64(i STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



point as to bring into the markets of the world crude products which 

 formerly would not bear removal and were thus excluded from the ex- 

 change of commerce. It is now possible to carry grain from the in- 

 terior states to the seaboard so cheaply that it can be delivered in distant 

 lands at a reasonable price. Fast ships are hurrying from San Fran- 

 cisco to India to feed the famine stricken ones of that land, and the 

 Atlantic has been turned into a ferry, dotted with grain laden vessels 

 crossing to supply the demand of European countries. Its effects can be 

 traced still further. The competition of our western wheat regions made 

 practically impossible the raising of wheat in the British Isles, and 

 farmers who depended upon it could no longer pay the rent stipulated in 

 the leases. As the aristocracy of Great Britain is a survival of previous 

 conditions, depending for its existence upon the revenue derived from the 

 ownership of land, a serious blow was struck at the privileged class of 

 Great Britain, and while Bessemer may be inclined to disavow the claim, 

 history will record the fact that he has been instrumental in reconstruct- 

 ing the British constitution upon the basis of universal suffrage. 



On the sea the improvement has been as great as upon the land. The 

 vast extensions and new directions of commerce which have resulted from 

 the construction of steel vessels have converted the commercial world into 

 a vast clearing house for the exchange of products. The balances are 

 passed to the credit of each country in the general settlement, the func- 

 tions of the precious metals are reduced and economy in exchange effect- 

 ed, duo largely to improvement in transportation made possible by Henry 

 Bessemer. 



In accordance with the law of commerce, that nations cannot sell with- 

 out buying, the imports of the United States have been largely increased, 

 and under the fiscal system made necessary by the war for the Union, a 

 revenue has been derived enabling us to reduce materially our National 

 debt. 



The great practical result of all this has been to reduce the value of the 

 food products of the civilized world; and, inasmuch as cheap food is the 

 basis of all industrial development and the necessary condition for the 

 amelioration of humanity, the present generation has witnessed a general 

 rise in the wages of labor accompanied by a fall in the price of the food 

 which it consumes. In the essential elements of comfort, the working 

 classes of our day are enabled to earn and expend double the amount 

 which was at their command in any previous condition of the world, and 

 this is due largely, if not altogether, to the economy in the agencies of 

 production made by the cheap steel of the Bessemer process and the 

 other inventions which have followed in its wake. These material re- 

 sults have been accompanied by the slow but sine elevation of the great 

 masses of society to a higher plane of intelligence and aspiration, made 

 evident by the association of working men together for the advancement 

 of their moral and social condition. Good must come out of this tend- 

 ency, and one of the chief glories of Bessemer is that he has contributed 

 more than any other man to the condition of industry which compels all 

 to combine on a scale unknown before in the work of economic production 

 ami distribution. The interdependence of the* human race has thus been 

 increased; the probability of hostile action by war diminished, and the 

 name of Bessemer added to the honorable roll of those who have succeed- 

 ed in spreading the gospel of "Peace on earth and good will toward men." 



