362 



ILLINOIS. 



attention from the strong points of his case. 

 A severe, demonstrative, and exhaustive rca- 

 soncr, with a voice harsh and powerful, with 

 little or no effort at elegance, and seldom nsing 

 other than the simplest language, yet upon oc- 

 casions the great lawyer moved his BMNH 

 with a power quite irresistible. Mr. Hunger- 

 ford had no taste for political life, and was no 

 seeker for office. While at East tladdam, he 

 many times represented the town in the I.eL'i*- 

 lature of the State, and, alter his removal to 

 II art lord, was several times a member from 

 that town to the General Assembly. He 

 always devoted himself laboriously to his du- 

 ties; was always a useful and most influen- 

 tial member, advocating and sustaining wlmt 

 he conscientiously believed to be right, and 

 condemning what he believed to be wron?:. 



In 1818 he was a member of the convention 

 which framed the constitution of Connecticut, 

 and is believed to have been the last survivor of 



that distinguished body of men. In politics he 

 was allied in principle with tin- old Federal, and 

 afterward with the Whig, and later with the 

 Kcpublicnn party; but he WHS in no sense a 

 partisan, for he believed that, for the int> 

 of the country and the purity of the Govern- 

 ment, it was necessary and desirable that party 

 organizations should exist and be encouraged". 

 Mr. Uungcrford, although frequently urged by 

 friends of all parties to accept the uli'. 

 Judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts, 

 would never consent to the use of his name for 

 that or any other office. He had been known 

 as a religious man for forty years, hut he did 

 not make a public profession until 1K>1, when 

 he united with the Centre (Congregationalist) 

 Church. He withdrew from general practice 

 in 18GO, but continued the management of his 

 large property interests until a few months be- 

 fore his death. Yale College conferred on him 

 the degree of LL. D., in IMC. 



ILLINOIS. The most important topic of 

 pnblic discussion in Illinois during the past 

 year was that afforded by the " faniu r>' 

 movement.'' which not only produced an en- 

 gro>-i;i:r agitation in this and several other 

 Northwestern States, notably Minnesota, Wis- 

 n, and Iowa, but also attracted a large 

 share of public attention throughout the conn- 

 try at large. In order to have a clear under- 

 standing of the events of the year, and the 

 measures that were adopted, it will be ii 

 wiry to trace briefly this movement from its 

 origin, and point to the causes that led to its 

 inception. 



In doing this, the origin of the movement 

 that culminated in the events of 1873 is found 

 to date back at least three or four years, and 

 to have grown out of a condition of affairs 

 between supply and demand producers and 

 consumers that has caused no little per- 

 plexity and discussion among the ablest politi- 

 cal economists. These Northwestern States, 

 go far at least as the cereal productions are con- 

 cern. M], have been the garden-spot of the 

 country. This fact will be best illustrated by 

 the agricultural statistics reported by the cen- 

 sus of 1870, which show that in that year 

 Illinois. Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, wi-re 

 not only the greatest wheat-producing State*. 

 in the order named, in the Union, hut that 

 more than a third of all the wheat raised in 

 the Tinted States was the product of tins,. 

 four States ; tin- production of the United 

 States amounted to >7.7-l.">.i'.'>i', bushels, nnd 

 of the States named to ln4.rtUfi.ril4 hu-hcK 

 Besides ranking first in the production of 

 wheat, Illinois produced more oats than any 

 other Stat.-, mi. re barley than any other ex- 

 cept California and New York, and almost 

 double the amount of Indian-corn yielded by 



the next largest corn-producing state. In wo. 

 Of the total yield of Indian-corn in the United 

 States, 7'> II . < .M4.."49 bushels, the enormous 

 quantity of 129,!i21.385 bushels came fr< m 

 Illinois alone. This great producing capacity 

 of the soil, together with other industrial and 

 commercial advantages, long ago made this an 

 attractive region for immigrants; and hither 

 the vast tide of immigration, entering the prcat 

 gate ot New York from all European countries. 

 was directed. The country being thus rapidly 

 settled, the area of cultivation was widely ex- 

 truded, nnd the crops increased so far beyond 

 the capacity for home consumption that it 

 became necessary to send large quantities of 

 grain to the Eastern markets. The develop- 

 ment of railroad facilities for transportation, 

 however, did not keep pace with the incn 

 production of the soil ; consequently, the ca- 

 pacity of the combined railroads, although 

 greatly increased, has been inadequate lor 

 several years to move the vast crops of the 

 Northwest to the Eastern seaboard. This in- 

 adequacy has been specially felt by producers 

 and shippers during the winter season ; for, 

 prior to the closing of navigation, about the 

 first of December, the crops were largely 

 moved eastward by water. But about this 

 period quantities of grain were wont to ac- 

 cumulate to nch an extent that the railroads 

 were unable to supply the demand for trans- 

 portation facilities. This naturally led to an 

 increased freight-tariff which caused great dis- 

 sati-1'action among the farmers, who contend- 

 ed that the railroad c..mpanies were extortion- 

 ate in their freight-charges, and unjust in their 

 discrimination respecting cart and rttet; and 

 that the effect of their action would be to 

 render the raising of grain in * the North- 

 western States unprofitable. The railroad 



