280 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



are like hired men. Unless we provide them with employment to 

 our advantage they will naturally enough begin to think, if they 

 are any way smart, how they can fix things for their own. Unless 

 we make money out of our pubhc servants they will try to make 

 money out of us. They will survey the State — not in our interest 

 but in theirs. Selfish, private rings originate when the people fail 

 continually to ring in public business louder. 



Possibly some may think towns grow into villages, and villages 

 grow into cities by chance. Not at all — it is always a certainty. 

 Some strong man sees the great natural advantage in the first 

 place. Other strong men see and help themselves with him, and 

 others, floating about, undecided, join the concentrating current 

 and help them. 



So the man who would plant his family on a small farm must 

 see natural advantages there, adapted to the needs of his time, 

 and go to work, trusting in the eternal spirit of goodness, which 

 always inclines towards a natural advantage. I think there must 

 have been a living spring only needing to be uncapped in the rock 

 which Moses smote. I hate to see a small farmer in this wealthy 

 State picking a rock or caving sand that he must know, if he will 

 stop and think a minute, will never repay his labor. 



Far worse for small farming than working rocky or sandy land, 

 is looking for what the boys call a "soft" thing. There is too 

 much competition in that direction. Any good thing well done pays 

 big in the neglected spaces of a rich community. Better look for 

 a difficult thing, if it is worthy, because difficulty is its own adver- 

 tisement, patent, and protective tariff. 



A small farmer may succeed all the better among big ones — if he 

 attends to his natural advantages — as the little republic of Swit- 

 zerland thrives in the shadow of mighty and belligerent empires. 

 Where many are dependent, humble independence shows the bet- 

 ter by contrast. 



We must admire, in passing, how that little knot of mountain 

 valleys furnished for many years trusty, fighting guards for half 

 Europe. Weak and corrupt courts were glad to hire and quiet 

 Swiss industry was willing to let the surplus fighting element go 

 away and learn its trade at other folk's expense. On a small farm 

 the fighting quality needs to exist in a rather dormant state, bred 

 and trained to peaceful exercises. There are vermin and weeds to 

 subdue at home and abroad, and we shall see if we will see that 



