210 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



our achievements, in the one hundred or more years that we have lived 

 here? Whence has come the wealth which has constructed the mam- 

 moth blocks, the churches whose spires pierce the clouds, which has 

 enabled America to march on and on, and become the marvel of the 

 civilized world? It is the farmers' contribution to the country. It is 

 tht' 60 per cent of the stock which you own. It is the farmers' contribu- 

 tion which has enabled men to go out and prosecute business with suc- 

 cess, and has secured to them luxury, wealth, comfort, power and 

 strength. Even now, before harvest, there are spies, and I do not say it 

 disrespectfully, out among the wheat fields of the west, to see what the 

 prospects are for the coming crop of wheat. They look around, why? 

 Do they care for your welfare? No; they are looking to see what the 

 business prospects are. To see how much they had better venture. The 

 railroad men have their men out, spying out the land, to see how much of 

 the honey and dew they are going to reap from the efforts of the farmer 

 in cultivating the soil. They rely upon it, and in this very city manu- 

 facturers in certain lines, way up on the roll of manufacturers, sell to 

 dealers in the smaller towns, who must, for their local trade, rely upon 

 the farmers and outlying agriculturists. The farmers' contributions to 

 the mercl'ants' sales. 



Q^'hree weeks ago I was in Chicago, and I took the train home at Grand 

 Crossing, While I waited there, half an hour, twelve long, loaded trains 

 passed. I bought a paper containing the address of President Baker, 

 who had just been elected president of the Chicago Board of Trade for 

 the fourth time. The power of that Board of Trade over commerce is inde- 

 scribable. That Board of Trade, reaching across the broad Atlantic to 

 Europe, passing over to California, and across the broad Pacific to Asia, 

 Africa, and all the countries of the old world; it is a most powerful organ, 

 stronger than the Senate or the House of Representatives. It reaches 

 every interest, that mighty Board of Trade; we see they put up prices and 

 put them down again, and I read Mr. Baker's speech with interest. Mr. 

 Baker said that commerce was the life and foundation of this country, 

 and that every other interest should be subjected to the welfare of com- 

 merce. That commerce gave the country its strength, that commerce 

 gave it its glory, that the laws should be adjusted to meet the demands 

 of commerce. I thought, are these things so? and as train after train 

 went by, I thought, from whence come these things and where do thev 

 go? 



Oh, the Board of Trade could not live thirty days without the farmers' 

 contributions to that Board of Trade. Supposing the farmers stox)ped 

 their princely contributions to the Board of Trade in Chicago for thirty 

 days. They would be astonished, staggered, scared; the manufacturers 

 would begin to scatter, and in a year the cars would rust on the tracks, 

 and the vessels would rot at the wharves. 



Oh, my countrymen, think well of your calling, which is of such prime 

 importance to everyone else, and it ought to be to you. The farmer 

 ahraps precedes commerce. The men who came into Kent county to 

 become farmers, came here when the woods covered the country. They 

 blazed the road for the commerce which followed. They furnished the 

 loads for commerce to handle. They make the wealth for commerce, and 

 still Mr. Baker, who stands deservedly high, says that everything should 

 be bent to encourage the interests of commerce. 



