a free and popular government would seem to be, so to con- 

 struct it as to give to all, or at least to a very great majority, an interest in 

 its preservation ; to found it as other things are founded, on men's interest. 

 The stability of government requires that those who desire its continuance 

 shall be more powerful than those who desire its dissolution. Education, 

 wealth, talents, are all parts and elements of the general aggregate of 

 power, but numbers, nevertheless, constitute ordinarily the most important 

 consideration. The freest government, if it could exist, would not be 

 long acceptable if the tendency of the laws were to create a rapid accum- 

 ulation of property in a few hands, and to render the great mass of the 

 population dependent and penniless. In such a case the popular power 

 would be likely to break in upon the rights of prosperity, or else the influ- 

 ence of property to limit and control the exercise of popular power. 

 Universal suffrage, for example, could not long exist in a community where 

 there was a great inequality of property. * * * With property divided 

 as we have it no other government than that of a republic could be main- 

 tained." 



This was spoken sixty-six years ago. Mr. Webster, as he stood on Ply- 

 mouth Rock, looked out over a population principally engaged in the art of 

 agriculture. We had but a few years before emerged from a war with 

 England, contending for the rights and protection of our adopted citizens. 

 We had begun to contend in commercial strife for supremacy upon the 

 high seas. Property was almost equally divided — the difference in class 

 and wealth between the owners of the soil could not be very great. There 

 were then no railroads, no corporations, no large cities to absorb the wealth, 

 and in which millionaires could nourish. Since that time how great the 

 change. Since that time the relations between capital and labor have 

 been readjusted. The introduction of labor-saving machinery has special- 

 ized mechanical labor and deprived us of a class of truly skilled mechan- 

 ics, and made capable large enterprises that were not possible fifty years 

 ago. The advantages possessed by corporations has aggregated capital in 

 a few hands. One obstacle to the distribution of property is the sanction 

 the law gives to the holding of property by corporations beyond the gener- 

 ation of man. More than three hundred years ago England found it 

 necessary to pass certain statutes, called the statutes of mortmain, to pre- 

 vent the holding of land in perpetuity by ecclesiastical bodies; that is to 

 say, the law deprived the lands of their inalienable character. To-day, in 

 effect, by our laws, we permit our corporations to hold property inalien- 

 able for more than the generation of man ; nay, in effect, a corporation can 

 hold property forever, thus entailing on us in part the evils that England 



