STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 165 



REMARKS OF SENATOR J. W. NYE; 



At the conclusion of President Reed's address, he introduced Senator 

 J. W. Nye, who delivered a few remarks, which were listened to with 

 much interest and attention. He said he had been invited by the Presi- 

 dent of the society to be present, but had not expected to be called 

 upon to say anything. He said he could not, however, help mingling 

 his congratulations with his hearers upon the success of the present 

 fair. Twenty years ago, there was no Agricultural Society here, and 

 no agriculture worth speaking of. He rejoiced with the citizens of Cali- 

 fornia at the wonderful success they had achieved in the various agricul- 

 tural and industrial pursuits. They literally sat under their own vines 

 and fig trees, and had none to make them afraid. If such progress had 

 been made during the past twenty } 7 ears, who could predict the advance 

 that would be made in the next twenty years? If all the oceans that 

 surround the United States were to dry up and be transformed to rock, 

 there was not a single article of common necessity — nay, even of luxury 

 — which the United States could not produce within her borders. He 

 expected to see, at no distant day — or rather, he expected younger men 

 than himself to see — almost the entire trade of the Indies, that great 

 trade for which the world has struggled for fourteen centuries, carried 

 with mighty velocity and irresistible power across this continent, and 

 our country the mistress of the sea and the master of the commerce of 

 the world. It was a fact in political economy, in the history of the 

 world, that whatever burdens a nation might entail upon herself, the 

 earth, the teeming earth, must pay the debt. He was present at the 

 California State fair eight years ago, and the present exhibition, con- 

 trasted with that of that period, spoke most favorably of the progress 

 made during the interval. He concluded by commending the zeal and 

 wisdom of the President of the society. 



