382 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE WORK OF TO-DAY. 



BY LEVI CHUBBUCK, SEC'Y MISSOURI STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Honorable Secretary of the Missouri State Horticultural 

 Society has given me a subject for discussion at this time that is as 

 wide as the world and as comprehensive as are the efforts of mankind ; 

 but as he did not intend to burlesque my ability to handle completely 

 so profound a subject, it is to be assumed that he expected me to only 

 touch it in spots, as it were. 



" The work of to-day." Is there any to do? The labor agitator 

 will say there is not enough to keep all employed, and for proof will 

 give figures showing how many tramps there are and how many thou- 

 sands in every city are recipients of charity. He will then denounce 

 capitalists and manufacturers and all classes whose income is greater 

 than that of the most ignorant of laborers, as receiving more than their 

 just due; and the use also of machinery and other factors in reducing 

 the amount of labor necessary for the production of any commodity. 

 He does not seem to comprehend that the use of machinery and the 

 consequent reduction of the amount of labor needed in producing an 

 article is not simply so much saved to the manufacturers, but that there 

 has been an equal, if not greater advantage, accruing to the users of 

 these articles in the reduced cost of them. So that, beyond ques- 

 tion, the thrifty persons, even though their incomes are small, can enjoy 

 more of the comforts of life, those things which largely make up the 

 difference between civilization and savage life, than was possible for 

 people of the same rank 100, 75, or even 50 years ago. There is a very 

 large number of unthrifty persons in this world who feel the pinch of 

 poverty and who would, no matter what conditions surrounded them. 

 With some of these the condition is due to a failure to utilize the re- 

 sources at their command through neglect and laziness, and with others, 

 the more numerous class, because of lack of skill. It is to the latter 

 cause of poverty that I wish to refer, and if possible, point out in that 

 connection some of the work of to-day, and more particularly the work 

 that is to be done in the agricultural and horticultural fields. 



As to the former class, it seems hardly worth the while to spend 

 any time in discussing the case. It matters not how well it might be 

 presented or what advice might be offered which, if followed, would be 

 the means of bettering their condition ; they are not present to hear it 





