110 Bureau of Fakmeiis' Institutes. 



many of the farniere of Cortland county helped to supply, and 

 most of this has been brought about within the last decade. 

 If such great changes have been brought about within that time, 

 changes that have presented to the farmer great obstacles which 

 he has been obliged to meet and surmount, is it not a rational 

 thought that he will have equally great ones to meet in the 

 near future? In view of all these facts, and reasoning from this 

 standpoint, is it any wonder that the farmers are aroused to the 

 necessity of more and better road improvement? But how is 

 this to be accomplished? Certainly the farmers cannot do it 

 all themselves. They cannot assume so heavy a burden of tax- 

 ation. Then of whom shall they ask assistance? Have they not 

 the moral right to call upon those to whom they have been 

 donating for years? I mean the cities and villages. Who built 

 the cities? Who maintains them? Who furnishes them their 

 sustenance to-day? The farmer. What has contributed more 

 than any other factor to make New York city the second largest 

 city in the world? There can be but one answer, namely, the 

 Erie canal. Whose money built it? Seventy-five years ago, 

 when the canal was being built, New York city did not pay sixty 

 per cent, of the tax; neither did the canal counties, with their 

 great cities, including New York^ pay nearly eighty per cent, of 

 the State tax, as they do to-day. The farmers had to pay largely 

 for the building of the canal, for the enlargement of 18G2 and 

 for the maintenance of the canal for many years. But a few 

 years ago nearly one-third of the State tax paid by Cortland 

 county was for canal expenditures, and the advantage that it 

 has been to the canal terminal counties is beyond all mathe- 

 matical calculation. But what profit has the farmer received? 

 Your profit, if any, has come by such a round-about way, and 

 from so remote a point, that its calculation is scarcely possible 

 and would be more nearly represented by a cipher than any 

 figure. Look at the public buildings that have been built 

 in the cities all over the State at the expense of the taxpayer, 

 either in State or county tax. Are they not a great benefit to 

 the municipalities wherein they are located? Most certainly. 



