274 WISCONSIN AGEICULTUEE. 



there would be less hungering and thirsting for office — less of 

 scrambling on the part of the lean, starving applicants for the 

 " spoils of the enemy." The dram- shop and the corners of the 

 streets would send forth their myriads to walk regenerated upon 

 the face of God's green earth, and with the strong hands God has 

 given them to earn an honest living by the sweat of their brow. 



I cannot close my remarks without calling attention to the 

 general diffusion of competence and of the means of prosperity 

 throughout our borders, and to our duty with respect of the same. 

 It is a happy thought, that amidst all the changes by reason of 

 adversity and misfortune, there is but little real and incurable 

 wretchedness in our midst. The means of employment lie all 

 around the unfortunate. With the millions of unoccupied acres 

 still left, waiting to reward the hand of patient mdustry with 

 comfort and wealth — a thousand avenues open to enterprise, 

 business and competency — h re is a common fund fjr every 

 man's exigencies, and the invitation to all is, " come up and pos- 

 sess." Already, by God's blessing, we are not only feeding our- 

 selves with the abundance we possess, and feeding the poor we 

 have among us, and feeding Vermont and Massachusetts, but 

 are helping to feed the world ! Contrivances for comfort meet 

 us at every door we enter. Every where the table is spread, and 

 the cup is filled ; and everywhere we find men ascending from 

 convenience to comfort, to neatness, to elegance, to luxury, to 

 profusion. Such is one of the peculiarities of our social condition. 



How long this enviable state of good fortune shall continue, 

 is left for us to determine. If we grow neglectful of our highest 

 interests because of the greatness of our national prosperity, that 

 prosperity shall suddenly come to an end. We must carefnlly 

 guard against the encroachments of luxury, and beware how we 

 contribute to the corruptions of our age by giving up ourselves 

 to amusements or merely sensual pleasures. To press onward 

 to still higher attainments, and a still higher position — to do 

 more and to be more to-day than yesterday, to-morrow than to- 

 day — this is what gives character to a people, and under the ad- 

 vantages of their social condition as enduring as the everlasting 

 hills. 



