28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



expect, however, that he would accord us the higher honor of 

 being co-workers with him in the great work of educating 

 the people of Connecticut. 



You all know that we have just come to the close of one of 

 the most prosperous years of agriculture in the United States. 

 The report of Secretary Wilson, recently published, has been 

 so fully and carefully and wisely summarized in a brief sketch 

 in Current Events that I ask your attention while I read a few 

 paragraphs from that report. 



RECORD-BREAKING CROPS. 

 Value is $6,794,000,000, says Secretary Wilson, 



REPORT TO congress SHOWS THE AMERICAN FARMER IS THE 

 GREATEST OF ALL WEALTH-PRODUCERS. OUR FARMS ARE 

 MAKING THIS COUNTRY THE WORLd's CREDITOR NATION. 



The annual report of the Secretary- of Agriculture, sub- 

 mitted to Congress, should be of uncommon interest. We 

 Americans are used to large figures expressing the prosperity 

 of our country, but we do not always stop to think where its 

 greatest wealth comes from. 



Alines and factories, forests and fisheries, play an important 

 part in producing the nation's wealth. But the farmer is the 

 chief factor in making this country rich and powerful. 



We think of the banks, with their vast capital, as great 

 storehouses of concentrated riches. But in a single crop — 

 corn — the American farmer has produced far more wealth 

 in this one year than the combined capital of all the national 

 banks in the United States, 



If the American farmers should sell all their 1906 crop at 

 one time all the gold money in the world would not pay the 

 bill. 



We wish the young readers of Current Events to appre- 

 ciate what the American farmer is doing. 



All that he produces benefits not only himself but his coun- 

 try. He is the chief creator of new wealth. 



A man may go into Wall Street and " make a fortune," 

 as we say : but he does not really make it. He only takes what 



