portant items in consumption and in export show 
that we have a hard master to reckon with by the 
middle of this century; and that we must develop 
from some quarter occupation and a food supply 
for more than 110,000,000 additional people. It 
should be such as will maintain a standard of liv- 
ing no lower than that which now prevails if we 
are not to witness terrible social and political con- 
vulsions. 
It is as clear as any future event can be that 
the farm is the only hope of our national salvation. 
Just as it is today the real source of our wealth, 
the mainspring of our domestic commerce that 
exceeds the trade of all Hurope combined, so must 
we draw upon it for coming needs. All else suf- 
fers progressive exhaustion and will be a poorer 
dependence a generation hence than it is today. 
The soil alone renews itself, endures patiently, 
and is capable of yielding increasing rewards to 
industry as agriculture conforms more closely to 
the principles that science and experience have 
developed. The products of the earth and the 
population of the earth may increase together, so 
that the one will support the other. It is the sole 
escape from the melancholy conclusion to which 
Malthus was forced long ago because, in his time, 
the possibilities of modern soil culture were not 
understood. 
Here, then, is the problem, here the labor for 
a Farmers’ Congress. This is your work. You 
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