190 Transactions of the 



If proof of this bo needed, the history of our race supplies it. The 

 conquerors of the world have come from the stern and rugged north, 

 where existence must he battled for and life without labor is impossible. 

 With ease have come effeminacy and indulgence. 



The indolent races inhabiting the tropics have cut no figure in the 

 story of the world. No great names have risen above the dead level of 

 their national insignificance to act as beacon lights to posterity, and 

 nation after nation has passed away, leaving no impress upon the land 

 they occupied but never benefited. 



In countries like the one described, man's mission is ended with his 

 existence; there he performs no great deeds, he builds no cities, he es- 

 tablishes no new and beneficent systems, he makes no progress on the 

 road to knowledge, possesses no love of wealth, no inspiration of religion, 

 no thirst for truth. Nothing can turn him from the narrow benighted 

 customs of his' fathers. The very land he inhabits, the air he breathes, 

 and the sun that shines upon him, seem to encourage his dreamy lazy 

 life. 



While a balmy climate and productive soil are of infinite value to an 

 enlightened industrious people, the most favored places of nature for the 

 development of the highest type of manhood are where man must work 

 or die. There men rise to the highest stage of civilization; and there 

 more is due to the man than to the country he lives in; for, after all, the 

 noblest gift which the Creator has given us, is the impulse and the 

 power to become ourselves creators, and just so far as we succeed in this, 

 so far have we performed the great and solemn duties imposed upon us. 

 Nor does the obligation rest more heavily upon the tillers of the soil 

 than upon the statesman and educator. Each in his own sphere and in 

 his own way is called upon to act his part upon the side of honesty 

 and progress, in public as in private life. 



Among the duties imposed upon us, and to which I shall especially 

 call your attention, are those that have a direct reference to the devel- 

 opment of the resources of the State; for even in the presence of the 

 wonderful advantages this State affords, labor and enterprise and intel- 

 ligence must be called into activity to develop them. In an age of 

 peace, no people can become great and prosperous unless agriculture is 

 made its chief pursuit. 



It is the cornerstone of every national structure. It is the founda- 

 tion of national, as it is of individual, wealth. 



The greater the production the better the market. For now every 

 fanner has the world for a market, and the whole people never yet had 

 enough to eat. 



The question is, how can we best develop these resources? 



In my opinion, the highest and best cultivation can only be obtained 

 by 



IRRIGATION. 



It lias been said that he who makes two blades of grass grow where 

 one only grew before, has benefited his race more than the most suc- 

 cessful General. 



I submit that simply doubling the production in this State, will not 

 be half the increase, where land is irrigated. But before dwelling upon 

 this branch of the subject, many inquiries of grave importance, and 

 some of doubtful solution, present themselves to be answered. Irriga- 

 tion has been successfully practiced from the earliest historic times. It 

 was old when the Pyramids were new. Irrigation made Egypt the 



