AGRICULTURE THE FOUNDATION OF INDUSTRY. 21 



quantity and quality, the yield of the same elements, unaided 

 by human agency. 



The gross results of agriculture constitute what is called Raw 

 Material, because, with the exception of fruits and green vege 

 tables, material products do not come from the hand of the 

 agriculturist prepared for human use. They are gross and in 

 complete; the proper material which the arts are to take and 

 fashion into forms of utility and beauty, adapted to the satis 

 faction of the physical wants, and the gratification of the tastes 

 of men. 



In the three great classes of our physical wants, food, 

 clothing and shelter, how few are the commodities which come 

 from the agriculturist ready for the consumer. Men want not 

 wheat, but bread; therefore the crop, as raw material, must be 

 subjected to the manufacturing processes of the miller and 

 baker. Men want not wool, but clothes; therefore the fleece 

 must undergo successive changes in the hands of the carder, 

 the spinner, the weaver r the fuller and the dyer, before it re 

 appears in the form of cloth. And what does the cloth avail, till 

 the tailor, with his divine art, finishes the man? So men want 

 not timber and stone, but houses, barns, ships, temples of edu 

 cation and temples of religion ; and here again the raw material 

 must be subjected to numberless changes to fit it for the pur 

 poses of masonry and architecture. It is obvious, therefore, that 

 there is nothing in the hands of the artisan, the merchant or the 

 manufacturer, that has not previously been in the hands of the 

 farmer. Agriculture thus lies at the foundation of the econom 

 ical structure of society. 



But too much of relative dignity and importance must not be 

 assumed by agriculture in consequence of this distinction. 

 To him who enjoys the final product, the initial, the medial, 

 and the finishing process, are all equally important. It is true, 

 that without the raw material furnished by the agriculturist, 

 the occupation of the artisan, merchant and manufacturer is 

 gone forever. But without the labors of these, what would be 

 the value of the raw material? Would it be produced at all? 

 It is true, that the industrial structure rests upon agriculture 

 as the foundation. But what is the value of a foundation, and 

 would it be laid at all, if no superstructure were to be built 

 upon it ? 



It is no disparagement to agriculture that it cannot say to man 

 ufacture, &quot;I have no need of thee,&quot; or to the mechanic arts, &quot;I 



