246 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



the post-office, and telegraph, and lecture-room, is the last to move. 

 If he felt himself pressed and overburdened by high prices for all he, 

 bought, and low prices for all he sold, he has sought to cure the evil 

 by more rigid economy and longer and harder hours of labor. While 

 most other pursuits push up the prices of their commodities, if 

 need be by shortening their hours of labor, and sometimes by wholly 

 stopping the wheels, we have met this by more desperate struggles 

 to multiply our productions, and to hurry them upon the market. 

 Poverty, if not actual bankruptcy, stares the farmer in the face. 



&quot; There are remedies for all evils, so there must be somewhere a cure 

 for the ills that threaten the fraternity. For some months past the 

 producers in various and widely-separated places have been almost 

 spontaneously coming together in local organization. This conven 

 tion of the farmers of Illinois is to consider the matter of binding 

 together these local societies by a State organization. 



&quot; As it was somewhat new for our people to attempt any general 

 organization, the question was very naturally asked, What is the 

 purpose ? 



&quot; No one is authorized, or able, especially in advance, to pronounce 

 fully for any movement. He would answer as he saw it from his 

 own stand-point. Farmers Associations are intended for mutual 

 improvement in our calling, to call forth new thoughts, and diffuse 

 useful information among ourselves, so as to produce better results 

 with less labor for social enjoyment, and for intellectual and moral 

 improvement. Such associations will afford the opportunity for 

 neighborhood co-operation in rural improvemeut, stock-breeding, 

 dairying, farmers insurance perhaps in buying and selling, to some 

 extent, and so, generally, to effect for our class what organization has 

 done for others. 



&quot;But we desire, also, to understand more fully the relation between 

 agriculture and the government, and, especially, to see that justice 

 is done on matters of taxation. As cheap transportation is vital to 

 our prosperity, we mean, in some manner, to solve this problem, and 

 it is to this matter especially I shall call attention. 



&quot; The West must long remain an exporting and an importing coun 

 try, to an enormous and increasing extent. The prices of our products 

 go up or down, as transportation varies its scale. As all interests 

 of a country prosper when its chief staples bring a good price, so 

 the West generally all classes, professions, and trades are nearly 

 equally interested in cheap transportation,&quot; 



