farmers' institutes. 705 



virtue of necessity beuds his euergy towards keepiutf out of difficulty. It 

 is clieaper and more satisfactory to keep out of trouble than to get out. 

 Nowhere In the world does this principle apply with more force than ou 

 the farm. 



There is one rule that will apply anywhere. He who would succeed 

 must put himself in a position to do whatever [right thing] is nece.ssary 

 to be done to attain a certain end. And no man is so well equipped as 

 the man who has a good stocli of adaptability on his side. 



NATION AND STATE AID TO PUBLIC ROADS. 



BY T. G. DAY, CORRECT. 



[Read before tiie Ripley County Farmers' Institute.) 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Section 8 i)aragrapli 7 of the Constitution of the United States gives 

 the power to establish postoffices and post roads. Have they ever done 

 this? All of us feel the advantages of our daily mail, and in most of 

 the cities they build grand buildings, for we the government to handle 

 our mails, and in others, as your city, we rent. 



But did we ever talve cliarge of the roads? Tlirough our county of 

 Ripley the government gave t>40 acres of land for every mile of the 

 .Michigan road that was grubbed and graded 100 feet wide ready to put 

 the mettle on for a macadam road similar to the great National road, 

 which the poet Whitticr, in Barbara P'ritchie, calls a great broad highway. 

 They spent over .$T,UUU,UUU on tliis one I'oad wlien we were a small people, 

 and we still talk of the old State and county roads. Tlie first railroad of 

 our State from Madison to Indianapolis was built by oiu' State, and I 

 recoiled when .John Brough was president of that road (afterwards 

 Governor of Ohio) put in it was said to wreck tlie road to get it out of 

 the hands of the State and you can see today around Clifty Falls near 

 Madison, Brough's folly, where lie squandered our money to bankrupt the 

 road. 



They Ijuilt canals and in every way helped transportation. But far- 

 seeing men saw the great chance for monopoly through steam roads and 

 iiMil our government quil road liuilding. 



Now we want to get back to tirst principles. Sometimes tjie old way 

 is the best, and the coal famine last winter was an eye opener to what a 

 mrtnopoly can do, and many leading men said the government must take 

 charge of the means of transportation for the good of all the people, as 

 all civilized countries but ours have done. 



But we common peoi)ie are only asking the government to aid us to 

 the extent of the amount they are spending on buildings in the large 



4.1-ABri. 



