48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



soldiers could not have been sustained and the war mioht 

 have been a failure?" 



I think I have shown you that the cultivators of the soil 

 stand preeminent among the great industrial classes in our 

 country, that they feed all other classes and produce all the 

 raw material for the other interests, and constitute the main 

 supporting element of our commerce. I have not lessened 

 the importance of any other interest, but have shown that all 

 stand together in harmonious relations and that no one inter- 

 est can suifer without affectino^ the whole. I am now brouirht 

 to the consideration of the 



INTEHESTS or LABOE. 



Wealth of itself means nothing more than the possession of 

 something that has a market value, and not possessed by the 

 generality of men. It is only a benefit in the highest degree 

 or sense when its blessings are diffused among all classes. 

 The legitimate purpose of wealth is to ameliorate the human 

 condition as much as possible by furnishing to man means of 

 physical comfort and enjoymen', and opening a way for his 

 highest moral and intellectual improvement. 



To be efiective, capital and labor must be on good terms. 

 There is no natural antagonism between them. The true 

 relations of capital and labor are best maintained where there 

 is the greatest freedom of competitive industry, and where 

 each is sure of its reward. 



If injustice comes between them, both must suffer, and in 

 any contention labor must suffer first, as her wants are imme- 

 diate. Capital can stand a longer siege. Both their inter- 

 ests grow out of the wants and demands of the community, 

 and they ought not to be circumscribed unless they interfere 

 with morality and the public good. It is to capital we owe 

 our public and private prosperity, and labor partakes as much 

 of its benefits as capital, and oftentimes more. It may be 

 and sometimes is the case, owing to peculiar circumstances, 

 as in some kinds of business during the late war, that capital, 

 for the time being, may reap a greater reward than labor ; 

 still the day always comes when the tables are turned and 

 labor receives more in proportion than capital. As an illus- 

 tration of this principle, let us take the woollen manufiic- 



