34 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



years the Masters of State and National Granges, and leaders in other 

 farm organizations, have repeated this sentiment in forceful, pertinent 

 language, seeking to make it more true in practice. 



It seems to me that the coal operators are a large illustration of the 

 need of more ethical training. I fell more certain of it since forty or 

 fifty of them were indicted by a grand jury. They have a physical 

 development to stand a laborious, strenuous life, have a mental equip- 

 ment which enables them to combine large railroad and mining interests 

 so as to employ a vast army of men, women and children, but they have 

 shown to a painful degree a lack of appreciation of their moral duty. 

 No equal number of men could have foreseen more clearly, or certainly, 

 the suffering to individuals, the interruption of all kinds of business, the 

 closing or curtailing of manufacturing, the idleness of employes when 

 work is most needed to meet the extra cost of living, and the consumers 

 variously damaged by delays in getting contracted materials, which in 

 turn delayed deliveries to others, all sure to follow the months of the 

 strike. By so much as the operators were better educated, had more 

 knowledge of the direful results sure to folloAV the prolonged cessation 

 of mining, and possessed larger means, by so much will they have the 

 greater responsibility for an interruption which has caused untold suf- 

 fering and the loss of millions of dollars. While the very foundation 

 principles of our government grant the largest possible liberty to the 

 individual in the management of his property, he must remember that 

 there is a paramount duty that it shall not be used to injure others 

 either in person or property. 



The extending of our national control over new and distant tetri to- 

 nes brings new responsibilities and obligations, greatly increasing the 

 necessity of moral stamina of a firmer fiber. The proper ruling of these 

 far-off countries will impose upon this country a severer test than has 

 heretofore been put upon it. If we make good the claims so loudly and 

 persistently advanced that we have the best government on earth, that 

 it is our mission to give to every land the benefit of our laws and customs, 

 our freedom and intelligence, in a word that we possess in larger 

 degree than any other nation in the world the things most certain 

 to realize that cherished goal — happiness — we must bring our ethical 

 practices more nearly up to our ideals. While not lessening our elab- 

 orate efforts and expenditures on physical and mental culture in our 

 universities and colleges, and many other public and private gymnasiums 

 and schools, we have abundant evidence that we must elevate to a higher 

 plane the ethics of our moral life. It seems to me, judged by the past, 

 that the farmer must continue, in a larger degree, to be a leader in giving^ 

 moral or ethical training, also to stimulate patriotism and love of coun- 

 try, ever remembering that the government will and must be typical of 

 the majority of its citizens. 



The latter part of the afternoon was devoted to the discussion of topics 

 relating to the improvements of our highways. Hon. E. P. Allen, of 

 Ypsilanti, a member of the Michigan Highway Commission, occupied the 

 chair and introduced the subject by referring to the importance of secur- 

 ing better highways in Michigan and favoring such legislation as will 

 permit the securing of better results from the money expended upon 

 them. The following papers were presented : 



