FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 103 



In discussing the evils of trusts, the speaker passed over all minor 

 criticisms and called attention to the fact that when an industry, either 

 by its nature, the amount of capital which it controls, or the character 

 of its organization and agreements, rises superior to the normal control 

 of competition, it ceases longer to be in harmony with the fundamental 

 principles of English jurisprudence upon which industrial, as well as 

 political institutions in the United States are based. "For my part," 

 said the speaker, "I fail to appreciate the beneficence of industrial 

 feudalism; I prefer industrial democracy." 



In the discussion of remedies, attention was called, first, to the fact 

 that education, especially higher education in commercial branches, 

 would do much to relieve the situation by building up a large class of 

 strong men who will compete with one another for the control of 

 those unusual advantages which the modern form of industrial organiza- 

 tion presents. The universities, especially the State universities, are 

 playing their part in the ultimate solution of this great problem. 



Attention was next called to the fact that no solution of the trust prob- 

 lem can be expected until railroads are compelled to treat all shippers 

 alike. Railway discriminations and the absence of any rational prin- 

 ciple in the adjustment of railway rates lie at the bottom of many of the 

 trust evils. So far as direct anti-trust legislation is concerned, the 

 difficulty lies in the fact that the jurisdiction of the federal government 

 over the one in which state corporations manage their affairs is at 

 present open to question. The Littlefield bill, presented at the present 

 session of Congress, claimed this jurisdiction and failed to receive the 

 approval of Congress, while the administration bill, which received the 

 approval of Congress fails to touch the vital question. 



A CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS. 



BY KENYON L. BUTTERPIELD_, PRESIDENT R. I. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



While it is perhaps unnecessary to remind this audience of the great 

 progress which agriculture in the United States has made during the 

 past half century, or of its present importance as an industry, I wish, 

 for the sake of my argument, to recall to your minds some facts which, 

 demonstrate the advancement that has taken place in American agri- 

 culture and the high position that it still holds. For we find that agri- 

 culture has developed at a rapid rate in spite of severe depressions in the 

 business. For instance, while the population of our country during the 

 past fifty years has increased 323 per cent, the acreage of improved farm- 

 ing land has increased 367 per cent, the number of farms 400 per cent, 

 the value of farm implements 503 per cent, the value of farm property 

 516 per cent, and the value of live stock 565 per cent. According to the 

 last census, the farm -property of the United States is valued at some- 

 thing over twenty billion dollars, which about equals the capital in- 

 vested in all our manufacturing enterprises and railway lines combined. 

 The annual produce of our agriculture is worth nearly four billion 



