202 TRANSACTIONS OF TEE 



ANNUAL ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL FAIR 



OF TnE 



^jricullunil Sodxhi of i\t Uortljcru ^hixut of California, 



AUGUST 30, 1S65, 



By Gen. JOHN BIDWELL, of Chico. 



III'. President, Officers, and 3femhcrs- of the Agricidtural, Horticultural, and 

 3Iechanics' Society of the Northern District of California : 



"We live in an age of progress — in a period eventful beyond an_y other 

 in ancient or modern times, and one of Science. Invention, and Discovery, 

 which carry ns forward Avith un])reeedented rapidity in the scale of 

 improvement and civilization. While this is true in a greater or less 

 degree in respect to all nations, it applies with peculiar force to our own 

 country, where, in comparison with the old world, everything is new and 

 just budding into development. Progression is the order of the day, and 

 the term most expressive of the character of the times. Progi-ess seems 

 stamped upon the very face of things, and points from the past to a 

 higher future and ever onward. AVe see it in railroads that almost out- 

 strip the winds in velocity ; in steamships that plough every ocean against 

 gale and tide, and in steam power applied to thousands of useful purposes. 

 We see it upon the ocean and upon land; we feel it in the very air; it is 

 on our rivers and plains; on the mountains and in the valleys; it per- 

 vades every place and ever3'thing, and is the life and spirit of the age. 

 It is essential alike to individual and national prosperity. In peace it is 

 like an angel of mercy, filling the land with inventions to* abridge the 

 labor of toiling millions; in war it is tei-rible, furnishing engines and 

 missiles of destruction that Avould frighten the very demons of the lower 

 world and make them rejoice to find refuge in the realms of Pluto. Of 

 all people that inhabit the globe the American nation is the most pro- 

 gressive. More useful modern inventions have been made in America 

 than all the world beside. Our example seems to influence the balance 

 of the world and inspire them with progress. We discovered gold, and 



