22 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



how arc human hands to he employed ?" Reflect, if you please, 

 upon the progress of this country by which the power of 

 machinery has been substituted for manual labor, and yet there 

 has been no evil result to the laborers. The ability of the world 

 to consume is not comprehended. With civilization extended 

 and the arts of peace cultivated, there is no doubt that eleven 

 hundred million of human beings upon the globe, may consume 

 all that they can possibly produce with the aid of such machinery, 

 as is, or may be invented. The only result of increased pro- 

 duction, in a condition of peace and free commerce, is that 

 every person enjoys more of the necessaries, comforts and 

 luxuries of life. It should, however, be observed that the 

 invention of machinery is more beneficial to the laboring, than 

 to the non-producing classes. Machinery may change the 

 vocations of men, but there will always be opportunity for 

 labor. 



There is no necessity for anxiety on this subject, yet, in 

 Europe, a new invention is often the occasion of a riot, or an 

 unpleasant public demonstration. Our brethren from Ireland 

 have been justly charged with occasional riotous conduct in 

 America ; but the charge is set off by the imputation now rest- 

 ing- upon Americans of producing a riot in Kilkenny, Ireland. 

 The farm laborers in that district were so excited by the intro- 

 duction of horse reapers from this country, that the machines 

 were destroyed by an ignorant mob, and the owners threatened 

 with disagreeable treatment. The laborers of America ought 

 to be far, very far, in advance of the rioters of Kilkenny. Let 

 this prejudice cease; for machinery is, doubt not, a chief 

 means by which farming is to be rendered so profitable that 

 laborers may be better compensated than they are at present. 

 The introduction of new and valuable machinery is every where 

 and always a blessing, while a deficiency in the supply of a 

 staple raw material, as hides or cotton, is an evil that effects 

 every class of society. 



Much is raid of the respectability of labor; but it availeth 

 nothing for me to declare from this platform that you are a 

 highly re.-pectable class of people, and engaged in the noblest 

 pursuit that has received the attention of men. If this be true 

 in your case, it is because you are intelligent in your vocation. 

 The judgment of men has been, and ever will be, uniform upon 



