80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



persons, even if they are sincerely anxious to make the most of 

 it, is generally more expensive and less productive than vvdiere 

 the whole power is lodged in a single individual, who is the sole 

 owner and on the economical management of which his pros- 

 perity depends. There is not so much feeling of personal 

 responsibility, nor so much freedom and readiness of action. 

 If tlierc is to be consultation, conference and comparing of 

 opinions before any step is taken, as there must be where the 

 decision is to be made by a body of men and not by a single 

 individual, time will be lost and delay will follow frequently, 

 until the favorable moment has passed and the thing to be done 

 has either become impossible or can only be done at greater 

 expense and to less advantage than at first. 



A familiar example of this principle may be found in the his- 

 tory of many of our leading railroad, manufacturing and other 

 corporations. I refer, pf course, only to those instances where 

 there has been no defalcation or illegitimate application of the 

 funds of the corporation. The boards of directors in such 

 companies are generally made up of men who own more or less 

 stock themselves, and hence have a personal interest in a thrifty 

 and economical management of the property. Yet you all 

 know, — too many of you, I doubt not, by sad experience, — liow 

 seldom the directors of a corporation, even when they are them- 

 selves deeply interested in its success, regulate its affairs as 

 judiciously as a prudent and sagacious individual would. This, 

 I suppose, must in a great measure be the effect of the causes I 

 have before alluded to, — the difficulty of bringing a number of 

 men to act with vigor and quickness, and the absence of a 

 feeling, of personal responsibility, on the part of each individual. 



But it should be remembered that the object of the State, 

 when it made arrangements for the management of the farm, 

 were not precisely the same as an individual proposes to himself 

 in a similar case. When a farmer buys a piece of land and 

 undertakes to cultivate it, he starts with a determination, gen- 

 erally, of making it as profitable as possible in a pecuniary point 

 of view. If he be a man of large and liberal ideas, if he be 

 truly economical, he will not grudge some expenditure on his 

 fields which may at first be unproductive, if it will afterwards 

 make a good return. Still his main object will always be, per- 

 sonal pecuniary profit. If, after a few years have passed, he 



