22 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



our existence; and although we were strong at our birth, and our 

 early youth gives evidence of great power and vigor; yet looking 

 with a proper sense of the instruction to be derived from the 

 history of other nations, we can write no future for ourselves; our 

 course is, to a great extent, untried; we came into existence upon 

 great principles, and we must stand and be built up upon such prin- 

 ciples, or we must fall; we rely upon the patriotic intelligence of 

 the masses. The laboring classes do, and ever must form these 

 masses. To give them a clear and intelligent view of their 

 rights, of their privileges and immunities is to give permanence and 

 stability to our institutions, and to prepare us for a perpetuity 

 of those rights, which shall be a blessing to all " the dwellers 

 on earth." 



I shall in this connection be pardoned for saying, that any 

 system of government which disparages the producing classes, 

 must in the end be bad government. It will necessarily contain 

 elements of corruption and dissolution. I need not go farther on 

 this point than thus to state the question, for I am sure of a 

 hearty response to the position that for this nation the true policy 

 of patriotism is to create and multiply intelligent, well educated 

 laborers. 



I have adverted to the influence exerted by the fairs of this 

 and kindred societies, but I have not referred to the greatest and 

 most effectual instrument for elevating labor which is now, or 

 hereafter can be called into operation. 



Our agricultural newspapers and magazines reach numbers and 

 produce effects which are unequaled. Their literary character 

 is alike creditable to their conductors and to the farmers by 

 whom they are read. The great benefits flowing from their 

 extended circulation, is not confined to the improvements in agri- 

 culture, which are a sure concomitant of their perusal. They 

 create and inspire a taste for reading, enlarge the sphere of obser- 

 vation, and educate in literature and science a large <ilass who 

 are inaccessible to other influences. They have already taken a 

 high place among the scientific and literary periodicals of the day, 

 and may very favorably challenge a comparison with them. They 

 are worthy of most extended patronage. Their evident effect is 

 to elevate the character of labor. 



