AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL FAIRS. 13 



anxious thought of the best friends of the working men and women 

 of Maine have for the last 4'orty years been given to this subject, 

 that they have given to it their hours of sleep and of labor, and 

 have sacrificed to it their private feelings and opinions ; that they 

 have been willing to become "all things, to all men," that they 

 might thereby do godd to some, and then ask themselves if these 

 men are not more likely than themselves to have hit upon the 

 arrangements most likely to produce the desired results. 



With these few remarks let us view the whole thing, as we find 

 it, and endeavor for a few moments to discuss the real, visible in- 

 fluence of these associations, past and present, on the various 

 industrial interests of the State. And here let me ask, if intelli- 

 gent, discriminating, persevering men and associations of men, 

 have for the last ten, twenty or forty years, been attempting to 

 bring about a certain result, and that result has been accom- 

 plished, is it not right that those men or those associations should 

 have the credit of the same, allowing them to be creditable ? 



Suppose for our first example we take our neat cattle. But 

 how am I to illustrate this point so that the young men and boys 

 in this audience, upon whom soon will devolve the cares and re- 

 'sponsibilities which now rest upon us, can realize and understand 

 the improvement which has been made in this direction. I was 

 raised on the main thoroughfare from the vallej of upper Kenne- 

 bec and Sandy rivers, one of the best grazing regions of New 

 England, to Portland. Thirty and forty "years ago droves of cattle 

 of from one to three hundred head, and sometimes four or five 

 hundred, passed frequently in the fall on their way to Portland, 

 for barreling, and I wish each of you could understand just how 

 they would compare with the bullocks of our day. 



Why, sir, the most prominent feature about them was their 

 horns, and the least so, their hind quarters, for beside their hind 

 legs and hip bones, there was but just enough upon which to hang 

 a tail. I wish these young men could see such a drove as Howes 

 and Croswell, Major Crompton or my friend from Aroostook, drove 

 from that country in those days, and alongside of them a drave of 

 oxen of our day. And from whence came those noble broad- 

 backed Shorthorns with their fifteen hundred pounds of luscious, 

 juicy oxhood, or the proud symmetrical Hereford, whose aristo- 

 cratic bearing proclaims his royal birth ? 



Let us take one example which will illustrate the manner in 

 which this has been brought about all over the northern and 



