No. 112.] 31 



The world has never been so highly commercial as it is at this 

 tiDie ; never has intercourse between the nations of the earth been 

 upon so vast a scale, and the farmers of New- York by the instru- 

 mentality of railroads, canals and steam ships are brought within 

 its vortex. The tendency of this is not only to disseminate intel- 

 ligence but it renders varied information indispensible. The af- 

 fairs of the whole commercial world blend themselves with agri- 

 culture and give to this pursuit a scope and relationship that de- 

 mand and produce varied intelligence. Men enlarge their capaci- 

 ties and improve with their pursuits. The circle of the farmer's 

 dealings is not now limited to his neighbors and the next mer- 

 chant, it is extending itself into all quarters of the globe. 



The office of commerce is to give value to articles by transport- 

 ing them from the places where they are not wanted to those 

 places where they are needed. It was wittily and wisely said by 

 an English statesman on a recent occasion, " that filth was not a 

 bad thing, it was only a thing in the wrong place," and that 

 which bred pestilence in tlie city, spread upon the fields of the 

 country, created beauty, prosperity and wealth. This idea admits 

 of an amplification and an application to the subject before us. 

 There is nothing valuable out of, or valueless in its proper place. 

 The ore in the earth is valueless, the rude rock in the commercial 

 mart is valuable. The stones which obstruct the farmer's plough 

 and the dirt which annoys the citizen would be highly valuable if 

 they changed places. The simple law which creatfes commerce is 

 the importance of putting things in their right places and the 

 whole secret of success in business is to find out what the thing 

 is worth in the right place. The price which the farmer can 

 command, will depend upon how much his products are needed 

 in some quarter of the world, and if he is ignorant of the nature 

 and extent of this demand, and ignorant of commercial prin- 

 ciples, he will lack essential requisites for the successful man- 

 agement of his affairs, and the profits he should gain will be reap- 

 ed by another. 



I shall not advert in tliis address to the importance of scien- 

 tific attainments, or to the advantages of particular processes, or to 

 great improvements in mechanical api)liances, these are subjects 

 that have been considered and pressed upon the attention of our 



